ING NYC Marathon: Anatomy of a Disappointment - Responses
By Cornell Dawson
In the December newsletter, the article, “ING NYC Marathon: Anatomy of a Disappointment”, Cornell Dawson described several aspects of his preparation for and execution of the marathon that might have explained his disappointing results. He asked for feedback on the probable causes for his lack of energy. This article includes some of the responses he received.
Was it my training regimen?
This calendar year I have trained more rigorously than ever, I only started running in 2003. I have done tempo work, hill work and long runs regularly. I ran more races, including seven half marathons. My times for the half marathons improved throughout the year.
Steve Perks:
Since you've only been running since 2003 you are still very much in that window of 7 - 10 years of improvement that most runners get when they begin their running career later in life. Since you started in your 60s it will be interesting to see how it works out for you. All of that improvement can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is great to run PRs, keeping you interested and motivated. A curse because it can lead to over racing and over training. In the last year you've done serious track workouts, tempo runs, hill repeats and long runs. You also ran SEVEN HALF MARATHONS. Wow, SEVEN half marathons in one year. That's more than I've run in 30 years. With all the training and racing your body was due for some down time, or at least an off day. We all get to a peak and then go off the other side. It happens to all of us. It happened to me one year at the DC Classic Half. So many people passed me they thought I was running the full marathon. It was painful. More so emotionally than physically. I think a big factor may have been that all the racing and training just caught up to you.
Pete Colaizzo:
Racing: You do race an awful lot. It may have caught up with you here. Probably not a huge factor, but a factor nonetheless as Steve mentioned.
Was it my taper?
I had intended a reasonable taper. I ran 23 miles the week before the race and planned to run seven miles in the week of the race. Because of personal commitments, I was only able to run four miles, on Tuesday, in the week of the race.
Steve Perks:
Depending on what your weekly mileage was leading up to the marathon, a 23 mile week followed by a 4 mile week may have been too much of a drop off, but I don't think this was a major factor.
Cornell Dawson:
I read an article in a recent issue of Runner’s World which dealt directly with this topic. The article stated that with a major taper prior to a race, the body’s immune system notices the change and relaxes the auto immune response mechanism. Consequently, the body is more susceptible to colds. In my case I significantly reduced the miles I ran the week of the race and did get a cold. My experience seems to support the premise of the article.
Was it the head cold I had just before the race?
On Wednesday I developed a sore throat and it moved to a head cold on Thursday. The Nyquil seemed to dry up the head cold and by Saturday I only had a minor sore throat. By Sunday all the symptoms were gone.
Steve Perks:
Getting sick right at that time is another indication that you may have been over trained and over raced. We tend to get sick when we get run down. You still had a sore throat the day before the race so you certainly weren't fully recovered on race day.
Pete Colaizzo:
Illness: Definitely a factor. Although you were symptom-free on marathon day, your body was still fighting it off. No doubt that had an effect.
Was it my energy replenishment strategy?
I normally consume a GU energy gel pack during long races, about every 1 ½ hours. I had made arrangements to meet my daughter at the 17 mile point and she would have two gel packs to get me through the rest of the race. I decided to just carry one gel pack at the start but lost that gel pack in mess in the baggage area. As a result I missed my planned energy boost at the 1 ½ hour mark and did not get it until about three hours after I started.
After I met my daughter, I ate several gel packs and half a banana during the remainder of the race but I never did feel any better nor seem to have any more energy.
Steve Perks:
I have to say I'm not too up on energy gel packs. Back when I was running marathons I only drank water the whole race. Lots of people swear by them. I actually tried 2 packets in the middle of a 17 miler last week and felt better the second half than I did the first half, so if that is any indication, not having your gel at 1.5 hours could have been a factor. It might also be a little psychological.
Was it my hydration strategy?
I stopped at nearly all the water stops and choose to drink Gatorade most of the time. I actually stopped briefly each time I drank so I wouldn’t get something down my windpipe.
Steve Perks:
Looks like this was fine. Very smart to stop and drink to make sure you get enough in.
Was it my race strategy?
My plan was to run the first half marathon somewhat slower than my 1:55:47 PR, at about a 9:30/mile pace and run the second half marathon at about 10:30/mile pace. This would get me to a new PR.
