3

What did I do today?  Like most hygienically-friendly folks, I took a cold shower to wake myself up this morning.  Wait.  That was my 4-mile jog, which included the final 2.2 miles of the marathon course.  It was 46 degrees with wind and rain … awesome marathon weather … if you are sadistic and live in Wales.  Fortunately, the forecast for Sunday still looks favorable.  Despite miserable conditions, I was in high spirits … 3 days away!  I noticed as I turned into CP that the actual mile markers (signs) are up.  I’d be lying if that did not incite quicker turnover on what was supposed to be a steady state run.  I wound my way south down Cat Hill to briefly exit the park and run along Central Park South (still on course) and turned back into CP when I saw the bleachers outside of Columbus Circle.  [Whoa … it’s getting real.]  I made my way up the final 400 meters near Tavern on the Green and in all its resplendent glory …

Oh yeah, today was also Expo Day.  Really Expo 20 minutes because that is about all the time I spent at the Javits Center.  My mission was to get the bib, bag and make a quick swing thru with my wife.  I was specifically looking for items for her and the kids (for putting up with this marathon stuff), but neither of us was inspired enough to make a purchase (nor wait in the insane lines).  I’m a bit jaded on the Expo as this is my home turf and I am fortunate enough to see gear year around.  Expos are important but generally for out-of-town folks looking to take a piece of the event back home.  All good, just not my thing.  More importantly, I wanted to get off my feet.  I got me some running to do soon.

It’s almost time … 3.

 

4

This morning I shuffled around the Reservoir for a slightly longer easy run (6 miles).  The international contingent is definitely here … their excitement (and bright colored gear) is palpable.  The temps creaped up slightly from yesterday … 44 degrees, which meant that a double layer of thin gloves did the trick … no frozen fingers.  Unless another severe cold front hits us, I would imagine low-40s for a 9:40am start on Sunday.  BTW – other than a minor flare up, I have not obsessed over the weather much.  [Side note: I seem to be in the habit of brief moments of anxiety that go away forever … I had 10 minute a marathon freak out about a month ago, but have been calm since.  Same deal with weather.]  The forecast for Sunday does look favorable:

On the food front, I have not yet begun “carbo-loading” … I hate that phrase.  I have not necessarily been depleting, per se, either.  Since late last week, I have reduced my normal intake of carbs (no rice, pasta at all, but eating bananas, popcorn, some candy) while increasing protein (chicken, eggs) and all the goodness from my everyday spinach salad.  I’ll slowly start introducing carbs tonight (Cheerios) and ease into them more tomorrow and the succeeding days.

Tomorrow?  Pick up the bib, etc. at the Expo.  I went last year to take it all in … tomorrow I want to get in and out quickly and get off my feet.  I’ll post bib, wave and tracking info later this week.  Until then, 4 …

5

And the excitement builds …

Thursday:  I had been waiting for that “I’m ready” moment for the last few weeks.  I’ve had great workouts, but more of the check the box variety.  In the final tempo of this cycle (and last hard workout), I had my moment.  We ran a simple 5mi tempo at HMP finishing the final 2.5 along the actual marathon course.  Our coach prohibited warned us against sprinting or striding those last few miles in hopes of creating muscle memory for 11.7.2010.  At the time, I just wanted to execute the workout properly and fall near the HMP range (7:15-7:20) without doing anything stupid … yeah, I’m defensive.  So I started off … well behind Runner’s Kitchen, who I knew would be hammer this one.  Some of her speed must have rubbed off because with zero effort I was at 7:23 after the first mile.  Feeling good I fell into the downhill on Mile 2 (7:09) and at that point realized I had something going.  When I glanced down at the watch after Mile 3 (7:13), I decided that I needed to pull back, because I was getting loose and itching to hammer it.   I eased up during Miles 4 & 5 (7:17 each) and then could not resist opening up a tad for the final 200m as we passed the bleachers at the finish line 0:44 (5:38 pace).  When I stopped, I had a subtle fist pump going as I knew I was ready for NYC.  Overall 7:13 pace.

Friday: Scheduled rest day.

