NYC Half Marathon

5 Nov – 8 March

18 weeks of base aerobic training. 30-35 miles a week. Main runs: Monday 60+ minutes at HR 150. Did two at HR 155 towards the end. Thursday 200/200 fartlek on the track. 200 at 5k pace (around 6:00 or 45 seconds per 200). 200 15-18 seconds slower. Ranged from 5k – 85 total. Got down to 42-43 seconds for the fast parts. Saturday long run. Got up to a couple 12-milers on the trails along the Palisades. At the end ran an aerobic test that indicated I could hold 6:5? at a HR in the low 160s. About the HR I should be able to hold for a half and right around the 6:52 pace that would equate to a 1:30 finish (which for some reason is what I put down for my expected finish time when I applied to the lottery back in December).

I also did a couple 10.7 mile quite hilly trail races (they were each 1 loop of 3-loop 50k races). The first one in January went well (1:38). The second in February did not (1:44).

This would be my first road race over 10k. (I raced one 10k like a million years ago.)

9 March – 17 March

Sick. Only run was 3 miles on Sunday the 11^th. Finally felt over it on St Patrick’s Day.

6:30 PM Saturday

Sat down to St Patrick’s Day dinner at our house with 4 other family’s from town. I made a potato leek soup with cheddar cheese and crispy bacon toppings. Had a nice big bowl of that. And a medium plate of corned beef and cabbage, of course. And two Guinness 16 oz. Drafts. And then 2 Pepsis. And a slice of mint chocolate torte.

9:00 PM Saturday

Bed.

4:00 AM Sunday

Woke up.

4:15 AM

Wasn’t going back to sleep so got up and had some oatmeal and OJ.

6:00 AM

Got to the Park entrance and find some port-o-potties. While I was standing in line I noticed a gut lying on the group on a towel with some headphones in his ears, just chilling in the cool morning air. The bag next to him read, “3 – Meb.” I then became aware that the other people in line with me were all very thin. And also had some very low numbers on their bibs and bags. Apparently I had wandered into the “Elite Athlete Hydration” area. No one seemed to mind though.

6:45 AM

Got into the “Million Man March” that was the port-o-potty line that was just for my corral. In fact it was one of two lines just inside my corral.

7:15 AM

Last port-o-potty visit.

7:30 AM

We’re off!

Miles 1 – 10

And he’s how it went for the first 10 miles (This is from my Garmin. It seemed to hit the miles progressively sooner and sooner. It had the last 0.1 as 0.2. So probably my paces were just a bit slower than this.)

Mile	Avg HR	Pace	Overall	Total	Projection
1	146	7.15	7.15	7.15	94.59
2	162	6.52	7.04	14.07	92.28
3	163	6.35	6.54	20.42	90.23
4	164	6.56	6.55	27.38	90.30
5	167	6.59	6.55	34.37	90.42
6	166	6.40	6.53	41.17	90.08
7	165	7.21	6.57	48.38	91.01
8	164	5.58	6.50	54.36	89.24
9	164	6.44	6.49	61.20	89.16
10	164	7.01	6.50	68.21	89.32

Mile 1 Just feeling things out.

Mile 2 Right on pace.

Mile 3 Downhill.

Mile 4 Long uphill at north of park but also some downhill.

Mile 5 Some gradual hills. More up than down.

Mile 6 Downhill. Right buttock began to get tight somewhere in here.

Mile 7 Down 7^th Ave. Got a stitch in here somewhere. Stopped at water station and made sure to drink 2 cups.

Mile 8 Downhill and decided to speed up to see if stitch would go away. It did.

Mile 9 Downhill for 1^st half but then hit Westside Highway. Concrete. Hard. Me no like.

Mile 10 With 9 in the bag I was feeling good and thinking sub 1:30 was within sight. When I passed the 15k mark I was thinking, “Hey, that’s a 15k PR! And it was also a 12k PR a while back! And it will be a 10-mile PR in just a bit.” At 9.75 I realized things were not going to end well even if it was, by default, going to be a 13.1 PR.

Miles 11 – 13.1

Even though mile 10 was 7.01 I was already up to 7:10 at the end of it and quickly going in the wrong direction. Both my hip flexors had begun cramping and I couldn’t get any knee lift what so ever. I stopped at one point and a guy yelled to encourage me to use my arms. So I did. I was pumping them furiously for a while but my legs were still stuck in a shuffle. I’m actually completely surprised that my times for mile 11 and mile 12 were as fast as they were. Up through mile 10 only the odd person every once in a while passed me. In these 2 miles people were going by me constantly. That all changed, though, in mile 13. In mile 13 people were going past me like they were headed for a Who concert. I was in complete and utter agony. That I actually finished is testament to either will power or stupidity… or just the fact that there was no other way to go except past the finish line.

