Race Recap: NYRR 18-Mile Marathon Tune-Up

By ellen on September 25, 2011

  • Date: Sunday, September 25, 2011
  • Time: 7:00am
  • Location: Central Park. The race started on the east side by the 102nd Street transverse. It was 3 counter-clockwise loops of the park.

  • Conditions: At 5am this morning, when I looked before the race, it was supposed to rain – 80% chance. I was actually hoping for rain, thinking it may cool things off a bit. It didn’t rain, but it was incredibly humid. Got a little sunny towards the end. Not pleasant, but certainly not the worst conditions I’ve run in this season.
  • Pre-Race:
    • Pre-race, things were not looking good. Although I hydrated really well, I was sidelined with some unfortunate stomach issues. I headed home early from a friend’s house to relax, drank a Nuun, and hoped I’d feel better in the morning.
    • I didn’t feel awful in the morning, but my belly felt empty and I was concerned about dehydration despite drinking tons of water the last few days. I ate 1/2 piece of fresh sourdough w/ pb. honey, and sea salt. Felt good enough to go and give the race a try.
  • Race Time:
    • I felt great starting out. When I saw the weather yesterday and realized how humid it would be, I decided to stick to 10:00min/mile pace. I kept this pace almost exactly for the first 2 loops. The third loop slowed down a bit – I was really really warm at this point and my legs were starting to feel the effects of Harlem Hills x3.
    • Because of my stomach issues last night/this morning, I felt hungry earlier than usual. I took Gu at mile 4, then every 6 after that (10, 16). This worked really well. I drank little swigs of Gatorade in between Gu miles.
    • As much as I tend to fear hills, I feel really comfortable running them. I dominated hills and took it easy on the downhills.
  • Official Time:

  • Overall:
    • I don’t know what the issue was on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I’ve had more issues pre-race this season than in others. Even though it turned out fine, I’d rather figure it out and not have the same pre-race experience before the marathon (and fear of trots – sorry).
    • This was a huge confidence booster and (if I hadn’t said it before) I really really can’t wait to run the marathon. I did a lot of visualizing during the race which helped the miles tick by. (Some thoughts included, but were not limited to: marathon day outfit, funny signs I hope to see, which bar I will go to after, and when I would do a training run on the last few miles of the course).

So, great day. I sit here now post-ice bath covered in Tiger Balm watching football. I’m beyond excited for the marathon and it’s crazy to think I only have a handful of these long runs left. 

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Over the River and Through the Woods

By ellen on September 11, 2011

and up the hills, and down the hills, and up the hills, and down the hills…

The river in question is the Hudson, and the woods are the Palisades. This week’s long run was a doozy. I’ve been adamantly avoiding hills on my long runs and just trying to get the miles in (hello, WSH). While NYC isn’t a very hilly course, there are, of course, some hills. And I should do at least a couple long runs that involve some hills to prepare, right?

For some comparison, here are elevation charts of my last few long runs (pretty accurate, except for maybe the few miles I ran getting to/from the subway, etc.)

Below is the elevation chart for the long run I did on the WSH in weeks 2, 3, and 4 of training. Pretty flat, eh?

West Side Hwy Long Run

Here’s the loop in Central Park that I did in week 5 (it’s the 5 mile lower loop 3x). A bit hillier.

Central Park Long Run

And why do I seem to suddenly care about hills? Here’s the NYC marathon course elevation chart. Of course the bridges present a bit of an incline – Verrazano is a long hill, the Queensboro is a bit shorter, but just as steep. Verrazano climbs to about 250ft; the Q’boro about 150. There are small, barely noticeable hills in Brooklyn, but nothing compared to rolling hills around Central Park. There’s a slight elevation change in the last 3 miles of the course, from Fifth Avenue to the finish. They don’t seem like much, but at mile 23 can feel like a mountain.

NYC Marathon Course

For the sake of comparison, here’s the elevation chart for the run I did yesterday over the GWB and up the Palisades.

GWB + Palisades Long Run

Certainly much hillier than the marathon course, but fairly comparable. While I’m not to going to start doing all my long runs on the Palisades (ahhhhh), I’ll try to do maybe 2 more hilly long runs before the marathon (one will probably be the 18 mile tune-up in Central Park). It was good to mix it up and get my legs used to that burning feeling that accompanies a huge climb at mile 14.

Do you opt for flat long runs to get the easy miles in (like I usually do)? Or tackle the hills? 

