Aiming for a sub 45min 10km.

NYC MARATHON 6th November 2011.
Fundraising.
By the time I made up my mind to do the NYC Marathon the application process was completed and the only means for entry was through fundraising for a charity. After shopping around for the lowest fundraising amount I settled on the Irish Cancer Society. This is something that affects every family in Ireland so I was happy with my choice. The target set was €4,000 of which I donated half in order to cover my own personal costs. There were a few details that were poorly explained at the outset however, so if anyone has intentions of fundraising in future feel free to PM me for pointers. Anyways, a week before I travelled I hit my target amount and that avoided any extra stress for the trip!

Travel & expo.
Up bright and early @ 4:30am, our flight was 8am and after arriving at midday local time to our hotel we quickly dropped off our luggage before heading back out to the expo. A 40 min bus ride due to traffic (we could have walked it as quickly but perhaps not the wisest use of energy!) the expo was already very busy. I did a leisurely lap of the stands before returning to my longlist of purchases. This was then whittled down to the three items I allowed myself to buy, but there was such a selection that I really could have blown a second mortgage there! After about two hrs I was getting hungry, so, cue repeated sneak visits to the powerbar stand to grab my calorie needs for several days!

Dash to the finish - 5km run.
A few of us were up early on sat morning to join in the 'dash to the finish' race from the UN building to the finish line in Central Park. We took it nice and handy which was reflected in our finish time of 28mins! Well worth doing as the atmosphere was great and it gave a real sense of what was to follow on Sunday. It was only later that we realised we were supposed to pay for entry into this race was well!

Pasta party.
There was a pasta party from 6pm to 8pm later on Sat evening which had decent atmosphere. Unfortunately the '7' line wasn't running so we ended up walking most of the way there and back which meant by now my legs were getting rather tired...not ideal the day before a Marathon!

Morning of race.
The reverse jet lag was working a treat. For someone who finds it difficult to wake early I was up at 7:30am on sat and 5am on Sunday in time to get ready and have breakfast. We were fortunate in that the winter time change kicked in overnight so we got an extra hour to sleep. At 6am we boarded the bus to take us to the start line. An hour later and we arrived but not before we were treated to a fantastic view of the Mahattan skyline from Jersey with the sun rising in the background giving a picture postcard silhouette of the city - nice!!

Start of race.
Given that we had arrived we still had to wait 3hrs 40mins before I was due to start in the 3rd wave. Due to a questionable starting position process I was placed much further back than I'd hoped for:-(
I sat around with a fellow Irish runner called Ray whom I knew from playing 5 a side soccer over the years. By now the sun was beaming in a cloudless sky so as long as we stayed out of the shade we were plenty warm. At 9:15 Ray was called for entering his corral in wave 2 and I decided I'd try and blag my way in also. One quick look at the process however left me with little hope as there was one Marshall checking every participants number and then there was a colleague double checking afterwards!! I thought there was no hope for me, especially after I watched numerous people try exactly what I was intending only to be ejected from the queue. Eventually everyone seemed to have entered the pen with one minute remaining. At this point I very eagerly pleaded with the second Marshall that the only person I knew in the race was inside and asked if I could join in at the back. Fair play to him, he allowed me access. So, after numerous bitching sessions about being in Wave 3, I now had gotten my way and was in Wave 2...no more excuses if things go badly I thought...!

Staten Island.
We were marched the 600m to the official starting line on the Verrazano Bridge and after a 5 min wait there we were unleashed to the sound of Sinatra singing New York, New York! This really upped the atmosphere level another notch. Off we went, stop-start for the first 500m up the biggest incline of the day.

Brooklyn.
The Verrazano was cleared in about 20 mins due to both the incline and the congestion. Already by mile 3 we were 2mins down on our 3:45 target! At this stage Ray and myself were joined by cousins Rory and Eileen, so we were a good solid bunch all with the aim of 3:45.

Brooklyn was brilliant! It was such a fantastic experience running 4th Ave for 6 miles straight. The crowds were barrier free and with the throngs of runners we were constantly high fiving all around. Being still fresh meant we could really savour this part of the race. Loads of bands on the street corners added to the experience.

We were finding it difficult though to get past people to get back some time. It was clear that most ground was to be gained by staying wide and overtaking on the outside. We were like a 4 carriage high speed train at times. We passed hundreds on 4th Ave alone and similar was to follow.

Queens.
At halfway we entered Queens where there was still excellent support but it wasn't quite as loud as Brooklyn. Somewhere around here Ray mentioned we would need to start working harder to get time back, so immediately I upped from 5:30 pace to almost 5:00 pace. This was feeling good and not too streneous. The other three seemed to fall back a little at this stage so it may have been too much too soon. I managed about 4km in 20mins before hitting the Queensboro bridge and a similar climb as the first mile. At this stage Rory rejoined me so I felt better that I had company again.

Manhattan.
After coming off the bridge we hit the much anticipated wall of noise on 1st Ave. At this point the field was strung out a little more and we were now on a much wider street which meant the intimate crowd feeling was not as strong as Brooklyn. At mile 18 I began to start to feel a little tired. Rory who was running NYC for his second time decided to kick on with about 20 miles gone. I wouldn't see him again for the rest of the race.

