Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon - 2min PR!

Saturday was a great day for a race! Temps in the 40s with the sun shining and a nice 17mph breeze from the north. Ok, so the wind was pretty brutal at times but it's hard to complain about near perfect conditions. My main goal for this race was to run my BQ pace of 7:17. I can get pretty competitive on race day so in the back of my mind this goal could get thrown out the window if I was feeling good.

I was on my own for this one. Of my two main racing buddies, one was in CT in a show and the other had originally thought the race was on Sunday and couldn't run as a result. I was on the subway platform at 5:45am as the ride down to Coney Island can be a doosy on the weekend. I ended up arriving around 7:10 which gave me plenty of time to check out the surroundings. Coney Island is actually kind of a cool place to be minus the summer crowds. The beach was completely empty save a few fishermen and a couple of dog walkers. I chose to stride out to the shore and just as I got there the theme to Chariots of Fire comes on! I couldn't resist running along the water and visualizing qualifying for Boston. It got me really pumped for the run!

I get in about a mile of easy warm-up jogging and line up about 10min before the start. I love NY races that aren't in Central Park! There is so much room at the start and I know I won't have to jockey too much for position once we start. The sun is pretty warm so I move my race bib to my shorts just in case I want to lose the long sleeve (ended up leaving it on for the duration). The gun goes off and my main goal is to hit 7:15-7:20 for the first mile. I tend to hit the first mile too hard so I really wanted to stay relaxed. I hit the first mile at 7:15! and I'm pretty surprised and feeling great. I'm settled in pretty well and hit mile 2 at 7:07 which is just under my desired pace. I'm still feeling really good and hit mile 3 at 7:24...what?! There's no way that was right but I'm worried so I push the pace a bit now. We pass the world famous Cyclone coaster and move off the boardwalk to the long straightaway of Ocean Pkwy. Mile 4 comes at 6:48 so I figure I'm at about a 7min pace assuming mile 3 was off.

Now the wind starts to pop up (later I see that it was about a 17mph headwind for several miles!). I'm in a pretty good zone and the next miles tick off at 6:51, 7:00, 6:49, 6:52, 6:45 and 7:00. At this point I know I'm going for a new PR instead of the 7:17 pace so I decide to keep pushing through. I can tell that I've lost some of my endurance over the past 2 weeks (missed 6 straight days on my Paris trip) and the miles start to get really tough. We make the turn into Prospect Park and now it starts to get hairy. The wind is gone but now we get the hills! Mile 9 ticks off at 7:00 and I'm really hanging on for dear life at this point. It's my first time in Prospect Park, Brooklyn and it's really pretty. It's mini version of Central Park but on this morning it's nice and peaceful save for the 5,000 runners. I knew to expect some hills but I had no idea what was coming.

I'm hurting pretty good now in Mile 10 and just have to take my gel. Of course, there hasn't been a water station for a while so I figure one is coming up soon. I know if I don't take it now it won't help so I pop it. Bad decision!! It's like trying to swallow a mouthful of cotton. It just won't go down. Now I'm really suffering and I have wild thoughts of walking. The mental battle continues until I see Superman up ahead. You heard me right. There's a guy in a Superman costume standing between 2 traffic cones giving high fives!! As I run past he's yelling, "Just get up this hill and then it's all downhill from here." I think to myself, ok, just this one hill and we'll cruise in. Well, the one hill turned out to be a massive and humbling climb. It's probably similar to heartbreak hill in Boston and it wasn't fun. My pace felt like a crawl and I prayed for the top. It felt like I lost at least 2 minutes of time and I started to worry about that PR. All of my work to this point would be for not! Luckily, an act of God or something allowed for only losing about 22 secs of pace for a 7:22 11mile split.

