“The wonderful thing about athletic achievement is that it is finite. There is no ambiguity. You did it and no one can ever take that away from you.”
— Sara Mae Berman, three-time Boston Marathon winner
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At last, actual training for my late May race in Newport, OR has commenced. I’ll be training for 19 weeks (including taper weeks), although I’ve only got a schedule for the next three months at the moment, but that’s more than enough to handle for now.
Here are the differences between “training” and “basebuilding,” at least as far as what Kevin has provided:
The first week of training was, frankly, outstanding. My training diary notes that Tuesday’s tempo run and Friday’s 2 x 1 mile intervals felt way too easy. I have trouble accepting what seems like a jump in fitness at face value, tending more toward blaming the notoriously inaccurate technology I rely on when running inside (uncalibrated treadmill plus sort of calibrated footpod).
I took things outside on Sunday, though, for a half marathon in Central Park. And I was delighted to discover that I could run fast under rotten conditions and less than ideal logistics. So now I’m thinking that I am fitter and faster after all.
Week 2 includes a nice, long tempo session on Wednesday followed by 5 x 1K repeats on Friday and a 20 miler on Sunday. I’m looking forward to it.
Filed under: basebuilding, central park, coaching, racing, recovery, training | 13 Comments »
I went into this race with no expectations and goals that were on the casual side. No time goals, loose pace goals — basically a race strategy predicated on this concept: run as hard as you can for 13+ miles.
I had my usual terrible night’s sleep before the race, about six hours and two Rozerem pills. I woke up groggy and sporting big suitcases under my eyes. My thighs ached a bit, I had a stiff left achilles tendon, and basically didn’t feel that great. Experience tells me to ignore such things as predictors of race performance. I’ve had days when I’ve felt great and have run like crap. And vice versa. So I ignored how I felt, banished all negativity from my mind, and went in with as good an attitude as was possible in wind chills of around 5 degrees F.
Jonathan decided to run this race, despite his better judgment. He has about 9% body fat and practically gets hypothermic if he so much as watches “Touching the Void.” His hands are especially susceptible to cold and we’ve spent the last couple of years searching for the perfect hand warming solution (and finally found it in the form of Primaloft mittens, insulated liners and disposable chemical hand warmers).
But, enough about cold hands. What about the race?
We got there later than I’d wanted to, as I was scheduled to do four miles of easy running, worked around the race. With a PA system blaring threats of tardy runners being forced to start in the back , I did a truncated warmup of a little over a mile. Then spent 10 minutes trying to locate Jonathan at Baggage — critical since not only did he have the bag with my costume change, but also my racing bib. Found him, changed into my minimal running outfit — thin tights, tech tee, light fleece, thin gloves and thin hat. I retain heat like a wood stove (which is probably why I race so horribly in the summer), so I can get away with very little clothing, and usually end up shedding the hat and gloves after a few miles.
Then, the dreaded potty break. I got in line at a women’s room and it took 10 minutes to get a stall. Women really need to get more efficient at dropping their drawers and getting things done quickly. By the time I got to the start, the race had begun a good six minutes earlier. So I was stuck in a mass of slower runners and for the first six miles I had deja vu of the Bronx Half last year, when I started 10 minutes late and spent the entire race blowing past people.
So the first half was a drag. I was running wide around the crowd (and getting yelled at constantly by race marshalls for not staying inside the cones). Things cleared out on the second loop of the park and I had room around me.
Despite feeling like warmed over dog food this morning, with the exception of one bad patch after mile 10 when I felt queasy, I felt great during the race and enjoyed running fast. I spent the entire race passing people (always an advantage to starting late). In fact, I passed Mary Wittenberg (NYRR’s president) — finally, finally beating her in a NYRR race by 30 seconds. It’s stupid, I know, because she’s older than I am and, as such, is actually fitter than I am. But she always beats me, so it was fun to pass that milestone today.
Official time: 1:36:06. Not my best time, but I suspect it’s my strongest performance in a half so far, given the course and crowds. I was 9th in my AG, “top 10” rankings becoming a pattern for me, and 52nd woman overall.
Jonathan managed to get second in his AG despite not having trained for this. He ran it as a fitness evaluation race, since he’s been focused on coming back from a tendon injury sustained over the summer. But he was on the verge of hypothermia when we met up and has vowed to not run any more races in the extreme cold (which may mean I’m on my own for the some of the training run races coming up in Connecticut). He’s also officially decided that he hates running in Central Park for the exact same reason that I love it — the constant ups and downs — and so will not run any more races there.
