NJ Marathon

Knowing Yourself as a Runner

May 12, 2011 by Kristy 19 Comments

In the past 10 years I’ve been running, I learned the following about myself as a runner:

1. I’m not naturally speedy.
2. I have to work my ass off to get faster.
3. Endurance is my strength. In many ways, running 20 miles is easier and more pleasant than a speed workout.
4. Because of #3, I shy away from 5Ks and 10Ks.
5. I’m a morning runner; running in the evening is tough for me.
6. I run my long runs at or within 30-45 seconds of marathon pace. Long, slow distance doesn’t work for me. Practice makes perfect.
7. Although my mental game has improved, negative thoughts and self-doubt still haunt me.

It took lots of trail and error but I’ve learned so much about myself from marathon #1 to marathon #8.

Don’t compare yourself to other runners
This is pointless and will get you nowhere. Every runner has different abilities. The speedsters who make it seem so easy are genetically gifted. Trying to copy their training schedule to “be like them” will also get you nowhere. It’s important to know your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations as a runner so you can train smart for you.

Easier said then done, right? I still compare myself to other runners. Case and point: after the NJ Marathon I was bummed about my PR (yes, I was bummed about a PR) and kept reading Twitter updates of everyone’s fabulous PRs. I said to Matt, “I’m sick of reading about everyone’s PRs”. His reply, “Oh…and how about your PR?” Enough said. Thanks Matt.

Training plans are NOT one-size-fits-all
As I said above, don’t take your super fast runner friend’s training schedule and follow it to a T and expect the same results. Training plans need to be modified to fit your needs and they need to be modified while training so they continue to meet your needs.

What lessons have you learned about yourself as a runner?

Weekend Fun

May 9, 2011 by Kristy 12 Comments

5/9/11

5 miles

46:55

9:23 avg pace

My mind wanted to run last week but my body apparently needed a full rest week post-marathon. I went for a run last Friday and my quad was still a little sore. I decided to rest over the weekend and start up again today. I felt fine today but didn’t want to push it.

I want to get in a good “base maintenance” week (not sure what else to call it) since I leave for Ireland in a week and won’t be running while I’m over there. Matt and I did look for races to do in Ireland and we found one – the County Clare Marathon – but it’s not going to work out schedule-wise. We were going to do the “mini-marathon” (as they call it) of 6 miles. A complete and total fun run. I’m bummed. It would be nice to be an international racer 🙂

So Saturday was our date day/night and we started off by going to a dog park in Radnor. Radnor is a posh suburb of Philly, also known as the Main Line. We (and our Honda) don’t fit in.

It was a beautiful day.

Hawk played around in the creek…

and looked for squirrels.

A photo shoot ensued.

After Hawk was sufficiently exhausted, Matt and I headed into Philly for drinks, dinner, and a concert. It was a good day.

How was everyone’s weekend? Any races or good training runs? Tell me about it, I’m in running-withdrawal!

Review of the FIRST Training Plan

May 4, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

I never mentioned the actual name of the marathon I’m running on 9/11. It’s the Leigh Valley Marathon (or Via Marathon). It’s a point-to-point course starting in Allentown, PA and ending in Easton, PA. The course was designed by the wonderful Bart Yasso! I love Bart!

I wanted to do a review of the FIRST training plan, which I used for the NJ Marathon. For a description of the plan and the modifications I made, please see this post. Overall, I really liked it and will be using it again (with modifications) for the LVM.

What I liked:
1. The FIRST program has specific Boston qualifying plans. For NJM, I used the 3:50 plan and I liked that all my workouts were focused on getting me to run a 3:50 marathon.

2. Nothing but quality workouts. There are 3 key runs per week: speed, tempo, and long. I added a 4^th run each week (an easy run) to increase my overall mileage. These key runs were hard but since my overall mileage was lower, my body could handle them.

3. The speed workouts each week nearly killed me; but they absolutely without a doubt made me faster.

4. The tempo runs were manageable and I was able to do them without too much difficultly.

5. I felt the long runs were a little easy. I often ran faster than I was supposed to but I generally do that anyway (see this post for an explanation). My endurance is much greater than my speed and this training plan made that very apparent as I was sucking wind at the track!

6. I only had 1 case of “brick legs”. Usually when I train for a marathon, this happens a few times. Again, I attribute this to less overall mileage.

