NJ Marathon 2017

Since 2013, the NJ Marathon has been my annual attempt to set a personal best at the marathon distance. The course is pancake flat, and it's early enough in the year that the weather is usually mild. Here's a quick recap of this year's race.

Coming into the finish

Training

I followed a bastardized version of Pfitzinger's 18/70 plan (18 weeks, 70mi/wk max). Bastardized in the sense that Pftiz doesn't tell his athletes to run trail ultras in preparation for a road marathon. Whatever, man. I ended up running 980 of the prescribed 1090 miles for an average of 54mi/wk. I missed a few days of training with a brief Achilles tendon issue, a few more due to sickness, and some just for rest and recovery.

The bread and butter of the Pfitz plan is the medium-long run. There are 2-3 of these scheduled each week, and they are 12-15 miles in length. The goal is to start them 20% slower than marathon pace and finish 10% slower than MP. With 3:10 (7:15/mi) as my somewhat arbitrary goal, these runs would start at 8:42/mi and finish at 7:58/mi. I was pretty successful in sticking to this formula. However, I missed a ton of scheduled speed work (i.e. track intervals, half marathon pace runs, race pace run, etc.) for various reasons, so I was not confident in my ability to run much faster than this med-long pace on race day.

Lesson for next time: More speed work! Marathons are fast. Improve that VO2 max and lactate threshold. And get comfortable running fast.

The Race

We got to the starting line 30 minutes before the scheduled start. Normally this would be plenty of time, but it became immediately apparent that there were not enough porta potties for the amount of runners in attendance. It took - and I am not exaggerating - 28 minutes to get through the bathroom line. After one of the more stressful bowel movements of my life, I made it to my starting corral just as the gun went off. Warm up be damned, here we go!

Lesson for next time: Arrive earlier. No need to stress out any more than necessary.

Miles 1-5: 7:07, 7:00, 7:13, 7:06, 7:04

Because of my late start, I ended up about 100 feet behind the 3:10 pace group, led by US 24-hour Team member Rich Riopel. It took a few minutes and far too much effort to weave through the mass of slow moving folks who probably shouldn't have been in that starting corral. Such is life in road running.

My first impression was that the pace team was taking us out a bit too fast. However, it would soon become clear that I just sucked at running the tangents of the course and was slowly adding extra distance on to my race. My GPS splits would rapidly begin to differ from the official course markings by a few tenths of a mile.

Lesson for next time: stay far enough behind the pace group that I can run the tangents. It's too crowded when you're right next to the pacers.

My breathing was under control, and I was feeling optimistic about achieving my goal time. The weather was almost ideal, with overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-50's all day. However, my legs were not used to the pace, and it required constant concentration to stay with the pack.

Miles 6-10: 7:09, 7:08, 7:08, 7:07, 7:09

Random thoughts while running:

There are a lot of freaking turns on this course. And I'm not running the tangents on any of them.

That guy in front of me looks a lot like Otto Lam. Holy crap, it's Otto Lam!

Me: "Hey Otto!"

Otto: [blank stare]

Marathon pace is hard! I should have practiced running fast.

We were hitting our official mile splits almost perfectly, despite what my GPS was telling me. I was still moving well, but I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to hold this pace for the entire race. A lot of negative thoughts were already forming in my mind.

This is gonna hurt...

Miles 11-15: 7:01, 7:09, 7:12, 6:59, 7:11

Still on track for 3:10. For now...

I officially split 1:35:05 for the half marathon, which was a 2 minute improvement on my (very old, very soft) personal best from 2015. That was encouraging, but I was seriously doubting that I could run another 13.1 miles at that pace.

The pacers were concerned that we were a few seconds too slow at the half marathon point, and they picked up their pace in the next mile. Hence the 6:59 split. That one hurt a bit. I suspect that the timing mat was actually in the wrong spot because we were 20-30 second ahead of 3:10 pace by the mile 14 marker.

At some point in this section, I did something that I've never done in a race before. I told off another runner. Here's what went down: he had been stopping dead in his tracks in the middle of the road at every water station, which inevitably tripped up the runners behind him. That put him on my shit list, but that's not what set me off. Rather, it was the fact that he kept sidling up to me and slowly running me off the road. I was running on the right side of the road and he sidled up to my left shoulder, gradually pushing me into the sidewalk. I backed off the pace and let him in front. A mile later, it happened again. So I moved to the left side of the road, and he sidled up to me and gradually pushed me into the median. After the 3rd or 4th instance of this, I finally barked at him, "You have the entire road to work with! Give me some space." He mumbled an apology and it didn't happen again.

Basically, I'm Meb Keflezighi.

Miles 16-20: 7:17, 7:12, 7:25, 7:19, 7:45

The pace group slowly started to pull away from me around mile 18. I considered making a mad dash to re-join them, but didn't want to completely burn out with more than 8 miles left to run. More random thoughts:

Hey, someone is playing Bruno Mars! 'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to ya! 'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to ya! 'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to ya! Saturday night and we in the spot. Don't believe me just watch!

[awkwardly tries to dance while running]

Well that was a fun 30 seconds. I have so much energy now!

[30 seconds later]

And the adrenaline rush has officially worn off. Jesus, there really are a lot of turns on this course.

Mile 19 marked the turnaround, where we began to head north along the shoreline. The weather reports had predicted winds from the northeast all day, so I had been hoping to stay with the pacers and let them act as a wind break. Unfortunately, I entered this section solo and had the full force of the wind in my face. Hence the sudden drop in pace.

