Pre-Training
I started running 3 years ago shortly before my first half marathon which I finished in 1:39. Last year, I did the Chicago Marathon in 3:26 and this June I did an Olympic triathlon so naturally I had to focus more on biking and learning to swim.
Training
I followed the Pfitz 55/18 Training Plan, from the beginning of July until November 3rd. I did 99% of the runs and I only missed the mileage on week 8 because I was traveling.
The hardest workouts for me were the marathon paced runs and I failed to complete 2 of them as I didn’t have the energy or I went out without hydration in 90F weather. However, I nailed the last marathon paced run which was 18 miles with 14 at marathon pace (~7:10minute per mile), so that got me very confident. I also finished a half marathon in 1:28:33 and a 10k in 38:59 paced by a friend. I did all the tempos at 6:30-6:45 pace and I was doing the vo2max runs at 5:52 pace (44 second for 200 meters). Mondays were off 90% of the time, while I was doing some strength training on most Thursdays.
A new challenge for me this training cycle was the summer heat. I am not a morning person, but on multiple occasions I woke up before 7AM (and sometimes at 5am) on a Sunday to beat the sun! My most impressive run from the training was definitely a 15 miler on a treadmill in Vegas!
The only issue was my right hamstring that has been giving me trouble for the last ~18 months. My foam roller became my best friend which significantly helped with the tightness and the pain was much more manageable compared to before. I also went to two different Chiropractors, PT and regular massages which helped to different extents.
Overall leading up to race day, everything was running smoothly. I was extremely anxious at the days before the race and often I was getting very obsessed about it. Throughout the week leading to it I was constantly reading past year’s race reports and looking at the course map to “prepare”.
I got to NYC on Friday, went to the expo to pick up my bib. I was obsessively conservative in the amount of walking I do in and kept my plans in NYC to a minimum. The night before the race I had the usual pasta with eggs. I got some semi decent sleep and woke up on race day.
Pre Race
I was in wave one which starts at 9:40AM, but because it’s the biggest marathon in the world, my alarm woke me up at 4:10AM, which is almost 6 hours before the race, which I find ridiculous. I drank a lot of water with nuun, had a slice of bread with banana and I spent 5 minutes wondering whether there is a point in warming up and foam rolling 5 hours before the race start, but of course I did it anyways.
I was staying with friends in Manhattan, 30-minute walk from the buses that take you to the start line. Still, I took a lyft to conserve more energy and at 6am I was next to the NYC Public Library, where I started my long, long waiting journey to the start line. I was greeted by a line that spanned one street and one avenue. In case you are reading this before NYC Marathon 2020 and wondering where to go at the next morning: make sure you go to 6th avenue and 40th street as the line starts from there. If your Lyft drops you off where you board the buses, you have to walk one avenue and one street in order to get to the start of the line!
There were bathrooms at the start of the line for the buses, which was important preparation before the 90 minute bus ride.
The line moved fast and at 6:15 my bus left. At 7:15 we were at the Verrazano bridge, but it took us literally 40 more minutes to cross it as there were hundreds of buses in front of us! I arrived at 7:55 and I had to immediately search for a bathroom again – I guess that was a positive sign that I was well hydrated.
Bag check was supposed to close at 8:10 so I did a slow jog to find it on time. However, the jog was not necessary as it didn’t seem to be closing on time and they were very lenient about timing. I had some sips of coffee after I believe I accidentally jumped a line of ~100 people waiting for the free coffee. Then I lined up at the entrance of the corral at 8:35 to get access to the line-free corral porta potties. I spent the next 30 minutes laying on the ground and conserving energy. I was trying to calm down from all the anxiety, did some breathing exercises and tried to avoid getting kicked on the head while lying on the ground.
The corrals started moving 15 minutes before the start and I was very unprepared for that. A lot of people from later corrals passed me while I was trying to take Gel #-1 while also taking off my throwaway sweatpants. There was a nice warm up jog (500m) to the start line and we officially lined up. Everyone tells you to not throw the extra clothes until you actually hear the cannon(there is indeed a real cannon?!) and the race starts, but of course I threw away my shirt 5 minutes before we started running.. It takes you 2 seconds to take off a shirt while it takes you a lot more time to actually cross the start line.
Race
We were finally at the start. I was shocked that this is actually happening. The goal was to run between 3:05 and 3:10, but I realized that 3:05 will be close to impossible. Weather was perfect (48F/8C and sunny).
