My 2014 NYC Half Marathon Strategy

As of today, there are 12 days left to prepare for the NYC Half. I love this race, it’s one of my two favorite 13.1s of the year (the other being the BK Half).

This year will be my 5th NYC Half (here’s the review from the 2013 race) and I’m planning on trying for a PR. I’ve been doing the speed work, tried to stay somewhat consistent in my training and the best sign yet? I PR’d a 5K this week.

I think I’m ready.

The Course
The NYRR changed the course a bit for the 2014 race. I’m assuming it’s because the field will be the biggest yet, but I didn’t confirm that.

We’ll be starting on the east side of Central Park, running out onto 110th Street to Central Park West (this is new), circle back into the park and then hit Harlem Hill. From there we follow the west side of the loop and exit at the south end onto 7th Avenue.

From that point, it’s pretty much downhill or flat until you circle the bottom of the Island and get into the Battery Park Underpass (which is a slight uphill). A few more turns and you’re across the finish line.

My Plan

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East side and north of Central Park (Distance 5K): I’m going to start out at tempo pace. I know everyone tells me to run a few seconds or even a minute slower than goal pace at the start of the race. But I’ve run this race (and course) enough to know that getting out of the park as soon as possible is the key to PR’ing here. the course can get congested and the fact that there are extra turns (one of them a full U turn) at the top of the park tells me that this year will be no different and possibly worse.

West side of Central Park (Distance 3 Miles): This is the hilliest part of the race. I’m planning to back off by 10-20 seconds on two of the five hills. I’ll sub-tempo Harlem, push a little bit on the second, pull back again for the third (which The Congregation has dubbed Denise Hill since we pick my wife up there when she runs with us) then push back to tempo for the rest of the hills and park.

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Seventh Avenue and Times Square (Distance 1 Mile): This part of the race is all downhill. Not only downhill, but this is where the majority of the crowds will be. I’m going to use both the downhill and crowds to push to endurance pace (about 20 seconds faster than tempo). It’s pretty easy to push yourself too hard at this point and kill your race but I feel like since I’m going to hold back on the west side of Central Park, I’ll be fine.

West on 42nd Street (Distance 1 Mile): Every year I’ve run this race there’s been a headwind along 42nd Street. I’ll back off again, take in the crowds and the buildings and enjoy a sub-tempo pace again. This is also just past the halfway point and where I will take on some nutrition.

West Side Highway (Distance 4 Miles): This stretch is flat as a pancake. Maybe even flatter. I’m going to push tempo again and enjoy the ride. Hopefully I’ll know some people who are out cheering and I’ll distract myself by looking for them. Crowds are sparse but there are pockets of people along this stretch – a lot of the teams (Front Runners, Team In Training) station people along this part of the course to give their runners that extra push.

Bottom of the Island to to the Finish Line (Distance 1.2 Miles): This is the part of the race I plan to push my hardest. I’m going to try and push past my 5K pace and get my heartrate to its max. The tricky part here is there are a lot of turns. In years past there has been construction (due to Hurricane Sandy) that narrowed the course and created some congestion. I don’t mean to say I’ve had to walk, but I’ve definitely had to slow down because of runners around me. If I have the time, I may go scout the course before the race to see what this part looks like.

Garmin was kind enough to send me the Forerunner 620 to review. I’ve been using it since last weekend and getting the hang of it. I’m going to offer my full review as part of my race report.

Now I just need to make the perfect endurance mix for my iPod . . .