Full report to come - 2:53:39 NYC marathon - what a day! Thank you all for the support
Full report to come - 2:53:39 NYC marathon - what a day! Thank you all for the support
This is awesome RC! Congrats! You CRUSHED it on a very hard course. Can't wait to read more.
I had, I think, a strong week. I also am posting in the RR thread so this is a bit duplicative. That said, my times mesh a bit better with this crew.
Week ending 11/3:
Monday (10/28): 10E. Avg. 7:45/Avg. BPM 149. Felt OK. Some pain behind left knee.
Tuesday (10/29): 6E Avg. 7:38/Avg. BPM 148. Felt great. No pain.
Wednesday (10/30):
Q2: 8E+3T+3' Rest+2T+2E (Total 15 miles). Avg. 7:09. Avg BPM 160. 10E miles total around 7:40 avg. 5T miles 6:23/6:10/6:18/6:08/6:11. Legs felt great.
Thursday (10/31) : 10E. Avg. 7:52. Avg. BPM 151. Felt great. Little niggle in left knee around mile 5 but disappeared quickly.
Friday (11/1): 8E. Avg. 7:49. Avg BPM 150. Felt awesome.
Saturday (11/2): 8E. Avg. 7:23. Avg BPM 148. Felt good. Cold so wore mittens and couldn’t wake up watch. End result was running faster than desired.
Sunday (11/3):
Q1: E+3T+60' E+1T+1E (Total 16M). 3 warmup miles averaging 7:42 before entering the 3T portion of the workout. I ran mile posts instead of following Strava and had 6:00/5:58/5:50. The effort felt hard but controlled and I immediately continued into my E miles. I averaged 7:22 for this 8E section and ran directly onto the track for the last T mile which I hit at 5:55. Last E mile was 7:24. Overall it was a hard but good effort.
Total Miles: 73. New mileage PR for second week in a row!
Thoughts on this week
1) I dropped below 180 lbs for the first time since early high school. I am eating a ton but the weight just seems to be falling off.
2) My legs feel good. Despite the pretty steep increase in mileage I feel like I am responding well and getting fit pretty quickly. No real injury concerns to speak of.
3) I am running my T miles too fast for my VDOT. I am pretty consistent on pace and don't feel like I am stretching. I think this is a product of still being pretty underdeveloped aerobically as the M paces for this VDOT seem right for me.
4) I am finding the day after a Q workout is a good day to get in 10-12E. Slow longer runs seem to help me recover well from harder efforts.
5) I am running a HM next Sunday. I want some redemption from a total bonk back in October. I am hoping to run a negative split 1:25. I am thinking I will run it as something in-between a workout and and a race. I will go out and run the first 8-9 miles at M pace and then see if I can close hard. I am not going to back off the miles too much this week. The Q workout does happen to be a shorter/fast track workout of 1k and 400s and I will back off the 2 days prior and run 6Es both days to try to get some bounce back.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Finally back at home - what a great day - ideal race conditions (low of 40, high of 50 or so, Sunny) - its an early morning - you take a 5:30 ferry to Staten Island, a bus to the starting corrals, and then wait around for a few hours until the corrals open around 8:45. Luckily I just moved from NYC so had a few friends to connect with an relax. Had a great sleep the night before, generally not too nervous about these things (its a hobby and life could be a lot worse, right?)
Three phases to my race
Phase 1 - I ate too much...ugh.
About 30 min from the start, noticing that I am still very full from the bagel I had about 2 hours ago - gave myself 2.5 hours, but it was just lodged in my stomach....was hoping it would digest...it definitely did not - started the race feeling like crap, heavy, and my HR was higher than it should have been - for the first 8 miles, was just trying to settle down my stomach and heart rate - did not feel that well. Skipped my mile 4 and mile 6 chews - forced down the mile 8 chew because I knew that I had to take it... Saw my wife, kiddo, and friends at mile 7, and they said I looked angry. My wife knew something was up.
Was also concerned because these miles did not feel that easy - everyone always told me the first half is a breeze...but, first 8 mile splits actually were great - (big hill mile 1 aka the bridge)
1) 7:05
2) 6:01
3) 6:29
4) 6:28
5) 6:28
6) 6:31
7) 6:34
8) 6:38
Phase 2 - cruise control
Stomach now under control, I started enjoying the run and becoming more positive. I make it a point to be extremely positive in these events / runners around me because (1) its a fun day (2) we are competing only against ourselves and (3) enjoy the camaraderie. Just kept eating the miles - thinking to myself "get to the half", then "get to 10 left" - pretty much ate up miles 8-22 with no sweat. Splits and HR were solid. High 160s / low 170s HR - I know I can hold mid 180s for over an hour so was trying to set myself up for a strong finish. Was taking in chews just fine. Was doing a little bit of water every other mile (more on this later)
9) 6:34
10) 6:29
11) 6:33
12) 6:27
13) 6:32 (half split 1:25:58)
14) 6:31
15) 6:50 (queensboro bridge - took this really easy)
16) 6:46 (down queensboro - took this realllly easy to give myself a "free mile")
17) 6:42
18) 6:31
19) 6:36
20) 6:32
21) 6:36
22) 6:25
Phase 3 - alright lets Gooooo...oh wait...
Cardio is feeling great - HR is at a place where I can still have a conversation with the person next to me - I am ready to ramp up last few miles. Wait...what do I feel? Is my right hamstring about to cramp? WHAT? IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING??? i know that if I cramp, I could reallly de-rail my performance and possibly not BQ, so I ramped up my cadence to ~210-220 to "shuffle" my way out of the cramp....(usually my cadence is about 195) - I survive mile 23.