Saturday:  I took another reconnaissance mission at 7:45am and 45 degrees along the final 10 miles of the course.  While it was definitely productive and time well spent, I can’t take too much away from the experience.  Why?  I had fresh legs on Saturday, while on race day I will have 16 at race pace under the belt when I start the final 10.  Still, I did observe that miles 16-22 are relatively flat, including Willis Ave. and Madison Ave. bridges.  The world changes when you hit 110^th and 5^th Avenue.  The hill is not so much steep as it is relentless.  A solid 20 blocks of grinding up hill.  I did my best to imagine feeling like crap and grinding thru this stretch.  We’ll see how it works this Sunday.  Once you re-enter CP at 90^th, it is all too familiar and I, without, thinking quickened the pace from sheer excitement.  The workout ended up being a progression … 8 miles at easy pace with the final 2.5 at MP, again finishing at the NYC finish line.  10.5 miles.

Sunday: Uneventful 3 mile shakeout.

Before I forget, October results:

 

	October
Days Run	22
Total Miles	200.2
Mi/Day	9.1
Running Time	27:49:31
Avg. Pace	8:20

 

200 miles is not bad for 2 weeks of taper, plus a mini taper for the tune up race in the middle of the month.

Monday: Scheduled rest day.

Tuesday:  No CPTC track workout for me tonight.  The camaraderie is always great, but at this point, trudging down to the track to run a few easy miles in the dark seemed risky.  I’m still defensive.  Instead, I opted for a dawn cruise + 4 x 300 w/ 100m recovery.  As I was warming up (in 38 degree temps) on the Reservoir, I was very happy to run into Runner’s Kitchen who was doing the same thing.  We jogged for a loop and then I begged off to get to the intervals.  Our coach told us these were to just get the heart rate elevated and generate some pop in the legs.  Results – :62, :66, :63, :63.  I felt relaxed and in control.  It was the last chance to get some turnover before Sunday.  I finished up with another spin on the Reservoir and ran into an elite decked out in hot Nike gear.  I did not recognize him … not one of the profiled elites, but clearly someone near the top of the heap on Sunday.  5 miles.

And now, the countdown really begins.  5.

So … How’s Taper Going?

Meh.  I know enough not to magnify minor aches and pains, but they are still annoying.  I try to avoid the disease cocktail that is the subway, but it’s a challenge as the buses are crazy crowded after work and I’m impatient.  While full on hypochondria has not overtaken me (yet), I do walk around with a bottle of Purell like it’s the magic potion.  I will say that I was more excited about the race a couple of days ago (I’m certain that it will come back).  I’m finding taper is not some otherworldly elixir… “then poof you feel great”.  Runner’s Kitchen posted an interesting article about tapering.  The point is that taper is more like rehab.  Beating up the body for 4 months requires a few weeks of repair before the big day.  Even though I’m about 50% thru the taper, I’ve given up on “feeling amazing”.  If it happens, great.  In reality, if I can avoid doing anything stupid in the remaining workouts, stretch and eat properly, then the physical is about is good as it’s going to get … which is all you can hope for come race day.  It’s 200% psychological now.

A few workouts have passed since my last post:

Sunday:  I mentioned to a couple of CPTC teammates that I’m not great with heights and not necessarily fired up about running the bridges during NYC.  I don’t have any storied history with fearing heights, so it was kind of a surprise when I was driving over Bay Bridge in October and nearly started convulsing.  That experience unleashed a fair amount of anxiety about 4 months of training potentially getting flushed down the toilet if I freak out on any of 5 bridges greeting runners on marathon Sunday.  In an effort to work thru any potential issues and to see unfamiliar parts of the course, a teammate graciously agreed to accompany me.  To top it off, it was his birthday.  I felt bad that I would be shuffling along at turtle-like long run pace when he is a 2:39 marathoner.  He’s a good friend.

