Monday, October 2, 2017

NYC Marathon

Jeremy and I waiting in the corral before the race

First, The Numbers

3:37:50 (8:19 pace), 3:42 positive split

Previous Marathons:
MCM 2012: 3:39:22 (8:23 pace), 6:54 positive split 
Philly 2010: 3:37:07 (8:17 pace), 3:55 positive split
Philly 2009: 3:54:34 (8:58 pace), 9:44 positive split 

Training

I'm going to start all the way back to about a year ago. I took the last 3 months off in 2013 after deciding to defer my entry into the NYC Marathon. This was based on a serious lack of training. I'm not sure why I decided to take three months off other than I needed a break and I figured the time would be good to heal any kinds of lingering injuries like my left knee. 

Then on January 1st of this year, I started running again. I was actually excited to build back up again. It was the first time I stopped for so long since I started running about 5 years ago. The building back up went pretty well and my fitness steadily increased.
Last 2 years showing build up with increase fitness to more than all of last year

As my building up was progressing and things were going well going into the summer, I had high hopes as I usually do of doing pretty high miles. I was thinking I would do Pfitzinger's 70 mile training plan. Then, I came across a post on runningahead comparing Hanson's plan to Pfitzinger's and it piqued my interest. I had heard of it before, but after reading the indepth comparison and many comments, I decided I would go with Hanson's. The advance plan tops out at 63 miles and I figured that would work for me, since it was starting to become clear that I would not be able to build up in time to do more anyway.

Hanson's plan is different from most other marathon plans in that the long run tops out at 16. The thinking is that the weekly mileage for most marathon plans don't support a longer long run, so going longer than 16 would just require more recovery without providing much benefit. If this was my first marathon, I think I would have had more reservation with this approach, but since doing the 50 mile ultra, I wasn't as scared of the distance itself. Since I felt there was no psychological benefit of going 20 - 22 miles, this was going to work fine.

Overall, I enjoyed the training plan. It had a good deal of quality including some serious intervals right off the bat. Later in the week there would be a "tempo" run at marathon pace, which by the end of the plan would be 13 miles long including warm up and cool down. The long run on Sundays, was actually easy compared to the other workouts.

About half way into the training, I started getting really tired and feared I was over training. I had several bad workouts over a period of two weeks so I decided to dial it back a bit. This is not uncommon, so I was not that worried, but as a result I was a bit behind in weekly miles. I never ended up making it up so instead of maxing out at 63 miles and averaging in the high 50s, I maxed out at 57 and averaged in the high 40s.

Despite not hitting my mileage goals, I still felt this was the best training I had done to prepare for a marathon. It was still more miles than before, and also I noticed that my average HR was much lower than in years past. I'm still not sure what the story is there, and how much of it has to do with fitness versus other factors like getting older.

The biggest negative part of my training, is that I had high hopes of dropping some weight and getting to the starting line at 155. I knew this was ambitious, but I thought it was doable. Well it just didn't happen at all. Not only did I not get down to 155, but for the first couple months, I barely got below 170. Not until the last month did the weight start to finally come down and I ended up in the low 160s, which is about the same weight I was when I PRd in Philly. I have no excuses here other than running out of will power. I have managed to not get too upset over this :)

Pre-Race

One of the hardest things for me when preparing for a big race is managing logistics, and New York is the biggest race there is (50,511 finishers!). Months before the race I started worrying about how I was going to get to the start that Sunday morning. I had considered a few different options that were either very expensive (hotel in Manhattan) or required I get up ridiculously early (bus from Meadowlands). I ended up talking to Jeremy about what options there were, and was considering staying with my grandparents in Brooklyn, even though it was a while away from the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Jeremy offered for me to stay with him since he was running the race as well and we could go together. This was super nice of him and his wife, Lilit, and ended up being incredibly helpful. 

Honestly, if it wasn't for that, I'm not sure how I would have got to the start. I imagine one of two likely scenarios. Scenario 1: I'd get to the start way too early and just freeze to death waiting for the race to start. Scenario 2: I'd end up being late, stressed and panicked, and I'd miss my wave and have to start in the back. Considering those very real possibilities, this ended up being much better. And I got a chance to hangout and chat with a friend instead of being a ball of nerves the whole time.


