2008 NYC Marathon

2:58:22
Overall Place: 827 of 37899 finishers
Pace/Mile: 6:48.2
Age Grade: 73.6%
Age Group Place: 161st of 4853 finishers
Date: 11/2/2008
Location: New York, NY
Comments: This was my sixth marathon and thankfully my sixth marathon PR in a row. This my first marathon where I actually felt that if I trained a bit more that I could actually race the whole distance and not just survive the last few miles.This is not to say that I did not fall apart the last few miles, however just not as bad as my previous marathons. Even though my time was only 1:25 faster than Boston, I think NYC is much harder course and I felt much better for a longer period of time so all in all I was very happy and encouraged by my results.
Splits:
1 Mile: 7:00 approx.
2 Mile: 13:25 approx. (6:25 2nd mile)
5K: 20:56 (6:44.3 pace)
5-10K: 20:43 (6:40.1 pace)
10-15K: 20:55 (6:43.9 pace)
15-20K: 20:58 (6:44.9 pace)
20-25K: 21:29 (6:54.9 pace)
25-30K: 20:40 (6:39.1 pace)
30-35K: 21:26 (6:53.9 pace)
35-40K: 21:49 (7:01.3 pace)
Last 2.195K: 9:26 (6:55 pace)

Richard's Run Ho-Ho-Kus 5K

17:43
2nd overall out of 565
Pace/Mile: 5:42
Age Grade: 78.8%
Age Group Place: 1st of 82
Date: 10/5/2008
Location: Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ
Comments: Cool, rain, crappy awards (no second place overall award) just 1st place age group medal. However, the race was for a very good cause!

Newport Liberty Half Marathon

1:22:35
28th overall out of 1349
Pace/Mile: 6:18
Age Grade: 76.5%
Age Group Place: 2nd of 128
Date: 9/28/2008
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Comments: Warm, humid, rain, blah...4th place master!

Ramsey Run - 10K

36:22
7th overall out of 168
Pace/Mile: 5:51
Age Grade: 79.9%
Age Group Place: 1st of 38
Date: 9/13/2008
Splits (5:36, 11:30, 17:30, 23:25, 29:33, 35:15)
Comments: My pace was all over the place from 5:36 to 6:08 per mile, however I felt good and was pleased with my time. The Don Bosco HS XC team showed up again this year and ruined any hopes of me winning this year like in 2004 when nobody showed up. (http://www.compuscore.com/cs2004/sept/ramsey1.htm) Maybe I will have to duck the competition and run the 5K next year instead, if I am still in shape. I was pleased with my age grade of 79.9%, which is my highest since college, still short of my goal of 80.0% as a master.

Glen Rock Arboretum 5 Mile Run

29:16
2nd overall out of 151
Pace/Mile: 5:51.2
Age Grade: 78.3%
Date: 9/1/2008
Splits (5:57, 11:40, Missed, 23:16) I did not pay close attention to the splits so these may not be accurate.
Comments: The first place guy started to pull away from me slightly before 4 miles. I was just not able to go with him; it was more about me not being able to maintain the pace then him actually picking up the pace. Oh well 2nd place again.

NJ Striders 3000M Track

10:08.9
2nd overall
Date: July 10, 2008
Location: Mahwah High School, NJ
I have not raced much on the track since college, however it is definitely a change from the roads. I did race the NJ Striders track meet two weeks ago, that time running the mile in 5:06.5 for 4th out of 6. The race went out a little slower than I was hoping for (800m in 2:47, 1600m in 5:32), however since there was a fair amount of wind on the backstretch of the track I did not want to lead if I did not have to. There was a pack of 5 of us until about 800 to go when the leader picked up the pace; I went with him however just not as fast. He won by about 5 seconds. Before the race I was hoping to run under 10:00, however was still satisfied with the result since I did not really suffer until the last 800.

Glen Rock 9/11 Tribute 5K

17:32.8
3rd overall out of 283
Pace/Mile: 5:40
Age Grade: 78.93%
Date: July 4, 2008
Weather: Sunny 72 degrees (it felt warmer and humid)
Splits (5:29, 11:29) I believe these are wrong, however the course is certified so I believe the overall time is accurate.

