Category: Races

The Effects of Training on Man-in-the-Cold Marathons

First things first, it’s done.

Today I completed the 2010 ING New York City Marathon. I completed it in 3:27:27 (7:56s), which bests my fastest NYC Marathon in 2005 (3:28:03). I bested it by only 36 seconds. Cut to the unofficial deets…
Unofficial Garmin Results:

Now the official deets!

Place Gender Place Age Place Runner No. Finish Time 5 km 10 km
4300 3776 746 3711 03:27:27 00:21:48 00:43:23
15 km 20 km 13.1 mi 25 km 30 km 35 km 40 km Minutes per Mile
01:05:43 01:28:41 01:33:55 01:53:54 02:19:14 02:46:48 03:14:58 07:56

Notably, I did really well in the beginning. Apart from the first mile uphill on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the first 7 miles I did sub-7:00s. The next 3 miles I did in about 7:13s. Still not bad. After mile 10, I started to fade a bit. And upon hitting the Queensboro Bridge inside mile 15, I was getting decimated. After Queensboro, I was running in the 8:00s and the times kept creeping up. I was slow and weary by the end, and I was really trying to push to make sure I didn’t lose to my 2005 time.

I was predicting a 3:20 finish, and I was hopeful that I’d do better than that. My hopes were confirmed early on when on 4th Avenue when I was keeping such a good pace. 4th Avenue is generally flat with some rolling hills on which you can pick up a few downhill seconds. And picking-up was what I was trying to do. After mile 8 there is a long hill with which I don’t have a good relationship but I kept my pace up pretty well, dropping only about 20 seconds per mile from the first 7 miles. Sounds a lot but still pretty fast. But it was around mile 19 that I noticed my hopes were dashed for finishing a 3:15, and at some point later I realized that even a 3:20 was out of reach, and around mile 25 I realized, Shoot, this is gonna be close but it looks safe. Once I was in Central Park, it was a little too close for comfort when competing with my 2005 time.

Physically, I’m funny. I weighed about 177 lbs. going into the race today. That’s heavy for me, probably mostly attributable to carb loading I was doing this week. So I probably looked a bit flabby for me. (I did Pilates in the morning today but I really haven’t been able to cross-train because I’ve been so extraordinarily busy that I just don’t have the energy to fit in another draining activity.) I dropped about 5 lbs. during the race (net), consuming a number of PowerGels and fluids. But I’m funny not just for the weight. I’m funny because I did the whole marathon shirtless! The start temperature on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was about 41 (F). With wind chill, it was in the 30s. It felt awesome to be in the crisp air shirtless, and that’s how I prefer to run because I get hot easily and I didn’t want to get sensitive/bloody nipples. I heard a small number of people cheer me on calling me “No Shirt!” or “Shirtless!,” which was funny because they were probably cold and couldn’t relate. Myself, I was so happy.

And physically, my body worked fine. I ended up with nasty bloody chafing on the inside of my left thigh from my bike shorts, but I didn’t even know it until Elizabeth pointed it out to me when we met up after the race. When I got home, I saw I had a bloody toe but it wasn’t bad, either. After the race, I was moving like an elderly man: I felt like Elizabeth and my brother Charles’s grandpa in the speed at which I was moving and the attention I needed after the race. (I just trusted they were understanding of my condition.) I took 2 ibuprofen when I got home, but my right knee is really sensitive/sore/pained and it’s getting worse. It’s probably not serious, just the result of the kind of abuse I gave it today, but it’s slowing me down. I couldn’t keep up with my brother who walked slowly with me after we came home from dinner!

As for disasters, nothing too big. Around mile 17 I went for the PowerGel and noticed a lot of it wasn’t going into my mouth, AND INSTEAD IT SHOT ALL OVER MY HAND AND LEFT PEC! (And I have hair on my chest.) Fortunately, though, the Poland Spring station was just after then and there were coldwater sponges which I used to clean myself up on the run. And between mile 24 and 25, when I was passing the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, for 1 second I suddenly drifted a bit to the right as if I was going to faint! I snapped to it immediately and was a little on-guard for the next bit to make sure I didn’t faint, especially so close to the finish. The last bit of the race was tough, but what awaited me was seeing Charles and Elizabeth on 210 Central Park South, and of course the Finish Line.

I ended up with some gastric distress after the marathon was finished. I’d had eggs this morning as well as some yogurt. I’m thinking that in the future, eggs would be a potentially bad idea. They weren’t bad, but they may not have sat well in my stomach over this run and potentially could spell problems or disaster. I got out for runs; I don’t want to have the runs!

Overall, my feelings about my results are mixed. I’m really happy about the first 10 miles. I’m somewhat disappointed about the remainder of the race. I’m happy that I beat my 2005 time and made a PR for this course, but I’m a little embarrassed 2010 was so close to my 2005 time. But in considering my demanding actingwork schedule–which is a blessing for an actor–it’s a wonder that I was able to get in training at all. Also considering the incredibly hot summer we had, it’s a wonder I didn’t just throw in the towel. It’s been a tough time for training.