Miles 21-26: 7:44, 7:56, 7:59, 7:57, 7:41, 7:43

I had officially hit the wall. I was able to manage my collapse better than in previous races, and my pace only slipped by 30-40 seconds per mile (in the past, I have often lost more than a minute per mile in the last 10K of marathons).

The stretch of road from mile 20-25 is the quietest segment of the race. There were a few spectators at intersections, but otherwise I was alone with the sound of my breathing and my increasingly heavy footsteps on the pavement. I focused on my form: run tall, stay on your toes, push through the glutes and hamstrings (rather than the quads), high cadence, elbows back, shoulders relaxed... Going through this system check every so often helped mitigate the collapse.

This is not an efficient way to run.

Thankfully, I started to pass other pace groups on this out and back section. The pace leaders are mainly trail and ultrarunners from the NY/NJ area, so I happen to know quite a few of them. Paul DeNunzio shouted a few words of encouragement as he passed by. Elaine Acosta waved hello and snapped a picture of me (incidentally, she might be the only runner in the world that takes pictures of the spectators). Ken Tom, who had paced my mom and her friend to half marathon finishes earlier in the race, provided his own unique brand of motivation.

Me: "Hey it's Ken Tom!"

Ken: "Ryan Thorpe! You sexy sexy man, you!"

Me: [blushes]

All of this support helped to mitigate the meltdown that my body was having. I had known for a few miles that 3:10 was not going to happen, but 3:15 was still a distinct possibility. I would have to push hard to hit that goal though. I did a little math in my head. My last few miles would have to be under 8:00 each. Borrowing a line from Nick Hollon, I thought to myself "this ain’t no sob story, GO!!"

Around mile 25, the course turned onto Ocean Ave, and the crowds grew bigger and more lively. I saw a few ultimate frisbee friends, who had dragged a full couch onto the sidewalk and were drunkenly cheering for the runners.

Friend 1: "It's Thorpe!"

Friend 2: "Go Thorpe!"

Friend 1: "I'm gonna give you Kudos on Strava!" [he did]

The cheers were a huge mental boost. A half mile from the finish I saw Harry Uberti, a fellow ultrarunner and world class motivator.

Harry: "Is that the legend?"

Me: [Jersey fist pump]

Harry: "It is! It's the legend, Ryan Thorpe, ladies and gentlemen!"

Harry ran a few hundred feet with me and offered some much needed words of encouragement. He told me I was looking strong, and I resisted the urge to call him a goddamn liar. Then he said that he was having trouble keeping up with me, and that put a little more pep in my step.

I hit the mile 26 marker with just under two minutes left to hit my new 3:15 goal. I turned on the jets and ran the last two tenths at a 7:15 pace. I passed by my family and flashed a big smile as they cheered for me.

I kinda thought this pose would look cooler in pictures.

I finished in 3:14:51, a 2+ minute improvement on my previous PR, and 153rd of 2,045 runners. Not bad for a stocky mountain runner!

Strava data

Official results

Post Race Thoughts

It ended up being a day full of PR's for my friends and family. Alex took seven (!?) minutes off her half marathon PR, and somehow finished looking like this:

I'm still not convinced that this was taken in an actual race. It looks too good!

My mom finished the half marathon 43 seconds under her old PR, despite various training setbacks and nagging injuries. My friends and training partners Andrew and Scott both finished their first marathons, Andrew running a negative split and Scott powering through debilitating cramps over the last half of the race.

Although I was initially disappointed that to fall so short of my time goal, I'm happy to come away with new half marathon and full marathon PR's. And here's the good news: this sets me up for another PR at the NYC Marathon in November!

The Thorpe, Dresser, Finn crew with our fancy medals

Julie, Andrew, Me, Alex, Scott, Mom, and Beth after our post-race meal.
There are 5 PR's represented in this picture!

What worked:

My gear all performed admirably. I wore my Salomon shorts, a Tesla compression shirt, and synthetic Injinji socks, and had no issues with blisters or chafing. Due to Achilles concerns, I used an old pair of Brooks Glycerins, which have a larger heel drop than my usual Altras. The lack of Achilles pain afterwards suggests that this was a good idea. I also used a FlipBelt to carry my gels instead of cramming them all in my shorts or arm sleeves. This worked really well.

My nutrition worked pretty well, despite the fact that I hadn't practiced with it at all this year. I ate a Gu gel every 4 miles and was able to stomach it without any issues. I didn't carry any fluids, but still finished the race feeling well hydrated. I hit the wall at the end, but I think this was a result of pacing rather than a lack of calories.

What didn't work:

While my weekly mileage was higher than ever, my speed work was not sufficient to prepare me for race pace. I need to spend more time at marathon pace (or faster) during my training runs. Perhaps scheduling a tune up 10K or half marathon would have helped with this. But that will all have to wait a few months, because I'm now transitioning into full-on mountain mode for my summer races.

I enjoy running with pacers, but I need to stay far enough behind the pack that I can run the tangents. This probably didn't cost me much time, but it meant that I had to expend a little more energy at every turn to stay with the pace group. My pace and perceived effort in the early miles reflects this.

Worryingly, I started having negative thoughts very early in the race, as I began to rationalize why I wouldn't hit my goal time. Perhaps I was just being realistic, or perhaps this is what happens when I focus to intently on hitting exact mile splits. Either way, there were a few very depressing moments in this race, and I'd like to avoid that in future races. Maybe better race-prep would help with this.

Next Up

I'm going back to the mountains for the North Face Endurance Challenge: Bear Mountain 50 miler on 5/13. Then I get a month to recover before the daunting Manitou's Revenge 54 miler in the Catskills.