The Little Things . . .

a Going the Distance newsletter

November 2012 || issue #8

Jay Newton on running 2:59

[After Jay ran 2:59 at the Bay State Marathon on October 21, we asked him how he did it.]

"In the fall of 2011, I had pulled my hamstring at the attachment near my glute and shortly thereafter, ran my goal race of a half marathon where I missed my time by just 18 seconds, which would have qualified me for the NYC Marathon had I made it. The race pushed my injury to a new level, and I spent most of my winter and spring trying to recuperate with cross-training and lots of physical therapy.

"As the summer was approaching, I had a goal to run a sub-3 hour marathon. In order to do this, it would require quite a bit of training, including speed work. The problem was, I was still dealing with the attachment injury.

"I approached Fernando, my coach for 5 years now, and had a serious conversation with him as to whether or not he believed that I could begin to train some time in June, in such a way that I would be able to recuperate and still get in the proper training to complete the coveted sub-3 hour marathon. He had full confidence, and began to put a plan together, accommodating my injury.

"I decided to sign up for 'program 2' because my condition required me to have a more focused approach to this training plan. I needed to go week-by-week because the attachment area was just so volatile.

"The training started out pretty rough, since I was somewhat on fresh legs. I hadn’t done any speed work in months, and I just wasn’t anywhere near the right shape to really kick it up. Fernando and I worked together on a weekly basis to try to get my body up to the next level, because frankly, I was running out of time. I recall one week in July he sent me a schedule that made my stomach churn a bit. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was testing me mentally. That was when things turned around. I crushed all of the runs that week.

"From that point on, things came together more and more, and the outlines that Fernando put in place allowed me to not only continue running, but I progressed very rapidly, and the injury stayed at bay.

"On October 21 I ran the Baystate Marathon, and ran a 2:59:29, making my goal by a full 31 seconds. It was the very best race I’ve ever run in my life. I know I put a tremendous about of time and energy into the training and the race, but I give a lot of credit to Fernando and his ongoing guidance to help me achieve this amazing goal. I can now call myself a sub-3 marathoner."