Lehmkuhle hopes to apply lessons learned

Three years ago Jason Lehmkuhle accepted the challenge of navigating the Boston Marathon course from Hopkinton to downtown Boston. On that day, the course won and Jason learned, finishing in a painful 2:38:04. Faster and wiser, Lehmkuhle , 32, hopes to take the what he learned that day and since, and make his second try at the famed event a better representation of his capabilities.

“I’ve been pretty pleased,” he said. “I’ve made it completely through this (training) cycle healthy.” In past races, he said, there usually have been “niggles,” or minor problems that are not uncommon in marathon preparation, but his current cycle hasn’t been hampered by those setbacks. He’s approaching Monday’s race with a mixture of nervousness and optimism. Nervous because of the bad experience in 2007 and the fact that it is a marathon where anything can happen, but optimistic in that his preparation has gone well and, hopefully, he can transform that into a performance representative of his fitness level.

With a marathon PR of 2:12:53 and a fifth place finish in the 2008 US Olympic Marathon Trials, Lehmkuhle believes he has not yet reached his peak. “If you would have told me five years ago I was going to run 2:12, I would have said: ‘No way.’” says Lehmkuhle. He believes a 2:10 is within his reach, and, if he continues to improve, a 2:09 or 2:08 is possible. But he doesn’t believe in times as the ultimate measure of potential or success. He’s not going into this year’s race with a specific time or place goal, but rather a plan to get the most out of himself on race day.

What he learned from his initial encounter with the Boston Marathon was what many others before him have, that Boston’s course presents unique challenges that need to be addressed in your preparation. Like other Minnesotans, such as Ron Daws, Steve Hoag, Bob Kempainen, and Dick Beardsley, who have had success at Boston, Lehmkuhle, with the help of coach Dennis Barker, did a lot of training to prepare for the hills. From an undulating two and a half mile loop in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, designed by Barker, to a route with longer hills in Eagan from the Lifetime Fitness health club through the Lebanon Hills Regional Park, Lehmkuhle and Team USA MN teammate Antonio Vega have done their homework on training preparation for the Boston course, which features gradual downhills on the first half, followed by climbing through the famed Newton Hills, Heartbreak Hill, and the final mostly downhill decent into the downtown.

Boston is not a place where runners come to challenge world records; it’s where they come to discover things about themselves as racers, runners who can adapt to weather, pace, and the unique challenges of the event. If the leaders go out in 2:07(course record) pace, don’t expect to see Lehmkuhle in the lead pack, he says. Such a pace would be running’s version of suicide for him, Lehmkuhle says. He considers himself, at this point in his development, to be a “national level” competitor with the possibility of developing into one who can challenge on an international level.

“I think, even in my 30s, I can still improve,” he says. “If I can continue to progress with each training cycle.” His PR puts him in the top 20-25 of those racing on Monday, he says, so, in all likelihood, the key to his success will be going out at a pace he feels he can sustain and picking off runners in front of him who have not managed their energy as wisely.

Lehmkuhle adds that he and Vega have similar goals, so he expects they will be together for much of the race, supporting each other and taking what they have learned about their pace management in training and transforming it into success on race day. While the US’s Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall are expected to challenge at the front of the lead pack, Lehmkuhle and Vega will be hoping to pick off those further back and climb up the ladder of top finishers as far as they can.
Photo courtesy of Photo Run