Mile 1: 7:44
First mile is uphill and I tried not to blow up my race at the start. I went out conservatively while trying not to waste too much energy jumping around people. I had a great hat that I found at Goodwill for 2$. I hoped I can keep it until Brooklyn where I could throw it to a friend that’s spectating, but I got very hot 10 seconds into the race and I donated it. The views from the bridge are gorgeous and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky.
Mile 2: 6:42
Downhill. I pushed a bit to compensate for the lost 40 seconds. It was tricky to find a clear path where I can avoid slowing down and losing my inertia. In the end of it we saw the first of many spectators and it was already decently busy on the sidelines. My diaphragm started cramping, but I tried not to panic, took some deep breaths and everything seemed settled after a minute or two.
Mile 3: 7:04
Mile 4: 7:10
Legs started having small twitches and I could already feel my right hamstring that has been problematic.. I took my first gel at Mile 4 as I was planning to take one at every fourth mile.
Mile 5: 7:00
Mile 6: 7:10
My shoe got untied! I got a bit disappointed at myself. I tied them around 6 times at the start line, but apparently didn’t find the correct setup. I spend the next 5 minutes worrying that my other shoe will get untied…
Brooklyn was much hillier than expected. Everyone talks about the bridges, but indeed the race is never fully flat and its constantly going up or down.
Mile 7: 6:58
Mile 8: 7:15
My head was full of worries and thoughts: whether I will be able to keep up this pace or whether my hamstring is going to hurt even more and I will have to start walking. Also, the crowd support was pretty big however I found it a bit overwhelming at parts. I was trying to look at all of the different people and reading the signs at the race, which was draining my mental energy and I realized it’s better to focus on running and ignore my surroundings. I had to vocally talk to myself to calm down and focus on the running while ignoring the future and my surroundings.
Stomach wasn’t ready for gel 2 at Mile 8 (These early gels really suck as the last thing I want at that stage is to eat), so I delayed it by a mile.
Mile 9: 7:19
Oh, wow, that mile was crazy. The crowds were at least 5-6 people deep. It’s definitely the loudest mile of the race. I tried talking to myself, but I could barely hear my voice. Also, the road narrows so it gets extremely packed.
Mile 10: 7:05
Mile 11: 7:09
I entered steadier state and I realized I am around a minute behind from 3:05 pace and even worse: I don’t make up time on the flat miles. I tried to put more effort, but realized that 3:05 is a dangerous goal and if I chase it it may become 3:15. I decided to just continue running 3:05 pace on the flat miles and slow down on the uphills and see where this will take me. A small negative split would give me 3:08, which was well in my goal range.
Mile 12: 7:08
Mile 13: 7:03
My hamstring started hurting significantly. I was massaging it every other mile or so. On mile 13, I saw that they are giving some from the medical tents and for some reason I thought it’s biofreeze. I took it and massaged it on my leg and it really helped. Two miles later I realized it was just vaseline, which killed the placebo… My brain is not the sharpest in the middle of a race.
Gel 3 at 13 was a challenge. I distinctly remember how I spend 30 seconds trying to unpin it from my tights.
Actually, the whole “carry 6 gels for a marathon” thing has been a challenge. I specifically bought and raced in tights for the first time as it is much more comfortable to carry the gels. When I wear shorts, the gels become too heavy and pull the shorts down. Also, they move much more, while with the tights, they sit… tightly.
Mile 14: 7:11
Mile 15: 7:37
Mile 16: 7:16
Williamsburg had some extremely quiet sections and some extremely noisy ones. Fortunately, I started being more focused on the race so I don’t really remember the details. I was very convinced that Queensboro Bridge is at Mile 18, even though I stared at the course map for at least 1 hour in the previous week (and it’s not a very complicated map). So when it arrived at Mile 15 I was and we went on the bridge I was a bit surprised. The bridge is extremely quiet which I kind of enjoyed. I was going uphill steadily following the fastest person around me.
Mile 17: 7:24
Mile 18: 7:01
Mile 19: 7:13
I had very high expectations from 1st avenue so I was a bit underwhelmed after seeing Brooklyn. There were a lot of people, but they were very quiet. I had a gel at mile 17.
I had a great rhythm until mile 18.5 where I just wanted to stop, go home and never run again. I reminded myself of the last 18 weeks of training and how stupid will be to waste them because I don’t want to run 7.7 more miles. I managed to convince myself to continue and shortly after we reached another bridge.