23) 6:37
OK, about to see my family for the last time - CRAP - my LEFT hamstring now?!?!?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? I shuffle my way out of that one - take in some gatorade - and survive going up the "5th ave climb" -
24) 6:59
Gatorade takes its toll - HUGE stomach cramp - I feel like I'm running hunched over...still shuffling probably 210 cadence, i try to open up my lungs and get through it - mile 25 is about not stopping and loosening up. I know I just need to finish to get a great time, not time to push it.
25) 6:46
Finally, stomach cramps go away and hamstrings feel OK, but I know it can change at any moment. I decide to just cruise to the finish, nothing crazy here
26) 6:49
second 13.1 = 1:27:43
Finish = 2:53:39
5k splits = 20:16/20:11/20:30/20:16/20:57/20:14/20:23/20:57
Get to the finish line - right shoulder completely locks up - can't move it for 2 hours! Such a weird feeling. But, its over, and it was a great day!
Congrats runnerchef! Well done, and a fine write-up. Thanks for the thread, too. It's been fun. Lots of success stories.
last chance runner wrote:
Congrats runnerchef! Well done, and a fine write-up. Thanks for the thread, too. It's been fun. Lots of success stories.
it has been! Oh, and I got a fist bump from Meb at the finish. NICE.
Great race report! Also, remarkably even 5k splits. Sounds like a pretty dramatic last 3 miles although the mile splits don't tell the story the way your report does.
It must feel amazing to see all of your hard work pay off. Congratulations.
Congratulations runnerchef! Solid performance!! And with the problems you had there it's even better!
Agree with the others, thanks for this thread, it's been really motivating and nice!
Agreed! Congrats runnerchef. Great time and race report.
Had my dress rehearsal 7 miler today. It's go time Saturday morning in Indianapolis for me. Temps will be a bit cold 27ish-37ish
Wow, congrats RunnerChef. Especially on that course!! You crushed it!
highhoppingworm wrote:
5) I am running a HM next Sunday. I want some redemption from a total bonk back in October. I am hoping to run a negative split 1:25. I am thinking I will run it as something in-between a workout and and a race. I will go out and run the first 8-9 miles at M pace and then see if I can close hard. I am not going to back off the miles too much this week. The Q workout does happen to be a shorter/fast track workout of 1k and 400s and I will back off the 2 days prior and run 6Es both days to try to get some bounce back.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Congrats hitting another weekly PR -
My recommendation for sunday - go for the PR. Back off on race pace / tempo Today and Tomorrow and go for it! If you end up on track for a big PR, just cruise last 2-3 miles (vs. making that final "push") - let us know how it goes!
epg0 wrote:
Agreed! Congrats runnerchef. Great time and race report.
Had my dress rehearsal 7 miler today. It's go time Saturday morning in Indianapolis for me. Temps will be a bit cold 27ish-37ish
NAIL IT! Post the report when you can!
Way to go! What a great run. Really solid splits.
Sorry about the GI issues. I wonder if that caused some of the cramping later (e.g., stomach needing to empty, shifting fluids, etc.).
2:59.14 at Indianapolis Marathon!
Not sure if that is going to be good enough for a BQ, but I'll take the sub 3!
Full report to come once I pull my life together.
Congrats for another sub 3 and runner chef I’m not sure I sent congratulations as well. Awesome runs all.
Also epg extra congrats for going for that BQ and nailing it. I think we’re both hoping they expand the field for next year :)
Free_the_thigh wrote:
Congrats to all the runners who broke 3!
Last chance runner: Yup, I gave this marathon cycle all I had, but wasn’t able to get there, so I think before the next one I’ve got to get the basics down and improve upon my speed. My plan is to wait until I get a 5k time equivalent to at least a 2:55 time (haven’t decided on exactly what time goal yet) , then do the same with my 10k, then do the same with a half. Depending on progress I would like to try to shoot for sub 3 again next late fall, but I don’t want to push it. Want to make sure I can cleanly break sub 3 next go around. I’ve also never trained and peaked for a 5k, so I’m excited to see what I can do.
Unfortunately, since my marathon I’ve been suffering from a weird foot pain, so I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to get back to running properly. It feels like a tendon issue, but not like pf.
I’m eager to get back out there.
Foot pain has gone away now, mileage is climbing back up (at 38k so far this week, and plan to do 15 tomorrow to finish the week over 50k)
Did my first park run 5k and finished with 19:01. Which is a pr for me (mainly because I’ve never properly raced a 5k). Happy with the result, and good benchmark to improve from.
Anyone have opinions on a good 5k time to achieve before attempting sub 3 (one that signifies I can safely go under 3, like 2:55 or so)?
I’m thinking sub 18 is a good goal before moving up.
THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:
Also epg extra congrats for going for that BQ and nailing it. I think we’re both hoping they expand the field for next year :)
Thank you sir.
What did the cut end up being for us last year? Is the only hope at this point they expand the field with a 2:59:14? I couldn't move any faster! Hah
GREAT job, runnerchef!! NY is a tough course!!
I thoroughly enjoyed your race recap. There are definite stages to the marathon, and I’ve found that near the end of phase II, I start saying crazy things to people around me. As you say, it’s the “camaraderie phase”!
Phase III is where it all goes down, and those struggles you had with cramping stomach, hamstrings, require a tremendous force of will to overcome.
Great job, man!!!
epg0 wrote:
THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:
Also epg extra congrats for going for that BQ and nailing it. I think we’re both hoping they expand the field for next year :)
Thank you sir.
What did the cut end up being for us last year? Is the only hope at this point they expand the field with a 2:59:14? I couldn't move any faster! Hah
It was 2:58:21 for 2020. Traditionally it gets faster. Maybe since it’s #125 they want to avoid some bad press!? Idk I’m hopeful at 2:56:53, but not confident. I do think they’ll expand but I’m not sure that will be enough.