We started at the SE corner of Central Park (60^th & 5^th Ave) and zig-zagged thru midtown until we reached the FDR path along the East River.  This is principally the same route I take to the track for Tuesday night speedwork.  Once we reached south of 6^th street we veered west to begin the ascent up and over the Williamsburg Bridge (connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn).  I’m sure I complained as we went over it, but in hindsight, it was not horrible.  That said, my thoughts about WBurg really do not matter since it’s not on the marathon course.  Still, I felt no anxiety at all crossing the bridge.  In fact, I kept looking around and marveling at the spectacular views … so that’s a good thing.  We touched down in Brooklyn and proceeded to traverse Miles 11-16 of the course.  The signs detailing the route were already up, which is exciting.  We worked our way thru Brooklyn, cruised over Pulaski Bridge and then scaled Queensboro bridge (connecting Queens and Manhattan).  The latter is a beast.  No sense in kidding you or me.  At that point in the race it’s just accepting punishment and grinding thru it.  In fact, aside from now being able to visualize the completely foreign portions of the course, the run was important in the sense that my teammate gave me advice regarding the quiet spots (e.g., Hasidic section of Williamsburg in Brooklyn + pretty much most of Queens + the bridges) and the need to really focus.  We finished up on 72^nd and 1^st Avenue back in Manhattan.  A very educational and enjoyable 14.5 miles.  This upcoming Saturday, I plan to run the final 10 miles of the course which includes both familiar and unfamiliar territory.  More reconnaissance work.

Monday:  Normally this is a scheduled rest day, but with plans for a day trip on Tuesday, I needed to get the speedwork done.  Our coach distributes our weekly workouts on Monday night.  Therefore, I would be my own coach so to speak.  I researched the type of workout assigned 2 weeks before NYC 2009 and Boston 2010 and decided to go with it.  8 x 600 @ cruise interval pace (with 200 recovery).  Since I was not heading down to the track at 6:45am, I took my talents to the East Drive of Central Park and got to it.  Results: 2:21, :19, :19, :19, :20, :20, :17, :10.  In effect,  6:31 pace down to 6:01 pace, which is fine.  I felt in control.  After a brief cool down, I called it a morning at 6.4 miles.

Wednesday:  5.5 mile slog in 70* and 90% humidity.  Eff you summer.  This was a slog.  Felt like garbage.  But for all the great advice I’ve received about recovery runs, tapering, etc., I might have been worried about my fitness and 11.7.2010.  And I’m not even going there about the weather and what if’s.  Instead, I was just glad to turn the page.  On to the next one.

The Final Hurdle?

After surviving the capstone 22-miler (last 10 @ MP) last Sunday, last night represented another milestone workout on the road to the NYC marathon.  It’s a workout that I have yet to successfully execute with my teammates.  2 x 4mi (no recovery) with the first 4mi loop at MP and the second 4mi loop at HMP.  Big time progression.  Back when the CPTC road crew was prepping for the Boston Marathon, I completed a single loop and called it a night.  My second attempt was a solo effort when on vacation this past summer.  Last night, would be my shot at “glory”.  I had no excuses as it might have been the very best night to run I’d ever experienced … low 50’s and slight wind.  Anticipation among the team was at a high … big turnout, lots of focus.  NYCM is on the horizon!  A major litmus test for all of us.

I viewed the workout as an opportunity to execute a mini portion of my marathon plan.  Start conservatively (at or slightly slower than MP), get into a rhythm and then drop it to a comfortable level.  In short, stay control.  Results only told part of the story: 1^st loop = 7:44, 2^nd loop = 7:23.  I jogged the first loop and maintained reasonably consistent splits thru the up and downhills (7:46. 7:41, 7:47, 7:39).  The point was to keep a sizable reserve and turn the screws on the second loop.  After easing into the 5^th mile, I got into the HMP range without expending much energy (7:39, 7:22, 7:25).  I was pleased with this level of execution … keeping it very comfortable and in the flow.  The final mile came and the urge to turn it up was hard to resist, as it’s largely downhill (Cat Hill) heading back to the start.  I fell into the downhill naturally and maintained a decent cadence to finish off (7:08).  Overall for the 8 miles = 7:33.  This is right in line with where I want to be.  I felt strong throughout and kept the energy distribution at an acceptable level.  I left a lot in the tank and felt like I could have run comfortably at that pace for awhile.  Unlike the actual marathon, last night there were no fluid stations.  Also, I will have the benefit of the full 3 weeks of taper.  Right now, I am 5 days into taper.  All signs are pointing in the right direction.  It’s almost time and I’m nearly ready.

