The last year has been full of events. Nothing too crazy on the running front, just life taking over a little bit. I may not have been writing or updating this blog (aside from miles and race), but I haven't stopped running!
That ends today... a year after I left it hanging.
So what have I been doing?
I last posted about my 2016 Chicago Marathon training. I had a recap was written long ago, but never posted it. At this point, it's stale. I mean the 2017 Chicago Marathon was yesterday! So I guess it's pointless to post the old one now. Here were my splits, and a very very quick run down...
Dist - Split - Lap - Pace
05K - 0:18:38 - 18:38 - 6:00
10K - 0:37:17 - 18:40 - 6:01
15K - 0:56:00 - 18:44 - 6:02
20K - 1:14:38 - 18:39 - 6:00
HALF - 1:18:42
25K - 1:33:17 - 14:35 - 6:01
30K - 1:51:30 - 18:13 - 5:52
35K - 2:10:09 - 18:40 - 6:01
40K - 2:29:40 - 19:31 - 6:17
42.2 - 2:38:06 - 8:26 - 6:11
Out in 1:18:42, back in 1:19:24. 2:38:06 (course PR).
Much like this year, last year's weather was a little warm (easily hitting 70 in the second half) and there was a southerly wind. I paced and ran with Matt Thor and Tim Faith, otherwise the field was pretty sparce for us, especially once we hit halfway. Our plan was to run 6-flat for the as long as possible and hopefully drop the hammer at some point. I ran solid and eventually left Matt and Tim, but the homestretch on Michigan Ave broke me. I went from pushing the pace sub 6 into the wind, to trying to hang on to 6:15's once the wind calmed down. In the end, I gave up a sub-2:38 and what should've been a negative split. I knew it wouldn't be a PR due to a lack of quantity in my training, but I was expecting better than this. Instead I wound up with another sub-2:40 notch in my belt and a course PR. I can collect those all days long, so I can't complain too much about that.
The rest of 2016's running included a so-so Carrera 5K and maintenance mileage that filled out the year. I finished 2016 with 2,672 miles. My crowning event for the year was Shamrock's 26:37 (1 second shy of a PR), otherwise I finished in 3rd place Overall in the 2016 CARA Circuit and 2nd place 35-39 Age Group for the season. A good year, but it became clear that running the circuit has taken it's toll. Too many races spread out over the year, without any real quality training to back them up... and that was my third year in four doing that.
The last couple months of 2016 were consumed by two life changing things:
1) I started a new job in early November. After a nice long sebatical, I took on a non-trading, analyst position with a larger fund company. I've now been here almost a year. I'll spare the details aside from I am learning new things and getting experience in the corporate world, but it's not as exciting nor as challenging as I would like. It pays the bills and keeps me entertained though. I'm hoping that it's a stepping stone for a better role within the company.
2) Most importantly: Sasha and I got married!! We had absolutely beautiful wedding (in my completely upbiased opinion), and the first year of our marriage has been blissful. I spare all the details, but it was Nov 20, 2016 in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The wedding and reception were at the Hotel El Convento. We had about 60 guests. Spending the long weekend with the our close friends and family made for a perfect and very special experience that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Sasha and I followed Puerto Rico with a small trip to St John, USVI. And since then, we've had several trips in the last year, which have certainly made training an after throughout or not my primary focus, at least until recently. A wedding few pix and then moving on.
2017:
I decided I needed a break from the CARA Circuit in 2017. Three out of four years was enough. I've spent far too much time over-racing and under-training. My results were increasingly showing it as the schedule took its toll. So for this year, I've set my sights on just accumulating miles and focusing on my old nemisis, the New York City Marathon. I wound up running Boston in the spring for the entertainment factor, but NYC will be all business.
The best thing to come out of my winter/spring training was a respectable 26:44 at Shamrock Shuffle. Otherwise, I probably short changed myself going into Boston. I wasn't super motivated in the winter months, as we had a few ski trips and other fun things going on, which I allowed to distract my focus. I definitely missed out on a few key weeks and an accumulation of mileage.
The weather in Boston was then abnormally hot for marathon Monday; easily 75-80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky on race day. Peak temps on the blacktop would've been hotter. Long story short, I thought it was wise to go out easier and then pick it up if I felt good. I start conservatively with 6:10-15s, then slowly squeezed the trigger starting at 10-15K. Confidence and experience from Shamrock told me that I could save a sub or low 2:40's, but then the wheels came off on the back of the hills. It was either a lack of training or the heat that broke me. Probably a little of both.
Out in 1:20:47, back in 1:25:48. 2:46:35. It was only sloppy after heartbreak. The result sucked, but I don't regret running the way I did. Maybe any other day, and I could've done it. Oh well. On that day, in that race, at that time, I would've rather blown up than laid up. Unfortunately, training in the winter doesn't help when you are forced to race in unexpected summer-like conditions.
Dist - Split - Lap - Pace
05K - 0:19:34 - 19:34 - 6:16
10K - 0:38:52 - 19:18 - 6:11
15K - 0:57:45 - 18:53 - 6:03
20K - 1:16:38 - 18:53 - 6:03
HALF - 1:20:47
25K - 1:35:42 - 19:04 - 6:07
30K - 1:55:09 - 19:27 - 6:14
35K - 2:15:53 - 20:44 - 6:39
40K - 2:37:15 - 21:22 - 6:51
42.2 - 2:46:35 - 9:20 - 6:49
No tears shed in Boston.
By the end of June, I had 1,342 miles YTD. That's not a small number... Aside from a few races around Boston, it was all part of my basing plan and building for the big prize of the year... New York City.
This has really been my main focus. Everything else has just been noise.
I've done the New York Marathon three times now. Each with similar outcomes in time, but very different races:
- In 2008, as I was breaking out. That year I did the double... a 2:47:03 at Berlin Marathon, followed by a 2:53:57. Two marathons within a month an a half is not easy; at the time, I was very proud of that race.
- In 2010, I was trying to crush it. I already had a few other sub-2:40s, I had solid training, but the wheels started to come off before I even toed the line. Everything went smoothly until about two weeks before the marathon, when I either knotted or pulled a muscle. I managed it, but conditions and a monster blister lead me to blow up on 1st Avenue. I retreated and finished in 2:50:56... the hard way.
- In 2013, I did the double again following a 2:39:37 in Chicago. But this time, I was on the brink of serious injury. Nonetheless, I laid up a 2:52:18. That race was more about the stories and the fun than anything else, but I paid a dear price for it.
The New York Marathon is no joke. Experience tells me that I need to respect it. It's much more difficult than Boston. The logistics suck. The starting area sucks. The weather always sucks. The wind is terrible, no matter which direction you're heading. The bridges suck. The turn onto 1st Ave sucks. The Bronx sucks. 5th Ave sucks. The hills in Central Park suck. It's just a sucky race. And that's why I need to go into this thing absolutely, 100%, fully prepared for a dog fight. A well honed, and significantly experienced marathoner against his arch nemesis... the most difficult of the majors... Not that I need to prove myself in my 26th marathon, but Frankie said it best, "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere." New York will go down as a sub-2:40.
As of this moment right now, I'm sitting on 100 miles in the last seven days. I've been piling it on. In the 15 weeks that will lead up to the race, I'll have more miles going into NYC than an other marathon that I've ever run. I'm solidly fit already and still have just inside of four weeks until the race. My goal: to be PR shape so that I can guarantee myself success, regardless of conditions that bitch throws at me.
Seven years later, I'll get my revenge. I'm coursing you, New York! And I want my sub-2:40.
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