Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all! We have been experiencing an issue on site where threads have been missing the latest postings. The platform host Vanilla are working on this issue. A workaround that has been used by some is to navigate back from 1 to 10+ pages to re-sync the thread and this will then show the latest posts. Thanks, Mike.
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
A Slow Journey to Faster Times
Comments
-
-
Duanington wrote: »Best of luck the weekend P - enjoy the occasion !
Thanks D.
Hope you're taking a well earned break
0 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Saturday 31st October - 45 minutes Easy
5.44m @ 8:17p/m average
Was going to stay local to my accommodation but couldn't get a signal due to the high buildings, so jumped on a subway to Central Park and did it there instead. Feeling a bit lethargic, sluggish and generally under the weather, but felt much better running the last 2.5m of the marathon course which is already closed to traffic. The place was absolutely jam-packed with runners at 7:30am. I was actually struggling to find running room in miles 2 & 3. Tomorrow should be fun
Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:42
Mile 2 - 8:17
Mile 3 - 8:29
Mile 4 - 8:15
Mile 5 - 8:12
0.44 - 4:05
My bib for anyone who fancies tracking:0 -
Sunday 1st November - NYC Marathon
26.22m @ 8:08p/m average (3:33:28)
Got the result my training suggested and deserved. No excuses.
Long run in the bank for Boston though........
I remember watching the 2010 NYC Marathon on televison after I'd run my first in Dublin. I thought if I ever got to run it, I'd be put off running marathons forever more such is the nature of the route. That is not far from the truth. One thing's for sure though, I never ever want to run any race (but especially a marathon) off the kind of preparation I had. It's no fun. You can only 'enjoy' it for so long before pain starts to take over. It's mentally tough to keep going too when you're so far off your pb and absolutely nothing to run for. However I was informed by every volunteer on my way out that I was 'awesome'. You've got to love the enthusiasm of the Americans. That is without doubt the toughest race I've ever run though (and the last 9 miles of my first DCM were hell!). Mostly self-inflicted, but what a bast*rd of a course. I salute anyone who ran a pb there today.
Report to follow on the plane journey home early Tuesday morning.0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Either NYC has become kinder and gentler since I lived there or else they've bussed in thousands of "awesome" volunteers for the occasion.
It's since you left Denis, everyone's in a much better mood!!:pac:
Well done on seeing it through P, sounds like a tough day out.
Now that's out of the way time to plan out a route to a PB in Boston!0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I hope those pints worked........Personally, I think you should bring your BH with you to Boston. No way you would be allowed slack off in training if she thought a bad performance would have you moping around messing up her holiday :P
+1 to that .... FBOT hope you got your run in today no slacking 0 -
So, I've had 24 hours to reflect on yesterday and have many hours to kill before my flight tonight, so I thought I'd get this over with.
Prologue
When I was accepted into this race last January, I'd already conceded to myself that a pb wouldn't be attainable. I was expecting to run around 2:50 in Hamburg a few months later and thought it was extremely unlikely I'd get near that here. Two weeks out from Hamburg I completed a really good Steady session and was confident of my target there, but the week of the race I didn't feel quite as good and ended up running a tiny 7 second pb which was slightly disappointing. After that, I did harbour brief hopes of going sub 3 in NYC, but that optimism didn't last long.
Training
I had trained quite successfully for Hamburg using the HADD method and felt I'd see more benefits if I continued with that system for NYC. My intentions were good, but with a lot going on work/life wise, my HR was an awful lot higher than it had previously been on slowish runs. I got really frustrated, thinking 'Easy' runs that were around 10min/mile pace and 'Steady' runs around a minute slower than my marathon pace from a month or so earlier couldn't be doing much for me. It got to the stage where I felt like I was completely wasting my time. I lost my way a bit after that as I dumped the HRM for a while but never followed any plan, just going out for runs of whatever distance I felt like, when I felt like it. I knew at that point I needed to forget about any ridiculous notions of a pb/sub 3 and just get to the start line in one piece. For most of the remaining weeks the main thing I focused on was getting some sort of long run in, which should at least guarantee I'd complete the course in NYC without any issues regardless of time. A few longish runs and a very comfortable pacing job in the Athlone 3/4 gave me some false optimism that I might run respectably.
