Manitoba: My Second Fastest Marathon

"The course is flat - really flat. In fact, it's really, really flat. The organizers say that there are 3 places with an elevation rise of about 10 feet. I will take their word for it but I only noticed one place (at about 7 miles) where I think there might have been that much of an elevation change."

That's a description I read of the Manitoba Marathon from a comment on marathonguide.com. And yes, it is a really flat course, but I was surprised that it wasn't quite as flat as NJ.

Still, by all accounts based on my most recent half marathon, I should have set a new marathon PR. I didn't, and I have no good explanation for it. The temperature was a perfectly cool 50-ish degrees Fahrenheit (about 9 Celsius) at the start. I hadn't slept well for a few nights before the race, and there was a bit of a headwind, but I really should have beaten my previous 3:15. I might have gone out just a tad too fast, too, but not much. Could have even been the change in altitude. I also might even be able to blame a bit of my performance on not recovering enough from my sweltering Need For Speed Relay the week before, but whatever (Runner26 has a great N4S recap, by the way. We did the same leg, and she wrote a better review of it than I ever could). Frankly, I think I just didn't push myself hard enough. Maybe It was all of the above combined. Or maybe I can always find a new excuse.

I ended up with a 3:20:15 (7:39 pace), finishing 58th out of about 780 marathon finishers, and that is a respectable marathon time for me so even though I'm a bit disappointed I can't complain too much.

Besides, it was great running my hometown marathon. Winnipeg is a place I know like the back of my hand, and I was very familiar with almost every road along the way. And it was sooo great to be back in in the city for summery weather for a change, instead of Christmastime. Everything is so green and lush, and it's so clean, especially compared to dirty dirty dirty NYC. I got to do some gardening at my parents' home while I was there. Yay for gardening!

I even got out to my parents' farm for a visit. I grew up there, and hadn't been back in at least 7 or 8 years. The farmhouse has taken on a kind of abandoned feel, as my parents are only out there sporadically, and don't keep it up much. Interesting being back in my old room again, and leafing through the sketchbooks, drawings, and junk I left behind there years ago. Lots of memories.

Now hopefully I can make my poor marathon performance a memory and move toward a 3:10 like I should be.

This weekend is the Shelter Island 10K, and some friends and I are planning a trip out to partake. I won't kill myself in the race, as this is recovery week from the marathon. I'm more looking forward to a scenic run without the pressures of marathon training. At least for another week or two when training for NYC begins.

Registration Man

Back on April 27th, I took the leap - I signed up for my fifth marathon; my third NYC marathon.

However, keep in mind when you read that, out of the last four marathons that I've registered for, I've only done one. After Vermont, I got injured and couldn't do Chicago in '06. I did New Jersey the next spring, and then got injured again and couldn't do Chicago the following year either. Then a minor foot injury a few weeks ago set me back in my Boston training, so I bailed on that one, too. Granted, I just lost about three weeks of training for Boston, and could have probably finished the race, but I don't value being under-prepared for that kind of distance. It just wouldn't have been enjoyable at all.

So all this registering and not running hasn't gotten me very excited about training. Still, I'm putting a clock on the blog to countdown to NYC '08.

I've been running well these days. I've set four new PRs in three distances: the Ten Mile, the Four Mile and the Half. I sort of get a kick out of my new PR for the Half Marathon: I did 13.1 miles in 1:31:13. This only beat my Queens PR by 2 seconds, but I'll take it.

Actually, despite the PRs, I do think I was running better/stronger two years ago up until the Queens Half. I was putting in more mileage and my runs just seemed to be of better quality in general. However, now I'm being more careful about injuries, taking time off (well, usually) when things start to really hurt. I might not be running as strong as I was, but at least this approach keeps me running instead of on the DL. Better to be on the roads running carefully than to not be running at all.

So as it is, I'll just keep registering for these things. And hopefully I'll get to do one once in a while.

New Jersey Marathon Recap - (Very Very) Long Version

I wanted to use the New Jersey Marathon to test myself: for pacing myself evenly; for what a comfortable per-mile pace would be; to gage my own fitness level for targeting a Boston qualifier at Chicago in the fall. I figured I would go out at a bit faster than my Boston qualifying pace, and just see how long I could hold it. I needed a 3:15:59 for Boston, which is a 7:28 pace. I downloaded a pace-band off Marathonguide to come in at 3:14:00, which is a 7:23 minute mile. If I could hold this most of the way, even if I faded in the last few miles and did a 3:20, I’d be happy, and I'd better know how much work I had left to do for Chicago.

Unfortunately, last Monday, I felt like I pulled something in my left hip. This was disturbingly reminiscent of a year ago when I felt like I pulled something in my right hip and it turned into full blown bursitis. I was worried, and the minor discomfort during the last week of my taper left me seriously considering dropping out of the race. By Saturday, I was really depressed and actually prepared to not even go down to Long Branch. But I took my running friend's advice and decided to try anyway, promising myself I'd drop out if the pain was too much. I headed "down the shore" at noon with fellow Flyer, whom I'll call Scottie, in his Jeep. Scottie put me in a much better mood as we chatted in the car en route.

We checked in to the hotel in nearby Ocean Grove and headed over to the expo for our race number pickup. The expo was... small. I wasn’t expecting anything like NYC, but I sort of thought it would be somewhat similar in size as Vermont. In fact, it was even smaller than the MORE expo, where I volunteered in March. I looked around at the few vendors, picked up my timing chip and number, and received the ugliest tech shirt ever. It was baby blue with the crudest New Jersey Marathon logo on it. The half marathoners got a lime-green one. Yay for them.