The climb really took everything out of me and my form went to hell from here on out. I had to pump my arms on the flats just to keep moving forward and my strides were really heavy. At this point I can't believe I hit mile 12 at 6:51 and I'm still in the hunt for a 7min pace finish. I'm battling a lot of negative self-talk saying, "it's OK to slow down, you're going to PR anyway, why push it?" I cross mile 13 at 6:58 with the finish in sight, thank God! I throw my hands up for what will hopefully be a good finisher's picture and hit my watch at 1:31:55! I'm psyched that I pushed myself to get under the 1:32 mark but just missed the sub 7 mile pace. Given my recent lack of mileage and this not being a goal race I'm very pleased. It was a very triumphant ride home on the train even though I now know it will take some serious training over the next 7 months to be able to maintain 7:17/mi in the marathon.

1 Year Running Aniversary!!

Exactly one year ago today I began my 2nd running life. I call it my 2nd life because it was a long 9 year layoff from regular training way back in high school track and cross-country. I owe it all to signing up for the JPMorgan Corporate Challenge that our firm sponsored. It's a 3.5mile jaunt through Central Park in the middle of June in the company of 17,000 fellow runners! At the time all I knew about it was that I hadn't run a race in 9 years, hadn't been training regularly and had not run for at least 6 months. But hey, give me 6 weeks to train, a free race entry and a free dinner afterwards and I was game!

Looking back at my log my first run was 2.1miles in 20:10 at a nice 9:36/mi pace. Nothing special, but little did I know that those few miles would set off a wicked chain reaction that made me into the runner I am today. In that 1st 3.5mi race I ran 27:14, just under my 8min/mile goal. Here is just a short list of what has occured over the last year:

• Down 20lbs from 183 to 162.8.
• 1,545 miles covered (29.7mi/week)
• 20 races (1-Marathon, 5-1/2Marathons, 4-5mile, 4-4mile, 2-10k, 1-3.5mi, 1-10mi, 1-15k, and the mile)
• Marathon run with Dean Karnazes - #49 of 50 of the Endurance50 in Long Branch, NJ.
• Went from 7:45/mi pace in the 3.5mi to a 6:20/mi pace 10k!
• Learned to design my own (and others) training programs based on insights from Glover, Pfitz and Daniels
• Founded the "2007 in 2007 Club" in the RW beginner forum to encourage others to reach their goals.
• Set out to qualify for Boston in 2008 at the Space Coast Marathon

Today I signed up for the 2007 JPM Corporate Challenge on June 20th just a day before my 1 year racing aniversary. This time around I plan on starting at the front of the pack with a shiny new 6min/mile sticker on my bib. What a difference a year makes!

New Race Pics...knee pain!

So, I just got the pics for the Scotland Run 10k. I'm pretty bumbed there weren't any got shots but at least there is one showing my sub 40 on the clock. It took me 30 seconds to cross the start line so it doesn't show my actual time. Next race I vow to start at the front with the big boys. http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=18454&BIB=4605&PWD==

Argh! So I got back from Paris on Monday afternoon. Sadly, I didn't get in any runs while I was there but I sure did hike a lot! So, jet lagged and exhausted I went out for an easy 5 and finished with some slight knee pain (ITB). Now, yesterday I put in a nice quality track workout (7x800m @ 3:00) and now the pain is really getting to me. I sure hope I'll be able to go after I get home from work. This might turn out to be an early exit to my season...sure hope not!

Scotland Run 10k - 3 new PRs!

Hey all! As some of you may know one of my recent goals was to run a sub 20min 5k. Well, this morning instead of running just one, I ran 2 at the NY Scotland Run 10k with a finish time of 39:30! I am now a sub 40 10k runner...scary to even think about!! I ran an almost perfect race with splits of 6.19. 6.19, 6.21, 6.31, 6.16, 6.22, and 1.20 for last .22mi. I can truly say that I left nothing on the course. I also have a few more PRs to work on as I broke both my 4mi and 5mi PRs in the process. This was one of those breakthrough races that come along about once or twice a year. The only regret I have is that my intervals and tempo pace now get a lot tougher! Damn you McMillan running calculator! Damn you!! The best news is that my 10k predicts a Marathon time of 3:05:22. Now I just have to put the training in this fall to back that up. You can read my complete race report in the Runner's World Beginner's Forum here.

