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September 17, 2005
Beating the guy with meaty arms
As all of us marathoners know, long runs can get boring, especially when you do them alone. I love how the NYRR has a lot of organized training runs leading up to the marathon, even if they involve loops of Central Park. Here in the Boston area, the big marathon (obviously) is in the spring, so there are fewer long races and group runs leading up to fall marathons. Today I did a 30K basically to have people to run with--and it helped. It was a pretty small race, but very well-organized and it had tons of uphills and downhills which I always think are good to do in long runs (although painful.) I was worried about my hip/groin but it seemed better when I woke up, hopefully owing to the fact that I swam and didn't run yesterday.
The race wasn't too far away and when I got there and got my number and everything, I debated warming up. I wanted to loosen my hip up a little but not do a real warm up because I wanted to remind myself that there would be no racing here, at least not for the first ten miles. So I jogged briefly around the parking lot and then stretched. I knew it would hurt when I first started out but then would be better once it got truly warmed up. I also debated whether to bring my double water bottle carrier or just the single. It was humid but cool (65 or so) and I figured it would be nice to be a little lighter with the single and also stop at every other water/Gatorade stop. That plan worked out fine except I got very chafed because I'm more used to my double.
I started out slow and tried to find some people to run with. I stayed with one guy for about 5 miles and then got ahead of him. There was another guy with the meatiest arms (for a runner) I've ever seen. He varied his pace a lot so I ended up seeing him many times throughout (and finally passing him for good at about mile 17.) The race course was basically a big loop with parts that were out and back. We were along the ocean for much of it, which was pretty. If it had been windier, I wouldn't have been very happy. When we weren't running on the path parallel to the water, we were in the neighborhoods surrounding it, which very very hilly. No major climbs, but not much flat.
I ran my fastest miles in the middle part of the run, which is sort of new for me. I tried to pick it up for the last 1.6 miles but my legs were pretty dead. One woman blew by me on a hill just after mile 17 and it didn't do much to motivate me, unfortunately. I was glad to finish, but I wasn't dying or anything. It was a lot more like a quality long run than a race, which is exactly what I wanted, so I was happy. I jogged a little bit when I was done to make sure my hip didn't tighten up but didn't do a real cool down since my goal for today's mileage was 18-20 and I was well within that. Plus, my left arch was really bothering me as soon as I untied my shoes. I forgot to mention above that I had a little bit of that numb feet feeling I had in the Bronx Half Marathon back in July today for the first few miles...I wonder if that's why my arch is so sore. I iced it when I got home and hopefully it will feel better soon.
I don't know where this day has gone but I better go do something productive!!
Posted by becky at September 17, 2005 2:49 PM
Comments
Great job at your race, Becky! It sounds like your training is going very well.
If you have a hard time getting to your hip or arch with the foam roller, try a tennis ball. It gets in those odd areas real good. :)
Posted by: Leilani at September 19, 2005 5:14 PM