We came across a few other Flyers, and before leaving, we got our body fat inaccurately measured. I came in with 4.8%, which put me just at “essential body fat” on the chart. I know I’m not overweight by any stretch, but I definitely have more than 4.8% fat on me. Scottie measured in at just over 2%, which is ridiculously low, and I think he'd probably be dead if that were the case.

Later, we hit an Italian restaurant in Asbury Park for pasta, and many other Flyers joined the party. Our group coordinator had us play a Jersey trivia game, which, despite our moaning about it, was actually quite fun. I even contributed a bonus question: Which NJ city shares the same name as one of the Canadian provinces? It proved to be a good question, and only a couple of people guessed correctly. A few other Flyers asked what I was shooting for in the race. I've been asked this a lot recently, and when I tell them 3:15, they usually follow by asking what my current PR is. When when I tell them 3:32, the expression on their face basically says: Yeah... well, good luck with that. You're going to need it!. I also added the disclaimer about my hip problem, and that it may result in a DNF for me.

Back at the hotel, I laid out my things for quick morning assembly, ate a Clif Bar and banana, and went to bed at 10 PM.

Let me just say here that I love sleeping. I can't understand why people get so nervous before marathons that they can’t sleep. I always sleep well before a marathon. It’s not like you’re going in for a job interview the next day. The marathon’s not going to change your life, and if you have a bad day, you can always just come back next year. Thus, I sleep well.

I woke to my alarm at quarter to six and the group of us drove off to the start together shortly after the top of the hour. We grabbed a bagel along the way, parked, and went to take care of out individual needs separately. I used a porto-john, drank some Gatorade, and even though I never really chafe, I put on some Vaseline over areas where I thought I might, and then headed to the start area on the boardwalk, at 7:10.

The weather was perfect. It was chilly at the start, overcast, with a bit of a cool breeze blowing. It actually drizzled a bit before the race, but hardly anything to worry about. Scottie showed up, and I hung out with him at the start, in between the 3:10 and 3:20 pace leaders, as there was no 3:15 pace group. We agreed that even though we wanted to finish in a similar amount of time, consciously not pace with each other.

For a while I talked to a woman from Ottawa who was disappointed that she couldn’t find the Senators game playing at any of the local bars the night before. I empathized that it was hard to find a hockey game on TV, even in NYC, and refrained from admitting that I’m not as much of a fan as my fellow Canadians.

I was surprised that the race didn’t start on time. They kept making announcements, and didn’t finally blow the horn until about 7:40, which was ten minutes behind schedule.

The initially crowded field kept me from going out too fast. It was about the density of the average NYRR race for the first half-mile, before it loosened up a bit. I bumped into a fellow Essex Running Club member early. We chatted, both acknowledging that my 3:15 goal was “overly-optimistic”, and then separating.

I kept the 3:10 pace group in site for a while, thinking that if I gradually let them disappear over the first few miles, then I was doing a decent pace towards my target time. My splits for the first few miles were a bit fast, but not too bad, and I eased in closer to my goal pace.

Then there was my hip. It did hurt during the race, but mildly. It didn't get any worse - not enough to affect my pace and cause me to stop running, anyway. I ran through the pain.

The race course itself was really nice. Not as much along the beach as I would’ve liked, but it wound it’s way though mostly quite nice neighbourhoods. Almost all residential, with a couple smaller commercial areas along the way. With the exception of a small bridge, it was as flat as advertised! I'm also becoming a big fan of double loop courses. When you hit the later miles, at least it's familiar ground, and you know where to expect to see the mile markers. I liked that about the Queens Half as well.

That crowds along the course were fantastic, and very supportive. Lots of people were out cheering; more than I’d expect at a smaller marathon. I did, however, see the worst sign ever, at about three and a quarter miles into the race: “Only 23 miles left to go!!”

Scottie passed me at around mile 8, I think. He just gave me the thumb's up, and continued ahead. The temptation was there to catch him, but I thought, This guy can run a 4:57 mile. I‘m definitely hanging back. I used him as a rabbit, though, for the next few miles, as it seemed he settled into a pace similar to mine, and I kept him in my sights. This worked well for a long time until around mile 17 when I started catching up to him. I didn't know if I should pass him - Was I going too fast now? But I was on pace, so I passed, giving him back the thumb's up. I learned later that he realized that since his Boston qualifying time gave him 15 min. more on the clock than me, he didn't want to put that in jeopardy by pushing too hard and wearing himself out. Smart move.

It was shortly after that that I conducted my mid-race nutrition experiment.

I gave up caffeine almost four weeks before the marathon. Because I was approaching this race as a test, I also wanted to test out whether the drug would give me a boost in those late miles and, as this article indicated, help me not hit the wall so hard.
I had already consumed one non-caffeinated gel at 13 miles. Now I was getting tired, so it was time to step it up and bring out the big guns: a Double Caffeine Tangerine Gel, at mile 18. At this point I also put the iPod on to give me a mental boost. They both worked: the music pepped me up right away, and the caffeine kicked in within the next mile or so. In fact, I felt so zippy that I started to sing.

Yep, you read that right. I was every other marathoner-within-earshot’s worst nightmare, running with my headphones on, and singing along, loudly. Rufus Wainwright, Queen, U2, Wilco... I really got going. I started passing people. I was hi-fiving people at the aid-stations. I was pumping my arms in the air for the cameras. I did a 7:08 mile split. All at mile 22! I wouldn’t have thought it possible! I began thinking that I really was going to get a sub-3:15, and it was even going to be easy! I was smiling ear-to-ear.