Snapshot of a 1st Time Marathoner’s Build Up

We have completed the build up portion of the training program.  Woot.  Now the small bit of tapering properly and that thing on November 7th.  Since I have closed the major portion of the training cycle, I thought it might be interesting (to me at least) to dissect the build.  It seems like yesterday when I embarked on Pfitzinger’s 18 week / 70 mpw plan.  Ha.  After fumbling around thru much of July, I abandoned that madness … I’ll likely follow it for my 2nd marathon.  Instead, I lunged for the 55 mpw plan and it agreed with me (and my family).  Now, without further adieu, below is a brief snapshot.  If the info below is not sufficient to satiate or makes no sense, feel free to either leave a comment and I’ll respond.

			Number of  Sessions:
Month	Workouts	Miles	Speed	Tempo	17mi+
July	27	193	3	4	0
August	22	229	1	4	3
September	22	213	4	4	3
October	13	128	2	2	3
Totals	84	762	10	14	9

What does any of this tell me, or you?  By integrating both the guidelines of Pfitzinger’s plan, my coach and CPTC workouts, I had a reasonably balanced program.  NOTE: ANY AND ALL CONCLUSIONS DRAWN HEREFROM ARE SUBJECT TO COMPLETE REVISION AND DENIAL BASED ON THE RESULTS OF 11.07.2010.  Had to toss that in there.  Seriously, though, I don’t see many outliers here.  July was designed as a slow burn month with no longer runs to speak of.  In fact, I struggled to properly execute a 12 mile run for most of the month.  In my defense, I (and any other idiot) running in NYC in July might as well have been running in the Amazon.  I found my stride, so to speak, in August and have not looked back since.  When I dive into the actual workouts themselves, I would have certainly liked to execute the tempos better, but that’s water under the bridge.  At bottom, I am where I am.  And based on today’s capstone long run, I’m in decent shape.

While the final exam is on 11.7.2010, today was progress report day.  22 miles w/ 10 @ MP.  Early steady state pace 3 x 2.5mi BPN (8:54, 8:49, 8:42). Erred on side of caution with MP portion – took it to Rez (dirt, flat) to keep left quad happy. Understood I’d be slower on dirt, but I’ll take that trade-off for now. Aside from health, it was a practical move too. There was a walk-a-thon with gobs of people taking up well over half of the roads in Central Park. Battling with cyclists, walkers and runners on the remaining half did not seem productive. I’ll get plenty of road work in next couple of weeks (CPTC tempos + running last 10 of NYC course). On Tuesday night, our coach told me don’t be surprised if I’m a little flat for the MP portion due to 4 months of build, peak weeks, etc. As usual, he was spot on. Legs were slightly flat, but still near MP @ 7:36 overall w/ 6 x 1.58mi Rez (7:45, 7:39, 7:32, 7:40, 7:35, 7:35, and .37mi @ 7:15). Afterwards, more steady state miles on outer Rez. In all, reasonably satisfied. I kept waiting to feel terrible during the MP bit, but it never came in full force. I bounced between feeling decent for the vast majority of the run to “this is more work than it usually is” (briefly stopped to GU after 3rd loop). Idiot tourists were out in abundance on the Rez, but I was not shy about shouting at them. Growling “coming on your left” is understood in any language. Today marked my 4th 20+ miler of this cycle and concludes the build up portion of our show … on to the taper.

Cruising Along

I’ve been reading many Chicago marathon race reports.  Some brutally honest, others more introspective and some euphoric.  All informative.  Congratulations to all finishers, but especially to Eat, Drink Run (my CPTC teammate) and Training Hard, Hardly Training.  Terrific efforts under tough conditions.

New York still seems far off, but as we all know, it’s inching closer.  I’m fine with that.  I still have a bit of work to do, but the hay is almost in the barn.  As always, I’m receiving top-notch advice on tapering and dealing with race week.  I’ll get to more of that as I enter those stages.

