It was a trip over to New York City for Barry Dolman and his family for his latest marathon exploit
“We had a bit of a scare getting to New York to begin with. We were in Orlando for a few days and then had a flight on the Thursday to get to New York. New York had horrific weather and they shut La Guardia, but luckily we managed to get on a flight the next day and got there a day late.
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The training block to this one I had taken a bit easier and hadn’t followed the Steve Way big sessions. I decided to concentrate on higher volume, decent length long runs with kick downs and some smaller turn over intervals, such as 5x2K at marathon pace.
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New York City looking just like in the movies
I keep getting injured with the other method and this approach worked really well for me. For the few months leading up to the race, I was equal, or within seconds of a PB in 5k, 10k and Half Marathon, so I knew it was working.
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Barry and family doing a bit of sightseeing whilst out there
New York is hilly and I knew it was going to be quick. I was after a sub 2:57 to qualify for the World Champs in South Africa next May, so that was my major goal. I’d failed that at London as I got injured 3 weeks out and could only manage 25k a week for the 3 weeks leading up to it.
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New York City Marathon starts on an immediate uphill on the Verrazano bridge and I’d had no warm up so it was straight into it. I started right near the front, about 20m from the very front, in Wave 1. I could see Kipchoge start 5 minutes before, which was a memorable experience.
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Barry finding his name on the list at the New York City Marathon expo
My plan through the race was to not care about pace up the bridge and take it a few seconds per k slower in the first 5k, expecting about a 21:20. I didn’t actually find the bridge that hard and found a comfortable pace, going through 5k in 20:34. I was lapping on the course markers, as I always do, and they were pretty accurate to be fair.
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A helicopter flies alongside the runners as they cross the bridge
There are helicopters on the bridge flying at the same pace and height. It was mad. Also the weather was beautiful, clear blue skies and about 10 degrees C with very little wind. So no excuses there.
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The crowds on the course are incredible, right up there with London, which to this point had been the best for that by a mile.
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For a PB I needed 20:20 5k’s and for the qualifier I needed 20:59. My PB was from Sydney and I remember going through Half at 1:27:34. I went through Half this time at 1:26:30ish so was a minute up at half way, but I still felt comfortable.
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Barry coped well with the undulations on the route
At about the 25k mark you go over the Queensboro Bridge, from Queens to Manhattan, and that is a little like the Tower Bridge experience at London. You leave the crowds and the noise behind as there’s no spectators on the bridge. All you can hear is breathing and shoes.
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Barry recorded an excellent time of 2:54:57
By now the undulations are starting to be felt in your legs and this is again another long uphill over the bridge. When you start to go down the ‘Down Ramp’ to 1st Avenue you can hear the crowds and they just get louder and louder! When you get there the noise is unreal!
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I was still feeling pretty good when we left the Bronx. Then you go all the way down 5th Avenue for the entire length of Central Park and it felt uphill and I started to struggle to hold my pace. I wasn’t far off it but the continual undulations had definitely taken their toll.
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Then, right at the end you go into Central Park itself and it just starts going up and down continually, with some pretty nasty little ramps. By then I wasn’t far off fully cooked!
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It was a great run from Barry and an incredible experience
I was so very happy to come away with sub 2:55. It was an amazing experience. I always take 2 weeks off to let my legs heal, as advised by much better runners than me.
New York at dusk
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A few weeks of jogging now and I’ll then start the build for Barcelona in March, then Cape Town in May, plus Chicago in October…….Love it!”
Barry also got a medal for qualifying for the Age Group World Championships
By Barry Dolman