Brooklyn Half Marathon recap

Well, yesterday was the Brooklyn Half. I hadn't quite decided before the race whether I was going to take it kind of easy and treat it as a nice longrun with my roommate Danny, or if I was going to just go for it and attempt a p.r.

The morning started out very groggy, as for some reason me and Elle thought it would be a good idea to split a bottle of Prosecco and have a few beers with dinner. Well, needless to say, that had me waking up feeling a little less then stellar. At the start of the race though I decided I would go out at a decent pace, see how I felt, and assess it from there. The first few miles my whole body felt really draggy. My initial goal (assuming I was going for the p.r. still), was to try and break 80 minutes, which would be an average pace of 6:06/mile. The first few miles I was averaging about 6:15's and even those seemed like a struggle. I fought off my demons that were telling me to just slow down and join Danny (who in his "taking it easy" still ran an 84:30 race), and I sucked it up and kept going for it. Around mile 5 finally my body felt the way it should, and the rest of the race seemed to breeze on by. I felt nice and calm and steady and ended up running a negative split to finish in 1:18:43 which is an average of 6:00/mile pace. A new p.r. by over 2 minutes!

So, what I learned is, prosecco before a race = bad idea. But at the end of the day I was completely psyched about my run.

A couple of observations about the setup of the course. It kind of disappoints me that for the Brooklyn half marathon, there is so many amazing areas of brooklyn to explore and the NYRR choose to spend over half of the race in Prospect Park. Don't get me wrong. I love the park and run it all the time and I feel it should certainly be part of the course, but I would have much rather the course only included one loop of the park which would open up 3.5 miles that could be run elsewhere. Also, the park is kind of a mess when the front runners are on their second loop and are passing runners still on their first loop and the divisions between the two are vague, causing it to be an obstacle course at times for the front runners. Another reason to only have there be one loop of the park. Ocean Parkway I find to be a little boring after a couple miles when I run it on my own, but for some reason yesterday it was really enjoyable and went by very quickly. And, finally, I do love the finish on the boardwalk. It is a great feeling to run up the ramp and see the water and run along the beach to the finish.

Boston Marathon Update

A week overdue. I ended up finishing the marathon in 3 hours and 2 seconds. It is a good time, but overall I am pretty disappointed in my performance. I know I was capable of running a much faster race. I honestly believe I could have beaten my time from the NY marathon, but I sealed my own fate by running like an idiot. I ran the first 17 miles wayyyyyyy too fast. At the half point I was at a pace so fast, that I actually set myself a new pr for my half marathon of 1 hour 20 minutes and 54 seconds...which is 17 seconds faster then I did the NYC half 5 weeks ago. Anyways, that'd be great if Boston was only say...a half marathon...but I pushed my body too fast too much in the beginning and by the time I reached mile 18 my body started to break down. I got some very gnarly cramps in my legs that I have never experienced before and at various points I actually felt like my legs were going to buckle and give out. So, Over the last 8 miles of the race I ended up having to walk about a mile and a half. If you look at my splits, they are really nice and steady at every 5k for the first 30k....then the last 10k I averaged about 2 minutes/mile slower then the previous 30k. that's what walking will do to you. So, yeah, it was a great time, but I know I could have done much better and I am pretty pissed that I had to walk so much because rarely do I get to a state that that is the case. It was a good lesson learned though....control yourself in the beginning! And I am salty that I came so close to breaking 3 hours but didn't (just to rub more salt in my wound, when i crossed the finish line and stopped my own clock, it was at 2:59:59 and I thought i had just made it, but the official clock disagreed with my casio wristwatch)

I took 4 days of complete rest afterwards. My quads were killing me which I imagine is from the downhills. After 4 days of no running I started easing myself back into it with some very short 4 mile runs at a very very slow pace.

11.7 miles

so yesterday was the last run of mine that will exceed 10 miles before next monday. I did 11.7 at around what i felt was my marathon pace. It ended up being about a 6:26 pace. Today I will take off, and then throw in a few short and easy runs for the rest of this week.

so lazy

i fell into the same trap right before the ny marathon. the closer it gets, the less i update this thing. the boston marathon is only a week away. with the exception of a lingering cold that i haven't completely fought off yet, i think i am in good shape. my runs lately have been a little tough though because my breathing has felt very heavy due to the remaining congestion in my chest. but, i've been cutting down the runs because of the taper, and just going a little slower then usual.

Friday in Chicago, or more appropriately the burbs, i went out for an easy 5.5 miles. Saturday was a moderate 6.5 at about a 6:42 pace. Yesterday I had planned on doing about 10-12, but decided to scale it back to get a bit of rest in, so I just ran a very leisurely 3.5.

3 day update

Yikes. I'm getting lazy.

So on Sunday I went on my final Long run before I begin my taper, which I am in the midst of right now. I went out for 15 miles at a 6:49 pace. I felt a little draggy, but I was still getting over my cold and the weather was pretty warm which I believe accounted for my general heaviness that I felt.

Monday I took a rest day.

Tuesday I went out for 7 at a good pace. I ended up averaging about 6:15/mile. Felt a lot better then Sunday.

Today was an easy 5 at a 7:00 pace. The weather was pretty brutal today, but should be better the rest of this week.

Tomorrow I fly to Chicago for a couple days to look at schools, so inevitably tomorrow will probably turn into a day off.

easy-medium 6.5

I'm still fighting off this cold that I suddenly came down with a couple days ago. So that made today's run a little tough. After the first couple miles though I got into a pretty good groove. I ended up getting in 6.5 at about a 6:37/mile pace. Tomorrow is my last long long run of this marathon training regiment before I start tapering down my mileage.

speed workout

After an easy 2 mile warm up I headed down to the track.

I did 4 x 1600 meter intervals with a 400 meter recovery jog after each one.
split 1 - 5:40
split 2 - 5:42
split 3 - 5:40
split 4 - 5:37

Finished up with an easy 2 miles as a cool down to get 10 in total for the day.

My times were a bit slower then when I did this same workout a couple weeks ago, but obviously, my pace was pretty consistent. I felt kind of horrible for most of this workout. For once though, it wasn't heavy legs, it was more my breathing was off and my chest felt really heavy and congested. I've been sneezing and have had a runny nose all day though, which makes me think either I am getting a cold, or I am having a hardcore allergy attack today. Regardless of which one it is, I think that's what made today's workout seem like a bit of a slog. I think I may make tomorrow a rest day.