But a mile and a half later, things changed, and I started to pay for that expended energy. I began to fade again, with over two and a half miles left. My progress started slowing, and my legs really wanted to walk... just for a little while, the devil on one shoulder said. The devil on the other shoulder just kept whipping me to keep going. There were no angels here. A couple of people I passed during my caffeine buzz passed me, and actually disappeared in the distance. Things were slipping away, and I feared losing my 3:15. After coming this far, 3:20 wasn't good enough.

Miles 24 and 25 never seemed so long. I wasn’t smiling anymore. But I turned and headed onto the boardwalk for the last mile to the finish. Somehow I kept running. I’ve always stopped in each marathon I’ve run previously, but I was determined to keep going. The last mile was very difficult, but knowing it was the last mile helped a lot. When I finally hit 26, the clock time was something like 3:13:45. I figured I might actually make 3:15 and saw the big archway ahead. As I approached, I started gunning for it, albeit feebly. The clock time said 3:14:30 and I thought That seemed really quick… as I got there, I realized tat it was not the finish, but the 26.1 marker, and the finish was still a tenth of a mile away! If I could get in with a 3:15:59, I could get my BQ, but I watch the seconds tick away: 3:15:56, 3:15:57, 3:15:58… and as I passed the finish banner… 3:16:07, 3:16:08. I stopped my watch and looked at it: 3:16:01.

Um... Do I celebrate? I thought, I'm going to be that guy who's net time is 3:16:00 and misses the BQ by one second. I figured I'd wait until they posted the results. Even if I didn’t BQ, it was still an awesome personal record. I collected my medal, and a finisher's cap (pictured), and some water.

I hobbled to the car and changed. Scottie limped up a few minutes later. He finished in just under 3:23 and got his qualifier, and I congratulated him. He decided to crash in his jeep for a while. I called a friend from NJ who was spectating, and moved my legs ever-so-slowly to meet up with her.

She brought her new dog to the race. It was this cute little thing, a mutt named Gus. I wanted to pet him, but couldn't bend over, so I asked her to pick him up for me and she obliged. Nice doggie! After chatting for a bit, I headed in to look for results and grab some food. The food was good - bagels fruit salad, veggie chili, cornbread. Yum! I grabbed an extra bagel and apple and banana, and saw where a crowd had gathered looking at the race results. There were no net times posted, though. I asked, and an official said that there was some (blah, blah, blah) problem and that they would be available online later.

On the way back to see my friend and her dog, I bumped into the other band of Flyers, most of which were half marathoners. We shared stories, took photos, and parted ways. Most of them seemed pretty happy with their results, and I was glad to catch up with them.

I headed back to my friend and Gus. We people watched for a bit and then she walked me part of the way back to the car before we said goodbye. At the car, the other group was just pulling away, but stopped to let me know that they had found the net times posted. “3:15:47!” they shouted. “You did it! Congrats on the BQ!” I felt happy, and relieved.

I gave Scottie a bagel and offered to drive. He gladly accepted. Along the way home I got a text from sistersmile, who verified the results online, with congratulations.

Despite the good company and conversation, it was a long ride home to NYC, especially for my legs. The good thing was that Scottie let me drive all the way back to my apartment, so I didn’t have to hobble around on the subway with my bags and stuff to get home from his garage.

I took a shower, and eventually did hobble off to the subway, and went to the office to get some work done for a few hours.

It was a good day.

Mile Splits:
1 - 7:40
2 - 7:04
3 - 7:17
4 - 7:21
5 - 7:21
6 - 7:27
7 - 7:18
8 - 7:27
9 - 7:25
10 - 7:17
11 - 7:26
12 - 7:31
13 - 7:21
14 - 7:29
15 - 7:27
16 - 7:18
17 - 7:14
18 - 7:23
19 - 7:33
20 - 7:32
21 - 7:36
22 - 7:08
23 - 7:20
24 - 8:00
25 - 8:15
26 - 8:25
26.1 - 1.32

Official times:
1st Half 1:36:32
2nd Half 1:39:16
Net 3:15:47 (7:28 mpm)

(Previous Personal record: NYC 2005 - 3:32:22. That's a PR of 16:35.)

NJ Marathon Recap - Short Version

Gun Time: 3:16:08
Net Time: 3:15:47

That's a Boston Qualifier with 12 seconds to spare.

It was a good day.

Taking a breather

Cool out tonight. A little too cool for short sleeves; I should've brought my fleece to work with me to wear home.

Things have lightened up at work considerably as of yesterday. Still, I have a few things that need tending to, so I'll be going in briefly this weekend. Yuck. I may also be getting my just desserts next week after what I submitted today to a client; one of my projects is much farther behind where it should be. I expect to see something unpleasant hit the fan soon.

As for running, my last pre-marathon run was this morning. Unfortunately, I've had a pain in my left hip since Monday night. It's not the hip I previously injured, and it doesn't hurt really bad, but it's been causing me some discomfort all week. This morning I only did three miles, and it's been bugging me all day. Hopefully it's just a minor strain and won't act up during Sunday's race, but if it does get really bad, I'm prepared to drop out, unlike at Vermont. I'd rather just lose a couple of weeks recuperating than to miss Chicago for a second year in a row. I've been stretching and icing all week, religiously, hoping for the best.

Last time I looked, the weather at Long Branch was calling for a 51 low, 63 high, which is pretty good, but also with a 30% precipitation forecast: "a few showers" is what it says. This doesn't seem too bad, but again, I'm crossing my fingers.

Otherwise, things have been going well. I do feel that I'm ready for the marathon. Work is progressing well enough, and I've been pretty generally in good spirits all around.

Not much else to report...

It's here!

Yay, finally!

More than I intended.