Here's to everyone's next big breakthrough...

Space Coast Marathon...

So, just heard from the wife in Paris. She accepted an offer to attend Florida State's MFA program for acting in sunny Sarasota, FL. Since we will be moving at the end of August this may throw my TC marathon plans out the window. I'm thinking the budget and schedule will be tight for a trip to Minnesota, especially if I get into the NYC Marathon.

The Space Coast Marathon is held on November 25th in beautiful Cocoa Beach and is a realatively flat and shadded course. This could be a great opportunity for a BQ if I don't get into the NYCM so we'll just have to wait until June to find out. If NYCM happens then the Disney Marathon in January '08 may just have to suffice.

P.S. - Don't worry..I will NOT be chanting "the chop" at Florida St. games. The main campus is in Tallahassee. I'll be attending the University of South Florida's grad program in Education when we move. Go Bulls!

New shoes, New Start...

Hey Faithful readers! Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Work has been very busy and I've been pretty bumbed out since my wife left for Paris for 7 weeks.

I went to DSW today on a whim. As a shoe outlet this store generally doesn't have the deals that it used to but I wander in there every once in a while to scan the clearance racks just in case. As I walked in I couldn't believe my eyes. The Saucony 3D Grid Triumph 3s were priced at $59.99!! I've been eyeing these shoes ever since I first tried them on in the summer but the price has been slow in coming down. I wasn't going to fork out the $110 the running stores were charging and very recently I've seen them as low as $79.99 online. But when I saw them I didn't even hesitate. I scanned the shelves for my 9.5s, tried them out for about 30 seconds and walked proudly to the cashier. I knew that my persistance would pan out and I can't wait to break these bad boys in!

So, quick question. I generally go to the professional running stores to get fitted for shoes. But once I know what is good for me I literally RUN out of the store. Pro shops are so expensive and it's very rare that you see anything marked down more than 5%. Once I know the shoes I need I hit the open market, eBay, holabirdsports.com, eastbay.com, whatever. So the question is, is this unethical? The pro shops generally have great service but their markups on shoes is ridiculous.

Til next time...keep on rollin!

I joined the Gym..and my first "Treadmo" workout.

I've always advocated several workouts that can be done using the treadmill in the RW forums. It's funny that I say that because until today I had never run any actual speedwork on the treadmill in my running career. So this morning I set out to end this horrible hypocrisy and prove it to myself.

The first thing I had to do was actually join a gym. Since moving to NYC I hadn't taken the plunge into a membership and thought I could just tough it out through the winter. Of course, that was before this week and now that my local track has gone AWOL under 4 inches of snow I learned that I had to finally take it indoors. The good thing is that the gym closest to my apt. is only 4 blocks away and I got a 6-month membership for only $160! And no, NYSC/Bally's members, that's not per month! At that price you may be thinking "Average Joes vs. GloboGym" but with free classes, more than enough treadmills/cardio machines and weight machines it's all I need.

But I digress, on to the Treadmill Tempo run, or "Treadmo" for short. As this was my first tempo run for the season other that a previous set of 3x10min cruise intervals, I was pretty psyched to get started. I began with a 2 mile warmup with the first mile at 9min/mile and the second at 8min/mile. Then I keyed in my exact Tempo pace of 6:49/mi for my current VDOT of ~50. I hit it hard for 20min at that pace and I felt great!! It was much easier to (1) run a Tempo workout without the rolling hills of my usual tempo course and (2) not having to worry about maintaining a specific pace and always looking at my watch. I finished it up with a nice easy 9min/mile cool-down. Post run I threw some iron around the room and headed home.

On Monday I'm going to take some before pics and conduct some benchmark tests in the weightroom so keep an eye out for those. Along with initial body weight, BF% and arm/chest/waist measurements, I'm thinking of using pullups/dips to exhaustion, benchpress max and leg press max as my initial measurements. Stay tuned...