Pre Race
I had absolutely no nerves for this one, with good reason. My training had been awful, so I wasn't worried about hitting a target or anything going wrong. I could relax and I actually slept better the two nights before the marathon than I have at home for a long time. I got into New York on Friday, got settled into my accommodation and went to the Expo. Then I found a nice little cheap Italian nearby and went to bed shortly after dinner. I managed to keep my body on Irish time, which was ideal as I still got 8-9 hours sleep a night even though I was up before 5am both mornings. On Saturday I went out for a jog to loosen me out and followed a similar routine to Friday with dinner, then bed. Up at 4am on Sunday, some instant porridge and a couple of bagels washed down with some water. I left at 5am to grab a coffee to go with my banana, before jumping on the subway to the ferry terminal. Got there in plenty of time for my 6:45am sailing. I was originally thinking I'd be out on Staten Island in the cold for hours, but with the logistics involved in shipping 50,000 people to that start line, the shuttle bus didn't arrive at Fort Wadsworth until after 8am. This was ideal in a way, as the temperature had started to rise as it got bright and we weren't standing around for as long as expected. I met DukeofDromada in the starting corral before we were allowed out onto the bridge. We chatted for a while before I went to a portaloo to make a final pit-stop before we got moving. When I got out to the bridge I stood alone behind the crowd doing a few stretches when Itziger came up to me and told me I looked Irish. Is it that obvious? I recognised him from his log photos and we got chatting for a while before the start. Then we had the national anthem and the announcer doing an Oscar acceptance speech before we were finally let go in unison with Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York'.
The Plan
I had a very loose plan. Run at a comfortable pace and only pick it up if you know you can maintain it to the line.
The Race
0-20k
There are three starts in New York The elites start in the blue corral which starts slightly behind the orange corral on the other side of the bridge on the top level. The green start is on the bottom level. All three join up after various twists and turns early in Brooklyn. As the gun went, myself and Itziger were waiting to get moving when we noticed Wilson Kipsang and his opposition fly by on the other side of the bridge. We got over the line within 30 seconds and started our ascent up the first of many bridges. I turned on the Garmin, but I never looked at it again bar scanning the distance the odd time during the race. There was some congestion in the first mile, but after that I never found any issues whatsoever. The wide streets over there definitely help in that regard. I passed the first mile in just over 8 minutes. I already knew at that stage I was in for a long and painful day. I was sweating heavily enough and it wasn't warm. I didn't feel any better slowing it down, so I just continued at a pace where I felt I wasn't pushing it. Second mile was below 7 minutes. Straight back down the ascent we had just climbed. 7:30 avg for the first two. Fine. The course flattens out then for most of Brooklyn until the halfway mark. The majority of the race takes part in this borough, which would be one of the biggest cities in America if it wasn't a part of the biggest city itself. You pass through many different neighbourhoods in this part of the race, most being pretty loud and supportive. There's a twilight zone at around Mile 9 though. An Orthodox Jewish area sandwiched between all the other cheering suburbs with big crowds and loud music. This section was almost silent, with the only audible sound being thousands of runners pounding the street. Not too long before you're back amongst more familiar surroundings with roaring spectators in Williamsburg & Greenpoint. I was pretty steady up to here pace-wise. Then we hit another bridge.