Mile	Avg HR	Pace	Overall	Total	Projection
11	160	7.26	6.53	75.47	90.15
12	155	7.40	6.57	83.27	91.06
13	137	10.53	7.15	94.20	95.04
13.1	130	1.58	7.21	96.18	96.18

The Medical Tent

Once I crossed the line and “relaxed” my right hip flexor went into full cramp. Some guys helped me to the medical tent were they lay me down and a nice lady jammed her thumb into my groin area as hard as she could while another one poured salt into my open hand and told me to lick it. Then they gave me some soup. After a while I stopped cramping and they kicked me out of the nice warm medical tent.

Verdict

Despite the painful finish it was quite a success. I wanted to find out how long I could hold 6:52 pace and I found out. And it was at the upper end of what I could reasonably have expected. (The swift decline after that was beyond what I expected as well… but, oh well.)

4th Aerobic Test

Completed my 4th every-6-weeks aerobic test this week. Roughly 1.5 miles at several HR levels with 90 seconds standing rest in between. About the same as last time except the top end was faster. Went too fast on the 1st leg so it just become the HR 140 one.

--- ---- --1-- --2- --3- --4-
HR 130 9:14 9:13 8:39 ----
HR 140 8:43 8:37 8:07 8:24
HR 150 7:55 7:56 7:36 7:30
HR 160 7:19 7:21 6:52 6:54
HR 170 ---- 7:07 6:20 5:55

NYC Half Marathon a week from Sunday.

Febapple Frozen 50 -- 10.7 Mile Version

Did the one-loop 10-mile version of the Febapple Frozen Fifty series of races at South Mountain Reservation on Saturday. Missed a turn with a bunch of other folks and it become a 10.7 mile loop. Went out just behind the leaders for 2 miles at around 7:30 pace and then had a miserable time on the longish uphill portions. Never really felt all that good at any point. Finished in around 1:45 or so. Disappointing for the most part.

Aerobic Test #3

Completed my 3rd every-6-weeks aerobic test this week. Roughly 1.5 miles at several HR levels with 90 seconds standing rest in between. Made significant progress since the last one. Still only did 0.5 mile at the 170 level but much quicker than last time.

--- ---- --1-- --2- --3-
HR 130 9:14 9:13 8:39
HR 140 8:43 8:37 8:07
HR 150 7:55 7:56 7:36
HR 160 7:19 7:21 6:52
HR 170 ---- 7:07 6:20

Watchung not-so-Winter not-so-Ultra

I ran the one-loop 10.7-mile version of the Watchung Winter Ultra race put on by NJ Trail Series on Saturday. My goal was to try and maintain around 160 HR and see if I could do that for the whole time. I guessed this might put me around 9-minute per mile pace or around 1:38 or so for the one loop around the Sierra trail that all the day's races were run on. Well I ended up running 1:38 and change for something like 9:04 pace overall... but nothing like I had planned. After a couple miles I was comfortably following two guys and HR was 160-2. Just like I wanted. Then for some unknown reason I decided to try and move up behind a bigger group that was 30-40 yards ahead. Soon after I passed the two guys I was with and started to try to gain on the bigger group we hit a long uphill. So not only did I not catch the group ahead I spiked my HR much higher than I should have. That would end up costing me. After 4 miles I was on 8:30 pace and that was too quick. The rest of the way I was passed by a bunch of runners including the two guys I should have stayed with. The last 2 miles or so my right calf began hinting at cramping and then actually cramped. Pretty clearly I could hve run the same overall time with a lot less effort had I been smarter about it. I'll see if I can be smarter at the FebApple race in February. Pretty much the same distance but at South Mountain instead of Watchung.

New Year's Day 5Ks (Yes, 2 of them!)

Ran the Fair Lawn 1st Day 5k at 11:00 this morning with Will. He ran 23:08 and took 1st place for 10-14. Then we drove over to Wayne and did the Passaic County Runners Club Winter Series opener at 2:00. He ran 22:38 on a hilly course. Pretty good start to the year.

NYC Half

Got into the NYC Half Marathon on March 18th via the lottery!