Mile 20: 7:17
Mile 21: 7:13
The bridge entering Bronx was nasty and very sunny. Even though it was 10C/50F I felt hot and it kind of sucked. I followed one guy on the uphill, which made it much easier. Bronx was nice with a lot of music. There was a water station at Mile 20.5 which was right where I wanted to take my second to last gel as mile 20 was a bit too early and mile 21 was a bit too late. The marathon god gave me a hand in times of trouble.
Mile 22: 7:15
We exited Bronx on another bridge and I found yet another person to chase on the uphill. We entered Manhattan again for a final time. At the small park at the end of Mile 22, my hamstring was killing me. At the same time I looked at my watch and my expected finish time was constantly increasing and it was approaching 3:10. I realized 3:08 is out of scope and I even have to fight a lot to make 3:10. Things were looking not great and the 18 weeks of training were coming to a failure, unless a miracle happens.
Mile 23: 7:20
***The Miracle***. A recurring theme in my running is running closely behind someone as it’s much easier to follow than to lead. In this case I found this wonderful lady, who was passing everyone around. I told myself at beginning of Mile 23 “Ok, you have one very simple goal until the end of the race. Don’t lose her. ” I was scared this can backfire if she slows down and I will lose all motivation. However, she kept a very wonderful pace. I was extremely focused on following her – I even slowed down on the water stops with her, if she went to the left side of the road I was there, if she went right – I was there as well.
Mile 24: 7:23
Apparently, this was a huge uphill, but I only realized after looking at the course map. Actually, I don’t remember almost anything from this mile as I had only one goal – don’t lose the woman with the green.
Mile 25: 6:57
I saw several friends cheering for me, I had half a gel for a mental boost and I had my fastest mile of my marathon. Pretty good for mile 25, while suffering in immense pain. I remember checking my watch every 20 seconds and how my pain was increasing every time I realized that I’ve ran only 0.07 more miles.
Mile 26: 7:02
Mile 26.2: 6:58
At mile 25.5 my pacer dropped me, but still I was at had 30 seconds to lose and still make 3:10. Last mile is uphill, but I don’t care. My senses don’t work well enough to differentiate between uphill and downhill. I try to do a final sprint, but there is absolutely nothing in the tank. I see the flags at the finish stretch and I try to search for my country. My brain is exhausted and I decide this is too much effort.
I finish at 3:09:31.
Post race
The finish line at big marathons is a big mess. There are MANY people who finish continuously. This means that after you finish you can’t just stop and sit, you have to continue walking to make space for the next finishers. And at especially big marathons, you have to keep walking for a while and this is not exactly what I look forward to after running for 3+ hours. There are volunteers whose job is to prevent people who have finished a marathon from sitting. So, you sit on the ground, take a breather after the race and this guy comes and tells you to get up and walk for half a mile more. I was wondering what kind of people will volunteer for that job, but I realized it’s the NYC marathon, so this must be the most coveted position for volunteers 😉 Jokes aside, it’s a hard job and thanks to the volunteers who kicked me out and helped me after the finish line. I know I shouldn’t have sat on the ground.
I also met my savior, the wonderful lady who saved my race. I went and told her “thank you” and she of course responded by “for what?” as she had no idea who am I as I was always behind her.
I was feeling surprisingly better compared to last year after Chicago. The nice thing about running more and faster is that you also recover faster. I could walk normally after the race, while this wasn’t the case after Chicago. I still felt pretty terribly for the rest of the day, but I managed to take the train back at night and be at work at 9:30am on the next morning!
Takeaways
I had a perfect execution. The only thing that I could have improved is to learn how to tie my shoes properly!
Pacing wise I had a 30s positive split with fastest mile being mile 25. Ignoring the bridges, my splits are between 6:57 and 7:20ish. Not sure how I could have ran it better. Maybe I could have run faster in the beginning instead of in the end and suffer slightly less.
The race is a big logistical hassle as you spend 4 hours traveling and waiting before the start, but you get to run through the five boroughs…
The other annoying thing with the race was the amount of people running 🙂 There a lot! From start to finish, there is a huge pack and you have to think about how to pass people in front of you, you have to strategize at the water stations, etc. Until my woman savior, I didn’t find someone that is running consistently with my pace and I was always passing and getting passed, which was frustrating.
Overall, I really enjoyed the race and I am really proud with my execution. This is my third marathon and I can finally say I nailed preparation, pacing and nutrition. It was quite a ride and I am so glad it’s over as I don’t have to worry about it anymore 🙂 I still need to improve at least by 15 more minutes to qualify for Boston, but I leave this for future work – I am focusing on the holiday season for now.