Today, I ran into the Flyers's Scottish bagpiper in Central Park as he was cycling away from the Scotland Run 10K. He rode along as I ran my long run and we talked about our training, as we both plan to tackle the NJ Marathon at the end of the month. I told him as I hit the 102nd St. transverse that I was on mile 20, and that I was planning to do 2 more miles back down the East Drive to finish with 22. Then I'd grab a bagel at the finish area and take the train home.

"So you're heading back to the start?" he asked, and I clarified that I wasn't going to run quite that far but I'd eventually end up in the vicinity. We split off and I continued the run, and by the time I came back to 72nd St., I was still feeling good, so I thought, Hell, why not just run all the way to the start? That left me with 23 miles. At least, so I thought. A little sore at the end, but I finished my run feeling strong. I snagged a cup of water, a couple apples, a few bagels and caught the D-train from Columbus Circle home.

When I went to my running log online (at CoolRunning.com, if you're interested) I decided to verify my mileage. Headed over to Gmaps pedometer, and tracked my route. I did it again to double check. And again.

Turns out I ran 25 miles today. Somehow, between doing a loop of 6, a loop of 4, the 6.2 mile race, and a loop of 5, plus the overlapping miles getting from my place to the race, I did many more miles than I intended. Undoubtedly an unwise training tactic, but then, I seem to be King of Overtraining, so I guess it's in character for me. Why change now?

A minor sub-point about this is that it means I ran the 10K from mile 14 to 20 of my long run, and still managed an 8:01 average pace. That's a pretty good pace after so many miles, although probably also equally stupid. I came in behind Runner26, who set a 10K PR, and I congratulated her on that. I like the Scotland Run, not only because I get to hear lots of Scottish accents, but I also like racing in the park in a clockwise direction. I find that heading up the gentler slopes of the Great Hill and Cat Hill in particular make it easier to get a PR in Central Park. It's another reason, aside from the time of year, that I prefer Grete's Half Marathon over the Manhattan Half.

Back on topic, I'm now left with one more long run to do next weekend, before I start tapering. I think I may cap it at 18, since I was so heavy on the miles this weekend. Tomorrow's a recovery run day, so maybe just five or six.

I'm looking forward to Jersey. If the weather's good, I'm sure to set a PR on what I've heard to be a nice, flat course. But then, I have yet to run a marathon in "good" weather, so typhoon conditions are fully expected.

Time and the training schedule

I was lucky to get in a good run before the rain started tonight. Tomorrow, during "wintery mix" weather, whatever that is, I need to get in a quick 4 miles. Sunday is long run day, if I've recovered from St. Patty's, the night before.

This week is the first week that I haven't felt like I've had to really squeeze in the mileage, and felt like I've been running like I'm supposed to, and I've felt like I've been running strong, too. I've had to alter my training routine to get the distances in, mainly because of how busy everything else is. Work is actually pretty good, now that the dark cloud has left our office. I've gotten a step up in responsibilities, which I like, but I've needed to put some extra time in to ride the learning curve a bit and stay ahead of the game. Budgets are tight.

In turn, this has meant that my running has taken the place of my commuting, for the most part. Instead of taking the subway home, changing, and heading off to the park to run with the Flyers group, I now start my training runs from the bottom of the park, do a loop and a half, and head home near the top. Unfortunately, this means that I don't get to enjoy the group chatter, but it gets me home earlier so that I can do some other work.

And that work is mostly Flyers work. Doing the newsletter and being on the executive board for the largest local running club in NYC really sucks up the time. Most of that is spent e-mailing people about articles (usually earlier in the month) editing and laying out the monthly issue (later in the month), or e-mailing people regarding board activities (all the time). It's a strange group we've assembled as a running club, let me tell you. In a good way, though. I actually enjoy the work, but there is a lot of it.

So, as much of my time is spent writing e-mails or reading/editing other people's writing, it figures that I don't spend too much time blogging anymore.

Oh yeah, and I'm training for a marathon. That kind of sucks away the time, too. I actually officially signed up for the New Jersey Marathon this past Monday. Got the whole thing out of the way: registered for the race, booked the hotel, and found a ride down to Long Branch, all within about an hour or two. Sure beats having the distraction of those things eating away at the back of my mind. Once I had that all settled up, it definitely improved my focus on my running, knowing I'm actually doing this thing. Unfortunately, I now only have just over three weeks until I taper. Not a lot of time to get in top condition. As long as during those few weeks I can stay uninjured, it should still be a fun time in Jersey.

Fifty miles, and the implications thereof.

As I hit mile 17.5 out of my 20+ miles on Saturday, the idea of attempting to Boston-qualify at New Jersey once again crossed my mind. With today's hilly Coogan's 5K race, I hit 50.0 miles for the week, and I realised that I could in fact, at my current modest level of increasing mileage, peak at 65 miles per week just before starting to taper in April. That, with a few more speedwork sessions, would probably put me back up to the level I was last year when I ran a 1:31 half at Queens. In fact with a marginal improvement on my recent Bronx Half of 1:34, according to this calculator, I would get a BQ by the skin of my teeth.

But do I really want to do that?

I keep questioning myself on this. I have kept saying that I'll do Jersey "just for fun", but why would I? Is there any point to running 26.2 miles and putting yourself through that kind of physical pain and torture without some kind of serious goal? If I'm training for a marathon, then wouldn't the whole point of training be to attain a PR at least? Currently I've been giving up on setting PRs (last week's four miler, for example) so that I can get the mileage in for the marathon. But it doesn't really make sense to put in all those miles and give up on the other races just to not set a PR in the marathon. I suppose if it were the NYC marathon, which is where I live, that would be one thing, but to make an effort to travel someplace, even as close as NJ, is more of an investment.

