TT Member "Harper" wins age group Central Park Marathon!

I started running right around Christmas 2012 after not running much during the year.  A few weeks later I decided to run a winter marathon as motivation for training and to provide a base for the coming year. In late January 2013 I came across a listing for the NYCRUNs Central Park Marathon on February 24.  It was a little early given where I was coming from with my fitness, but having it out the way in February meant I could use March to focus on the bike.  While this would be my first marathon, my objective was to get through it in good enough shape so I move on with my training.  I had a few bike races, an April bike trip with a group of friends, and possibly a few duathlons in mind for later in the year.  There are always plenty of shorter running races locally also during the summer months.

Start to finish, I had 8 weeks of training.  For all of 2012 I averaged about 5 miles of running/week, though I had biked regularly.   

My training plan was simple by design. 

It consisted of six days of work per week - Monday was an off day.  I knew that seven day weeks repeatedly would deprive me of the freshness I wanted.  

I alternated days of indoor biking with running, and doubled about once a week.  

I averaged 4 days of running a week and about 30 miles/week, and maxed out at 38 miles in a week.  Inclement weather meant running on the treadmill.  Total running time was less than 5 hours a weeks.

The core of the plan were the long runs of 15, 20 and 22 miles all done outdoors, and not done at any predetermined pace.  I ran "easy" knowing that I needed to keep training.  My objective was to run continuously and slowly enough so that I would recover as quickly as possible.  If I had a few more weeks, I would have added another long run, probably with 10 or more of the last miles at marathon pace.

I biked 4 hours a week.  This allowed me to improve my cardiovascular fitness without pounding my legs, burned calories and gave me a base for cycling which was important to me.  I ate healthy foods in moderate portions and lost the holiday weight I never should have gained.  I stopped pulling weight about 2 weeks before the race as it is hard to race in weight loss mode.

In my mind, I categorized my runs as long, tempo, hills, or intervals.  I also raced a 10k, 15k, and a 20k (the first 3 races of the Boston Build Up Series - I recommend these races for anyone who needs motivation to stay fit in the winter - the series starts in early January and runs through February - low cost, local, and really good runners).  I did not taper for the marathon or the other races, with the exception of taking two days off before the marathon.  The 20k race was 7 days before the marathon and I ran it as hard as I could.  I wanted the race to help set my marathon pace and I was comfortable that the two off days I had planned would be enough recovery.  I ran the 6.57s for the 20k and 7.31s for the marathon.  

That means I cut out easy runs, I cut out hard long runs (the 3 races were a sort of a substitute), I never ran twice in a day, and I didn't do much track work.  I was indifferent between running on a treadmill or outdoors.

I waited for 3 weeks to do any interval training.  And I did intervals no more than once a week.   I felt really slow at the beginning of training so I did a day with 100s, 200s and 400s as fast as I could, with 400 meter rest.  One week I did 3 x 1 mile at a 1% grade on the treadmill @ 5k pace with 2 minutes rest jog.   Another week I did  3 x 2k @ 10k pace with 400 meter rest.    My 7.5 mile tempo runs were a staple - out the door and 2 miles easy to warm up, 3 miles hard (i.e. @ 10k pace or better), then recover quickly and run the final 2.5 miles as best I could depending upon how I felt.  If it rained or snowed I did 60 or 90 minutes on the treadmill at a pace I guessed would be slightly harder than marathon pace. 

On race day, February 24, 2013, the forecast rain stayed away, the temperature rose to 40 degrees at the start, and a swirling breeze funneled into a stiff headwind crossing the 102nd Street transverse.  Not ideal conditions, but much better than many winter days.   I stayed with my in-laws on the Upper East Side the night before the race which made the start on the East Drive in Central Park just below 72nd Street  even more civilized than the 8.30 am start would imply.  The race was organized by NYCRUNs, a relatively new organization not to be confused with the NYRRC (New York Road Runners Club - organizers of the famous NYC Marathon among many other races).  The support consisted of water and Gatorade at 4 points along the 5 mile loop, which was ample.  

