On June 11, 2017 I ran the 107th running of the legendary Dipsea race. I finished in a time of 1:02:04. Goals Finish/Survive – ACCOMPLISHED Qualify for 2018 – ~150 spots – ACCOMPLISHED – with 136 to spare Average heart rate 170+ – ACCOMPLISHED – averaged 177 BPM 160+ on the Downhills – ACCOMPLISHED – 175+ 175+ on the Uphills – ACCOMPLISHED – 180+ Sub 1:05 – ACCOMPLISHED – 1:02:04 Top 25 Open Section – ACCOMPLISHED – 21st out of 796 runners Do not walk or speed hike – Not Accomplished – 3 sections of speed hiking, 2 forced Sub 1 hour – Not Accomplished Top 1% Course time – Not Accomplished 55:00 – Not Accomplished Successes What am I proud of from race day? Completed my first trail race Really strong effort, dug deep & kept pushing Managed to stay upright the whole time Maxed my heart rate at 192 – haven’t seen 185+ since college Really let go on the paved downhills –
It was January 1st, 2007. The day before my flight from Prague to London had been canceled due to weather and I was stranded in the Czech Republic. I had finals in Ireland in two days and, needless to say, being present for those, passing my classes and getting school credit was very important to me. — I had been backpacking around Europe for the past two weeks. The way the school year worked out, my Irish University shut down for the holidays and hosted finals in the beginning of the new year. My college in the states, where I would return for the following semester, started a week later. I didn’t think it made much sense to fly all the back to California, only to fly back to Ireland and then to Pennsylvania, so instead I took all the money I had left and went on a two week trip around Europe.
On November 6, 2016 I ran the New York City Marathon. I finished in a time of 3:11:37, about a half hour slower than my best marathon. Here is the race report. I debated writing this – I wasn’t sure it passed my litmus test of being a race – or of deserving a report. In my mind the goal of writing a race report is to document the ins and outs of an all out effort in order to learn from it and also to serve as way to remember a momentous event. I ultimately decided to write this because I think I have something to learn from it, and it was quite memorable. If you’re interested in the training I did leading up to the race, you can read more about it here. Successes What am I proud of from race day? Finished Was leading my heat for the first mile Solid
After the birth of my third child, I realized my previous six day per week marathon training plan would no longer be possible. We simply had too much going on to spare that kind of time for running. I decided that all hope was not lost though, I would change my plan and see if I could get more efficient and take another shot at running a 2:37 marathon. Below are the changes I made to adjusted my previous plan – if you haven’t read that plan yet – you might want to start there: here is the link. Things That Stayed The Same Season Schedule My season would progress the same way it always had – see the previous plan for details. I want to note however this is one piece I have fully tested since I only implemented this plan for the eight weeks of September and October, between
Over one human lifetime, Sixty five thousand kWh of energy directed. Thirty seconds in New York City, Sixty five thousand kWh consumed. For three hours, I ran the five boroughs, Powered by the city’s cheers. As though I lived three hundred lives.
This weekend I head to New York to run the New York City Marathon. This will be my third marathon of the year and fourth time running 26.2. I realize though that the feat I accomplished is much different than the one most people think of when they hear the word ‘marathon’. The New York Marathon will have nearly fifty thousand finishers. For most of them, the race is a grueling test of their will lasting 4-6 or sometimes up to 8 hours . For many, the goal is just to finish – and doing so is a great accomplishment. That is a very different event than the races I have participated in. Though it was the same distance, it wasn’t the same type of test. It didn’t require the same type of grit. The race I ran lasted 2:42 minutes. I say this not to brag, but to set context
This year I challenged myself to break 2:37 in the marathon. In order to hit that time I would need to get into the best shape of my life. But things have changed in my life from when I raced in college and my training plan would have to take that into account. Here are details about the training philosophy I used to race my first marathon. Update: Ultimately it resulted in a time of 2:42:23 – you can read my race report from the Jack & Jill Marathon as well as my race report from the New York City Marathon later that year. Background – My Historic Training Plan Before I get into the plan, here is some background on me as a runner. I ran for my school team’s in high school & college – eventually making varsity at each. I was a good local-level competitive runner, but never state
In a few months I will turn 30 and while that number has no particular significance to me, I started to realize while watching the Olympics that, physically speaking, I am hitting my peak. While competing at Rio earlier this month, Michel Phelps described himself as a ‘mature athlete’ and commentators made note of how much effort it took for him to climb out of the pool after one of his races, describing it as ‘gingerly’. He announced his retirement this year. After 16 years of racing at the Olympic level, he is ending his career. He is 31 years old. 30 30 tends to be when people stop being able to compete at their athletic peak. There is some variance per athlete, but the trend is pretty consistent. Here are some data I grabbed from the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (my new favorite association) that shows the fastest
On July 31, 2016 I raced my first marathon. I finished in a time of 2:42:23, taking first place in the race. Here is the race report. Compared to the Ironman I did in 2014, this race was relatively quick and not quite as grueling – but it was much more intense and there was far less margin for error. To put numbers to that – during my Ironman my average heart rate was 137 BMP or about 74% of my maximum. For this marathon it was 166 BPM or 90% of my maximum. My goal, which I had set at the beginning of the year before I started my training regimen, was to break 2:37. I missed by about six minutes. If you don’t fail once in a while, you aren’t trying hard enough. This was an intentionally aggressive goal that was set without context months earlier. That said, I think
1,397.4 miles to get to this point. Tomorrow I am racing a marathon for the first time. Everything so far has been designed to lead up to this race. The training gradually built up to reach full strength this month. The workouts were specific to this course’s terrain. The research into logistics, the headlamp for the tunnel, the TP for the ten mile stretch with no other option. Finally the intensity slowly backed off to enter this race fully rested. Everything has been for tomorrow. This is the culmination of nine months work. Yet tomorrow doesn’t really matter. If I hit my time, nothing about my life will change. I will still have diapers to change that evening and an office to get to Monday morning. If I don’t hit it – even if I were to trip and sprain my ankle at the start, it wouldn’t change any of those