I don't know; I need to think about this and see how the training goes.

From Half to Full

Yesterday was the Bronx Half Marathon and, as I'd already mentioned, I was determined to do it. My first race since December, first Half since Staten Island, and the first Half that I actually raced since Queens, last spring, before I got injured. Plus, the last time I did the Bronx was a year and a half ago, in the heat, and I wanted to see how I'd fare in the cold. And I was much slower back then. My net time in July 2005 was 1:43:32.

Despite my hatred of the cold, it was better running this race yesterday at 10ºF than it would be at 90º. The first couple miles were brutally cold and I honestly didn't think I could handle the entire 13 mile in that weather, but eventually, I warmed up, and the fear of frostbite subsided (I've had genuine frostbite before, and it's not pretty).

But I went out too fast. I went out at my Queens Half pace: sub-sevens. I held on to this pace through until about 6 or so miles, and then gradually started to fade on the Grand Concourse. By mile 8, I slowed to 7:11, and at 10 miles I was down to a 7:23 pace. My last mile was a veritable crawl at 7:38. I averaged 7:12 for the race and finished nearly as well as I hoped, with a 1:34:34, if I recall correctly. Then I jogged out back a bit over a mile and a quarter into the course and back, so that I finished the day with about fifteen and two-thirds of a mile.

Back at the finish area, I caught up with runner26 and chatted while waiting in line for bagels and hot chocolate. She told me about her running the race as a tribute to the memory of her dog, which I thought was very sweet. We parted ways and I ran into another west side Flyer on my way to the D-Train and we rode down to 125th St. together, where I disembarked and trotted home.

The results of this race were encouraging, and I sat down today to work out a training schedule for the New Jersey Marathon. NJ is 10-11 weeks away, and that still gives me some time to ramp up for a marathon. This week, with the upcoming snows (but yay for snow, anyway!) might be a little difficult for running. I'm hoping to cover 45+ miles by week's end. Wish me luck!

The cold, the month, and the races.

Today seems absolutely balmy compared to the last week. I revel in the heat of above-freezing temps! On Monday morning, the temperature was a -24ºC (-11 F) with the windchill. That was nothing though. My brother e-mailed me to let me know that in Canada, it was -40ºC, which is also -40ºF, the temperature at which both scales meet (I will never understand why America uses such a nonsensical, outdated system). This is as rare in Winnipeg as our ridiculously cold temps here in NY this past week. They occur on occasion, but not with the frequency that most people tend to believe they do in Canada. And with that, I will also reiterate that Winnipeg sees 100ºF in Summer (39ºC). Both extremes happily happen in an extremely dry prairie climate, which makes them, albeit marginally, not as bad as the humidity that burdens us in New York City.

February has, for a long time, been my least favourite month, possibly because of having endured the cold of winter and the darkness of the season for some time at this point, but also because, for some strange reason, I historically have had just a whole lot of crappy luck in February. I acknowledge that it might be the aformentioned cold and darkness that have me put on my grey-coloured glasses and thus enhance the bad luck feelings that I have, but nonetheless, it's still the way I feel. Case in point - after my very intense month of work, you'd think things would look better. Instead, I feel a sore throat that I've had since earlier in the week evolving into something of a minor chest cold. Ugh. The one redeeming aspect of the month is of course how short it is, and I rejoice in knowing that, as of today, it is well over a third of the way over and, after only this coming Tuesday, half done.

Today, despite how nice it is outside, I'm not running. Oh yeah, did we forget that I run? Seems that I haven't posted about running specifically since well before the New Year. Anyway, today I'm resting up for the Bronx Half Marathon tomorrow, which will be my first race since December. I'm very interested to see what this course is like in winter as opposed to the heat of July when the event has traditionally been held, but I don't expect any personal records to be broken. I'm still not to the performance level that I was at Queens last April, when I was intensely focussed on 60-70 mile weeks in preparation for my marathon in Vermont. My weekly mileage is probably about 5 miles shy of where I want it to be, due to how extremely busy I've been with other things lately and, to a lesser extent, my aversion to recent weather trends. That said, I've kept my mileage for the last month between 35-40 miles, but only through running typically three runs during the week of 7.3 miles each, and a long run on the weekend. Normally I prefer to run 5-6 days total.

Tomorrow's race starts at 8 a.m., and despite my potential cold coming on, the early start, and the forecast of -12ºC with the windchill (10ºF), I am determined to make it to the starting line. I just have to look at my subway schedules.

At any rate, the weather can't be as bad as last weekend at Nyack State Park, where I went with Jonathan, our Flyer of the Year, our German Rockefeller expert, and a few others. I did two out-and-backs with the German for a total of 18+ miles. It wasn't all bad, as much of the trail was sheltered from the wind, except for about 3 miles, where it was nearly unbearable. I do recommend the paths there, if you've got a ride to get you out of the city.

My target now, should I be able to increase my mileage to at least 55 miles per week within the next month, will be the NJ Marathon at the end of April. Some time ago I was thinking about running Atlanta among others, but taking a vacation in the immediate future just isn't in the cards for me.

We'll see how the training goes.

This was my Sunday, November 5th.

It was a busy day.

I had registered for the NYC Marathon two days before I ran Vermont last spring. It was going to be my backup marathon if somehow (work schedule or otherwise) I couldn't get to run Chicago. Had it been two days after Vermont, where I got injured, I'd have known better. Running 26.2 miles wasn't in the cards for me this fall. Oh well, at least I got a $90 technical shirt out of it.

