NYC Recap #windWindWIND

I said I was going to recap the NYC Marathon at some point. So it is now or never. The results can be found here. I opted for the Overall Men's results. I'm at the bottom- 95th.

Nutshell: I'm pleased with how I fought through it, and how I ran over the last 8-10 miles when the race got tough. I'm happy to be in the Top 100 Men at NYC; that's something! I'm happy to be under 2:40. In the same breath I am disappointed. I thought 2:33-2:34 was doable. I was likely in the best shape of my life. If not for a poor weather day, I would have had a massive PR.

Pre-Race: Well, a Polar Vortex rolled through that dropped temps to the low 40s during the day and 30s overnight, with winds that whipped through at 20-30mph! Race day the rain had disappeared but the wind was a steady 25 mph head on. Not ideal. Far from.

The Race: I made the amateur mistake of starting about 4-5 rows too far back. The result was being behind a ton of riff-raff at the start on the Verrazano. First mile was 6:30 or so, which was tough work getting blown sideways. As I kept rolling down the hill I was asking people what they wanted to run and the general mood was "shrug"- aka "this wind has thrown my plan out the window." So I settled into a group around 4 and realized I was going too slow. If I wanted to make any sort of attempt at the mid 2:30's I needed to move up.

There's one problem with moving up: wind. When you moved to the front of a group you got stuck taking the brunt of the wind. Over the course of a mile or so, somewhere in Brooklyn, I made the move to hopscotch up a group. It took me a solid 25 blocks to latch on. But my perseverance paid off as this was the group I would stick with into Manhattan. I sat in the back and tried to zone out, just listen to the rhythm and go. Problem with that strategy: everyone in the back was dangling off, so you needed to be ready to skip up to the back of the guys in front as people peeled off.

From 14-20 I struggled. It was. Tough stretch into Manhattan over the Queensborough, and then down the wind tunnel that is 1st avenue. By the time we turned around in the Bronx I was trying to count down miles. At 23 in Central Park I realized I needed to get a move on to make 2:40. I started to count down guys as I upped my tempo. If not for that realization 2:41 was happening, as I had no motivation to keep going.

Bottom line: Fun in retrospect, terrible during. I'm good with NYC for a while.

On the road...

Back on the horse. My NYC recap never happened, or might happen, or... Alas I'm back.

The road to 2:29 is being paved each day. Might be a short country road or a long interstate. Goal is to build to it.

This week is 70-75 miles, a step up from 45 the week before. Much is made of the 10% rule. During regular training cycles, it is a handy rule of thumb. When rebuilding from a peak? Less helpful. Your body can tolerate more, otherwise you'd do 25...+2.5! Etc. Tomorrow is tempo. We'll see how that goes. Should be easy, but it's in the cold so who knows.

The Final Countdown

The taper is in full effect. 60 measly miles for the week, but 7 days of running. I've made a concerted effort to maintain routine, not aim for longer days of running (and fewest days). Schedule is important to me. Result has been a good, fresh feel.

My last few workouts have been great. Starting with my most recent...

-5 miles at 5:50-5:55, 1 mile at 5:30 (5:50 average) today

-10x800 in 2:33 average (all 2:32-2:34), with 2 minutes rest

-9&1 (5:52 average)

-2 sets of 4 miles with 3 minutes rest. 22:29, 22:18. (5:37/5:32)

-10 miles in 71:30 (easy), then 3 sets of 2 miles in 5:49-5:50, 2 min rest

-7&1 (5:45 down to 5:17)

-18 miles with the last 13 in 6:10.

One workout left before shutting everything down. It's 4 miles in 5:50, followed by a fast mile. We shuffle off on Thursday and the race is Sunday. I'll blog more on Wednesday, and do a race wrap on Sunday. At some point I'll reflect on the whole cycle. Right now? Check the box and get set for 26.2 miles in the city.