On the ferry with matching Target throwaway sweats
We woke up at 5 am which is ridiculous considering a 9:40 start, but that's how it is for NY. We decided to take Uber to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, which was very convenient. Once we got there, we just hopped on the ferry, which was awesome. This was my first time on this ferry, and the closest I've ever been to the Statue of Liberty. It was already light by this point. 

Then we got to the terminal in Staten Island, and that's where Jeremy made the smart decision for us to wait in the warmth rather than outside. So we hit the rather long line in the bathroom there, and then continued to wait for a while before getting on the bus over to the start.

The bus took longer than we thought, and I was worried for a little bit, because Frank was there waiting and he texted me that they were calling people for our wave. But soon after our bus arrived, and we went straight into our corral. We even had time to use the bathroom again, which was a huge bonus for me. I was a bit worried I'd be one of those people who would have to find a port-a-potty along the course because I get so obsessed with being hydrated before hand.


After a little while we started making our way to the entrance of the Verrazano. I was really starting to get excited now, and I was also starting to feel how windy it was. It was time for me to turn on my watch. So I did. But it did not want to get past the loading screen. This was a first, but no biggy. I'll just restart it. Nothing. Ok, not problem. I'll do a reset. Still nothing. It was now close to the start of the race and I decided it was going to be ok. I'd just run by feel and all would be good. So I just left it on the loading screen and tried to forget about it. I was actually impressed with myself for not freaking out about this.

Then they introduced the Elites, and I cheered for Meb. Then Mayer de Blasio came on, and before I knew it I was startled by a cannon. The race had begun!

Start - 5K (8:11)

I was happy that it wasn't so congested that it was slowing me down. Unlike the start of the Marine Corps a couple of years ago, I was not feeling like I had to zig zag around lots of people. I was going my pace and it was fine. Almost immediately I was heading up the Verazzono bridge. This was so cool. I tried my best to take it all in. This was really happening now. 

It was also ridiculously windy. By the time we reached the middle of the bridge, the gusts were almost scary. I decided I needed to capture this so I took some video, but I don't think it really does it justice. Soon after this, I looked down and realized my Garmin decided to start working! I wasn't sure how far I ran, but I figured I would just start hitting the lap button at the next mile marker. But now I was able to see my HR which was surprisingly in the high 140s. I thought with the adrenaline it would be more like the high 150s for sure. I was happy to see this and I was feeling good and just kept on going. There was no mile marker until mile 3. So the first 3 miles I have no splits. 

I hit the first 5K in 25:24 (8:11 pace), which I didn't know at the time, but the race was just starting and I was feeling good so I just continued with the same effort. I kept my watch on just showing my HR and elapsed time (which was meaningless because I didn't know when it started). I didn't want to look at my pace because I knew it would be off in the city, so instead I just looked at HR and the lap splits when I crossed the mile markers.

4 - 13 (8:12, 8:05, 8:10, 8:00, 8:19, 8:15, 8:06, 8:20, 8:04, 8:10) , 13.1 (8:10)

Brooklyn was awesome all the way through. At this point I realized it was just going to be mostly windy the whole time with occasional wind gusts that made me try to draft off people unsuccessfully. Also, there would be occasional calm periods which were very enjoyable. But mostly, I put that out of my mind, and enjoyed the crowds. There was so much energy from all the people cheering despite the awful weather. There was tons of live music and I was feeling very happy. A couple times I would turn the corner to an area where there was even more people than usual and I think it made the runners all feel quite special. At least it did for me. I was even getting a bit emotional about it.

I had my first GU sometime after mile 5 and while it was fine going down, a little while later I was thinking how I didn't want to have another one anytime soon. This was a weird feeling, because this was only my first GU. But I mostly disregarded this and kept going. I wasn't working too hard yet, and I wasn't getting too worried about my splits. I noticed that some of them would be a few second slower than what my pace bracelet suggested, and this was fine with me. It was still the first half and I was happy to not feel like I was working too hard.