Since my last post, I’ve had solid (if not uneventful) workouts, including a well-executed 18-miler on Sunday and smart, cruise-controlled track session on Tuesday (4 x 1k, 3 x 300m) 4:11, 4:03, 4:06, 3:53; 57, 58, 58.  Feeling slightly beat up heading into a fairly moderate 4mi tempo tonight.  I’m planning on a longer, slower warm up to ensure all the parts are in working order.  Other than those items, just trying to navigate the last week of the build-up.  We are starting to see the first signs of NYCM descending on us … good stuff.  Below is an ad feature another CPTC teammate (Sid Howard) and his wife.  Sid is a running legend.

26 Days until 26.2

With 26 days until NYCM, where am I? If I follow my calendar correctly, this week marks the last of the build-up. Taper begins after the 22 miler (last 10 at MP) this coming Sunday. Assuming all goes well, I will have put up four 20+ milers, a 19, two or three 18s, etc. Bottom line is that the endurance bit of this training business will be in the can. That in itself is a minor victory. I imagine that I will enjoy the taper. Rest and me tend to agree. I’ll focus heavily on speedwork (Tuesday nights), plus more striders at the end of easier runs. Also, I plan to take vacation days during marathon week, with my legs in the air (more on that in a later post).

It’s interesting how the training comes together. I spent most of July (192mi) fumbling in an effort to develop a plan that works for me. August (228mi) is when I felt like I finally got it right and began progressing. September (213mi) was the physical breakthrough month, in that the body started acclimating and accepting greater distance and intensity. Preliminary view of October (74mi) is the sharpening of the mental edge has begun. Rather than focusing, “ok, let’s get this 18-miler over and move on.” It’s “let’s add yet another positive story to the memory bank to draw from on 11.7.2010.” I’m still a 26.2 virgin, but my take is if you put in the physical, all that is left is the mental. Meaning that when the waves of feeling terrible come (and they will) it’s critical to be able recall that rain-soaked 21-miler, that tempo progression (4 x reservoir loops) when I competed hard and executed well with a much faster crew or grinding thru 20 degree CPTC tempos in February.

No doubt the fight is largely physical. It will hurt. There is no getting around it. Nonetheless, the ability to draw from these positive training experiences will be the difference between getting lost in the pain or sidestepping it until the good feelings re-emerge (and they will).

Where Have I Been?

Clearly, I have not been blogging.  Why?  Most likely because I’ve bored myself silly with posting the mundane facts of my training sessions and trying to stretch them into something newsworthy had become comical at best, and annoying, at worst.  How many different ways can I describe the joy of hill repeats, tempo runs, etc.?   Unlike much more interesting, hilarious and consistent bloggers, I blog only when I have something unique to offer.  Lately, I have not had anything compelling to share.  In a way, this is good.  Training continues rolling along (for the most part) without highs or lows.  Chopping the wood.  As such, I took a hiatus … not from the workouts (blasphemy), but from describing them.  Unless something truly noteworthy occurs, I’ll save you from the nuts and bolts of my daily regimen.  If you are paralyzingly bored interested in this aspect of marathon training, you can dig into the gory details of my training log (link below).

For example, last Saturday, I kind of had a tune-up race.  You can read the good, bad and ugly here.  Suffice it to say that while I PR’d by 6 minutes, I learned a valuable lesson.

So, with 29 days to go until New York, where is my head?  I’m not letting you off that easy.  Come back tomorrow as I intend to start opening up about the mind game as we get nearer to the Day.  :-)

Laundry Day

As the title suggests, today is a day for cleansing (and more traveling – by train today) … cleaning out the staleness of this blog with an update …

Thursday.  Before my flight back to Gotham, I jumped up and banged out an easy run.  The route was similar to the one I followed during Wednesday’s Wind Sailing experience with the addition of circling around the local area a bit more.

It was a fairly pedestrian 10.3mi run … albeit the scenery was fantastic.  To me, SF / Bay Area is the most picturesque city in the country.