Since I wasn't running, I threw my name on the volunteer roster for multiple tasks today. Waking up at 5:00, and after first questioning my sanity, I biked over to 86th and Lexington, where I helped out with bus loading duties, simply seeing that all the Flyers getting on each of the five buses had checked in, were accounted for, and seeing that all possible seats were filled before sending the bus on its way to Staten Island. Despite the early hour, it was really enjoyable, and through the weary morning smiles, I could feel the slight nervous tension about the upcoming race. I said hi to a lot of Flyers, met a fellow Flyer's sibling who was also running, and even saw an old teammate from Hood to Coast, who came in from Seattle to run NYC.

I biked home and reset my four alarm clocks (yes, four) for 8:30 AM. I was too nervous to sleep, though, so I got up and made myself a huge-ass breakfast of french toast. At 9:15 I jogged over to the subway and headed down to 92nd and 1st Ave, to the PowerGel Zone for the 10:00 AM shift. Here we donned our aprons and coloured t-shirts, were briefed on PowerGel Zone ettiquette, and prepared the area for PowerGel distribution.

It was a blast. First of all, I was in the chocolate section, my favourite flavour. Realized later that I should've shoved at least a few in my pockets before I left. We were beside the music and grooving, and I had the luck of being surrounded by great people that I already knew. It was great to see the wheelchairs and lead runners fly by, and once the traffic increased, the PowerGels were quickly being picked from our hands. I joked with a friend that it felt like trying to catch fish! Unfortunately, I didn't give away very many before my shift was over, and while I was having a lot of fun with the group, I had to leave at noon for other important things.

Another friend, the Speedy Gonzales of the Flyers, had asked me for a favour: to provide him with a personal gatorade stop one block before the PowerGel Zone. So I headed over to the mile 18 marker and waited with a squeeze bottle of sports drink.

Besides the $90 technical shirt that I received from registering, I also got something else that proved invaluable: a running bib. I stripped off my Powergel garb to my running gear underneath, and thus, with my bib pinned on, I could actually stand under the mile marker on the course. While the police were pushing the crowds back onto the sidewalk, nobody messed with me. Awesome.

Speedy's window to hit 18 miles was between 12:07 and 12:15 PM. I waited, Gatorade in hand, for only two minutes into that window for him to arrive. I passed him the bottle, and ran with him for a bit while explaining how the thing opened and closed, and he zipped away. I learned later that he achieved his goal of a sub-3 hour marathon, and, to my satisfaction, beat Lance Armstrong by less than half a minute.

I considered momentarily going back to the PowerGel Zone, but someone had already claimed my chocolate shirt. instead, I got myself together and headed up 1st Avenue, on the marathon course.

I stopped by our resident piper to chat for a moment on the Willis Ave. Bridge. After a quick "How are things going?" exchange, I left him to toot on the bagpipes again and I continued an easy jog along the course.

I waited for my next appointment at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. I was supposed to be there at 1:15 or so, but arrived very early and waited for quite awhile. I saw a few Flyers go by, and some Canadians. I cheered for all of them. At 1:13, two minutes ahead of schedule, Sister Smile came into view.

I had asked SS a couple of weeks ago if she would want me to run with her for those last few miles. I was a little nervous about this. I'd never tried to pace anyone before, but during my marathons, I'd always wished I'd had ssomeone there for me to push me on. I was worried that either I'd push the pace too hard and run her to exhaustion, or be too conservative with the pace, drag her down, and make her miss her time goals. But she said yes, that it would be helpful to have someone run with her, and suggested I jump in around 22 miles.

She was running strong, and when I jumped in, just before mile 22, she was in control. She complained that she felt terrible; that she hurt badly. I told her that it was a marathon; she's supposed to hurt badly. For the next four miles, I did most of the talking. I talked about how well she was running. I commented on her 26-mile fan club everytime someone yelled "Go, [Sister Smile], Go!". I tried to make a few jokes. I talked about blogging. I made off-coloured remarks about how good she looked in those tights that I saw her in the other day. Most of all, I hoped my babbling wasn't wearing her out.

Whatever I said, it didn't matter. Her dedication to training and those 60+ mile weeks had clearly paid off, and when we hit mile 25, she was clearly going to reach her goal. I had never talked to her about it. I had never wanted to put that much pressure on her. I was always spouting off about just enjoying the marathon; enjoying the experience. But then we entered the park off of Columbus Circle, and along that last stretch of the West Drive, as we hit the 26 mile mark, we could see the clock at the finish in the distance hit 3:42:00, and she was first to say it:

"I'm going... to qualify..."

"That's right," I replied. "You're going to Boston. Congratulations."

And I peeled off to the left to let her finish on her own what she started on her own. I caught up with her later in the Family Reunion area, and gave her a big congratulatory hug. She finished with a clock time of 3:44:13. She needed a 3:45 for Boston.

Me, I expressed my uncertainty about my pace, my dialogue, and my jokes during our run together, and I took special notice that in response to this she said something to me that I don't think I've ever heard a woman say to me before:

"You said all the right things."

We chatted for awhile, and then I went on my way as she was reunited with other loved ones.

As I headed towards home, I also, coincidentally, ran into NYFlygirl as she was leaving the park. She also had a great race, and achieved her sub-4-hour goal, with 2 minutes to spare. I congratulated her and continued wading through the crowd north. Back in the park, I ran two loops of the reservoir and then ran home. I was surprised running up the west drive that I didn't come across more runners. I think I passed only 5 runners total, which was quite strange. After all, it was such a beautiful day for a run. Hee.

My total mileage for the day was 5 miles of biking and 13.1 of running.


Later, I met up with the Flyers at an eastside pub for post-marathon drinks. Many goals were met, and there were many smiles around the bar. It was great to hear the war stories and relive the excitement. We talked about what was next on the horizon for races and marathons, and people were excited and optimistic, including me.

