I survived! Race report to follow (just like the six others).

Also, I got a special prize for the sharpest “tan” line. It’s called “dummy award”. Did you know you don’t have to see the sun for it to burn you? Well. I did, but suddenly there was no more time for sun screen and body glide (hello, neck that got rubbed raw)…

All set! (Taken with instagram)

Since this is also an archive, it’s never “too late” to write a race report. It might not be super interesting to read about things that have happened five months ago, but hey, who cares in ten years. So here it goes, my NYC Marathon race report!

I had trained more and more focussed than ever for this event. Specifically, I followed a seven weeks plan for triathletes who want to do a marathon late in the season. It was about five sessions running per week, one swim and two bike (and two core strength). The long runs on weekends were never super long, but after the run there was between one and two hours of bike every time, just to keep the metabolism going but spare the joints.

I missed only one key workout, but replaced three of the interval runs with races: a short one after the first week of training, a half marathon after the fourth week and a short hilly race after the fifth week. I didn’t taper for these races, but the high volume weeks (high for me) paid off, all three races went very well and the half marathon was a personal best by about four and a half minutes.

I travelled to New York a few days before the marathon and was most generously hosted by Sarah (and her “children”), one of my longest standing tumblr friends. Marathon week was very easy, a short run and a swim on Tuesday, fifteen minutes in my goal pace (padded by warm-up and cool-down) on Wednesday and a super easy five kilometres on Saturday.

During training, my right foot had started to hurt a little after long workouts, and during that very last run before the race, I could feel I quite strongly but didn’t let it bother me much. (Spoiler: I didn’t feel it at all on race day.)

On Sunday morning, I took the Staten Island ferry with what felt like 10’000 people, 90% of which seemed to be Italian. I could catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, but it was a bit far away and I had other things on my mind. Like, running.

I was quite early in the runners’ village before the start and, after dropping off my bag, spent more than an hours walking around, getting coffee, bagels, power bars and what not (more coffee). A bit more than half an hour before my allotted starting time (in the first of three waves), we were called into our corrals. I was in number eight, about in the middle of my wave, which was a bit slower than what I wanted to run, but when I signed up for the race, I predicted 3:20:00, so that’s where I was put.

I just kept to the front of my corral so I could advance a bit when we would walk to the starting line. It was rather cold, but I had my fancy old clothes (to be thrown away before the start) and it was manageable. Just before it was time to go to the starting line, I decided to use the toilet one last time – of course exactly when the crowd starting moving. I caught up with people quickly though and was about in the first third of my wave, I guess.

Here are the crowds at the three starting locations:

I was in the rightmost, maybe fifty metres from the line. Where the elite men were starting, but I couldn’t see them anyway. After the national anthem, it was about time to get going! I had set my Garmin to a pace of 4:12 min/km, a bit faster than required for my goal of sub three hours, but better safe than sorry.

Despite the huge amount of people, the crowd came to a stand still just once after the start, and it was rather easy going, not much pushing or the like. Still, the first kilometre was very slow, maybe two minutes slower than my goal pace. That’s maybe because there were a lot of people running, could it be?

I was running on the curb as it was the easiest to pass people there. The price to pay was having to watch out where I was putting my feet as everybody peed at the wall (and over the curb, subsequently). Note to self: if ever running on the lower deck, keep far away from the edge. That’s not water trickling down from the top deck!

The bridge was over soon, and we entered Brooklyn. The routes of the three different starting locations converged here, but there was enough room for everybody. The crowds along the street were massive, I had never seen such a thing at footraces before. I thought to myself “if it keeps being like this for the rest of the course – that’s going to be easy”. (Spoiler: it wasn’t all that easy.)

I still had to catch up on the time lost in the very beginning but didn’t want to rush. At the 10 kilometres mark, I was about twenty seconds slower than my goal time, so that was okay. It was so warm that I got rid of my arm warmers (as in stuffed them under the waistband of the shorts). Here I am at the 10k mark (lower right corner, black shirt, black shorts, left foot in front):

After the very entertaining 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, there was some zigzagging on very narrow streets, half filled with spectators. I think it was there around where I passed Dr. Andy. (I don’t recognise “celebs” from behind, but it seems they wore bib numbers with their name on them on the front and the back. That’s how I knew.)

