A Bid for Boston?

I have much to consider tonight and over the weekend. I've been trading emails all afternoon with one of the Team in Training coaches about my training plans for the Disney Marathon. My ultimate goal is to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time, and I was thinking about going for it at Disney.

After some discussion I'm beginning to wonder if that is the best idea. I knew it would be a lot of hard work, but I don't know if I fully understand just HOW hard it is going to be to achieve the goal. As the coach put it "You would need to drop your time over a minute a mile to accomplish your goal... I don't want to discourage you, but I DO want you to be realistic and recognize that, while doable (depending on how hard you are willing to work) this will not be easy. Typically, I would have you do this over 2 marathons (dropping 30 sec/mile each marathon)." The "over a minute" is in reference to his comparison of my first marathon time of 3:37:14 which is about an 8:20 pace. I would need to bring that pace down to a 7:15 pace. That sounds like a lot, but I must also consider the fact that due to poor nutrition planning that's an 8:20 with a limping, cramping final 6 miles. I easily lost 10 minutes at the end of the race last time. The cramping has since been remedied with the help of some electrolyte capsules that I'll be using during the race. Taking those 10 minutes back or any part of those 10 minutes makes the deficit seem more reasonable.

On the plus side Disney is a flat course. I tend to do well on flat courses as do many others. That will be to my advantage. On the minus side the coach suggests that I race every other weekend a 5k or 10k to increase my speed. This is probably the most efficient way to increase speed, but it's not really the most budget friendly way to do it. The race fees can very quickly build up.

It's all just a little overwhelming. I need some time to digest this information and try to formulate a plan. The coach's suggestion was to work toward the half marathon, and then begin formal speed training after that to prepare for the marathon. Maybe that is the key. I don't have to make a final decision right now, but see how the half goes. Once that is over I'll have a more clear picture of where I am in my training and whether a bid for Boston is going to be realistic.