Today’s race fun fact: The women’s race was won by Arien O’Connell in 1:23 flat. Regular readers of this blog will remember her as being at the center of the Nike Women’s Marathon maelstrom a few months back. Her half is equivalent to a full slightly faster than what she ran in San Francisco — with Central Park being an arguably harder course. So she’s getting faster…
Filed under: central park, racing | 13 Comments »
And yet more stats to pore over: 2008 stats for the top men’s and women’s marathon performances in this country. These are provided courtesy of TheProfessor on the RunningTimes forum.
Next month, MarathonGuide.com publishes its annual review of statistics for marathons in this country, the USA Marathon Report, covering 2008. Here’s a link to the 2007 edition so you can see what’s coming.
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Jim2 has updated his excellent statistical examination of Boston Qualifying races and times to include 2008 figures.
And for those of you looking for easy award pickings, this handy chart showing winning times (open and by age group) for the 226 US marathons included in his study can help you plan your next smackdown.
Who knows? With just a little more training, maybe you could be the next Kelly Jaske.
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Just a little post, since it feels odd not to post something.
Today I am celebrating:
I’ve been stuck inside on the treadmill so far this week. But that’s been fine. It’s a recovery week, so I’ve spent most of those miles zoned out in front of a movie at recovery or easy pace. I did a fast finish easy run on Tuesday that felt a little too easy. This morning I’m doing a longer easy run again with two intervals of 1 mile at 6:40 pace with a 3:00 rest. I’ll see if that feels easy (ha ha).
Sunday is my first real race since the Steamtown Marathon: The Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park. I had a good race there last year and, weather permitting, I hope to do well again this year. I don’t have time goals yet, and I may even just run this by heart rate.
Either way, I don’t want to waste the opportunity to race all out. I’ll be running three more races in the coming couple of months, but those will be training runs. The next actual race is in late March, a 30K in Connecticut, nine weeks after Sunday’s half. It should be very interesting to compare relative performances between the two.
Filed under: central park, racing, training, westchester | 9 Comments »
Random stuff:
I received my age group award from Steamtown. I’d forgotten all about it, actually. So it was a surprise to receive a large plaque in the mail today. It now graces our “bar table” along with a few other large, ugly race awards. I like to mix the evidence of Calvinist discipline with the accoutrements of Bacchanalian excess.
I got a hit from the best web search string ever today: “hot central park runner girls”
I’m sure the Googler was sorely disappointed with the result.
It’s looking like I have a chance of doing my 14 miler tomorrow outside! The ice on our walk and driveway melted today, so I’m hopeful the running path is similarly ice free. That is, until the next snow/freeze event, which is scheduled for tomorrow night.
I still have a contract job! (Good). But my hours were cut by a little under 20% for 2009 (Not so good). I’m trying to look on the bright side: This makes running 90+ miles a week a bit more manageable. And I can always spend the extra time looking for additional freelance writing/editing work. It sucks, but it’s not as bad as being unemployed.
That is all.
Filed under: everyday life, racing | 7 Comments »
A notable week for two reasons:
First, three days of doubles were reintroduced after many, many weeks on a luxurious once-a-day schedule; back-to-back doubles, no less. I was a little tired on Wednesday morning after Tuesday’s longish easy run. Fine by Wednesday afternoon. But Thursday’s longer session, complete with intervals, completely wiped me out. That evening I was reminded that this was how I felt all summer long. I was grateful for the little 3 miler on Friday.
The other event of note was running the Ted Corbitt 15K as a training run. I probably ran it a bit too fast, since I didn’t adjust the plan for the conditions. Or not. I’m pushing the paces slightly on all of my quicker runs these days. I can’t help myself. It’s a long way from 3:19 to 3:05 and somehow, with only five months to do it in, I feel very pressed for time.
The weather has been dreadful. We’ve had one big snowstorm, followed by a ministorm the next day. And it’s been wickedly cold. I don’t mind running in sub-zero temps, but the cold is trouble when it means the ice and snow can’t melt.
We’re in for a day or two of warmer temps and rain, so I’m hoping that will wash away a lot of the mess in the streets and on the running path.
Week 6 is another ~85 miler, with some tempo running, intervals and an 18 mile run on Sunday. And Christmas, on which I will run not once but twice.
Filed under: basebuilding, racing, training | 5 Comments »
This was toward the end of the race, since I'd been trying to pass that woman in blue for eight miles. Note the efficient heel strike.
It seems fitting that for the inaugural race to honor Ted Corbitt — known as the father of American ultrarunning, among numerous other distinctions — we would have truly treacherous and trying conditions. A race of 9.3 miles is hardly an “ultra.” But today’s race felt a lot longer than it actually was.