I started out very well, perhaps too fast. I ran the first six miles, including the one mile up and one mile down on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at an average 8:51/mile pace. By miles seven and eight I was already beginning to feel like I didn’t have my normal energy. I began to struggle and my average pace for miles seven through thirteen was 10:22/mile resulting in a 2:07:56 time for the half marathon. Although slower than my planned pace, if I kept up the 10:22/mile pace for the second half of the marathon, I could still achieve my PR. The problem was that I was out of gas and struggling. I felt miserable and knew that I could not keep up the current pace. I had four more miles to go before I met my daughter and got some nourishment.
My split times continued to deteriorate. For miles 14 through 19 I averaged 12:04/mile and for the final six miles it went up to 13:33/mile. I did stop for about 1 ½ minutes in the last six miles to stretch to see if that would help. It didn’t.
Steve Perks:
My thought on this one is that even if all the things above had gone perfectly your race strategy would have been your downfall anyway. It is almost impossible to run a PR in a marathon by going out at a planned pace that is one minute per mile faster for the first half than what you plan to run the second half. What is going to happen 99% of the time is that your second half pace is going to end up MUCH SLOWER than what you were hoping for. Starting at some point, probably around 10 miles, that fast pace is going to start causing problems. I think in NYC your good fortune of being near the front of the race actually made things worse. You were with people who were going to run a much faster time and you (possibly unconsciously) tried to keep up with them for awhile resulting in an even faster pace than you had planned. This only compounded the problem. All of this led to those 13:33 miles for the final six miles. I'm a huge proponent of even splits. Figure out your goal and run those splits right from the start. Pete Colaizzo takes it a step further. He recommends to his Marist alumni when they hit the marathon circuit to run the first five miles of the race at 10-15 seconds SLOWER than goal pace. If you do that you are only about a minute behind pace after five miles and not nearly as likely to crash to a pace that is four minutes slower per mile over the last 10K. My best times were always very even splits. My PR from Boston had only 16 seconds difference between the first 13.1 and the second 13.1, and that's with all the Newton Hills in the second half.
Pete Colaizzo:
Pacing: Like Steve, I believe this is by far your biggest culprit. With all due respect, your plan to run 1 minute per mile slower in the second half -- while realistic -- was flawed. We should all aim for even splits in the marathon. It can be done in almost all circumstances. The fact that Steve did it, at a very high level (2:32), at Boston (a course known for severe "positive" splits), shows us that with proper planning and the courage of your convictions, it can be done. I told Steve that it took me 15 years and nearly 30 marathons to figure this out. I am by no means perfect with it, but my pacing has gotten infinitely better. Check my NYC Marathon splits and you'll see I ran pretty even throughout. I'm not saying this to brag but rather to point out that it can be done. The temptation is very logical: Run fast splits early, while you are feeling comfortable and good, and "bank" those minutes to cash them in later. In reality, it does not work that way at all. The time you "bank" gets withdrawn very quickly when your pace slows and/or you have to stop and stretch or walk for extended periods of time. It evaporates before you know it. With an even-split race, the exact opposite happens. You feel uncomfortably slow initially, but once you hit your groove in the second half, mentally it is a great feeling to pass a lot of runners who are slowing down. And physically, you are doing the right thing.
Other
Steve Perks:
First off I should tell you I've never run NY. The process of getting to the starting line was always enough to deter me from attempting it. I know the result was a bit of a disappointment, but congrats on your accomplishment. From my perspective, just running NY is awesome.
Pete Colaizzo:
Pre-race hustle: This was my first NYC Marathon and the logistics went smoothly. However, there is no way I could think of trying to race a fast time given all the trouble you go through before the cannon even goes off. It's almost like a marathon before the marathon. One plus is we had near-perfect weather. Even sub-elite runners like my Marist alums (who ran between 2:33 and 2:53) had to sit around for 2-plus hours at Ft Wadsworth. That's no way to get ready to race 26.2 miles. But that's NYC.
Cornell Dawson:
Thanks for the input. It has been very helpful. If anyone else would like to comment on my questions or these responses, please send an email to cornelld@optonline.net.