When Avi Kravitz signed on with the Run SMART Project he had the goal of making the Boston Marathon qualifier by 2009. Having come in with a PR of 3:27, Avi dropped his PR to 3:10:32 at Chicago this past fall. This granted him the Boston qualifying mark for 2008!
You would think that just to run Boston would have been enough, but Avi had other plans. The quest was now to run as fast as possible at Boston. Avi dedicated himself to improving upon every small detail. By working on his training, nutrition, flexibility and core strength Avi saw small but gradual improvements in his fitness that would help carry him to this elusive new PR.
One month prior to Boston Avi knew he was in the shape of his life and ready to run, but as his coach I was getting a little nervous. I was afraid that Avi was ready too soon. His workouts were faster than prescribed and he was using words like “great” and “easy” far too often. I feared he was on the verge of peaking early. Two weeks later my fears were confirmed. I received an email from Avi, stating that he was feeling tired and sluggish. We backed off the workouts, but the fresh legs Avi had become so accustomed to hadn’t returned. A week and a half before the race Avi was still feeling tired and flat. My advice at this point… “Take two days off.” Avi resumed training a couple of days later and kept the positive attitude that had brought him so far.
The finial result was another PR. Avi managed to drop over 19 minutes off of his time in Chicago, finishing the race in a very impressive 2:51:12! Coming through the first half in 1:26:07, Avi negative split Boston’s tough second half closing in 1:25:05.