Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
New York City Marathon 2011
In brief, it was a lovely day for running. Sunny, high 40s and low 50s, and I finished in 2:45:50, shaving 1:55 off my PR
set in Philadelphia last fall.
5k splits I got off the tracking web site:
5k 20:07
10k 39:49 (19:42)
15k 59:29 (19:30)
20k 1:18:58 (19:27)
half 1:23:14
25k 1:38:57 (19:59)
30k 1:57:46 (18:49)
35k 2:17:47 (20:01)
40k 2:37:42 (19:55)
finish 2:45:50
I was did not go into this race expecting a PR because my training did not seem to indicate I was fit enough for a serious shot at it. Although I had a pretty solid summer and September where I managed to squeeze in a little more mileage than the same period last year, I had a rather miserable October where I had trouble finishing some key workouts, and decided to start cutting back on mileage early due to residual fatigue that seemed to refuse to go away.
As far as racing, I had a somewhat disappointing 17:30 5k in early September, and an encouraging 18 miler on rolling hills that I ran in 1:53:49, or 20 seconds faster than last year, despite a day with 100% humidity and high 60s temperatures. I am now thinking the big effort that day may have played into my struggles in October.
Anyway, given that I was feeling miserable most of the last month, I tapered early and hoped for the best. Being that the NYCM is a massive race and a logistical nightmare, I was forced to take the 5 am shuttle from the medowlands, and arrived in the start vollage by 6 am. I then spent a couple of hours sitting/laying on the grass in a tent as a bunch of boorish Frenchmen and other foreigners stepped on me as they moved around the bodies of runners that were stacked like firewood. Not a fan of this nonsense.
Anyway, after a couple of hours of this nonsense I got up to go use a portajohn and drop my luggage, only to realize that I misjuged how early I would need to do all this. I had to scramble to make it to my corral before it closed, and wound up having to miss any sort of warm up.
Eventually, they brought us to the start. And we stood there, packed like sardines, for a good 45 minutes. Joy. The one
bright spot was seeing the pro men's introductions. These little guys jogged through the crowd of ligned up runners and gave out some high fives. Geoffrey Mutai had a giant smile, and looked like he was skipping along. I loved that.
Anyway, after all the usual pleasantries from the Mike Bloomberg and Mary W, we got under way about 6 minutes late :rollseyes:. I decided I would take it easy up Verrazano bridge, and came through the mile 6:50-ish or so. I was careful on the steep descent off the bridge, and did that downhill mile in 6:10. I wasn't feeling great, during the opening miles, I suspect due to having to skip my warm up. It wasn't until around 4-5 miles when I realized that I was actually feeling pretty good.
Despite feeling good, I chose to resist the urge to push the pace too much for the next few miles, and concentrated on staying relaxed and running low 6:20s for the next few miles. There were many bands lining the streets in Brooklyn, and the crowd support was amazing. I have never experienced anything like that before. The miles clicked off very quickly, and after the 8 mile mark or so, I started to push the pace on the flat and slightly downhill sections just a little, but not too much, because I knew the Queensboro bridge was looming around the 15 mile mark. The section from 10k to 20k generally had nice, level terrain, which allowed me to make up some time and brought me to the half at 1:23:14, and still feeling decent, though starting to tire.
The section from 20k to 25k took us over the infamous Queensboro bridge. Here, I just eased back and tried to save my legs. Once we got off the bridge and hit 1st avenue, I kind of threw caution to the wind and used the downhills to really push the pace. I clicked off 3 miles in 6:01, 6:03, and 6:09, which really did a number of my quads, but brought back on pace for 2:46. I think the insane crowds on 1st avenue defilitely played into my decision here.
