Monday, February 14, 2011

New Orleans Marathon



The Finish. All photos: Justin Mock









Entering City Park




Token kick for the finish


Marathons hurt.







1. 5:49
2. 5:46
3. 5:47
4. 5:46
5. 5:44
6. 6:14
7. 5:41
8. 5:50
9. 5:51
10. 5:48
11. 5:54
12. 5:56
13. 5:56
14. 5:31
15. 6:08
16. 6:07
17. 5:58
18. 5:56
19. 5:56
20. 6:04
21. 6:08
22. 6:08
23. 6:07
24. 6:13
25. 6:10
26. 6:15
0.2 1:14

Avg: 5:57.8

1st half: 1:16:48
2nd half: 1:19:23

1st 5: 28:52
2nd 5: 29:24
3rd 5: 29:25
4th 5: 30:01
5th 5: 30:46


  1. You got caught in no man's land which doesn't help for pace. Damned impressed Nick! I know you wanted a faster time but as you eluded to, it's a pretty impressive progression over six tries. Congratulations! And now enough of this flat stuff, time for some gnarly stuff.

  2. Stop it with this domination of all distances. I thought being an ultrarunner meant you only ran IF you got your shoes dirty. And I am sure Top American was sweating out the chance of having his 2:29 taken down on American soil. Great performance (as always!).

  3. Ah man, I could've gone a few more miles, didn't expect you to chat much, but wasn't sure if I was helping or hurting.

    Talked with Jurek at the airport and he also said his pacing was a challenge given some of the mile markers seemingly being off. Shared the sentiment on the half course and race receiving top Competitor billing vs. the full.

    Saw Kim Smith out doing a second run along St. Charles Sunday afternoon even.

  4. Disappointing or not, you're going to make us all look rather pedestrian at Salida next month!

  5. Nice job -- I don't get what race directors are thinking with multiple 180-deg turns. Now go have fun on the trails!

  6. Can't complain about a 7 min PR! Especially since the old one wasn't exactly soft :)

    Looks like you should be primed for a good season on the trails.

  7. The fact that you are probably the only one who is not totally impressed by your 2:36 and top 10 finish tells me that 2:2X will come some day. Now get your butt back on the trails!

  8. Hell of a race Nick. Congrats on that PR.

  9. A 7 min PR sounds awesome, even if it wasn't quite as you hoped. Go get some more long tempos (I suggest 16 mile runs with 10 mile tempo at 6 min pace) and you'll hold off the slowing at the end.

  10. Yet another voice in the chorus of congrats. Well done, Sir,

  11. Thanks guys!

    Justin - I didn't know if I wanted you to come along or not. I wasn't in a particularly good head space at the time, but in hindsight should have asked you to stick with me.

    Jacob - nah, Salida always has some good competition. Looking forward to that one for sure.

    Jon - totally right. I just couldn't bring myself to run the longer tempo/MP efforts for some reason, but those sessions should be the cornerstone of any marathon training plan.

  12. Great run, Nick!
    A couple revelations from your report were particularly interesting to someone like me who still has yet to break 3 hours:
    1. You run at 5:50 pace and still can breathe "super easy"
    2. Even at your level you are still cutting off 10 minutes with each subsequent marathon

  13. Oh so I tried Googling Kim Smith and her record-breaking run. But Google mainly gave me photos of the Hollywood star of the same name wearing bikinis.

  14. Felix - ha, yes, two very different curve profiles.

  15. Great run Nick! I think you showed us very well how to go for it, then exactly what to do when it's not going to happen, and still come out with a great result.

  16. Great race Nick!
    Nice PR and impressive training through the process.
    Now the fun stuff...trails!
    See you next week!

  17. Thanks, Tim. Yeah, now for the fun stuff indeed! Just a bit more road work to get ready for AR, but mainly trails for here on in.

    Really looking forward to this year. I think it's going to be yet another standard setter for the sport, and I know you're gonna be part of that. Look forward to catching up in Boulder.

  18. Awesome run Nick - I'm with Rob on his take on your performance. You didn't hit the meltdown you feared may come, and you learnt what you need to do to take your next marathon PR to where you know it can be. Lots of positives...and I'm looking forward to you coming out to Estes whenever you're ready and bagging Tony's CR!

  19. Terry, it's already penciled in for 2012. You got me fired up about it at Frost Giant the other weekend.

  20. Nick, a PR is a PR, nice work.

  21. Well done on the PB! and by 7 minutes - Nice :-)

  22. Wow, the trend of your marathon times is just awesome! I think I had already decided I need to focus back on shorter races to pick it up in ultras. There are many of you guys are living prove!

  23. Olga - thanks for the comment, and good to hear from you! Yeah, I don't think anyone has yet to really figure out how best to train for the longer races.

    I remember Geoff Roes put up a post a few months back stating that training for 100 milers is about getting out and spending time on your feet in rugged places and not worrying about training performance. A lot of people seemed to agree (probably because Geoff has had a lot of success), but I remain highly skeptical of that approach.

    Obviously you have to push out the longer 5-8 hour efforts in training, but a faster top end speed (and I consider marathon speed about as top end as one needs for 100 milers) is, in my opinion, as relevant for the 100-mile distance as it is for the marathon. I think Ian Sharman proved that to an extent in Texas. His marathon PR isn't blistering (2:32, I think), but he runs 2:3x marathons consistently enough that the pace is one he is accustomed to and comfortable with, and one that he was able to translate to a sustained 7:30 pace at the 100-mile distance. Obviously, if 7:30s are tough to hold over 26.2 (3:15), there is no way you'll hold it over 100 miles. Seems perfectly logical to me. Of course that formula changes considerably for mountain 100s where climbing, descending and technical running abilities are just as important, but it has to hold true to a degree.

    So, yeah, to cut a long story short, I think you are wise to focus on higher end speed in your training if you are interested in improving your ultra times.

  24. You won your age group. Not like Western where you could only manage second place...