At the end, the two holdouts were me and our Speedy Gonzales. We talked about running and many other topics before we walked back to 86th and Lexington, where the day had first began, and then we separated to catch our subways home.

It was a good day.

The Vermont City Marathon: A learning experience

A great number of things went wrong for me at the 2006 Keybank Vermont City Marathon. My NYFlyer buddies and I went for dinner the night before the race, and one of the jokes that came up was that, if you're going to make mistakes and have a bad race, it might as well be one that you don't really expect to obtain a PR in anyway. So that's just what I did.

I lost any expectation to set a PR in this race due to the weather. The forecast the morning of the race was up to an 84 high, under sunny skies. This was absolutely not in my control, and even though I'd been obsessing for the last week and a half about it, I could accept this. However, I still had hopes for a PR, and even now, after the race is over, I think I could have set one, had a number of other factors not interfered.

Now let me say that indeed, the the heat was just brutal. We went to a course review session at the expo on Saturday, and I will verify that where the Race Director described that there was going to be full sun, she was dead on. However, where she said there was going to be shade, there was little. The temperature at the start of the marathon was 62, and when I finished, just before noon, it was in the upper 70s, with a "real feel" in the mid-80s. I am very sun-burned. You can even see the outline of my iPod armband on my upper arm.

As for the other factors: for starters, my hip bursitis, which I thought had completely gone about a week prior to the start, decided to return for the marathon. It didn't really kick in until the halfway point, but it gradually got worse and worse, until mile 18, when I realised I was limp-running. By about mile 21-22, the pain was extreme, and I couldn't get my right leg to extend forward without a jolt of pain shooting through my side.

Not that I could have run at mile 22 if I wanted to. Also at mile 18, (maybe because of the limp) my left calf began cramping up. And to follow, at about 22-23, my right calf decided to join in the fun and cramp up as well.

But truly the folly in this race was my own fault. In my training, I had worked so hard on speed and the pursuit of shorter distance race PRs, that I didn't spend enough time concentrating on marathon pace training. As a result, I just plain went out way too fast. I hit the wall earlier than any of my previous marathons, at mile 18, and walked for a bit. When I started to run again, that's when I cramped up.

From then on, it was a tragic attempt at limp-running and walking. At one point, I had rested long enough that I really felt energetic enough to power forward, but with the pain shooting through my hip and the feeling that my calves were about to explode, my legs just wouldn't have it. It was the weirdest thing - I'd try to run, and just be able to perform this hopping, limp-gait thing, that made me visualise Terry Fox, attempting to run across the continent on one leg, back in 1980. When I'd almost break into a good stride, my calves would cramp and I'd almost fall over.

I won't put all my splits here, because really, it's just too embarrassing. I will say that I averaged sub-7s over at least the first 4 miles, my Half Marathon time was a near PR of about 1:34, and my last few miles were near a 12-minute pace. After reading this, please don't give me advice about going out too fast and pacing myself, as I believe that is pretty self-evident.

I finished in 3:44:43. My priority after crossing the finish line, was to get some ice for my hip. The entrance to the medical ten was barely 5 ft. ahead of the finish mat. I veered into the entrance, and when I stopped, my legs cramped, buckled, and I fell, just to be caught by a big burly medic. My left calf was exploding in pain. I couldn't stretch it out, and the medical guys helped me into a wheelchair and found me a bed to sit on in the tent. A few minutes later, I left with some acetaminophen, and an ice pack tucked into the side of my shorts. I had to go back to the finish area to collect a medal, though, which I had forgotten about.

This wasn't the worst finish time of the three marathons that I've done, but it certainly was the most excruciating race of the three. Fortunately, there was free beer and ice cream at the finish - two of my favourite things to get for free - so I was happy with that. And it was good to have the company and support of my fellow club members, who arrived shortly after me. The two other Flyers had pretty good finish times, and seemed satisfied... or at least, more satisfied than I was, anyway.

In the immediate future, I plan to not run for a couple of weeks so that I can fully rid myself of the bursitis problem (lest it become chronic). I still hope for a Boston Qualifier at Chicago, but this race has definitely taught me the value of learning to pace myself over greater distances.

Hopefully, it will be cool and cloudy at Chicago, but judging from my first three marathons, I just don't seem to have that kind of luck. Fingers crossed.

82º

Despite some annoyances along the way (my flight got canceled 5 minutes to departure) I arrived in northern Vermont yesterday, mid-afternoon. We checked out the Expo yesterday afternoon, where I resisted the urges to buy more tech clothing. I walked out with a bag of Powergels and a belly full of Ben and Jerry's samples. My Flyer roommate and I had dinner downtown and we called it an early night. I slept for nine-and-a-half hours. He's still crashed out after nearly 11.

The first and last time I was in Burlington was at last Hallowe'en. It was cool weather, the leaves were off the trees, and kids were running around out on Church Street in full costume. I remember little clowns, fairies, and spider-men everywhere. It's very green here now, Church street is outfitted with bustling outdoor patios, and kids and tourists gather around the costumed buskers and street performers for their entertainment. I'm hopeful that with the lush leafiness covering the city, there might also be a bit of shade along the course.

The local forecast is for an 82º high tomorrow. That's 62 at the 8 AM start and 75 by noon. We've actually been in pretty good spirits despite those numbers, looking toward a long "fun run", with phrases like "yeah, the forecast looks bad, but ya never know how you might do."

The other Flyers are coming in this afternoon. It's going to be a fun race, whether any of us survive it or not.

giving up on goals

Well, the bursitis is gone, but Mother Nature has now taken the throne as queen of my running problems. As of this morning, the forecast for Burlington on Sunday is 80 degrees and sunny. In other words, hell on earth.