Despite yesterday’s surprise storm — which dumped six inches of snow on NYC, followed by sleet and a plunge in temperatures — a few hundred hardy souls convened on Central Park’s 102nd St transverse this morning to honor Ted. The race was declared a “fun run” to discourage people from going nuts and turning it into a speed skating event. Our timing chips were collected and we were on our own to judge our performances against the clock, the conditions and our peers.
I’d been looking forward to this race for weeks, since it was slated to be a true HTFU* effort. Just how HTFU it would be wasn’t clear to me until I actually headed into the city this morning and saw the conditions we’d be running in: Temps in the 20s with wind chills between 7 and 18; a steady 8-10mph wind from the north; an outer loop coated in a thin layer of semi-frozen slush; transverses consisting of hard-packed snow. I’d say about 15% of the course was totally clear of snow or slush — I can see exactly where those sections were when I look at my GPS route map vs. the speeds I was running at various points.
Not only was I scheduled to run a 15K race, but I also needed to sandwich it in-between 9 miles to make an 18 mile long run. I ended up with a total run of 16.8 miles. The trains and subways were delayed, so I had to cut my pre-race run from 4.5 to 3.5 miles. Then I ran the race. Then — and this was the last thing I wanted to do — I set out to run the third leg. That ended up being 4 miles since the wind chill plunged 10 degrees in the final 15 minutes, my feet were soaked, and I was on the verge of hypothermia.
I do this for fun, remember?
Race time (unofficial): 1:09:10. I’m very pleased with that time considering the crap I ran through, on a course that’s normally pretty difficult anyway. Average pace was 7:24, but I managed a 6:55 for mile 7 (nice downhill) and a 7:07 for mile 9 (flat).
There were so few of us running that the volunteers recognized me as I did multiple loops. Three cute guys, all bundled up and huddled together, saw me approaching prior to the start, with a race number. At first they were confused, thinking the race had started and I was in the lead. Then they figured out that I was just warming up and instead yelled, “You can do it!” For some reason, we all thought that was hilarious. A few others noted that they’d seen me three times rather than two (since I passed by them on my third, extra leg of 4 miles), with one cajoling me, “You can stop running now!”. I thanked a lot of volunteers today.
Despite the conditions (and the considerable effort it took to get there and back on foot from Westchester), I’m glad I did this run today. Central Park was stunning, with a fresh, white coating of snow over everything. People all around us were sledding, cross country skiing and throwing snowballs. A winter wonderland oasis in a city where snow otherwise presents little more than a filthy burden.
After struggling to get out of my wet shoes and socks in a portapotty and endeavoring to get the feeling back in my fingers, I didn’t have the energy to trek the quarter mile to get a half frozen bagel from the boxes on the 102nd St transverse. Unfortunately, the one piece of food I brought with me, a PowerBar, had the appeal (and consistency) of a slate roof shingle; frozen solid! So I found a great little diner on 103rd right across from the subway stop, Jimmy’s, where I got a toasted bagel and hot chocolate.
*Harden The Fuck Up.
Filed under: basebuilding, central park, eating, racing | 8 Comments »
For those of you without TV or radio, the east coast is in the midst of a major snow dumping. We’ve gotten about 6 inches of snow so far, and it’s still coming down steadily. I trudged into Manhattan today via foot, train and subway to pick up my race bib and chip. Surprisingly, there were other idiots at NYRR’s offices doing the same thing. But I wonder how many of them came all the way from Westchester. I’m the biggest idiot, dammit! Me! Me!
And apparently the online world abounds with still more idiots. I’ve had hits from lots of people using keywords related to tomorrow’s NYRR race in Central Park, the Ted Corbitt 15K (formerly known as the Hot Chocolate 15K). The search referrals started last week and picked up to a frenzy (eight searches) today.
I don’t dare drive in this mess tomorrow. The traffic report today was comical: “It’s accidents, accidents, accidents all the way up the NY State Thruway and I-95!” So, I will again make my way in via shoeleather express and public transportation. And, since I’m not only racing tomorrow but also doing 9 training miles around it, I’ll need to arrive in Central Park at the ungodly hour of 7:30 at the latest. That means leaving the house by shortly before 6:00.
The alternative is doing this run inside on the treadmill. Frankly, I’d rather run with a bunch of other idiots in sub-freezing temperatures and high winds. Anyone who’s ever done an 18 mile training run on a treadmill will understand this. Besides, there’s free hot chocolate and bagels awaiting. And, if some of the faster runners turn out not to be idiots, I could always place well in my age/gender group.
Filed under: central park, racing, training | 3 Comments »
Races Like a Girl 