I don’t recollect too much from the rest of Brooklyn, just that in some neighbourhoods people were decidedly not interested in the race. Well. Their loss.

I kept my pace in check all the time, and at the half marathon point, I was pretty much on target. The clock here shows the gun time, and it had taken me about two minutes to cross the starting line:

I’m the guy behind the one in red, checking his watch.

The half marathon point was on the second bridge of the race, still a friendly one, and was also where we entered Queens.

I don’t remember much about that part, just that there was a lot of zigzagging. Okay, compared to Brooklyn, pretty much everything is zigzagging, but still. To get from Queens to Manhattan, we had to cross Queensboro Bridge. I had been warned, but it was still awful. We ran on the lower deck, so my GPS went a bit crazy: I knew I was slowing down a bit, but not that much.

No people were around to cheer, only runners suffering on the seemingly endless slope. I tried to keep it steady and then take advantage of the downhill, which made for the fastest kilometre split of the race. I guess. Can’t believe my GPS data from there!

Getting to the end of the bridge, we had to do a 270 degrees turn, onto 1st Avenue. Coming from such a difficult, lonely part onto this avenue with spectators about five rows deep on each side felt like entering a stadium with a huge crowd cheering. Running really did itself for some time now!

On 1st Avenue was the only time that Powerbar gels were offered. I had brought four of my own and started eating one every thirty minutes from the first hour on. I think this is the 2:30:00 gel:

That’d mean that I was already past The Bronx. And over the last two bridges, which were not very steep or anything, but it was a bit lonely and getting hot. The little loop in the Bronx was fun, and it looked more and more like I could finish on time.

Back in Manhattan, we soon started running along Central Park:

The last few kilometres are a blur. Not because I was super exhausted but because there was so much going on. The very last bit is also all uphill and I had to watch out no to lose too much time.

The last curves were approaching, I checked my watch – and was good to go! The gun time was about 3:01:something, but my time was 2:59:09. I didn’t know exactly, but clearly I reached my sub three hours goal.

As you can tell, I was all smiles and super happy. (Maybe more internally so. I was also pretty exhausted.) The post finish photographers had a hard time with me, it took them several tries to come up with this masterpiece:

Finisher!

The walk/shuffle to the trucks with my clothes took about forever as everything hurt, but I had lots of good talks. There were quite a few people with me who just missed their sub three hours goal, but nobody seemed to be bitter about it. We laughed and joked, and I got my clothes in no time.

That was my New York Marathon experience! In case it hasn’t become clear: this race was one of my most rewarding sporting experiences ever. Firstly, just because of the breathtaking scale of the event, secondly, because it showed me that if I work hard for a goal, I can reach it.

Now I just have to transfer this knowledge to my “swimming” and triathlon!

My best takeaway from the race is a time qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which I plan to do in 2013.

Greifenseelauf race pic! I now have a series with pictures from the last four editions of that race. Quite funny to look at, will post it sometime soon!

Time lapse video of the start of the 2011 NYC Marathon. I’m pretty sure I can be seen (1st wave, upper right deck when looking in running direction), will have to do frame-by-frame analysis.

At the end of training week number five for New York, I replaced the speed work with Üetliberglauf, the last in the 2011 ZüriLaufCup series. I already had my six results, it was not possible for me to advance in the overall ranking and I could not be passed either, so it was just for the sake of it.

Because I live rather close, I could run to the start; I was a bit late and had yet to collect my number, but that went smooth and I could join the crowd waiting for the start.

The weather was perfect and I looked like something stung me in the right eye:

I saw some people from afar and exchanged nods and thumbs up, and then we started. I had done the race in 2010 already and remembered especially some brutal climbs. Every flat or downhill bit was to be considered a little gift.

There was a small group I ran with for the first few kilometres. On the flat bits I would gain on them, in the uphill parts they would gain on me. Finally it was just one guy and me, and in the first longer steep uphill part, he went ahead and I had not the faintest chance to follow; never saw him again in that race.