7. Running 4 days a week allowed more time for yoga, which I desperately needed during this training cycle.

What I did not like:

1. Even though running 4 days a week was a plus, I had to get over feeling like a lazy slug. I have always run 5 days a week, with 2 rest days. But I really wanted to make yoga a top priority so I kept to the 4-days-a-week running regime. With 3 tough runs a week and 1 easy run, I don’t think running a 5^thday would have any added value.

2. My overall mileage was low. I had to get over this too. I maxed out at 43 miles per week! My body doesn’t thrive well on high mileage (I consider that to be 60s and 70s) but in previous training cycles I was getting into the 50s. It was hard to not see those numbers climb higher than 43 but I think my legs were thankful.

3. This wasn’t an issue for me but I want to give warning to anyone thinking of using this plan. There is no base building phase. Most plans have you build mileage first (slowly and safely) before you do speed work. With the FIRST plan, you literally “hit the ground running” (pun intended) with speed work. I wouldn’t recommend this plan for beginners. If you don’t have a strong base of 30 miles per week established add about 6 weeks onto this training plan to get your base building time in. You’ll be less likely to get injured.

What training plan are you currently using? Or are you winging it? I love seeing what plans people use to train. It’s such a matter of preference.

Looking Ahead

May 4, 2011 by Kristy 20 Comments

So that Boston itch remains UNscratched. What next? Funny you should ask…

Two weeks ago Matt put the idea in my head to search around for another marathon prior to September (when Boston 2012 registration opens up). This way I wouldn’t have so much pressure to BQ at the NJ Marathon (especially since I didn’t train to BQ). I told you he was my biggest cheerleader and supporter.

After Sunday’s race, I didn’t think I was mentally up for doing this again. But a changed perspective has me thinking that if I don’t go for it again, I will regret it.

I found a somewhat local marathon on September 11th, the day before Boston 2012 registration opens. I had to laugh because their FAQs clearly state:

Per the Boston Athletic Association: A qualifying race run on September 11, 2011 can be used to register for the Boston Marathon as soon as September 12, 2011. The Boston Athletic Association verifies races online through our Results page.

Well, that’s all I need to know. So I’m in! Sign me up 🙂

This actually works out well time-wise for me. I get to take a brief break, go to Ireland, and not worry about training (this makes Matt very happy). Then when I get back I will still have a full 15 weeks to train. And you bet I’ll be training to BQ this time around!

NJ Marathon Recap

May 3, 2011 by Kristy 22 Comments

I’ll break this recap up into 2 parts – the first 13.1 and the second 13.1 – because I feel they were very different races and routes.

DSCN0286 — A very early wake-up call! Like my I Support Adoptions logo?

DSCN0289 — And pimpin' out the blog on the back. Don't judge the Race Ready shorts!

The First 13.1
When we parked near the start it was 6am and the sun was just starting to come up. It was chilly out – high 40s – and no wind whatsoever. Perfect race weather. When we lined up at the start it was close to 8am and the sun was shining brightly. It was warming up…fast. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky so I knew all hopes for a cloudy day were off.

During mile 1 I realized my iPod wasn’t working right. The music was playing but there were no words and all the songs were mixing together. Instead of freaking out, I decided to play a “name that tune” game. That got old real fast.

My game plan for the first 13.1 were to run smart and hold back. I watched the 3:50 pace group race way ahead of me. Their balloons were always within sight but they were going out way too fast.

The course was really nice for the first half. We ran through neighborhoods and gorgeous houses. People were out on their front lawns with hoses (thank you!). All the runners around me seemed quite chipper and chatty. Of course, this is always the case during the first half 😉 Ever notice how quiet it gets at mile 20?

The marathon started at 8am and the half marathon didn’t start until 8:30. Around mile 8.5, I got passed by the winner of the half marathon. Seriously?! He was running that fast.

Splits:
M1 – 8:57
M2 – 8:42
M3 – 8:46
M4 – 8:49
M5 – 8:39
M6 – 8:45
M7 – 8:41
M8 – 8:39
M9 – 8:42
M10 – 8:28
M11 – 8:40
M12 – 8:30
M13 – 8:30

The Second 13.1
I was feeling really good crossing the halfway point (as you can see from my splits at miles 12 and 13). In fact, according to my pace chart, I was closer to a 3:45 finish time that a 3:50. Yet, the 3:50 pace group was still ahead of me. I never trust pace groups.