I carried 5 gels in a little belt and took one a lap - again I tried to keep it simple.  A little water from the aid station - no walking - to wash it down.  The first 15 miles were not physically stressful.   In fact the early part of the race reminded me of many runs in the park during my 20+ years of living in NYC.  The 300+ marathoners were outnumbered by bikers, rollerbladers, walkers, joggers - some pushing strollers, and jaywalkers.   Not all of them were moving in the same direction.  I remember one baby-jogging couple coming right at me.  There were enough people around so you overheard snippets of conversations.  Two guys passed me talking loudly about 9 marathons in 9 days.  At the same time I had constant reminders of my urban surroundings, I also had a sense of solitude.  For only a small portion of the race did I run alongside another runner.  I had to strain to see racers in front of me and infrequently heard steps behind.  My Garmin 610 kept my pace.  I consciously checked it regularly - with the foot pod calibrated it gave me accurate real time pace information.   I felt that running a steady race was one of the keys to getting the most out of my fitness.  The course started on the East Drive south of 72nd Street, went counterclockwise 5 loops around Central Park, crossing from west to east at the 102nd transverse, and going around the bottom of the Park.  Central Park cognoscenti will immediately note that we mercifully skipped the north hill; I would still describe the course as rolling.  It was not a difficult course compared to Fairfield County terrain, but also it was nowhere near pancake flat.  

The beauty of running a race in Central Park, at least for someone familiar with it, is that you always know exactly where you are.  I didn't need the mile markers and I didn't look for them.  I counted down the laps each time I passed Engineers' Gate at 90th Street on the East side and and mentally ticked off the familiar landmarks - the park at East 96th St. where my kids played when they were young, the 102nd street transverse where I just wanted to get through the headwind, then south on the West Drive working hard to get up the hill to the reservoir entrance.  Next was a nice downhill to West 72nd St, past Strawberry Field on the right, a short uphill to the Finish Line at East 69th, down the hill past the Sheep Meadow on the left and Tavern on the Green on the right; each lap I remembered to look up to see the time on the CNN clock in the distance.  Then around the bottom of the park, which always felt longer than it should, past the aid station, to the Boathouse, slowing down up Cat's Paw hill where the bike races would finish then pushing to get back on pace north along Fifth Avenue towards Engineers' Gate, where my in-laws stood and cheered.  

The running was fine - I was calm even though I felt good but not great at the outset.  I wanted to get under the Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group - which is 3:30 (8:00 minutes/mile), and I thought I could run 7.45s or better.  I didn't think I could do much better though and set a "speed limit" of about 7.15 minutes/mile.  I ran a bit slower than that until slowing down in the last 5 miles or so as my legs got heavy.  I crossed the finish line in 3 hrs 17 minutes, which is a 7.31 min/mile pace.  

When the results were published that night, I found out that I was first in the 50-54 year old age group out of 20 runners and 19th overall out of 300+ runners.  Not exactly your typical fall or spring marathon crowd, but then again not many runners are doing long runs in January or February to get ready for a winter marathon.  My time was 13 minutes inside the Boston qualifying time as Tim M. pointed out to so I should have the opportunity to run there in 2014.  Something to think about... For now though, I have dialed back the long runs and am biking more.  I did two bicycle races in Bethel, CT the weekend after the marathon and surprise, surprise,  I felt sluggish, like I had just run a marathon!  Looking forward to feeling fresh again....

While I did much of my training and planning for this specific race alone, my thinking has been heavily influenced by the time I have spent with people at Target Training over the last few years.  Running alongside Tim Milenkevich who has been one of the top runners in Connecticut for a long time and seeing him work on his technique and fitness to drive down his already fast times made me focus on my technique more.  Day in and day out Eneas sets the bar high in training.  And anyone who has seen him race knows that his training mindset carries right over into race day - I saw him win at Duathlon Worlds in Spain a few years ago against amazing competition.  He is proof that you can run fast and bike hard at the same time.  Max Veiga may not be as well known as Tim and Eneas, but he is a national class duathlete, a Cat 3 racer and a terrific runner.  Max has the gift of being able to translate the theoretical into what it means for you and your training.  Thanks guys.  

Roger