Bronx.
We only entered the Bronx for about a mile but this little detour meant two more bridges to cross and this sucked more of my dwindling energy. I took a mouthful of water at every station up to this point but by now I was feeling a little swishy in the stomach so I gave the next couple a miss. The Bronx is probably the low point on the course but having said that its still more than decent.

Manhattan again.
We returned to Manhattan now and staring directly south, right into a strong sun. I was happy I'd brought my shades! We passed through Harlem where the atmosphere returned to what went before. By now I was beginning to struggle and the pace was slowing to 5:30 and slower. I kept telling myself only 4 miles to go, keep plugging away! We then hit the rise on 5th Ave which was very tough now. Not very steep but it was about a mile long and it kept chipping away at my spirits.

Eventually I made it to the crest and we then turned into central park for the wind down. This section was quite undulating and after pushing a bit hard on one downhill section I found it extremely difficult to get up the following bump! Around this point I saw my friends Stephen and Sarah on the sideline taking a video which when I viewed later looked like I was waaaay fresher than I felt! Seeing them was a welcome boost and I now only had a mile to go.

Finish.
About 800m from the finish I slowed to a walk for the first time. After a few steps I heard a shout from the crowd "Go on JC, you're nearly there!", at which point I copped on and realised I'd be finished within 4 mins and that there'd be plenty of time for walking then! As I re-entered central park it was time to visit my running belt and unleash my Mayo flag for the final 400m. I figured not only is this likely to be the first time this was dine but that also it'd be easy spot me!! As I unfurled it a Marshall stepped out from the side to ask me my number...initially I thought there might be some weird rule about flags and that I'd be in trouble but she let me by once she had recorded the number. I'm thinking I may be about to have my image rights abused!!

I summoned every little bit of strength I had for the final dash but there was very little left. I was so happy to cross the line and to have finally run a good Marathon! Finish time was 3:51. :-)

So, a sub 4 hr marathon in the bag, I reckon if I ran a smaller marathon I'd have saved about 3mins due to congestion and about 2 mins due to the hilly nature of the course. So a 3:45 marathon is well within my grasp and potentially a 3:30 in 2012!

Great race, great city, great experience!

belcarra wrote: »

Just reading back over my log I decided to update the table above...and here it is (Converted to Kms)...
Month|Kms
January|0
February|24
March|0
April|18
May|94
June|102
July|262
August|303
September|31
Total|834

...or 518 miles in old money. Should still be able to break 1,000 miles for the year handy enough.
I'll forecast that day to be....15th November.

This is a quote from back on the 3rd of September...I was almost spot on as I offcially passed my 1,000 mile the following day on November 16th.
First time ever passing this target in a year (at the 3rd attempt) so I'm fairly pleased.

Post NYC Marathon - 4:00:20
I spent a few days in NYC after the marathon before heading down to Philly to stay with my friends for approx 10 days. While there I also went onto Washington for a couple of days sightseeing (walked about 10 miles over two days :rolleyes:) and hit Atlantic City for an afternoon/evening (typically tacky casino city!). In amongst the two weeks I also managed to get about 6 x 6 mile runs to keep the legs ticking over and one 11 mile run as a MSR 9 days before the Philly marathon. A few beers were had but nothing excessive apart from the afternoon of the MSR while watching Ireland hammer Estonia 4-0 .
So, I felt good and injury free leading into the Philly marathon but I was unsure how much my body had recovered once the distance passed Half marathon distance...that would have to be discovered on race day!

Expo.
Myself and Stephen (College friend living in Philly) went to the expo on the Friday and picked up our numbers. Decent enough, probably similar to dublin expo. There was a couple of questionable stands at it though, particularly a guy looking to sell and install gutters on houses...wtf?
Got to speak to the 3:40 pacer who said NYC was a fair bit tougher so that instilled me with a bt of confidence.

Morning of race.
After feeding up well the day before and a bit of grub for brekkie we set off for the race start which was a leisurely 10min walk away from Stephen's house. Sarah (Stephen's wife) joined us also and she was to act as a mobile aid station getting round the course on her trusty bike!
I had thrown on loads of clothing layers but by the time I got to the start point at 6:40am the day was already warming up so I discarded all extra clothes and ran primed for idyllic conditions.

There were about 8 corrals for this race and the half marathoners were running alongside us to give a total of approx 25,000 people at the start. We were in the third corral which was fine with me and the 3:40 pacer was positioned at the very front of the runners.
The aim was to go with the pacers all the way round, but to confirm this plan at 18/20 miles.

First 18 miles
As I crossed the line I was about 100m behind the pacing group. Over the first 1500m I managed to make my way up to very close to them so I settled in at their pace over the following 2km. Things were going well and I was managing the pace fine. After about 4km I glanced at my watch and found that the pacing team were doing 4:54/km...much quicker than the expected 5:10/km. Not sure what their plan was but this was a little worrying to me. Still though it felt comfortable.