Friday. I’m less than pleased when I need to consult the calendar to determine the last CPTC workout I attended … September 7^th.  Good grief.  Since I was flying home on Thursday, I had to miss yet another workout.  This absence stung more than most because I missed my favorite session … hill repeats.  I love them … they hurt deeply, but provide so much stimulus for improvement.  The last (only) time I’ve run them with the team was back in April as folks were preparing for the Boston Marathon.  I captured the experience succinctly with the title: 6 x Hell.

Since my fitness is better, I did not expect such drama this time around … in particular because I would be running the repeats solo and at 6:30am.  The workout consisted of a 2k pickup at 10k pace, 3 x 500m hill, 3 x 300m hill and recovery jog back to the start of each rep.  The results:

I blame the extended pickup on pre-dawn grogginess.  Frankly, at that hour I could not remember if Coach prescribed a 2k or 2mi pickup.  Nonetheless, I felt surprisingly decent for attempting to get some turnover going before the sun came up.  It took the first 2 intervals to fully shock the system awake.  I still can’t believe the pickup was quicker than the first interval. Gah!  After the legs and lungs found harmony, I started to lock in and turned the screws a little.  With a HM tune up on October 2^nd, it was time to build confidence to scale these same hills when it really mattered.  The overall effort felt consistent.  I never sprinted (obviously with those splits), but rather focused on form (leaning slightly forward, keeping stride length short, not pumping arms too much, etc.).

All things considered, it was a solid workout.  Still, I would have much rather have run with my teammates … group suffering and whatnot.  FWIW – I felt like death the rest of Friday because of the travel, cross-country flight, early rise and hard workout.  That said, I’m glad I got the workout in because I believe I would have felt far worse if I had postponed the repeats until after work on Friday … more likely, I would have bagged them entirely.

Saturday. After that April hill session, I was extremely sore for 3 days, especially the glutes.  This time around, when I woke up, I only experienced minor aches in both calves.  My first reaction was that I didn’t hit it hard enough.  Soreness is generally evidence of a hard effort.  Instead, I felt leg weariness during the 7+-mile recovery slog.  At least that’s something, right?

Sunday. Long run day.  Whooo! Whooo!  Not really.  As you will see why in the Weekly Running Review below, I woke up kind of tired.  Fortunately, the plan called for a mid-distance run of 16-18 miles at steady state.  Uncertain of how the body would respond to anything quicker than easy pace, I was thankful.  Similar to last Sunday’s 21 miler, I incorporated both BPN and extended BPN loops (including the same Harlem Hills from Thursday’s repeats).  You might wonder why more hills?  Answer: They make legs strong like bull … good hard training.  While it took the first 3 miles to get into any kind of rhythm, the 17 miles in total felt pretty decent (8:30 pace). The other noticeable aspect of Sunday’s and Saturday’s runs were that I did them without the iPod.  Since we are 5 weeks from Marathon Sunday, it was time to put the music aside … I won’t be racing with headphones so it’s time to put them away.  No noticeable difference … except I was slightly lighter on my feet.

After the run, I scooted over to 5^th Avenue to cheer for my teammates racing the 5^th Avenue Mile road race.  At one point I thought of entering.  There was too much risk of injury and as you will see, I did the opposite of taper this week.

Weekly Running Review (Week of September 20)

Day	Type	Miles	Pace
Monday	Recovery	7.49	8:34
Tuesday	Rest	0.00	0:00
Wednesday	Speedwork/Intervals	10.15	8:04
Thursday	Recovery	10.26	8:36
Friday	Tempo / Hill Repeats	7.95	7:58
Saturday	Recovery	7.14	8:47
Sunday	Long Run	17.04	8:30

Total Mileage:	60.03
Total Running Time:	8:25:09
Pace:	8:25

Observations: I went to 6 days this week and a lot of hill work in preparation for the half marathon this Saturday. These are certainly the dog days of training.  Legs are heavy and the emotional rush of 20 milers has waned slightly.  But with only 2-3 weeks of hard training left before the taper, it’s time to nut up or shut up.  Time to run with More Fire.