糖心Vlog传媒 Superintendent Mark Holzman finished the Boston Marathon on April 15.
Courtesy Mark Holzman
JANESVILLE 鈥 The head of the 糖心Vlog传媒 School District can now say he鈥檚 competed in 鈥 and finished 鈥 the Boston Marathon.
Superintendent Mark Holzman ran in the annual marathon on April 15. He finished in 17,249th place overall 鈥 out of 26,491 runners who started the race 鈥 and 10,600th out of 15,015 males who started the race.
The Boston Marathon is a roughly 26-mile run in a hilly area from Hopkinton, Mass. to Boylston Street in Boston.
His journey to the Boston Marathon started about eight years ago, Holzman said in an interview.
鈥淚 wanted to get into better shape, so I started running and then I went out and said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 not good enough,鈥欌 Holzman recalls.
Holzman first ran a half marathon.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 that bad,鈥欌 Holzman said. 鈥淚 thought I did pretty well, so I did some more.鈥
He qualified for the Boston Marathon by placing in the Wisconsin Marathon in Kenosha last May, after barely missing the cut in the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon prior to that.
Before heading to Boston, he said he was touched by the support from the school district.
鈥淥ne of the things that was so humbling was how supportive the district was. I was not expecting the send-off when I left,鈥 Holzman said. 鈥淚鈥檓 able to use the positivity that people give me to keep moving.鈥
Holzman said that support mattered when he was training, 鈥渙n a Sunday afternoon when you are out on a Sunday afternoon when it鈥檚 42 degrees and the wind is blowing in your face and you can drink water and keep going, or you can say this sucks and turn around.鈥
He trained for four months prior to competing in Boston.
鈥淭ypically Monday would be an easy running day. It was about 30-45 minutes of running,鈥 Holzman said. He would repeat 30 minutes of running on Tuesdays, and incorporate weight-lifting. He said the weight-liftings consisted of mainly core and lower body workouts, like single leg squats, calf raises or elevated glute raises.
鈥淢ost of it is lightweight working on step-ups or step-downs working, really trying to work on strength base and movement,鈥 Holzman said.
On Wednesdays, he did interval training, running faster than his marathon pace. At times, he would run up hills at a quicker pace, much like if he were running a 5K race.
On Thursdays, he would lift weights and take a 30-45 minute jog. On Fridays, he rode a stationary bike or did cross-training.
Friday 鈥渨as meant to be easy day to get off your feet but do some work,鈥 Holzman said.
On Saturdays, he did an 鈥渆asy run鈥 between 30-45 minutes.
On Sundays, he鈥檇 typically go on a longer run, progressively longer each week. The goal was to end the four-month training period with 22-mile Sunday runs.
In the month of March, he estimates he ran 190 miles.
鈥淗ow does work fit into that? The majority of that is on the weekend. I鈥檇 run to the Peace Park, or I鈥檇 run to the Ice Age Trail,鈥 Holzman said.
鈥淭here are some beautiful running places in Rock County. Sometimes the weather requires you to run indoors so I鈥檝e used the YMCA,鈥 Holzman added.
Holzman said he tries to keep his training simple.
鈥淥ne of the things that I tell people is 80% of my training is done at a conversational pace. It鈥檚 done at a jogging pace. It鈥檚 at a pace that you can still talk,鈥 Holzman said.