After the 5km marker we turned a corner and I decided to move in front of the pacing group to get away from a really heavy breather who had been annoying me for the past 10mins... 30 seconds later and I glanced around to see the pacing group now about 20m behind me. I thought nothing off this and tried to ease off the pace to allow them bridge the gap. 2 mins later I had somehow managed to find myself another 100m in front:eek:. This was a big mistake. I even said it to myself that if I kept opening the gap further I'd pay for it later on, yet the gap continud to grow!!

After approx 6kms I looked around again and this time I couldn't see them (US pacers use tiny balloons, Irish pacers balloon's kick their ass!!). At this point I decided to forget about them and to run my own race and continue at that pace as it still felt easy enough. I was still at just under 5:00/km so I think the pacers had noticed the error of their ways and really stepped off the gas over the intervening distance.

By Mile 7 we were leaving the urban area and heading through parkland and riverside routes. The first of the days drags appeared and that was followed by a nice downhill. A little while later the days main hill was climbed before a steep descent where I let myself go for about a minute at approx 4:00/km pace! As it bottomed out we came to mile 11 where I saw Sarah for the first time. At this stage I was getting very torn between knowing I was going too fast for the day and body continuing to push on.

The next few kms were flattish and we branched off from the half marathoners at the bottom of the famous 'Rocky steps' outside the Philly Art Museum...those lucky buggers were covering the last 300m from there whereas we were now entering the scenic but quitest part of the course.
Another 5 miles and we crossed the Schuylkill River briefly at East Falls.

Last 8 miles
Crossing the Schuylkill represented more than a river crossing...it was where my day went from enjoyable to painful in the space of a few hundred metres. At the turnaround point i worked out that I was still about 3 mins up on the 3:40 pacers and that I was also on target for a 3:30 marathon. However, like as if a switch was flicked my legs went from fresh to dead in no time. My breathing also was becoming very shallow...no deep bellowing to aallow oxygen into my lungs so the body was always going to find it difficult to cope as a result.

I tried to keep it going as best I can but within a mile i had to take a walking break and once the dam has been opened it's very difficult to stem the flow . The garmin data outlines the race very well, in that up to now the pace was very consistent but from here on home there are numerous pace spikes/troughs where I had to walk. In fact most of the last 4 miles were wwalked and the 3:40 pacers passed me with about 5 miles to go and then the 3:50 pacers with about 2.5 miles to go.
The main target left was slipping from an unrealistically ambitious (On this day) 3:30, to 3:40 (target before the race), to 3:51 (NYC time/PB) to 4:00. Evetually I crossed the line in 4:00:20.

Aftermath
The crowd helped tremendously when they became prminent again over the last half mile...If there was more of them further out the course I perhaps would have made up the 20 seconds required for another sub 4hrs. Can't blame them in fairness though but left with very mixed feelings about this race:

1. There is definitely a 3:30 in me.
2. This was not the day for it though as I still was not properly recovered from NYC (I knew I wouldn't be but decided to ignore that!)
3. HR comparison to NYC tells the story even more clearly! (See next post for details)
4. This was still a faster run than my pre-NYC PB by 20 mins!! Considering I walked so much of it that has to be a plus!
5. I will target achieve 3:30 in May in Edinburgh (Fast course and good timeline).

Check out the attached excel sheet for comparison between NYC and Philly marathons.

I consider New York to have been well managed by myself and the spreadsheet shows the active HR zone being from early 140's at the beginning to early 150's towards the end of the race.
In contrast the Philly marathon begins in the early 150's and gets closer to 160 the longer the race lasts.

160bpm is difficult for me to sustain over long periods and whenever I tried running after a walk break the HR rushed towards 160bpm which meant I ended up stopping again in no time and the damage was done at that stage. From km31 onwards the HR falls off as this is when I was walking far more than running.
On average the HR for Philly over the first 30km was 9bpm more than for NYC even though the course was easier. This was always going to make the final 12km much tougher and so it panned out.

Memo to self: Try keeping Av HR under 150bpm and Max HR under 155bpm for optimal marathon race zone until Mile 20.

My mate Stephen that ran the Philly Marathon with me had quite the race!
10 weeks previous to the marathon he ran the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Philly but has been dogged by injury since. He cycles quite a lot so that maintained his base fitness but had ran hardly any distance in the time leading up to my arrival 10 days before the marathon. He managed to get 4 or 5 x 6 mile runs under the belt but even those were causing him some pain in his left hip as a result of an ITB issue.

In amongst those runs he did an 11 miler very slowly which was considered his one LSR!! Finishing this run convinced him to have a stab at the full marathon, and so we started together last Sunday.
He ran a very controlled race quickening gradually from 9 min miles at the start to 8:30 miles by about mile 10 to 8:00 miles by mile 20, before finishing in 3:38:xx, a PB by 9 mins on his one previous (Dublin) marathon in 2004! It really was a great performance although he was in bits after the race, but nothing too serious!

Another great reason to start slowly and finish quickly!!