Before I started the race Matt told me to “go for it” (meaning go for the BQ). He told me to leave everything out on the course and don’t finish thinking “I could have gone faster”. He knows me too well. I’m a conservative racer. I only run the pace that I trained for. In order to BQ, I had to go faster than what I trained for. If I failed miserably, I knew I would probably still PR. So I decided to ignore my Garmin for the second half (GASP!) and run based on feel. Gusty move for this conservative racer 🙂

I banged out miles 14 to 19 fast. The course during those miles was awful. A long, straight stretch of black asphalt with nothing but sun beating down. I could feel my face getting redder and hotter by the minute (sidenote: since I knew my chances of getting dehydrated were high, I chugged 2-3 cups of water at each aid station…beginning at mile 2). At mile 19 I was annoyed for numerous reasons:
1. The course was pissing me off. We would go down random streets and go around random lakes just to make up mileage. I could always see all the runners ahead of me and where they were going. There was so much twisting and turning.
2. This bald guy next to me kept launching snot rockets. Like every 10 seconds. Loudly. I couldn’t loose him either.
3. The sun was pissing me off.
4. My left quad felt crampy.

At mile 20, my quad really hurt so I stopped at the aid station and stretched it. At this point I knew I wouldn’t BQ and I was OK with that. I still thought I could pull off a 3:50. The stretching helped a little and I started back on the lonely stretch to the finish. I had passed the 3:50 pace group at mile 14 (that’s how fast they went out…it took me 14 miles to catch up to them). I was nearing mile 22 and I heard them behind me. When they got next to me, I hopped right into the group. There were about 8 of them and I thought if I could just hang with them, I could guarantee a 3:50. I tucked in and tried to ignore my spastic quad. I lasted with them for a mile. Without even consciously thinking about it, I stopped and walked. I watched the 3:50 pace group go. This was a very low moment.

I was hot and my quad was going crazy. It felt like it was in a constant state of contraction. I altered my stride and did a “gimp-skip”. It wasn’t pretty but it got me to the finish.

Around mile 25.5, Mr. Snot Rocket made a reappearance by my side and said to me, “Let’s go kid. I don’t care if you have to drag that leg across, you are finishing!” I actually laughed because he called me “kid”. He gave me that little boost of motivation to pick up my ~~gimp~~ pace and get to the finish line quickly. Thank you Mr. Snot Rocket…sorry I gave you a dirty look at mile 19.

Splits (some of these are averages, I forgot to “lap” my Garmin):
M14 – 8:24
M15 – 8:25
M16 – 8:22
M17 – 8:26
M18 – 8:38
M19 – 8:38
M20 – 9:04
M21 – 9:23
M22 – 8:55
M23 – 9:25 (the start of the “gimp-skip”)
M24 – 9:38
M25 – 9:38
M26 – 8:57

Official time: 3:52:59…a (very close) 6-minute PR! OK, so technically it’s a 5-minute PR.

Matt was at the finish line and said 1 person actually finished with the 3:50 pace group. There were 8 people with them at mile 23!

DSCN0293 — Post-race. We did get an awesome medal.

DSCN0297 — My biggest supporter and cheerleader!

DSCN0300 — I'm still dragging my left leg!

I feel really good today, better than I’ve ever felt post-marathon. My left quad is still sore but I really think it was due to dehydration. I’m not worried that I’m injured or anything. I’m going to enjoy a feel days of solid rest before attempting some easy runs. And in 2 weeks, I’ll be in Ireland!!!!!!

A Changed Perspective

May 2, 2011 by Kristy 7 Comments

I feel much better today, mostly in part to the kind comments and emails from all of you! I have to share with you a comment that Cindi made, which really sums up why marathoning can be so rewarding and frustrating at the same time.

We – distance runners of multiple marathons – are too hard on ourselves. We work ourselves like crazy for month after month until we KNOW we are ready to nail a certain time. But then the conditions aren’t right. Or we have an off day. Or something. There’s always something that seems to get in the way. The most frustrating part, with marathons, is that it is such a long process and takes so much out of us that we can’t just try again next week. Which is frustrating and disappointing.

Well said, Cindi!

The NJ Marathon “sorta” posted official race results this morning. I say “sorta” because I have a gun time but no chip time. Although I think my gun time – 3:52:59 – is really my chip time. I remember crossing the finish line and looking at the clock and it read 3:53:16 (I was about 15-20 seconds behind the gun time).

What made me happy? My overall gender results and age group results…
Gender place: 134/721
Age group place: 25/121

Race recap will be up tomorrow!