Hawthorne Run Against Domestic Violence 5K

17:23.2
3rd overall out of 180
Pace/Mile: 5:36
Age Grade: 79.66%
Date: June 22, 2008
Weather: Sunny 75 degrees
Splits (5:32, 11:15)

Racing the Antelope by Bernd Heinrich

A little while ago I finished reading the book Racing the Antelope by Bernd Heinrich, so I figured that I would write a review. This book is very different from all the other running books I have read since it mainly compares the performance of humans to animals and insects. I would certainly not recommend this as one of the first running books to read. However, if you have already read quite a few other running books and are looking for something completely different this book might be for you. I must admit that I skimmed over some of the animal/insect chapters to move on to the more practical human application and the authors own training for ultramarathons. However there where certainly some interesting statics like the Antelope has been reported to cover 7 miles in 10 minutes and has a VO2 max of 300. My main criticism of the book is that there are too many chapters about animals/insects and not enough about his running. The author does discuss his training for his American Record attempt at the 100K distance and the race itself. All in all I would recommend the book, however, fortunately I was able to check the book out of the library because even though the book was interesting, I don't know if it would be good enough for most runners to purchase. Anyway my favorite quote the book mentions is... "Now if you are going to win the battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up."
George S. Patton, 1912 Olympian.

Ridgewood Run 5K - Money for Nothing

Many of the awards I have won are from sub par performances for me. Unfortunately the reverse is also true, I have very little to show for my PR's and my best races as far as awards go. For example when I was in High School and College I ran the Ridgewood Run many times over the years (a Memorial Day tradition for me) and always came home empty handed. Even when I ran my 5K Road PR of 15:52 I was still only 7th in my age group. Well this year I run the 5K figuring most of the better guys in my age group (and masters) will be running the 10K. Well I figured correctly and ended up 2nd in my age group (getting an age group award) and placing 5th master (getting $35 prize money), with my slowest 5K time in the last 2 years and worst performance time wise (even figuring age grading) ever at Ridgewood. I am definitely not complaining, just kind of funny how these things work out sometimes.
Here is my history for the Ridgewood 5K:
Date.............Time.....Place...Age Place......Age
5/26/2008......18:00......26.......2.................42
5/27/1996......16:45......33.......6.................30
5/29/1995......16:54......25.......8.................29
5/25/1987......15:52......16.......7.................21
5/27/1985......16:23.5....23.......?.................19
5/28/1984......16:30......14.......4.................18
5/30/1983......16:53......18.......?.................17
5/31/1982......17:06.3....42.......8................16

Boston Marathon 2008

Since my first marathon (NYC 2006) my goal has been to run a sub 3:00. Based on my shorter race times this should have been relatively easy to accomplish however the marathon is a long way especially if you have not put in the miles. If I ever get the chance I would like to post my training for Boston, but in a nutshell it was between 45 to 65 mpw (which I still believe is minimal if you plan on racing the marathon distance), with tempo runs (usually 4 miles) at 15K/half marathon pace, marathon pace workouts up to 10 miles, two 24 mile long runs, other long runs with the last 4 to 8 miles at marathon pace, etc. However, no speed workouts or intervals (these seem to work great for me for the shorter races, however, not for the marathon).

I ran Boston like almost all my other races, i.e. try to run the tangents (basically impossible because of all the other runners), concentrate on the task at hand and stare at the person's head/back directly in front of me. All, which makes up for a pretty boring race report about what is really an exciting/great race. I did allow myself one distraction and that was conversing with a teammate (Norby) that I ran into on the course around 5 miles. We ran together for the next 4 or 5 miles until Norby took off, which was a smart move for him since he ran a faster time.

I would have to say Boston was definitely the most crowded race I have even run, however, since the corrals are seeded everyone is generally trying to move at the same speed so it all works out. Below are my splits; the first mile was a little slow because of the crowds, picked up the pace during the second mile too much. Actually, I thought I messed up another marathon by mile 2, by running too fast at the beginning, tried to ease back the pace but that did not really work until around the 6-mile point. By 25K (15.5 miles) I built up a cushion of 1:44, which is right before the Newton hills start at 16 miles. By 25.2 miles (one mile to go) I had lost all but 13 seconds of my cushion and was faced by the fact that I had to run better than a 7:05 last mile to make it under 3:00. Fortunately I had one more 6:52 mile in me, however, this took a Herculean effort since my legs were pretty much wasted the last few miles, although not as bad as my previous marathons. During the last mile I keep looking for the 800 meters to go sign, however I never saw one. Once I was on the final straightway I tried to kick it in with whatever I had left which was pretty much nothing, stopped my watch at the finish and looked down and saw 2:59:49 (official time was 2:59:47) and smiled!

