Filed under: 2008 NYC Marathon Training | Tags: Fuel, Hydration, Miles, New York City, New York Marathon
Down to the final 4 weeks and feeling pretty good. Last week was ridiculous, I ran the prior weeks long run on Monday so all told I completed 55 miles from Monday to Sunday (I don’t think I’ve ever run that much in one week). Yesterday’s long run was good, 22 miles and I kept moving around all day until I finally crashed out on the couch watching Dexter. It was surprising that I wasn’t completely spent after 3 hours and 40 minutes of straight running, but I did several things right for this long run; first, I ran 6.7 miles on Saturday which helped tire me out and forced me to pace myself for Sunday; second, hydration was perfect with about 11 water stops throughout; third, didn’t party too much during the weekend; fourth, a couple of PowerBar Gel packs (carbohydrate fuel & double caffeine) allowed me to sustain my energy levels and finally, the weather was just too perfect (cool, mid 60’s and sunny). I ate a huge breakfast afterwords, cleaned up the apartment and had a few cocktails to celebrate 
Last Thursday I was up at the butt crack of dawn (5:30 am) to do my typical mid-week 10.2 miler. There’s just something about hitting the streets of gritty steel town on a crisp fall morning that puts things into a perfect perspective. It gives me time to strategize on all the challenges of the day and at the same time calms my soul. Half way through the sun rose, the streets filled up and the engines of the Iron City kicked into gear…
The ”NYC Marathon Handbook” arrived last week as well. Tons of good information on preparing for the race, the actual race day & recovery tips. It also provided a better course map with specific streets and turns.
Planning for the weekend is now in full swing and I’ll actually be in Philadelphia the Friday night before the marathon for a wedding. As a die hard NY Mets fan, Philly is not on the top of my list of places to visit. Although I’ve never really been there so as long as the conversation steers clear of baseball, we’ll be alright. I figure I’ll head up to NYC Saturday morning, pick up my packet and then relax before race day. My folks are hosting a BBQ after the race on Sunday where I plan on rewarding my acheivement with beer.
Filed under: 2008 NYC Marathon Training | Tags: Miles, New York City, New York Marathon, Pittsburgh, Yoga
Started my first Fantasy Football league this week with some buddies from work. My team’s name is Aluminum Curtain, cause I live in Pittsburgh, love dem Stillers and don’t think I have a chance in hell winning this low stakes competition. I’ve got Peyton Manning (would rather have Eli), Anquan Boldin, Brian Westbrook (who should be a gamer), Nate Kaeding (kicker out of San Diego, one of my new favorite cities) and the Arizona defense (got Dallas defense as well). No idea how it will go, definitely more of a Mets Baseball fan, but game on
Tried out a new route today through the following Pittsburgh neighborhoods; Polish Hill, Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, Northside (along the Alleghany River, starting at the 40th Street Bridge), down to PNC Park and back up through the Strip. 10.2 miles, and feeling pretty decent… I’m going to work this route through the rest of the training because it’s got a steeper, longer climb than I’ll face over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the start of the NYC Marathon. I finished up the run with just over a 9-minute mile pace, a little off pace target but got it done. That leaves 5 or 6 miles tomorrow early morning, a round of golf at Lindenwood Golf Club with those buddies from work (which is Bank of New York Mellon) and an 18 miler on Sunday to finish up the week.
Not totally syked about last weeks results, only 18 of 33 total miles (and skipped the long run!! BUMMER), but I was traveling and my right knee really did benefit from the extra recovery time. My damn hamstrings are too tight and I think that it’s causing a little “runners knee”; which according to the September issue of Runner’s World is often confused with “Iliotibial Band Syndrome”;
“THE DIFFERENCE The iliotibial band (ITB) is connective tissue that runs from your hip to your knee. “A tight IT band can cause friction along the outside of your knee, which is why it feels like a knee problem,”… If it’s ITB syndrome, then running downhill, lengthening your stride, and keeping your knee in a bent position for extended periods will exacerbate your symptoms. Stretching to loosen the band can help resolve the problem”…Describes what’s going on in my right knee to a tee. On the last long run, the downhills were killing me and in general, I sit in front of a computer, geeking our for hours everyday. I mentioned it before but the yoga is definitely helping.
The traveling I mentioned was back home to New York City for Labor Day. Had a chance to spend time with family, friends and saw 3 of 5 boroughs. Caught a quick 4.5 miler through Forest Park, Kew Gardens & it rocked.
Filed under: 2008 NYC Marathon Training | Tags: Cross Training, Heart Rate, Miles, New York Marathon
Today’s long run can be summed up in one word, ‘bonk’. My right knee started acting up an hour into the run and proceeded to nag me for the next hour until I called it quits. It was especially bad on the downhills. Again, my buddy Jeff hooked it up with a great route through the South Side & East End of Pittsburgh, but I ended up completing only 14 miles of 20. Not a great run, but the simple fact that I was up at 7 on a Sunday and pushed myself for 2 hours is a good sign.
I’ve been reading that for the long runs, you shouldn’t exceed 80% of the race day goal, which was definitely not the case on Sunday. I was out of the gate maintaining an 8 minute mile pace and then continued to push it with Jeff. In retrospect, here’s what went wrong last week; I missed a short run (3 miles, but important nonetheless), I took 3 days off before attempting the long run (never again!), I only did limited stretching (no yoga either) and partied a bit much on Friday night. Finally, I’m simply not keeping up with the core training. Lessons learned… Also, the battery went dead on my heart rate monitor so there was some lost data there (not a big deal though).
On a positive note, I ran almost 30 miles so the week wasn’t a total wash. Also, Wendy and I caught a sweet 13 mile bike ride on Saturday so I was able to get some cross training completed.
I had a chance to review the course for NYC’s Marathon and it gave me some ideas about how I should approach the training strategically. The Marathon starts on the Verrazano Bridge with about a 1 mile climb up 150 feet. Training in Pittsburgh definitely has it’s benefits in this sense as the hills are plentiful and typically higher and steeper than what Verrazano will throw at me. Also, there are some hills at the end of the race in Central Park, so I need to focus on crushing it for the last 2-4 miles of every long run. Really want to finish this race strong and recover quickly.