I went through the first half feeling pretty good, except having a bit of stomach issues with the GUs. It wasn't terrible, but it was a bit annoying and I was concerned about the later stages of the race. Despite my minor stomach issues, I was only 5 seconds off my pace bracelet, but I didn't know it because of my busted watch!

14 - 20 (8:09, 8:26, 8:18, 8:23, 8:08, 8:21, 8:25)

I was now in Queens and I was starting to feel the length of the race a bit. It was definitely beginning to feel like more of an effort to maintain pace, and I was slowing down slightly, but not by a ton. I realized though that my HR was staying pretty much the same in the high 150s the whole time. I started to realize that for this race, my HR was not the limiting factor.

Then came the Queensboro Bridge. I think I had remember hearing that this was a bit long, but I wasn't prepared for this. There are no people cheering so I think that makes it seem even longer. It also felt like it just kept going up. I kept thinking, "haven't I reached the middle of this thing yet?!" But it was all worth it for what was waiting for us in Manhattan. There is a down hill on to 1st ave and its just a giant roar of people cheering. I don't think its possible to not speed up a bit when you go through it. It felt like I was entering into a stadium of cheering fans!

But soon after that, I started to not feel too great. I was getting tired, but my stomach wasn't that great and I was dreading the 3rd GU. I decided I had to take it anyway otherwise I'd really run out of energy. I did and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I tried my best to put it out of my mind, and frankly I've felt worse than this before, so I just kept on trucking.

After a few more miles we were entering the Bronx. This was not too long a distance and it involved a number of turns. Each time, I was hoping this would be the turn to be back to Manhattan. At least hen I'd be headed in the right direction to the finish. I decided I would skip the last GU, and instead grabbed a couple orange slices from some nice volunteers. This sounded way more appealing. Then came my last bridge and I was now out of the Bronx.

21 - end (8:37, 8:29, 8:31, 9:09, 8:44, 8:28, 7:40)

I was now back in Manhattan and really starting to slow down. I remember seeing the streets in the 130s and thinking about how far I still had to run to get to the bottom of Central Park. Since I didn't know what my time was and I felt like I was going so slow, I figured I was way off my time. I was thinking I might finish even slower than Marine Corps. 

Then I started thinking about how the elite marathoners must also be feeling awful at this stage yet are somehow able to dig deep and actually speed up. Once I got past mile 24, which was my slowest mile, and the only one over 9 minutes, I decided I was going to give it everything I had and not give in to the temptation of just going slow. 

As I entered Central Park, I actually started to push it a bit, and I was starting to pass people. I didn't care about my time anymore. I decided I just wanted to finish strong and be proud of myself at the end. When I hit the 25 mile marker, I kept on pushing. These last couple miles felt very long, and I was afraid I started to push too early. I had fears that I would start to cramp up anytime, but it never happened.

Then I saw the 800 meter mark and I was so happy they put that there, because I was thinking I was going to really try to pick it up even more at the end. I started increasing my speed. Then I hit the 400 meter mark and I was thinking "just one lap around the track!" Then the end was in sight and I gave it everything. I was so happy when I crossed the line! 

Post-Race

I tried my best to calculate my time based on the clock, but my brain was not working that well. I could tell I was close, but wasn't sure how close. I took out my phone, and the first thing I saw was a text from Chris congratulating me with my time. 3:37:50. So at this point I realized I had missed by less than a minute, but I was so overcome with happiness from being finished, I didn't really care. 

I then called April and talked to her and she said she was tracking me the whole way and was impressed by how consistent I ran.

In Conclusion

I am actually surprised at how little I am bothered by the fact that I missed my PR by only 44 seconds. It really was an amazing experience, and I think I did about as well as I could have with the training I had. Is it possible I could have pushed more somewhere and eked out another 44 seconds? Maybe. But it's really not bugging me. I know that given the conditions and the difficulty of the course, I did better than my PR day in Philly. And I know I was more fit. It's clear by the small positive split that I ran a pretty balanced race. It makes me think that next time I train for a marathon I hope I am able to do the volume of training and get to a weight that would allow me to break my PR by more than just a minute or two.

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