Getting to Know the Course

I'm a firm believer in previewing a race course as much as possible. Except for track races where every oval should be pretty much the same, no two course are alike. I've run in Central Park enough to tell you that even there, having the race go clockwise versus counter-clockwise, or starting at 67th on West Side instead of 72nd on the East can change your strategy.

A sign that the race is coming!

With the marathon it's no different. If anything, practicing on the actual course can be even more helpful. Before I go any further let me first quickly say that I realize this kind of practice isn't always possible. I'm lucky enough to live in NYC and have friends in Boston so I can practice on those courses but sometimes you want to run a race in an exotic place and visiting before hand is not an option, no biggie! You can still have an awesome race.

Anyway, the last few weeks I've really been getting in a lot of time on the NYC course. This weekend, for example, I did my final long run (22.7 miles) using the marathon course for miles 9 to 22. This morning, I fit miles 18 to 26.2 into my 12 mile run. The more you familiarize yourself with the course, the better prepared you'll be come race day. There won't be any surprise hills or turns because you already know them. (Not that the hills are necessarily any easier...)

Over the next 2 1/2 weeks of the taper I plan on really getting to know the final 10 miles of the course, incorporating portions of them into as many runs as possible.  Those are the toughest miles of the marathon, especially once the spectators disappear north of 96th and I want to be ready so that come race day I can slip into autopilot.

Alright, the countdown has officially begun!

18 DAYS TIL RACE DAY

Come Run With Me in Harlem!

Next Saturday, August 18th, I'm putting together a course preview of the Percy Sutton 5k (which is the following weekend). We'll be covering the 3.1 mile course starting in St. Nicholas Park before continuing south to Morningside Park. Since this route features the streets and parks of Central and South Harlem, I figured I'd invite any readers along for the run.

This course preview will be the start of the Dashing Whippets usual weekend long run so if you're looking to do your long run for the week, I've got you covered there too. After running through Harlem, we'll be traveling south through Central Park to advantage of Summer Streets on Park Ave.

Even if you only want to run a few miles, come enjoy beautiful Harlem and meet some new runner friends.  There will be folks of every speed so no need to worry about getting left behind.

Here are the key details:

What: Percy Sutton 5k Course Preview and Run through South Harlem

When: Saturday, August 18, at 8:30 am
Where: W 135th St and St Nicholas Ave

Previewing the Brooklyn Half

I'm a firm believer in the benefits of knowing a course before you race it. There are tons of variables on race day--the weather, how you're feeling, etc.--so anything you can do to make things more certain is a plus. By checking out the course before race day you can get a better sense of the terrain and adjust your pacing accordingly. You can also get a sense of what the tangents are (more on this in a late post). Obviously, when a race is in another city you may only be able to look at maps of the course before race day. When it's in your own backyard, however, it's worth doing a little pre-race recon.

This weekend I had the chance to run the Brooklyn Half course with some fellow Whippets. Since the race is only two weeks away, this seemed like a good weekend to check it out. I've run this race before, back in 2009, but they've changed the course since then and even if they hadn't, three years is a long time.

After a late night in Queens on Saturday, I hauled my butt out of bed on Sunday morning to catch the train to Grand Army Plaza to meet fellow runners. We had a great turn out--probably around 20 people--so we were able to split up into pace groups. It was a little warm but nothing too bad. If it's warmer on race day I'll definitely pack some beach gear for after the race.

I'm not going to summarize the course since you'll get that as part of my race report when I run the darn thing in two weeks. Instead, I'm just going to offer a couple of observations that might be helpful to any of you running:

• The only "big" hill is inside Propsect Park around mile 5. Don't waste you energy here because you'll have plenty of downhill later to make up any lost time.
• Ocean Parkway goes on forever! Don't let that discourage you, just remember that it's actually a net downhill. 
• There's little to no shade in the second half of the course so sunscreen is a must.
• The stretch on the boardwalk is extremely short so don't fret if you've never run on that kind of surface before.
• It takes a long time to get back to Harlem from Coney Island so you might as well enjoy some hot dogs, ice cream, or pizza before heading back.