NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon

I found myself very tired in the run up to the race so having run my 5 and 9 mile runs, I opted for an extra day rest on Friday to prepare for Sunday.

I left home at 6am to get the ferry at 7. The subways are always full of people making their way to the races which is cool. I suspect the ferry is only that busy on one other day of the year, 4 weeks from now!

This was definitely good race day practice. The weather was chilly and some waiting around on Staten Island is always good!

Staten Island Half List by Name: David FreedmanDistance:  13.1 miles, 21.1 kilometers Date/Time:  October 7, 2012, 8:30 AM Location:  Staten Island Weather:  50 degrees, 61% humidity, cloudy, calm Sponsor:  Time Warner Cable Search Results   Wheelchair Finishers   Award Winners   View, Share & Purchase Photos   Statistics    1 match found. Click any blue heading to sort the list.   AG = Age Graded.

Last Name

First Name

Sex/ Age

Bib

Team

City

State

Country

Overall Place

Gender Place

Age Place

Net Time

10K Split

Pace per Mile

AG Time

AG Gender Place

AG %

Freedman

David

M38

4263

TCON

New York

NY

USA

2432

1834

386

1:53:50

0:55:22

08:42

1:50:59

2022

53.36 %

By the time the race started the weather was perfect. The course was pretty nice too - fairly flat, a few inclines. I started off feeling ok, but not great and nervous after my tiredness of the last week. As the race wore on, and we passed under the Verrazano bridge at 5 miles, the awesome DJ had me feeling rejuvenated and I found myself consistently ahead of my usual pace. As I felt good, I kept going. From about 8.5miles came the steepest hill, and with me feeling good while some others were tiring, I motored up overtaking many, which always feels good! As we approached the last couple of miles I could see a good time in sight. While this was only a training run for the main event, the competitive juices were flowing and so I kept up the pace oping to beat 1.55. The last mile, and even better was in sight. I powered through the line in under 1.54, 6 mins better than the NYC Half back in March! Hoping that with 10 mins wiggle room on double the distance, my 4 hour goal is still realistic.

Last big training push this week, now the holidays are over - 5 miles tomorrow, 10 Thursday, 5 Friday and 20 Sunday!!! Then....taper time!!!!!

NY Flyers 3 Bridges Run #1

Following the 18 miler last weekend, I have had another interesting week. An easy 4m on Tuesday was followed by the fast for Yom Kippur Tuesday night and Wednesday. Not surprisingly, despite my best efforts to fuel up, my 9 miles on Thursday morning was pretty tough as I was still tired. In any event, the good news is it didn't feel too far. Another 5 miles on Friday and I was ready for my biggest challenge yet.

Dinner with friends and bed at midnight was not the ideal preparation for 20 miles Sunday. I was running with the New York Flyers for the first time, in the first of their two annual runs. Ideally I would have run at 9.15 pace, but with groups at 9.00 and 9.30, I decided to push it and run with the 9 minute group.

Setting off at 6.45am, we headed from Jack Rabbit on the East Side (85th St) into the park at 90th and down to 72nd, crossing over to the West Side. We took off a little fast, but steadied after a few miles. There was some good company, which is vital on a run like this. We ran straight across 72nd to the West Side and down the river to Warren St to our first drink stop, just before City Hall Park. We then crossed Brooklyn Bridge, about 8 miles in. Once in Brooklyn, we kind of met up with the marathon route almost in parallel. I was actually managing pretty well, conversing and almost losing track of the miles. For some reason though, after our second drink stop at 11 miles, we sped up again and it took quite a bit out of me, particularly after Pulaski Bridge. After the third drinks we attacked Queensboro Bridge, at 15.5 miles, basically the same place we would hit it on the big day. I say attacked, I was more like just hanging in there. I was dropped a bit, but kept going, knowing easier times were ahead. Surprisingly, I only slowed about 10 seconds that mile which was encouraging. Off the bridge, we headed across 60th St and back into the park, heading north and up Cat Hill, which was another challenge. Back to 90th St and then across to the store. I completed the 20.1 miles in just under 3 hours, for 8.57 pace.