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The Almighty Carb Load

By ellen on August 24, 2011

I’ve always said that I could live on bread and cheese alone. Really, I think I could. I’d also add pasta into that mix. Luckily, I’ve got a great excuse to load up on some of my favorites during marathon training… well, not so much the cheese.

Some people believe in carb loading, some maybe not so much, and there are a few definitions as to what carb loading is. (If you happen to be interested in reading about carb loading, click here, here, or here.)

I firmly believe that a good excuse to carb load is good enough for me. And what’s a better excuse than a long marathon training run? Exactly. 

So this past Saturday night, before my Sunday morning 18-miler, I created a little carb loading menu and invited a few friends over to join in the fun.

The Menu:

Penne with Chickpeas and Feta

(Click photograph for source and original recipe)

I used the recipe as inspiration (the Cook Light iPad app is awesome), but used more pasta, more red peppers, and more lemon zest. To say that it was delicious may be an understatement.

Garlic Bread

No photographs to show here, but this may have been the show-stopper. You see, I don’t mess around with bread… especially garlic bread. To make super-delicious garlic bread, I suggest the following: 1) Pick great bread. I love the herb foccacia from Bread Alone. 2) Mix the butter and herbs together before applying to bread. Butter + minced garlic + fresh chopped flat leaf parsley = love. 3) Cut the loaf across like a sandwich roll and be generous w/ the garlic butter inside. 4) Close the foccacia, wrap in tin foil, and toss in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes. It’s pretty amazing.

Greek Cod Cakes

(Again, click photograph for source and original recipe)

The only adjustment I made to this recipe was using flounder instead of cod (no personal preference, they just didn’t have cod at the Farmer’s Market that day). These were pretty tasty – nice change of pace. I only had a nibble (I don’t like trying anything new like this the night before a long run), but the dinner companions liked them.

It was really fun making a night of my little carb load experience. I may continue to make it a tradition – luckily I have a husband and friends who love carb loading even if they aren’t fueling for a run.

Do you “carb load”? What does it mean to you?

For me, I’ll add a little more in the way of carbs to each meal the day or so before a long run – like an extra half to full serving. I’m not about to eat an entire box of pasta the night before and expect it to yield a great performance.

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Things are Heating Up on Long Runs

By ellen on May 8, 2011

Today I had planned on running 10-12 miles. It would be my longest run in preparation for the Brooklyn half in two weeks. I typically don’t go over 9-10 miles before a half, but I have the time and I’ve been running well lately so why not.

I’ve mentioned many times how running in the summer heat and humidity has derailed my running (and contributed to my dropping the NYC Marathon one year). Today was a beautiful day. Not too hot (70s, I think) and not humid. Pretty much perfect running weather.

Here’s how it went down:

  • I planned on taking it easy this morning and heading out when I felt ready. Typically, this would be around 8-9ish. But after a late night w/ both a Derby party and birthday party, I slept later than usual (but thankfully, did not have to deal w/ hangover).
  • To make it more of an outing, I decided that this would be a runmute to the grocery store. M would meet me there and we’d get our groceries for the week. We’d done this sort of thing before and it’s worked out well.
  • I mapped my route from my apartment all the way down the greenway to 59th St. From there I’d head back uptown to Whole Foods on 97th. This is about 12 miles.

What went wrong:

  1. I didn’t leave until 1pm. This is when the sun is strong and there’s virtually no shade to run under. For someone who is not a big fan of running in warm weather, this was kind of a nightmare.
  2. At the parties yesterday, I wore summer sandals. This was the first time I’d worn sandals since last year. While the platform wedges were really cute, they left me with monster blisters – two. And once I started running, I developed two more where there had once been hot-spots. Nice.
  3. I underestimated how warm I’d get and did not plan to carry water. For the first half of my run, my mouth was incredibly dry and I felt like I was running from water fountain to water fountain.
  4. I never really got into a rhythm. See above.
  5. As a result of these things, I cut about 2 miles off the run… which was fine by me and still fell into my goal mileage for the day.

Moral of the Story:

  • Run in the morning. I really think that my water issues would not really have been an issue had I been running about 3 hours earlier.
  • Don’t wear sandals the day before a long run.
  • This wasn’t a great run, but it wasn’t terrible. The weather was nice and it went by really fast. Even a “bad” run can sometimes be pretty good.

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In other news, apparently Friday was the day to begin signing up for transportation to the NYC Marathon. No email was sent, and I only realized when someone mentioned it on twitter. Anyone get an email? Anyone have issues choosing a time slot?

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