Splits
1 mile 6:57
2 mile 13:20 (6:23)
3 mile 19:48 (6:28)
5k: 0:20:29, cushion 0:50
10k: 0:41:26 (20:57) cushion 1:13
15k 1:02:39 (21:13) cushion 1:20
20k 1:23:47 (21:08) cushion 1:32
Half 1:28:19 cushion 1:41
25k 1:44:54 (21:07) cushion 1:44
30k 2:06:27 (21:33) cushion 1:31
35k 2:28:11 (21:44) cushion 1:07
40k 2:50:16 (22:05) cushion 0:22
1 mile to go 2:52:55
Last mile 6:52

Official Time 2:59:47
Finish Pace 0:06:52
Overall 1211
Gender 1159
Division 269

St. Paddy's 10 Mile Run

3-30-08 Freehold, NJ 10 Miles in 59:37 (5:58 pace), 28th place overall out 640, 6th age group of 63. I have been running (off and on) since I was 15 years old, however believe it or not this was my first 10 mile race. So technically this would be a PR for me, however, when I was younger and set my 1/2 marathon PR (which was also the only 1/2 marathon I ran before turning 40) I went thru 10 miles in 59:20, so in my mind that is my real PR. However, this counts for my masters PR. All and all I was very pleased with the race, ran it more like a time-trial than a race. My splits where almost perfectly even 6:00 per mile splits for the first six to seven miles, picked up the pace a bit for the last 3 miles, however, not enough since several of the guys in the pack I was running with ended up finishing ahead of me. Next up is Boston!

24 Miles - Part 2

Things have been very busy lately so I have not had the time to write much. I ran my second 24 miler on Saturday and I am glad to report that it went much better then the first one in this training cycle. My time was 3:00:33 (1:31:22 for the first 12, 1:29:11 for the second 12), which comes out to an average pace of 7:31.3. Also no WALL this time, the last mile was 7:05, which was probably the quickest of the whole run. Boston is a month away; hopefully all goes well between now and then. I plan to do one race before Boston, the USATF NJ 10 Mile Championship in Freehold next Sunday.

24 Miles and THE WALL

"Like most first-time marathoners, I sailed through 18 miles of my first marathon feeling like a million bucks. By 21 miles I wasn’t worth five cents."-Greg McMillan
I ran 24 miles on Saturday in 3:07:05 (1:32:15 for the first 12, 1:34:50 for the second 12). I have run four marathons so far and have hit the wall in all four (all at different points). The marathon just does not seem like my event. I know that is not the correct attitude, however, I have to be realistic and honest with myself. Anyway I will write more about that in a future blog entry.

I was little tired going into Saturday's run since I had run a total of 38.2 miles for M-F (8, 8.1, 10, 8.1, 4). With Saturdays 24 and 3 on Sunday, I ended up with 65.2 miles for the week, my highest mileage week since college. On Saturday I felt good up to 18, at 19 I was still OK, at 20 I was just hanging on, at 21 I was still hanging on and thought at least it is only three to go, at 22 I hit the wall and just struggled in for the last two miles. I seriously considered walking the last mile, however I know that I would have beat myself up about it afterward. Plus after walking some in my first marathon I have a no walking rule for myself in the marathon, so I figured I can't let myself walk in a workout. BTW my last mile was 8:53 ughh! I plan to torture myself with another 24 miler four weeks before Boston, hopefully that one goes better. Here is why I am doing the two 24 milers before Boston (8 and 4 weeks out)
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/print.asp?id=11725

NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Mile Update

This is from www.nyrr.org
NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Mile Update
"Due to the possibility of inclement weather, we remind runners taking part in the NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake 4M to check this website for any updates before heading out to the race on Saturday."

Personally this is how I would have worded this fine announcement.
"Due to the possibility of snowflakes, we...”
What the ???? The Al Gordon SNOWFLAKE 4-mile might be cancelled/postponed due to snowflakes? Isn't that like canceling/postponing the Winter Olympics due to inclement weather? I know in this litigious society it would be too risky for the NYRR to host a race in dangerous conditions, however it does seem a bit ironic. Fortunately I was not planning on running this race, however if you are good luck and be safe!

10 Miles at Marathon Pace

Since I start running marathons with NYC in 2006 I have been occasionally running marathon pace workouts. With each marathon I have been trying to do more of this type of workout because I believe in the reasoning of why they should be a benefit for the marathon. Originally I started with 6 miles and then progressed to 8 miles and today I did my first 10 miler at MP (during this training cycle). My goal was to run at 6:52 pace or 1:08:40 for the complete workout, my time was 1:07:37 for the 10 miles which comes out to 6:46 pace (the slowest mile was the first in 7:06, the quickest was 6:38 between 6 and 7). I have read that elite marathoners will occasionally do MP workouts of up to 18 miles and I would like to work my way up to being able to do 15 miles at 6:52 pace comfortably or a least without it feeling like a tremendous effort! Until next time best of luck with your training.