I was truly exhausted and still aching Monday and today. Thankfully, the holiday of Sukkot allowed me to relax and do no exercise at all! Having missed my recovery week last week to do the 18 mile tune-up, I think I deserved it!

I am confident still in my ability to meet my goal of 4 hours, albeit that I would hope to run a bit slower to start and have some more in the tank later on. I also know I have now covered most of the course and can handle it at my desired pace. With a lot of support from friends and strangers alike, I am sure it will be fine!

Tomorrow, it is back on the road for 5 miles, before 9 on Thursday, 5 on Friday and the Staten Island Half to complete my recovery week on Sunday. 

ING New York City Marathon Tune-Up 18M

Marathon Tune Up List by Name: freed Distance:  18 miles, 29 kilometers Date/Time:  September 23, 2012, 7:00 AM Location:  Central Park, NYC Weather:  56 degrees, 72% humidity, 16 mph, fair Click any blue heading to sort the list.   AG = Age Graded.

Last Name

First Name

Sex/ Age

Bib

Team

City

State

Country

Overall Place

Gender Place

Age Place

Net Time

Pace per Mile

Freedman

David

M38

3273

TCON

New York

NY

USA

1528

1095

260

2:43:31

09:05

It was a bit of a shock to the system how cold it was at the start. The sun not yet up and a bit of a breeze, it was definitely a good reminder of what Staten Island will be like Nov 4th.

This was my first 18 mile run. While it was supposed to be a 12 mile recovery week, I thought it better to take advantage of an organized race, with drinks etc available and a crowd to drag me along. I also felt like 3 loops of the park is a pretty tough course, and I have heard many people (including Mary Wittenberg, CEO of NYRR yesterday) say if you can do this, you'll finish the marathon

The first mile was predictably slow, 9.30, but then I settled into quite a steady pace. The usual problems of stiff muscles early wore off, and though I had the continual nagging of my achilles, it didn't get any worse.

It was pretty amazing to be overtaken by the eventual winner at my mile 8 (his mile 14!) and by the time I had done 2 loops (of 3) I saw the winning woman come in. These guys are awesome.

Anyway, eventually I found myself coming into the last mile, which is pretty flat, and felt strong enough to put in my quickest mile of the race, 8.30.

To finish in 9.05 pace, ahead of my marathon goal, on a tough course, felt good. I even managed to walk the 92Y Street Festival the rest of the day!

This morning, I feel pretty good, aside from the achilles ache, but that is manageable.

This week is 4m tomorrow, 9m Thursday, 5 mile Friday and 20 miles on Sunday, this time with NY Flyers, the first of their Three Bridges Runs. Anyone want to join me?!?!?

Cool Runnings, jet lag (again) and home...

It certainly made a change to spend a few days running in the relative cold as opposed to sweating. It is amazing how much easier it is when you don't have to worry so much about breathing or hydration.

So having done my long run Thursday, I actually skipped the Friday 4 miler, a rarity for me. My Sunday 8 miler turned into 9, with my wife joining me for the first half - much better than running alone. With only a small incline and a relatively flat 2 mile loop, the miles went by easy and a 9 minute pace was effortless.

After eating our way through Rosh Hashanah, Debbie and I did a 5 mile run Wednesday before heading to the airport. Driving rain and freezing cold was compounded by a bus splashing us from head to toe! Freezing cold AND soaking wet. Nice.

So the usual first night home involved me being wide awake from 3.30. Eventually I went out at 5am and did a nice 8 miles in the park, 9 min pace and all is well again.

Another 5 tomorrow, then the ING New York City Marathon Tune-Up 18M in Central Park Sunday. Another new long distance for me.....

16 miles - now I can enjoy my jetlag in peace!

As I mentioned in my last post, Debbie suggested it may be a good idea to do my long run early this week rather than doing it jet lagged once in the UK. Working as I do on the usual assumption that she is right, I woke up (or rather got out of bed - I was awake for hours following a series of crazy dreams) at 4.45am this morning for a 16 miler.

The good news was it was cool. The bad news I was very tired (and probably still recovering from weekend run). It still amazes me how busy Central Park is at 5am!