I felt quite good overall, and the steepest bit was so gruel in my remembrance that the reality could not quite live up to it. After the halfway point, there was a longer downhill bit, and even though I felt quite fast, two guys caught up with me. I decided to stick to them, and together we passed a bunch of people (among them “red guy” from Hallwilerseelauf). Eventually I managed to get away from them again, and before the steepest bit of the way back, I saw that the leading woman was not too far away.

With maybe four kilometres to go, I caught up to her, breathing loud enough for her to glance back about five times. Sorry about that! I’m not a big fan of loud breathers myself, but I couldn’t help it. I passed her, and on the last downhill part there weren’t many people any more. Just before the end, I saw two guys close to each other and decided to try and get them.

Once I was with them, I tried to get away as quickly as possible, but that was a wee bit early for a strong finish and I almost blew up. Plus there was a chaos with walkers and people from the fun run all returning at the same time, but I managed to finish before the two.

I ended up 11th in my age group and with the third best result of my 2011 ZüriLaufCup races. As expected, that didn’t change my overall ranking, so I’m still number nine there.

I chatted a little bit with some people, but I got cold very soon and headed inside to get changed. I jogged home to cool down properly and was rather content with myself and the world. From now on, there was just one more hard workout on the plan (90 minutes marathon pace); other than that, the NYC taper would begin!

Finisher clip from Hallwilerseelauf. I’m always afraid to lose time by slowing down too early! Why do people stop directly after the timing mat anyway… very dangerous! ;)

I’m already in New York for the marathon on Sunday, but there are still two race reports to write! My head will probably explode if I try to keep all the memories inside, so I better get started.

Hallwilerseelauf is a half marathon I did last year already, where I improved my PB from 1:29:59 to 1:27:21. This year, I came from a 1:25:02 at Greifenseelauf, but had a solid four weeks of NYC specific training in my legs. My goal was to beat the 4 min/km mark, 1:24:24 for the complete distance.

I bumped into a lot of people before the race: two guys from work, Oli, a guy I know from elementary school and often see at races, a girl I know from a group of people with whom I spent last New Year’s Eve… lots of chatting to do thus.

My wave started four minutes after the elite wave and three minutes after the wave with the relay runners. After a short while, we already bumped into the slower relay runners; a bit annoying, but after some time the field was stretched out enough to avoid any collisions.

As expected, the first few kilometres were very fast as they’re a bit downhill. I tried to do a fancy pacing trick with my Forerunner: loading the course from last year and then “scale” it to my new goal time. I put it to 95%; turns out that’s 95% of the speed, and not 95% of the time, so it was actually slower. Once I realised it I put it to 105%, but I didn’t look a lot at the watch anyway.

I tested my NYC outfit with arm warmers, and I’m happy with it.

Once the course got flat, my pace dropped to a bit faster than 4 min/km for most of the time. I kept passing people and was more or less waiting for the legs to become heavier, but just like at Pfäffikerseelauf three weeks before, it just didn’t happen.

I played back and forth with some people, like for example this guy in red:

He was in front of me for the better part of maybe half an hour, then I passed him, he passed me again, I passed him again… and eventually I lost him. (Behind me.)

The 10 kilometre point came, the North end of the lake with its many spectators, and before I knew it, I was on the final stretch.

The legs still refused to show signs of getting tired. The last bit of the course was not so flat, but really varied and interesting to run; other runners were few and far between.

Once I saw the finish line, I mobilised some last reserves for a strong last few metres:

I was sure that I was below my 4 min/km goal, but seeing 1:20:28 on the watch was still a surprise. A very positive one. Lots of training is good for something after all! If I can improve this by a bit and get a 1:19:00, I would qualify directly for NYC marathon, so I could sign up myself and get cheap flights and alll… worth trying!

The race pic from Pfäffikerseelauf!

Grace, style and a winning, relaxed smile…

…are the last things you think of when you’re 20 metres from the finish and your heart is about to explode and your legs burn like hell.

(Click for proper quality, tumblr screws up the scaling somehow.)

I forgot something extremely important in the race report about Pfäffikerseelauf. I have finally managed to win my virtual “Benjamin vs. The Women” race, by a full four seconds!

Too bad it was really virtual because the women started one hour before my wave. Doesn’t really count then, does it?