Friday, January 6, 2012

Marathon Training for a Goal Time and My Top 8 NYC Marathon Highlights

According to Jeff Galloway, "Training for a time goal (in a marathon) increases injury risk by about 3 times.*"  He also goes on to add, that by not over-speeding during the marathon, recovery time is faster.  Along those lines, he recommends for every fast marathon, try running the next three at a "slow and enjoyable" pace.  With that in mind, I take a look back at my first "slow and enjoyable" marathon after my fast one.  So, here are my top 8 2011 NYC marathon highlights and none of them have to do with how fast I was running at a particular time:
  1. High fiving and low fiving literally hundreds of cheering adults and kids
  2. Accepting gel packs, lollipops, fruit, paper towels and even salt from random spectators who were donating their hard earned money and time to help me out. One spectator even asked me which flavor of gel pack I wanted from their own stash!  I took a raspberry.
  3. Saying "thanks" and chatting with spectators
  4. Chatting with fellow runners in the bus, on the course and afterwards where we laughed about our leg pains
  5. One balcony about 5 stories up along the route was throwing a marathon viewing party and had about 30 spectators.  They had a large "Team Pete" banner hanging over the balcony railing.  I yelled up to them, pointed to the name on my shirt and they all roared for about 45 seconds until I passed.
  6. Running through all 5 boroughs of New York on a bright, sunny, 50 degree fall day with all of the trees in full color.
  7. In the medical-tent, the volunteers were faced with a "war zone" type situation with people falling all over the place, yet they found time to treat my "minor" shin injuries with ice packs, quickly and efficiently.
  8. Riding the Sixth Avenue bus back to my hotel, wrapped in an aluminum cape, chatting with two senior ladies, who were volunteers at the race, and who got in an argument with the bus driver about which stop I should get out of the bus at.

 
That all said, I am looking at the 2011 Boston Marathon as the second of my three "slow and enjoyable" marathons.  I hear that it is a blast.  Can't wait.

*From Marathon You Can Do It by Jeff Galloway, Shelter Publications, 2010
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2 comments:

  1. kilaxFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:08 AM

    Chatting with the other runners/spectators was so fun. I think that is a huge part of the spirit of this race.

    I am surprised I did not take food from any spectators! They were great though (the spectators).

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    Replies
    1. Pete BFebruary 2, 2012 at 7:22 AM

      Yes, it was an awesome race, probably my most favorite, despite the fact that I had my worst time in a marathon by over 30 minutes! It is hard to describe to people who haven't run it, how great a race it is. As for the food, for some reason, I seem to eat like crazy when I run a marathon. If some random person is holding out something for me to eat, chances are I'll be eating it! In NYC there were lots o' people handing out food!

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