2008 Bronx Half Marathon

On Sunday (2/10) I ran the Bronx Half Marathon in 1:21:56 (6:15 pace) for 41th place out of 3263, 5th out of 371 in my age group. I was hoping to run under 1:21:00 with the goal of running as close to an even 6:10 pace. Went out in 6:00 at 1, 12:09 at 2, and 18:13 at 3, a bit quicker than I was looking for, however was feeling fine and not laboring too much. After that point the course turns back and you basically do the first three miles in reverse. During the fourth mile there are some hills and that is when the wind started to pick up, just gusts at first. Had the following splits 24:30 to 4, 30:53 at 5, and 37:09 at 6. Miles 7 to 11 are on the Grand Concourse, basically 2 miles out and back. Out was into a strong sustained headwind and at this point I was just trying to hang with the three or so guys I was running with and draft when I could. I am not sure of the splits, however I know that I definitely lost some time here. Coming back the Grand Concourse was much better with a tail wind, hit 10 in 1:02:33 and 11 in 1:08:41 (6:08). At 11 there was still a pack of three guys a few seconds up the road in front of me so I made it my goal to catch them. I was finally able to pass all three guys just slightly after 12 miles, however I think it had more to do with them slowing down, then me picking up the pace. After that I just tried to push it in to the finish. That will probably be it for the races for a month or so and just concentrate on training for Boston.
Bronx Course map: http://www.nyrr.org/races/2008/pdf/bronxhalf_map.pdf

4 Seconds

Yesterday I ran the Manhattan half-marathon in 1:21:18 for 4th place in my age group (out of 515), so I missed out on an award by 4 seconds (3rd place was 1:21:14). Oh well I guess that is how goes, however, if I knew he was in my age group, I definitely had more than 4 seconds in me, but I bet he also had something left. Fortunately, I have won an award at a NYRR’s race before otherwise I would have been more disappointed. I am still a minute plus away from my goal of running a sub 1:20 as a master, however with the right training, the right race, and correct pacing I believe that this should be possible sometime this year (Note: I felt the same way last year and it never happened, however one must stay positive and believe). I will take another stab at running a faster time at the Bronx in two weeks; hopefully the weather cooperates.

6400 Meter Tempo Run - 1.16.08

I am currently training for my first Boston Marathon (fifth marathon) and will hopefully run my first sub 3:00. I have not done anything much faster than marathon pace for the last couple of months. Since I am also signed up for the Manhattan half marathon (1/27) and Bronx half marathon (2/10) I did my first tempo run yesterday. I did my standard 2 mile warm-up, 2 minute rest, followed by 6400 Meters on the track in 24:21, (splits 6:08 at 1600, 12:15 at 3200 (6:07), 18:20 at 4800 (6:05), 19:05 at 5000, 6:01 last 1600), followed by a 2 mile cool-down. My legs felt fine, however, aerobically the run felt harder than I would have liked it to be. The books say to do your tempo runs between 15K and 1/2 marathon pace, this one definitely felt more like 15K pace. All in all I am satisfied with the result. Last year I ran a 1:21:43 (6:14 pace) at the Manhattan half, if all goes well I will try to run about the same time. I plan to try to go out around 6:15 pace and adjust accordingly, however I have a tradition of almost always going out too fast (I should really know by now that blazing out does not work). For example my last half (Liberty in Jersey City, NJ) I went out in 5:50, for some reason it did not feel fast, however, it ended up catching up to me latter in the race. I ran a 1:22:11, not bad, but I think I could have run quicker if my pacing was more even.

The Warning

In my first post I stated that "I enjoy reading other peoples blogs...", in fact two of my favorite blogs are cycling (not running) related. They are http://www.fatcyclist.com and http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ These are well written, informative and often very funny. With that said, unfortunately do not expect the same from my blog. If I could write half as well (I think is well and not good, see what I mean.) and be half as funny I would be happy. During college I struggled writing my term papers (This was before Al Gore invented the Internet, so cheating involved a little more work.) and things have not really improved since. Long story short, writing has never been my forte. However, just like my running I don't want to let my lack of talent stop me from at least trying. Anyway that should be it for the introductions and will get to writing about running topics with the next post.

Why Run Faster - NJ?

Because 'Run Faster' was taken. Just joking but thats true! Anyway, the real reason is that my one main running goal is to RUN FASTER. You might say, well isn't that everyone's running goal. Not always and sometimes I have confused my own priorities in running. I have mileage goals and other training goals and even in the distant past had a running streak (611 days). However, I do not want these other running goals to get in the way of trying race as fast as I can at any particular age. Whether your goal is to enter your first race, finish a marathon, run everyday, or run faster best of luck in achieving or surpassing your goals in 2008!

SPALT! -Slip, sliding my way into 2008

I round the corner, roughly 8 miles into my run and both my legs slide out from under me and splat I am on the ground. Fortunately the only thing hurt was my ego. See it was raining this morning and in spots it was freezing on the road making it very slippery for the last mile and a half of my run. 9 miles, 1:11:11 (odd coincidence with 1/1), 7:55 avg. pace, (note: head, chest cold, sore throat). Best wishes to all with your running in 2008!