When I initially decided to run a spring marathon, I had thought of it as something to do just for fun, to keep my training up between NYC and running Chicago in the fall. The strategy worked well - it kept my running up during the otherwise unmotivational winter months, and increased my level of performance. Indeed, I've had personal bests in every race distance I've attempted since the end of January, even surprising myself with my own success rate, from a 20:11 5K, to a 1:31:33 half marathon.

Somewhere along the way I got caught up in goal-setting. By the time April rolled around, I realised that not only could I be able to PR in this marathon, but a sub-3:20 was not unrealistic. After my success at the Queens Half, I was urged by myself and my running mates to shoot for the Boston Qualifier at Vermont instead of Chicago. I sat down with a dozen different online calculators and crunched the numbers. Nearly all of them gave me a range of 3:10 to 3:15, and I need a sub-3:15 to qualify for Boston. It looked like I was well on my way.

When you convince yourself that a goal is within reach, and get your heart set on obtaining that goal, it's difficult to go back. After my recent daily obsessing over the forecast, I've finally accepted the fact that it's just not going to get any better. I'm now trying to approach this marathon as a "fun run" again, although I'm not sure how much fun one can have running 26 miles in the sweltering heat. I jogged 3 miles at 8:00 this morning. It was 64 degrees and sunny, and after the first mile, I was already hot. Can I PR in weather like this? Maybe. My NYC'05 marathon PR is 3:32, and the course is supposed to be easier, less hilly. It appears that the weather will be similar, but unlike NYC training, which took place over the summer, I'm not used to hot weather running, so there might be more walking involved with this marathon. I have to prepare myself for the possible reality that I might not even break 3:32.

Yes, I'm disappointed, frustrated, and trying to figure out some kind of a "Plan B". All the work I've done training, all is for naught, or so it seems anyway. If I didn't have a plane ticket and a hotel booked, I'd probably drop out.

I'm trying to find a bright side to this - the scenery will be nice, there will be a lot of crowd support in the nice weather, and regardless of my performance, it's still good training experience for Chicago. Besides, there's reported to be free Ben & Jerry's at the end of the race, and hell, I'd run 26.2 miles for ice cream any day.

Feeling Better

Well, my bursitis is better. Not gone, but much better. I stopped taking ibuprofen yesterday, and last night I ran a hard 4+ miles, and I felt great. Today it hurts a teeny bit, though, so I'll probably pop a couple more pills, and do some more icing and stretching, just to finish the damn thing off. I hope that by Monday or Tuesday I'll be totally back to normal, running-wise.

The extended forcast for Burlington, VT, has next Sunday at 75 degrees, with scattered showers. Hot and wet doesn't make for good marathoning weather, or at least, much less likely for a Boston qualifying time, which would be my ideal goal. Keeping an eye on weather.com to see what happens.

College Point to Burlington

This week I had an ITB problem that I thought would be the ruin of me at the Queens Half. Instead, what it did was essentially force me into a taper, reducing mileage so as to not aggravate the injury. Saturday at Queens, I had a huge PR. It was one of those races where I began to doubt the positions of the markers because my splits were looking too good. Without the pain in my hip, I'd have been shooting for a 1:33 net time, and that would've been optimistic. Instead, I finished at 1:31:35 net. This works out to be a 6:59 average pace. I had initially worried that I went out way too fast, as my first few miles were hitting a 6:45 pace, and my mid-miles started losing speed. However, somewhere I dug up the reserves to bring the last two in at a sub-7 minute pace again, so it would seem I was doing something right. Plus I didn't fall on my face like at Brooklyn. Not falling on your face is always a good thing.

As for the Queens course, which I hadn't done before, it had it's good and bad points. I really wonder how they chose it. I couldn't understand why we would go so far out just to run a double loop. You're slightly closer than Brooklyn, but at Brooklyn, the course ends roughly 6-7 miles from where it starts, and you can get a subway back from Prospect Park, instead of being tossed about on those nasty school buses. There are already so many double loop half marathons in Central Park (Grete's, Manhattan, More, etc.), and you'd think Queens is a large enough borough to not have to do a double loop. And I know for certain that there are some beautiful parts of the borough that actually don't have such a combination of very tacky (awful! awful!) houses and industrial/strip mall areas to run through. However, the waterfront and the views of the bridge were pleasant, and I enjoyed the setup of the finish area in MacNeil Park. One positive thing that I liked about the double loop was the staggering of mile markers, so when running one loop, the other loop's mile markers functioned as half-mile markers.

Anyway, Brooklyn is still my favourite course, but I can see a lot of faster times coming out of Queens, as the weather is more favourable and people are generally better trained at this point. I still haven't done Staten Island, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the sweltering inaugural NYC Half Marathon in August.

Today my ITB is causing me grief again. This is bad timing, to be sure. This coming week I should reach my peak mileage before I start tapering for Vermont, at the end of May. I'm hoping that with proper stretching and icing, I can get the miles in this week and start reducing the next, so that the ITB problem subsides and I can have a decent marathon, four weeks from today.

According to the charts, both online and off, and with course and weather conditions being similar, a 1:31:35 Half should translate into somewhere between a 3:15 to 3:20 Marathon. So I am indeed on track for a 3:20 at Vermont, and a more distant goal of a 3:15 at Chicago, which would qualify me for Boston. Of course, I can't control the weather (or so I'll have everyone believe, anyway), so if a monsoon hits Burlington, or we have sweltering weather like New York has had during the last three years, I'll just be happy if I can beat my NYC PR of 3:32. By all accounts so far, the course is reportedly easier than NYC.