Wednesday, October 30, 2013

New York City Marathon Week 11/11

Monday: -
Tuesday: 3 km easy + 30' @ 3:45 + 3 km easy
Wednesday: 40' easy
Thursday: 30' easy
Friday: -
Saturday: 20' easy
Sunday: ING New York City Marathon!!

Obviously I haven't done most of the training for the week yet but I realized I never actually get around to posting the final week of training (which, in some ways, is just as critical, if not more, than the other weeks).

Last night I got everything ready to go down to the basement and do my last "non-easy" run (3 km easy + 30' at 10 s/km faster than Marathon Pace + 3 km easy) while watching Netflix. First of all I found myself wrestling with my computer and the headphones to be able to get a decent sound and then I mounted the treadmill only to find that none of the buttons were working. (Actually, that's a slight exageration: it was possible to set the incline to 0% or 2% but nothing else.) This is the third time that the treadmill has broken since July. The last console I had weathered my corrosive sweat several years before packing in but this one has only lasted 3 months! At least it lasted through (most of) my preparations for the Marathon. Instead, I rather reluctantly headed outside to run round and round the local park - far less interesting than watching a film, even if I am down to the last dregs of what Netflix has to offer by now. I ran a little bit faster than I had planned but it was a good workout to finish on.

My plan for the Marathon itself is to keep my pulse rate below 172 bpm at least until half-way, if not until the last 7 km and to run each mile between 6:26 (Personal Best pace) and 6:50 (3 hour Marathon Pace) according to how I feel. It's not the best place to go for a Personal Best, so that is not really a target (although it would be fantastic and it's not completely out of the question). However, I have learned that it is important to have a sufficiently demanding goal (in my case, sub 3) otherwise your mind tends to wander as does your pace and, when the "man with the hammer" comes, you don't have anything to tell him.

On the day itself, if you can be bothered or if you happen to be in my family in which case I will bother you personally, you can follow me in realtime via my "Twitter" https://twitter.com/teticio. The race starts at 9:40 am on Sunday (1:40 pm Madrid time, 12:40 pm London time - the clocks in New York go back on Saturday night). The question on everyone's lips will be: WILL I MAKE IT TO THE AIRPORT ON TIME?

If you are in New York itself, look out for someone with bib number 1330 dressed like this:

2 comments:

  1. Rob, disfrútalo y olvídate de la marca que este es para disfrutar. Si quieres ya corremos rápido en Sevilla otra vez este año :-).

    Suerte!!!

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    1. Gracias Santi!! Intentaré disfrutar sin obsesionarme por la marca; sin embargo, he aprendido que algo de presión ha de haber para poder disfrutarla. Sevilla me tienta mucho pero o corro Londres o me tomo el año de descanso de Maratones y vuelvo un poco a las distancias más cortas, ya que mi marca de Maratón está "en línea" con las de la media y de 10. O eso, o corro la Medoc en plan fiesta. Tú qué planes tienes? Vas a correr una ahora? Y los triatlones?

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