From 30k on, my legs felt pretty horrible, so I did slow a little. Pretty much just tried to stay within myself because my legs were starting to feel like they might give out at any moment. The last 5 miles were definitely very difficult, especially with the climb up 5th avenue. The same climb that I used headed in the other direction on 1st avenue to put myself in PR territory. My quads were not functioning too well at this point. I managed to keep it around 6:25 until I made it to mile 25. There I did some math in my head, and realized that I might have a shot to dip under 2:46, which I did with a 5:56 26th mile. I did not make the new NYC marathon guaranteed entry standard by 50 seconds, but I am still really happy with a PR I never expected, although I am sort of disappointed that I chose such a quad buster of a course this fall. Maybe I would have had that 2:45:00 or better on an easier course. Oh well.
set in Philadelphia last fall.
5k splits I got off the tracking web site:
5k 20:07
10k 39:49 (19:42)
15k 59:29 (19:30)
20k 1:18:58 (19:27)
half 1:23:14
25k 1:38:57 (19:59)
30k 1:57:46 (18:49)
35k 2:17:47 (20:01)
40k 2:37:42 (19:55)
finish 2:45:50
I was did not go into this race expecting a PR because my training did not seem to indicate I was fit enough for a serious shot at it. Although I had a pretty solid summer and September where I managed to squeeze in a little more mileage than the same period last year, I had a rather miserable October where I had trouble finishing some key workouts, and decided to start cutting back on mileage early due to residual fatigue that seemed to refuse to go away.
As far as racing, I had a somewhat disappointing 17:30 5k in early September, and an encouraging 18 miler on rolling hills that I ran in 1:53:49, or 20 seconds faster than last year, despite a day with 100% humidity and high 60s temperatures. I am now thinking the big effort that day may have played into my struggles in October.
Anyway, given that I was feeling miserable most of the last month, I tapered early and hoped for the best. Being that the NYCM is a massive race and a logistical nightmare, I was forced to take the 5 am shuttle from the medowlands, and arrived in the start vollage by 6 am. I then spent a couple of hours sitting/laying on the grass in a tent as a bunch of boorish Frenchmen and other foreigners stepped on me as they moved around the bodies of runners that were stacked like firewood. Not a fan of this nonsense.
Anyway, after a couple of hours of this nonsense I got up to go use a portajohn and drop my luggage, only to realize that I misjuged how early I would need to do all this. I had to scramble to make it to my corral before it closed, and wound up having to miss any sort of warm up.
Eventually, they brought us to the start. And we stood there, packed like sardines, for a good 45 minutes. Joy. The one
bright spot was seeing the pro men's introductions. These little guys jogged through the crowd of ligned up runners and gave out some high fives. Geoffrey Mutai had a giant smile, and looked like he was skipping along. I loved that.
Anyway, after all the usual pleasantries from the Mike Bloomberg and Mary W, we got under way about 6 minutes late :rollseyes:. I decided I would take it easy up Verrazano bridge, and came through the mile 6:50-ish or so. I was careful on the steep descent off the bridge, and did that downhill mile in 6:10. I wasn't feeling great, during the opening miles, I suspect due to having to skip my warm up. It wasn't until around 4-5 miles when I realized that I was actually feeling pretty good.
Despite feeling good, I chose to resist the urge to push the pace too much for the next few miles, and concentrated on staying relaxed and running low 6:20s for the next few miles. There were many bands lining the streets in Brooklyn, and the crowd support was amazing. I have never experienced anything like that before. The miles clicked off very quickly, and after the 8 mile mark or so, I started to push the pace on the flat and slightly downhill sections just a little, but not too much, because I knew the Queensboro bridge was looming around the 15 mile mark. The section from 10k to 20k generally had nice, level terrain, which allowed me to make up some time and brought me to the half at 1:23:14, and still feeling decent, though starting to tire.
The section from 20k to 25k took us over the infamous Queensboro bridge. Here, I just eased back and tried to save my legs. Once we got off the bridge and hit 1st avenue, I kind of threw caution to the wind and used the downhills to really push the pace. I clicked off 3 miles in 6:01, 6:03, and 6:09, which really did a number of my quads, but brought back on pace for 2:46. I think the insane crowds on 1st avenue defilitely played into my decision here.