20k-30k
I never realised we had to cross a bridge to go from Brooklyn into Queens. Well I kind of had an idea, but I thought it was similar to the one that you cross going back into Manhattan from the Bronx. In other words, flat! We hit this never-ending hill just after 20k. As we climbed it I could see the 13m marker ahead. Then I could see the halfway mark above that, and then people running further uphill beyond that. Having been as comfortable as I was going to be to this point, this is where my lack of training began to show. I struggled up the hill before we eventually dropped back down passing a 'Welcome to Queens' sign at the bottom. A left turn followed by a quick right saw us encounter a sneaky little drag just before 14 miles. I looked straight ahead, then I looked way up in the air. There it was, the Queensboro Bridge. Miles up in the sky. I thought to myself: 'We're going to be running on that in two miles, which means we need to negotiate that climb first'. I was already feeling the little rise we were currently tackling and knew it wouldn't be long before the pain would be arriving. Right, left, left. It begins. This bridge goes on forever. It's never ending. I felt we'd been running for a mile and we were still climbing. I looked to the left and saw we were still over Queens, not yet above the water which we were using the bridge to cross. FML! I was passed here by the 3:25 pace group. I thought "Fcuk that, I'm not letting them by me" and eased back in front of them on the downhill after we crested the peak. We came off the ramp and hit the wall of noise on First Avenue. I was almost done for at this stage. Those pretty severe climbs knocked the sh*t out of me fairly quick. Doesn't take a badly trained runner very long to go from 'ok' to 'empty'. The crowd gave me a little boost for a minute, but as we passed 17 miles I was on the verge of giving up. The 3:25 group passed me again and I hadn't got the determination to stay with them. I just wasn't prepared to put myself through that much pain for nothing. And it was way too early to be busting a gut. I had more than 9 miles left. I trudged along at pedestrian pace, making deals with myself every so often: 'Just get to the next water station. You can walk through while you take a drink and maybe you'll feel better.' This became a habit over the next few miles. I was close to dropping out, knowing that Central Park was only a few blocks to the left and I could cut off and get a subway home. I felt I had nothing to run for and found it hard to justify to my body why I was continuing. So I had a little meeting with myself. 'Are you injured? No. I'm just fcuked because of my lack of training. You've never intentionally DNF'd (two parkruns I've taken wrong turns). Let's not change that. You ran your first marathon in 3:39. Let's not go any slower.' The evil side of me came out then: 'You are going to complete this. And the pain it will cause you will make sure you never, ever come into a marathon this under-prepared again'. So the decision was made. No dropping out. The good side started with the motivational talk as we got to 30k: 'Nearly 19 miles. We hit 23 just before entering Central Park. That's only two more miles in the wrong direction before we're heading straight towards the finish. Once we're doing that, you'll be fine.' I agreed, but I wasn't fine. I was really, really hurting. Lack of fitness/lack of training hurting. It didn't matter what speed I went. It still hurt the same. I hadn't got the energy to speed up, but slowing down was no less painful. I contemplated walking but I was too far out to beat my 3:39 to start doing that. That's all I was focusing on now. I had stopped dividing the time at the mile markers by the distance ages ago. Irrelevant. Just get home under 3:39.
30k-40k
Gradually getting back into some sort of stride before we hit another fcuking BRIDGE. The Willis Avenue bridge into The Bronx just short of 20 miles. I thought this was steep too. It may not have been that bad tbh, but I was in so much trouble at that stage that a 1mm rise would have bothered me. I felt like I was crawling up it. I knew we spent little or no time in The Bronx though. It's just added in for the gimmick of the race being in the five boroughs. Past Mile 21 and we turn left over a much flatter bridge and back into Harlem. 'Five miles to go. Three of them are basically in Central Park. So only two left until we get there.' My brain bargaining with my legs to persuade them to keep moving. We hit 22m just before we turn right back onto 5th Avenue on the straight run down alongside the park. I can see about a mile ahead. People above my eyeline. Another climb ffs! Eventually I crawl past the 23m marker and glancing at my stopwatch I see around 3:06. I start thinking, if I walk from here to the 25 mile mark and jog in I'll still beat 3:39. Let's do that. But I can't bring myself to do that. Knackered and hurting but still a tiny bit too proud to resort to that. I continue (probably at walking pace) trudging along. 'You can walk through the water station instead. Deal.' Crowds getting really deep now as we make our turn into the park. I had run this stretch on Saturday morning, so no more surprises. Felt like I was going to die at this stage. My legs are looking for a promise that we never have to do this again. I knew that I'd go back on it if I ruled out marathons, so I compromised with, 'We're never doing this again.' In other words, a marathon when we're not trained properly, or the NYC Marathon. It's a great event/race, but I think once is enough.
