2007 ING NYC Marathon

When is it too early to think about marathon training? Simple answer: It’s never too early.

I probably started thinking about the 2007 NYC Marathon back in April 06 – about a week after I finished Paris. Well, actually it was about 30 sec. after I crossed the finish line…

Self: “Hey, that wasn’t so bad. I can TOOOTALLY do NY.”

And then I promptly threw up the apple I ate too quickly after finishing.

Thus the process began.

I probably didn’t really think about the marathon in earnest until I was back in NY. New York, much like London, is a game of chance, for the most part. Enter the lottery and hope you’re lucky. That is of course, unless you live in NYC. We New Yorkers have a little loophole called the New York Roadrunners club. Join the club, run 9 sanctioned races and voila instant entry in the next years marathon. However, this plan requires a little planning.

I ran my 9th race in Dec. A painful 10K run/walked on an injured knee. I’m typically not such a procrastinator but my ankle problems last summer all but eliminated my ability to run any races throughout the months of May, June, and July. Furthermore, while I know it wasn’t good form to run on an injured knee, had I not run the 10K I would have had to run a 10 miles race the following. The 10K was the lesser of the two evils.

Since then, I’ve been trying to give my knee a break. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much success healing the darn thing. It still feels tweaked and torqued, grouchy and unloved. I finally relented this afternoon and made an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. Hopefully, it is something that can be healed with some PT and rest. Surgery would not be fun.

Assuming that all goes well with the doc, here’s my athletic schedule for the next 8-9 months:

Jan – present: Taking private swim lessons to strengthen my technique and stroke.
March 2007: Start training for NYC Tri in earnest
April 2007: Swim, bike, run, repeat
May 2007: Swim, bike, run, repeat
June 2007: Try to find a body of open water (not the Hudson) where I can practice open water swims.
July 2007: Compete in the NYC Triathlon…my first Olympic length Tri. Don’t die.
August 2007: Start training for the NYC Marathon in earnest. Hopefully, I’ll have a boost from the NYC Tri training. Run the NYC Half-Marathon.
Sept. 2007: Run first 18 mile & 20 mile runs. Maybe participate in the Danskin Tri again.
Oct. 2007: Run 2nd 20 miler (maybe make it a 22 mile run). Attempt to run this distance at an 8:30 pace.
Nov. 4 2007: Run the NYC Marathon. Published goal time (sub 4:30). Unpublished goal time (sub 4:15). Don’t die.