Thursday, July 31, 2008

NYC Nike Half-Mary

My last post was a six-word prediction to follow up on Flying Pigtails
request. Being that I tend to follow trends (as I have seen these kind of 'requests' posted several times) I continue the trend with my race report in a 'concise' six-word sentence: It is definitely not the shoes!

Last year, Haile ran the course record wearing the same shoes I wore this past Sunday. He ran a sub-one-hour time. Because I had the same pair of shoes, I figure at the very least I could run my current fitness. Having ran a four-mile tempo run in just under 28 minutes the Wednesday prior suggested I could run "a" half in 7:11 pace. Alas, I knew the weather was going to be less than ideal so I adjusted it to 1:35 total time; I was confident, I thought it was doable.

Four weeks before the race had me running a mere 4.5 miles. The following week I ran a whooping 3.5 miles (sarcasm intended). Then I suddenly ramped up the mileage and ran 54 miles. And 54 miles the week before the half-mary. Two weeks of 54-miles back-toback. In fact, I was to run 5 recovery miles on Saturday, but I decided to not run them at all as I had only slept one hour on the red-eye on my way to the big apple on Friday night.

On Saturday night I slept a not-too-shabby 6.5 hours, as I woke up at 5:30 AM local time (2:30 to my circadian rhythm). I showered, had a banana to prevent cramps and was on my way to Central Park. I made it there with just 20 minutes to spare. On my way to my corral I spotted Uptown Girl who was chatting away with a couple of her teammates. I stood there for a few seconds not knowing whether to say hello or just let her be. I decided to call out her name and introduced myself. I felt so foolish afterward for not introducing myself by my Christian name, but such is life. I also felt awkward since she was obviously enjoying the conversation with her teammates, so I made it rather short.

I moved right along and placed my self in the 1000s corral. I look to my left and who do I see? The speedster Chelle, who was talking to a friend. I though of walking over to introduce myself but stayed put; after all she seemed to be enjoying her conversation. It is worth mentioning that she is a sub-1:25 half-marathoner and I call myself a sub-1:30 halfer. Originally, my goal was to finish NOT more than five minutes behind Chelle. We happened to be lined-up between the 1:30 and the 1:37 pacers.

The race starts and less than half-a-mile later the 1:37s pass me with so much ease it was ridiculous. At this point I knew it was not going to be a good race. I tried to push the pace but my legs were just not cooperating. My breathing was fine; in fact it felt too easy; it would only get labored at the hills, particularly the Harlem hills. At the one-mile marker I lost sight of Chelle and her friend. I plod on feeling sorry for myself as I just could not pick up the pace. I kept telling myself that it was just too crowded; but that was just silly, I did not have any legs.

I actually felt I gave the race a good effort and tried several times to lengthen my stride to no avail. At four miles I sighted Chelle and her friend once again and gave chase only to lose them once more half a mile before we exited Central Park. I had been averaging just under 7:30s for the Central Park miles and was hoping to drop them to 7:10s once we got into the flatlands. I did get a minor boost when we went onto 7th Avenue but it was short-lived as I felt 'lost' once we passed times square. At ten miles I was still in sub-7:30 pace, but soon thereafter I felt so tired, my legs felt made of lead and wished I could keep a sub-eight minute pace for the rest of the 'race.'

As it turns out I only lost 30 seconds in the next 5-k as I concentrated on my breathing and my shuffling gait. Right around the 11-mile mark, I spotted Chelle and her friend once again and tried to catch up to them, but my legs where not there. I guess I left them in La-La Land. I crossed the finish line in 1:38:32, 7:31 pace, feeling so tired I skipped the five miler cool-down I had planned as I was supposed to run 18 for that day.

As I was 'recovering,' I see Chelle jogging and called out her name. We chatted for a few minutes and I headed to the subway station nearest me. I was in my hotel by 9:30.

While in New York, I ran four days: 13.1 on Sunday (7:31 pace), 6+ on Monday (9+ pace), 10 on Tuesday (7:43 pace- all in Central park, with five sub 7:25), and 7.5 on Wednesday (~8:10s). All I can hope is that come November 2, I can run close to the pace I ran this past Sunday as that is the one monkey I still have on my back: five NYCMs and NOT one under 3:40.

Have a great day you all.

A

5 comments:

Arcane said...

They can't be all great races. The time zone change probably wasn't too good for you. You seemed to have done all right in the next couple of days in training though. There's a lot of time until NYCM. You'll be fine.

Bridges Runner said...

Extremely tough race last weekend. You survived and chalk it up to experience. There will be days like this and hopefully come Nov 2 the running gods will be shining on you!

Nice to meet you - briefly. Let's definitely meet up next time you're in NY.

yumke said...

So what shoes were you wearing?!

Sounds like a tough race given what you've done before... Weather i'm sure will be good in November.. so jealous.

Quinto Sol said...

Arcane: I realize that we can't have great races every time, I just expect a good showing, that's all. I was pleased with the effort though.

Uptown: Lets hope the running gods listen and bring good weather come October 12, AND on Nov 2 :-)

Yumke: I was wearing lime-green adistars. They are light and fast, and they look very much like the ones Haile wore last year. Check his out here.

What is really frustrating is that last year I ran an MP training run of 13 miles at 7:12 pace, w/o water breaks! I guess I just do not have the talent to sustain fitness after several months of low quality workouts.

Anonymous said...

Don't discount that humidity. It was awful. And, it was a good experience for you on how to set up your pre-race days for 11/2...