40k-Finish
Can't even acknowledge the crowds at this stage. Just so glad to be close to the finish when I can stop. I pass through 40k and start thinking about the people tracking me. This is so embarrassing. People will probably be making excuses for me if they're watching (He must be injured, Maybe something happened etc.), but I haven't got any and I don't want any made for me. I'm going to finish this out of pure stubborness, but it's nothing to be proud of and certainly not an achievement. I may beat my first marathon time of 3:39, I may even beat Berlin & Chicago (3:35, 3:34), but this is definitely the worst marathon I have ever run. Absolutely no question. I actually consider my first amongst my best despite it being the slowest. Past 25 miles and back out of the park on the deceptively long run to Columbus Circle. People going bananas on either side of the road, bands playing, electric atmosphere and I can't even muster a smile. I'm in too much pain. I really don't want to see any photos that anyone got of me out there. I can only imagine them to be horrendous. Past an 800m to go sign and a quick glance at the watch tells me I'm going to be low 3:30's. I'm ashamed of myself, but it's done. I'll learn from it. Sad thing is, it's nothing I didn't know already. I'm the biggest advocate of respecting the distance, so can I have expected any different? Am I surprised? Of course not. I actually get a little bit of pleasure out of forcing myself to see it out, Take that you bast*rd. That'll teach you. Finally get back into Central Park for the last 500m. I think my pace picked up slightly in the run to the line, not for any other reason than I knew the quicker I got over the line, the quicker I could stop. The time was irrelevant at this stage. Felt like a bit of a fraud crossing the line. All around me there was smiling, hugging, arms aloft and general delight. I felt like pointing out to each volunteer who told me I was awesome that they were actually wrong and I was a disgrace. Those people there who've trained hard for their goals and hit their targets deserve your praise. I definitely do not. But that would have gone against the spirit of the whole occasion. So I just smiled and said thanks.
*Garmin data: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/945373464
*I got 26.29m on the Garmin.
It was measuring long early in the race, but got thrown off on the Queensboro Bridge (I got a 9:45 split for that mile. I wasn't going fast, but I definitely wasn't going that slow (well not at that stage anyway)) as it was actually behind the mile marker when we got to 19m. I doubt the course is short :pac:
Post Race
After eventually making my way out of the park after a long walk, I was given my post-race poncho (which is excellent btw. Thoroughly recommended) and walked down to the Heartland Brewery on 42nd St. I felt the 30 block walk was an easier option than the subway stairs. Met a few of the other lads there, before hooking up with Itziger and DukeofDromada (again) later on in another branch of the same chain to celebrate Itziger's pb. I then headed off to a friend's bar in Bay Ridge. Bit rough this morning, but I've still got six hours to kill before I get on a plane.
Verdict
The NYC Marathon is a tremendous event. It is very well organised considering the numbers taking part and I can't really fault the organisation. However, I wouldn't be in a hurry to do it again for many reasons. It's extremely expensive, it's a really tough course and the logistics of the whole thing mean you have to be up on marathon morning far earlier than any other race I've ever run. This is necessary for the start to run smoothly, but it's not ideal, especially if you're on US time. One thing I won't miss is their emails. I didn't count, but I think they've sent me two million since I registered. I'll be unsubscribing when I get home!
Thoughts
I love New York and I've really enjoyed my few days here. I've probably come across very negative about the race and that is my feeling on that, but in no way did I let that affect my mood either side of the marathon. I knew what to expect and got exactly that and a bit worse. I had bizarre hopes that things might come together on the day and I could run a decent time, but fairytales don't happen in the marathon. It's very simple. You get what you deserve. You don't go out and run a fast time unless you've worked for it. I had a great laugh with some fellow boardsies afterwards and hope to renew a few of these drinking sessions after some future races (hopefully with something to celebrate
).
If I want to get back to where I was though, I need to figure out a way to fit my training in around everything else. It's easy to make excuses, but I echo Duanington's thoughts above. If I want it enough, I'll get it done. As far as I know, Krusty works 50 hours a week, has a family and manages to fit 100 miles p/w in while continuing to run impressive times at every distance. If he can do things like that in his circumstances, then there really is no excuses to be made for me. It's just about wanting it. In the last 6 months, I haven't (not enough anyway).0 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement