[belcarra]

Originally Posted by outforarun

Hey belcarra. Well done congrats on the PB. Enjoyed the race report. 1000 miles on the horizon as well.

Apt comment Outforarun as I hit the target on that very day!

[Woddle]

Originally Posted by belcarra

Apt comment Outforarun as I hit the target on that very day!

Congrats you beat me by a day or two

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by Woddle

Congrats you beat me by a day or two

I didn't want to say anything...but couldn't help noticing that myself!!

Your training seems to be going very strongly at the moment...you doing the Clonliffe 4km in a few weeks? See ya there if you are...will be aiming for sub 21 so you'll probably be too fast for me at that stage!

[belcarra]

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 ) 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. 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).

[menoscemo]

Thanks for the report.
I have a lot of friends in Philly as well so I have been thinking of giving this bach some time.
Overall the course looks, quite flat on the garmin profile (barring a few hills). Do you think it's a fast course? If you didn't have New York in your legs how much do you think Philly would be faster/slower?

[belcarra]

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.

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by menoscemo

Thanks for the report.
I have a lot of friends in Philly as well so I have been thinking of giving this bach some time.
Overall the course looks, quite flat on the garmin profile (barring a few hills). Do you think it's a fast course? If you didn't have New York in your legs how much do you think Philly would be faster/slower?

Hey Meno,
I would definitely recommend this as a decent course to give a lash. It's probably comparable to Dublin, if not a bit easier. A couple of hills, one at University City and another going into Centennial Park, but then it's pretty flat until 6 miles out when theres a few inclines but nothing too challenging at all.
As it turns out I'd say if Ii didn't have New York 2 weeks previously I would have ran approx 3:30-3:35, so about 15 mins faster than NYC. This is probably 30% due to less congestion than NYC and 70% due to less hilly.
Also, the course record is about 2:16:xx or so with as slow as 2:25 winning it a couple of years ago, so if a few of the faster guys around here targeted it they could do quite well in the placings!

Hope this helps!
What's your next target race?

[menoscemo]

Thanks, food for thought!

Target race is Waterford in a fortnight. Hoping expecting o go sub 1:30. I am also doing Jingle bells 5k next week as a tune up.

[belcarra]

Originally Posted by menoscemo

Target race is Waterford in a fortnight. Hoping expecting o go sub 1:30. I am also doing Jingle bells 5k next week as a tune up.

Best of luck with them.
Will be away again next weekend so will miss the Jingle Bells myself but will do the Aware 5 miler and the Clonliffe 5k before xmas.
I highly recommend the Clonliffe race as it should be very fast!

[belcarra]

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!!

[belcarra]

Right so, the aim of this log has been achieved and I have managed to smash all pre-existing PBs this year so I think it's time to close this log and pack it away for safe keeping!

My next main goal will be recorded in a new log which I will start over this weekend and continue for 2012, so thanks for all your comments and thoughts on this thread.

PS - I need a new title so all suggestions welcome!

[outforarun]

Looking forward to your next log. Curious to continue watching your progress. I like your confidence about going under 3:30 in Edinburgh. I'll be targeting sub 3:30 for Cork but I'll only be convinced I can do it when/if I turn the bend on Patrick's street and see a 3:28 on the finishing clock. What you aiming for in the Aware 5M?

[slowsteady]

Well done on the two N American runs, you sound like someone who has learned an awful lot and is coming back full of confidence about the next one.

Suggested title - 3:30 or bust!