From 30k on, my legs felt pretty horrible, so I did slow a little. Pretty much just tried to stay within myself because my legs were starting to feel like they might give out at any moment. The last 5 miles were definitely very difficult, especially with the climb up 5th avenue. The same climb that I used headed in the other direction on 1st avenue to put myself in PR territory. My quads were not functioning too well at this point. I managed to keep it around 6:25 until I made it to mile 25. There I did some math in my head, and realized that I might have a shot to dip under 2:46, which I did with a 5:56 26th mile. I did not make the new NYC marathon guaranteed entry standard by 50 seconds, but I am still really happy with a PR I never expected, although I am sort of disappointed that I chose such a quad buster of a course this fall. Maybe I would have had that 2:45:00 or better on an easier course. Oh well.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Groundhog Day
Well, it has certainly been a while since I have updated. I think in part that is because I only get the urge to write when something has been bugging me, and that hasn't happened in some time. I have also not run any races, so I didn't even have a race report post in me. However, I do have something I want to get off my chest today.
I believe today is the fourth week in a row that I am working remotely due to weather related public transit disruptions. Last week, during yet another day spent out of the office, I saw on Good Day New York that Central Park has set an all time record with 56 inches of snow through January, compared to an annual average of 22 inches. I suppose that maybe I should be optimistic now that both Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck predicted an Early spring today, but I don't really buy into rodents making climate predictions.
I can say, however, that I am really weary of this winter. I am tired of spending up to four hours a day commuting every time a couple of inches of snow comes down. I am tired of risking injury every time I go out to run on ice covered roads. I am frustrated that training for my spring marathon is behind schedule because I have not been able to get in the mileage I had planned on, and the track has been snow covered since Christmas, leaving me with no place to run intervals.
Anyway, I am thinking it can't be worse than six more weeks of this. Hopefully, by mid March this will all be over and I can go back to bitching about the heat and humidity. That is looking mighty appealing right now.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Philadelphia Marathon
This race was my first marathon, and I spent around 23 weeks training using the Daniels Plan A with a peak of 90mpw as general guidance. I had two tune-up races, a September 18 miler I finished in 1:54, and a somewhat disappointing 1:20 half marathon in October.
Once I got to the start I jogged about ¾ miles to at least get warm enough to stretch out a little. I wasn’t planning on going out particularly hard, but I never feel comfortable starting a race without at least an abbreviated warm up, but at the same time I wanted to conserve my glycogen stores as much as possible. I came in trying to run 2:48-ish, primarily projecting from the 18 mile race, and a 1:35 15 mile MP run I did 2 weeks out. The plan was 6:30 miles for about 6 miles, then pick it up to 6:25-6:20 for as long as I could manage.
During most LT and marathon pace workouts I have done in preparation for this race I needed 3-4 miles to get into a groove and start feeling comfortable with the pace, but today I remember thinking that I felt really good right from the start, good enough that I actually went a little ahead of planned pace and passed the timing mats that were supposedly at the 10k mark around 39:4x.
I say supposedly because a couple of mile markers at the beginning of the race were almost certainly misplaced. After mile 2 I hit the split button at every mile marker, and my watch showed 6:49 for mile 3 and 6:03 for mile 4. There is no way my pace would vary that much when I am running at a steady effort, and my Garmin recorded 1.07 miles from marker 2 to marker 3, and 0.94 from 3 to 4. Anyway, none of this is really important except for the fact that I was really annoyed and momentarily confused. Maybe I am spoiled because I have run many New York Road Runners races and have never encountered poorly placed mile markers, but I expected better from a major race like Philadelphia. However, I do think that based on the pace my Garmin was indicating that the 10k timing mat was placed correctly.
Anyway, moving on, the race was going pretty smoothly at this point. I was feeling relaxed, taking a few sips of water at every aid station, and sticking to my plan of taking a total of 5 gels, one every 4 miles starting at mile 4. The only thing that did not go to plan is the straw drinking thing. This was going to be my first time using a straw, but at the very first aid station the damn thing fell out of my mouth as I was reaching for a cup of water. Oh well. I found that I don’t have that much trouble drinking without one in a marathon compared to a half because I am not having to gasp for air nearly as much due to the slower pace.
