Did the Marathon Tune-Up yesterday. Last year, this was a rainy and cold race, but yesterday was warm and sunny. The race is 3 laps of Central Park, which is 6 miles around, making 18 miles. The race is about 7 weeks before the NYC Marathon, so you can use it to judge how you’re doing. My training has been decent this year, so I formulated a running plan and had a goal and all that. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the way it all went! Splits after the jump.
- 9:05
- 8:35
- 8:24
- 8:13
- 8:12
- 8:03
- 8:20
- 8:08
- 7:54
- 7:57
- 8:16
- 8:00
- 8:30
- 8:48
- 8:48
- 9:05
- 10:48
- 9:02
My plan was to use lap 1 to ramp from 9:00 miles up to 8:00 miles. That went fine as you see. Each bold mile is the end of a lap. For veterans of Central Park, the great hill is in miles 1, 7, and 13, so those miles will naturally be a slower pace. My lap 2 went great, but I never recovered from the third trip up the great hill. From there it was a slog, and I had to walk in mile 17 (up “cat” hill)—something I haven’t had to do since the Bronx Half Marathon in 2004.
Total pace was 8:35. I was angry and depressed yesterday, saying things like “my fastest years are behind me.” Maybe they are. But, sometimes shit happens. I only slept 3 hours the night before the race, due to badly-timed insomnia, so I’ll shift 30% blame to that. Ever onward.
