Boston Marathon 2014

Here we go again.....Of course I get nervous every year when it get close to sign up for Boston marathon. A specially this year as every runner on mother earth wants to run Boston 2014! I was 16 minutes under my BQ time of 3:15 for my age category and I shouldn't have to worry.....but as said 2014 is going to be special. So on the 11th I could sign up and pulled the trigger 10am sharp.  Two hours later I got the acceptance email from B.A.A, I'm in!!!!

"Dear Stefan Albinsson,

This is to notify you that your entry into the 118th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21, 2014 has been accepted, provided that the information you submitted is accurate.

A Confirmation of Acceptance card will be mailed to you via US Postal Service mail in October."

I'm in the middle of my Steamtown Marathon training and i have to admit its a bit hard to sign up for the next marathon before you have finished the one you re training for. In the middle of the peak you re mentally tired and for me its hard to focus on a race next April. But Boston marathon is my favorite race all time and Im always stoked and thrilled to get the opportunity to sign up. As I see it, my next big race Steamtown its a part of the plan for a perfect Boston Marathon.
Again I hope to be a part of the Skechers Performance Division team in 2014 and Boston Marathon.

Bringing my Skechers GoRun Speed to Steamtown and Boston

Proud member of Skechers Performance Division

Boston 2013

 

Althoughcat this year's Boston Marathon I did a personal best; a sub 3, my most perfect race and for the first time representing Skechers Performance Division, none of that feels very important in the face of the tragic events that ended the race. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims in Boston! 

How do you really respond to such a horrible act? I would love to be happy about my time and performance but my feelings are bittersweet. I know the best thing to do is, to honor the victims with your hard work and running, to come back next year doing your best and run stronger then ever!

I had a perfect day, I had done all the preparations right and the weather was just right and for the very first time I was representing Skechers! For Boston I was wearing my black racing outfit and a pair of Go Run Speed. I knew I had the best possible gear out there, thanks to Skechers. I had decided and tested the Huma Chia seed gel before the race, which is such an awesome gel. In my opinion the best tasting gel out there, so natural and you can really feel the "kick". Its the first gel I actually can say you can feel the difference. I also like to mention Bolle eyewear, the Vortex felt great in the sun, no issues with fogging up. Nice shades!

 

 

In my past Bostons Marathons, I have been opening up a bit too fast. Boston Marathon is known for its brutal start with all the downhills. Its during the first 10 miles that you blow your legs up but this year I was able to control my pace. I was careful and it actually felt really good, very easy.. The temperature  was right but I could tell it was getting warmer. Half way I passed right under 1.29, maybe to close to 1.30 but I felt it was under control and I was hoping to do negative splits. right after mile 13 I knew my family and wife Erin would be cheering. That's always a motivational booster to see them and get some extra energy! Mile 13-16 is relatively flat and I was hoping to save some energy, but around mile 15 I started to feel a bit of fatigue. I was getting worried and negative vibes started to act up in my head.  But over the hills in Newton I managed to get energy back, just by controlling my pace and cruising past some of the runners who had opened up too fast. My legs felt better and I kept a decent pace over the hills (thanks to my friend and coach Reno who has been drilling me hard over the hills all winter long) After Heartbreak its mostly downhill and I tried to open up my gait and loosen up. I was focusing on the mile marks, setting up new goals to keep pace. I was counting down and was looking forward to seeing famous landmarks like Fenway Park. At this point shoes are very important and my Skechers GoSpeed run was like an extension of my feet, I could not notice them and they gave me such a great response. At one point around mile 23 I thought it was going to be an easy last three miles to complete the sub 3, but the time was flying by, I had to pick up the pace! The last two miles I had to finish hard to reach my goal and on Boylston Street finally finished  my first sub 3! The feeling was incredible to finish strong and to see the 2:59:47. No terrorist in the world can take that feeling away from me!

Im still shocked after what happened to all those innocent people and kids. I'm sure Boston will come back stronger then ever to honor those victims. I know I will, stronger then ever to honor them! Im looking forward to meeting all those fantastic Bostonian's again and high five all those happy kids!
 

Proud member of Skechers Ambassador Program ( I couldn't have asked for a better support and gear from the team!)
Stefan

Less then 50 days...

Times is flying by and its now under 50 until Boston Marathon 2013. Training goes really well and we have now started to drill more Boston specific workouts, with longer hill intervals both up and down. I can tell that the base training really got to me in the end with brutal cold weather and drilling step hill intervals. I really feel stronger from it although and I cant wait for the warmer weather to arrive here in northern NJ. I have also started to try out some new energy gels and fuel, hopefully I can blog more later about this topic. When it comes to gear, I have narrowed it down to a a few brands, will update in a later blog as well.

I also made a decision to get rid of my Polar RC3 GPS. Having a Polar has been a dream of mine as Im from Scandinavia and Polar is really big over there and when they released the integrated GPS I bought it immediately. I should have wait for the reviews....  In the end I couldn't stand the watch, it is still the best looking watch out there and slimmest but it simply dose not work for as an running watch for me. I wonder if Polar even bother to have real runners to try this product....? The display useless as you couldn't customize it. You had to push the buttons up and down until you find the options Polar had decided was good, but who has time to that during a race? It also took forever to upload to RunningAhead.com and when it was completed all data was not included, like Elevation and at times laps went missing. Even the updates on their own traininglog was screwed up and the support just came up with excuses. Honestly I was sick of Polar in the end...I was happy to get most of my money back as I put it up on Ebay. Lucky my coach Reno had a spare Garmin 610 that I could buy for a fare price. And I will never look back again at Polar.
As tune up race for Boston I was hoping to do New Bedford, but my work schedule did not work out.....So Im now looking at the weekend after 3/24/13 and a 18 miler upstate NY, its very hilly and should be a good test for me...http://www.sullivanstriders.org/30k.htm
Other news for the blog, I have reached out to all (I think all )compression brands in USA in order to do big review blog with my suggestions. I have just started to try some of them, really interesting stuff....Stay tuned...

100 Days until Boston Marathon

100 days......

Yes it is 100 days left until Boston Marathon. Training has been not more then OK. During the Holidays I was down with a bad cold and could not run for 3 days. Usually I'm not sick and during December 2012 I was down two times.
Im looking forward and I'm optimistic. When Im running it feels really good and part of it is the change to 4mm drop shoes. My legs feels much fresher after my runs and I recover faster. Also the change to running distance-tips coaching is an improvement and we are moving ahead more carefully. So 100 days it is!

Boston 2011

Pheew, three months into Boston prep and almost there.... Of course the goal for 115th edition of Boston Marathon is to run it under 3 hours... So far so good, no injuries other then a couple of bruises. The big issue this year has been the weather, apx nine major snow storms, minus degress (-30 in SWE)etc etc. The motivation has been tested for sure.
Finally I have now started the taper and I can already feel how the energy is coming back slowly and I can stay awake after 8 PM.....