Pretty much everything else went as well as it could have gone. I was focusing on trying to keep a steady 6:20-6:25 pace, easing up a bit on the few up hills, and trying to avoid the temptation to hammer the down hills. The course is indeed fast. I remember just one hill that really forced me to back off my pace, and I think it was around the 9-10 mile mark.
I passed the timing mats at the halfway mark in 1:23:4x, and at that point I was starting to feel fatigued. I never ran into a wall, and I think I finished with glycogen stores to spare, but from the halfway mark I got progressively more fatigued, and past 18 miles it really took concentration to stay on pace. It didn’t get really bad until about 24 miles, at which point my legs were under the kid of distress I had only previously experienced inside a squat rack at the gym. I did fall off pace a little, running my last 4 miles around 6:30 pace and finishing in 2:47:45. Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled with how my race went. I could not have asked for a better day.
| Intervals (GPS Interval) (split button hit at mile markers starting mile 2. Missed mile 1) | |||||||
| Distance | Time | Total Time | Pace | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.01 Mi | 12:43.23 | 12:43.23 | 6:20 | ||||
| 0.05 Mi | 0:16.74 | 12:59.97 | 5:35 | ||||
| 1.07 Mi | 6:48.81 | 19:48.78 | 6:23 | ||||
| 0.94 Mi | 6:03.80 | 25:52.58 | 6:28 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:20.57 | 32:13.15 | 6:21 | ||||
| 1.02 Mi | 6:21.63 | 38:34.78 | 6:15 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:15.90 | 44:50.68 | 6:16 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:29.62 | 51:20.30 | 6:30 | ||||
| 1.04 Mi | 6:24.70 | 57:45 | 6:10 | ||||
| 1.02 Mi | 6:29.30 | 1:04:14.30 | 6:22 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:12.49 | 1:10:26.79 | 6:13 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:17.69 | 1:16:44.48 | 6:18 | ||||
| 1.11 Mi | 6:56.82 | 1:23:41.30 | 6:16 | ||||
| 0.9 Mi | 5:36.65 | 1:29:17.95 | 6:15 | ||||
| 1.01 Mi | 6:22.85 | 1:35:40.80 | 6:20 | ||||
| 0.99 Mi | 6:21.88 | 1:42:02.68 | 6:26 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:23.20 | 1:48:25.88 | 6:24 | ||||
| 0.98 Mi | 6:21.05 | 1:54:46.93 | 6:29 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:21.82 | 2:01:08.75 | 6:22 | ||||
| 1.01 Mi | 6:23.73 | 2:07:32.48 | 6:20 | ||||
| 1.01 Mi | 6:28.62 | 2:14:01.10 | 6:25 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:26.48 | 2:20:27.58 | 6:27 | ||||
| 1.01 Mi | 6:29.40 | 2:26:56.98 | 6:26 | ||||
| 1.01 Mi | 6:25.67 | 2:33:22.65 | 6:22 | ||||
| 1 Mi | 6:31.32 | 2:39:53.97 | 6:32 | ||||
| 1.24 Mi | 7:52.24 | 2:47:46.21 | 6:21 | ||||
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Surprise Holidays
I did not even realize it was Veteran's Day until I got to work. It is not an official holiday for the company where I work, but the bond market is closed, which means none of out clients are trading, and our client services people are mostly out. Since we have just finished a release and not quite started working on the next one, this pretty much means that I have little to do today. I am thinking early lunch, then head home around 4:00.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Another miserable Monday morning
I am feeling pretty crappy today, probably because a fairly difficult Sunday afternoon run left me too wound up to fall asleep normally. I wound up going 18 miles, with the first 10 easy, then 3x3200m at threshold pace with 400m recovery on the track. I did not feel too bad running, but I got done at 5:30 in the afternoon, which was late enough to disrupt my sleep cycle by a couple of hours. I probably didn’t fall asleep until 2:00 am, and had to be up at 6:00 to come in to work at 8:00. The end result is that I am feeling pretty stupid and useless today; barely awake, and not very sharp mentally. Sigh.
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