And I’m not even done with training. In some sense, the 2010 ING New York City Marathon was just a training run for me. In two weeks’ time, I’ll be in Philadelphia to run yet another 26.2 miles. It’s a flat, fast course. I’ll have the benefit of having “gone long” in training for that. Last year I did it in 3:07:32, qualifying for Boston, but I’ll just (ha, “just”) have to do a 3:15 to qualify this year. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect. Heck, I don’t know what to expect tomorrow when I wake up! But at least I’m a bit better trained for Philadelphia … at least for now. Yet another busy acting week awaits me …

Thanks for following along and showing your support. It means a lot to me just to ask and take interest. Lotsa photos coming soon.

Encouraging!

This morning I ran the Atlantic City Half-Marathon in 1:32:43 (7:05s). I came in 54th place overall, 39th place of 408 males, and 10th place of 119 people in my age group! 10th place! Woo-hoo! I ran the race with Elizabeth Corkum, who invited me to the race. She did impressively herself, running the 13.1 miles in 1:39:39 (a PR for her!), equating to 7:37s. She came in 95th place, 28th place of 492 females, and 10th place of 139 people in her age group!

We both were 10th place in our respective age groups!

Here are the overall Half-Marathon results. And here are the Garmin deets from my race:

Unofficial Race Results:

For this race, the starting temperature was around 50 degrees with mostly clear blue skies. It really was a fantastic weather to start in. My first mile on the Boardwalk was a swift and painless 6:28. From there, I was slower in my miles but not very slow. According to Garmin I did 7:04s and a lot of my times hovered below 7:04 through 8 miles. After then I started to lose a little steam, heading back on the Boardwalk but for a monotonously long distance (well, 3 miles), slowing to hover around 7:15s. Still not bad, but I had a 2x Caffeine Tangerine PowerGel around Mile 10 or so to give me some oomph.

As I took the turnaround just around 11.05 miles and headed back, I saw Elizabeth and put out my hand to high-five her and give her a cheer of support. Yea! My run to the finish was supposed to be the steepest part of the run, but I didn’t notice any kind of incline. I was pretty taxed though, and while I saw the finish from quite a ways away, I didn’t muster up that much of a finishing sprint. I did get a little sprint on … well, maybe just a little of my “showy” robot arms.

How did my body do? No pains to report! I took an ArginMax, quercetine, and ibuprofen, and a green tea complex was also in me. I also had one of the aforementioned PowerGels about an hour before the race as food. About the worst injury I got was chapped lips from windburn–the course was generally windy, though the winds were calm at times. My calves are pretty sore, though, and it’s a little tough getting up from a seated position.

Overall, I’m pretty encouraged by this finish time. It’s not a personal record, though it is 7:05s. 7:05s is somewhere around where I want to be for marathon pace. While I wouldn’t be able to carry that speed today over 26.2 miles, I’m positioned in a place to know how I can perform in race conditions up to the distance of 13.1 miles.

It was a great trip! Thanks for inviting me, Elizabeth! 🙂

… And Then It Was Done

Today I ran the Continental Airlines 5th Avenue Mile. I didn’t bring my Garmin to track my race, but it goes from E. 80th to E. 60th along 5th Avenue. Last year I ran it in a surprising 5:19. This year, I set my goal as 5:45 and I ran it in 5:40. I was a little disappointed and sad with my results, but come to think of it, given that I’d done 18.35 miles a little more than 12 hours before, I didn’t do that bad. Here’s video from the event:

Watch live streaming video from nyrr at livestream.com

The temperature was about 66 degrees and pretty favorable for a run, though at this temperature, speed starts to diminish a bit. I started about 20 feet from the start line, so I didn’t have as good of a position as last year. When the gun went off, I had to fight a little to get some space, and I nearly hit a guy who was clutching his hamstring right after his start, notably an acute injury he unfortunately experienced. (He actually finished, though!) While I was steady up the hill from 75th St. to 71st St., I could tell that my body just wasn’t in a position to output superspeed. Things seemed in “soft motion.” I hit the 1/4-mile mark around 1:21 and the 1/2-mile mark around 2:30 (I think just after mounting the hill). That it took me 2:30 to do a half-mile disappointed me a bit because I was on pace for a 6:00, but I quickly relieved and focused when I realized it was downhill for a bit so I could pick up some time. This year I was able to push myself better in the long distance to the finish (which you can see for a while), and I knew I came in under 5:45 given a start a few seconds after the gun. Elizabeth came to watch and I heard her say my name just before I finished.

I had hoped for most of the year to break 5:00 in this race. It just wasn’t happening. The events in my life this year have divided up my head so that I haven’t been as energized and focused on running. My age grade percentage was 66.66% compared to last year’s 70.5%, which isn’t bad but I’m still a bit off. I have a little more than a month until the NYC Marathon.

While my body felt alright this morning after having ice bathed last night and slept in compression socks, I did wrestle with a bit of a cold (sniffles with a little bit of a sore throat), contracted Friday during a long day on set fueled a bit by caffeine I haven’t had much of recently. I’m still a bit sniffly at dinnertime Sunday, and I can tell it’s sapping my energy a bit despite an afternoon nap.

But there you have it.