Anyway, I always intended to run this slowly (which is Hal Higdon's prescription for long runs) so I set off looking at 9.30 pace. I did the top loop (Harlem Hill) and the middle loop (Cat Hill) before returning home having completed 8 miles to switch out my drinks. In truth, it was actually pretty nice, as long as I didn't think about doing it again.

And then I did it again, reversing the order. 2 hrs 29 mins, 9.19 pace and felt pretty good afterwards. A good stretch, an ice bath (my first!) and lots of food and water. Feeling pretty good now and stoked about only having short runs to do for a good few days!!!

NYRR Bronx 10-Mile, then 5 more home

I felt pretty under the weather all week following my trip to Montreal. 3 miles in the humidity on Wednesday was like torture and I cut Thursday from 7 to 5 miles as my throat was still sore and I was still tire. Friday, I decided to skip the 4 miles completely.

Distance:  10 miles, 16.1 kilometers
Date/Time:  September 9, 2012, 8:00 AM
Location:  Bronx, NYC
Weather:  63 degrees, 81% humidity, 6MPH, Fair

Last Name

First Name

Sex/ Age

Bib

Team

City

State

Country

Overall Place

Gender Place

Age Place

Net Time

Pace/ Mile

AG Time

AG Gender Place

AG %

Freedman

David

M38

4604

TCON

New York

NY

USA

2763

2010

415

1:30:01

09:00

1:27:13

2178

50.89 %

Seems like the rest did me good. The race started in pretty good conditions, 63 and bright. It was nice to get out of Central Park for an NYRR race and there was definitely a different vibe.

I had to be careful not to go off too quickly. Having a best 4 mile time of 7.59 pace, I was with runners much quicker than I wanted to go. Even then, I had to bear in mind that the 10 mile race was only 2/3rds of my race distance!

So I let a lot of people overtake me at the beginning. I think this was a pretty good thing to have the discipline that I may need on race day. I started pretty steady and once I got through the usual tightness in the legs, around 4 miles, it was actually a pretty easy run. Fairly flat, the odd slope, nothing too troubling, and a good atmosphere. Also got some good practice with the drinks. At some drink stations, I stopped to drink and others ran whilst drinking through a 'spout'. Either way, nothing really slowed me down. At the end, I felt pretty good and managed to pick up my medal and keep running through the finish area, which was good as I didn't fancy stopping and restarting.

I was pleased to see I wasn't the only one running back to Manhattan. I had been really worried about running on my own after the help of a crowd, so to spot a group in front of me running almost the same pace was amazing. I could follow them and get dragged home!

Down the bottom of Grand Concourse we joined the Marathon route, over Madison Ave Bridge to Fifth Ave. It was actually pretty good for the next 2 miles. Then I hit what I knew would be the toughest bit, from 110th down to 90th St, which is uphill, just enough to hurt. Still, I managed to maintain pace before heading off home.

I finished the 15 miles in 2 hr 14 min 34 sec, 8 min 58 pace. I was surprised to go so well after the last week. I kept all miles within a range of 8.45 to 9.07 so pretty steady pacing.

So next week, 16 miles. Considering running it on Thursday instead of Sunday so I can do it jet-lag free before going to UK.....will let you know!

10 miles - Easy, 3 miles - Exhausted

Sunday was a recovery run. 10 miles. Weather was great and I felt refreshed. I started again going across to the West Side, down the river and across Central Park West. I then hit the marathon route, up First Avenue. It is long and straight and flat. So the key is not to look to the horizon, it goes on forever. Then, it is actually a really nice run - and will be better with thousands cheering! Then went across 110th St and back down 5th Ave to 90th St for more marathon route practice. 1 hr 30, 9 min pace and pretty relaxed.

Then add in a late night Sunday (brother's wedding), a trip to Montreal for the day with a late return Tuesday and an extremely humid morning today. Throw in a sore throat for good measure, and even a 3 miler this morning was rough. I just can't take the humidity and was so tired. Still, chalk it up to being one of those days and move on to the next 7 miles tomorrow.....