{"id":51655,"date":"2025-11-25T14:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51655\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T14:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:18:07","slug":"how-i-took-more-than-an-hour-off-my-nyc-marathon-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51655\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Took More Than an Hour Off My NYC Marathon Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the winter of 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was in a ski accident, completely tearing my ACL and meniscus<\/a>. Not having proper physical therapy due to the shut down meant I would need three surgeries to repair everything.<\/p>\n

PT was brutal and as a standard part of ACL recovery, I had to run on an anti-gravity treadmill<\/a> to rebuild my strength. To take the edge off mentally, I set a goal to run a half marathon<\/a> when my medical team cleared me.<\/p>\n

A little over two years after my accident, I ran the New York City Half Marathon, raising money for the charity organization, Team For Kids (TFK). Some nice ladies I met on the TFK bus to the Brooklyn-based starting line told me that if I could run 13.1 miles, I could run 26.2. They were mentors with the charity and had a lot more running experience than I did. They gave me a whole pep talk on transitioning into a marathoner. <\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

After some thought and further conversations with the women and my medical team, in spring 2022, I got a bib to that year\u2019s New York City Marathon via Team for Kids and signed up to fundraise again.<\/p>\n

I had a few setbacks from my third surgery with building strength and getting the swelling under control, so I got cleared for training only 12 weeks before the marathon\u2014not ideal for a first-timer<\/a>. It felt rushed, but my goal was just to finish. <\/p>\n

I honestly didn\u2019t do much right. I knew nothing about the importance of strength training<\/a>. I avoided fueling more than once or twice on long runs because I didn\u2019t want to take in all those extra calories. I thought the words tempo and speedwork were suggestions and I almost never carried water.<\/p>\n

I focused on long runs<\/a>and finding hills in my area to prepare for the bridges, increasing my mileage weekly and building up to an 18-mile long run as quickly as I could. I listened to tons of podcasts to get excited and understand the course. <\/p>\n

Race day in NYC was anything but ideal as it was the hottest race they\u2019d ever seen. I had never run in rain and it rained in Brooklyn. I stopped to go to the bathroom about five times. I had one fuel pack, and didn\u2019t drink much. <\/p>\n

While the crowd carried me and the views of the city helped, I ended up walking a solid quarter of the course. I finished much slower than I anticipated even with my foolish training, at 6:12:56. <\/p>\n

My secret goal was to finish in the five-hour window, so in a way, I felt I failed.<\/p>\n

I left the city knowing that I would return one day when the stars aligned, and my running journey was far from over. After five more marathons, I finally got to make my return to the New York City Marathon in 2025 thanks to Team for Kids. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I learned over the years that helped me cut 1:13:07 off my finish, scoring a 4:59:49 and a new course PR in the Big Apple (and my second fastest marathon time ever). <\/p>\n

Related StoryI Did Practice Races<\/p>\n

I broke up my training by racing two half marathons, America\u2019s Finest in San Diego and the 2XU Long Beach. <\/p>\n

America\u2019s Finest was 12 weeks before the marathon in August, so I told my brain when I started training for New York in July to just focus on training for a half. I had been training for full marathons for more than three years, which can feel physically and mentally draining. So it helped to break up this training cycle.<\/p>\n

I began increasing my weekly mileage<\/a> for the half and worked up to 11 miles on my longest run and focused on racing. The San Diego course was great because it was filled with rolling hills, making it perfect practice for the bridges and second half of New York\u2019s course. <\/p>\n

The Long Beach half was only five weeks out from NYC race day, but it was flat and I raced it at my goal marathon pace<\/a>. Both of these runs helped me see where I was at physically while exposing me to crowds to get excited for that race-day energy. <\/p>\n

I also built recovery time into each race, focusing on deloading<\/a> the week before and after the race which helped my muscles for my more long-term marathon goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn-plan races are a great way to see where you are in your fitness, practice race conditions and fueling, along with breaking up the monotony of training,\u201d says Ben Delaney head of training programs and operations and head coach for Team for Kids. \u201cYou can learn so much in those moments of racing that you can take back to training. Then taking that time after each one is key to proper recovery and being ready to get back to training.\u201d <\/p>\n

Related StoryI Not Only Started Fueling More, But Smarter<\/p>\n

I started programming my Apple Watch to buzz every 5K during long runs<\/a> to fuel, while having handfuls of pretzels in between. I also used Abbott\u2019s Lingo Glucose monitor to stay on top of my glucose. The biosensor device comes with an app that tracks your sugar levels during your run, letting you know the perfect time to refuel. <\/p>\n

All of these changes gave me the energy I never had in 2022. And while my legs naturally did tire on long runs and race day, I always had enough gas in the tank to run strong.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the race, I treated myself like an athlete. I upped my carbs<\/a> and took in extra electrolytes starting 72 hours before. And on race day, I stuck to my one-gel-every-5K plan, alternating between caffeinated and non-caffeinated, for the entire 26.2 miles. I never missed a beat. I also made sure to stop at every hydration<\/a> station to get at least a sip of water and electrolytes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bodies store a key fuel source called glycogen that we use as energy in long-distance running, but our bodies can only store about 75 to 90 minutes of glycogen at any given time,\u201d Delaney says. \u201cThis is why carrying and practicing taking [and] using additional fuel sources for a marathon is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related StoryI Prepared for a Stronger Mind Game<\/p>\n

I remembered hitting a wall<\/a> in the Bronx in 2022. Similarly, in 2024, on the Willis Avenue Bridge, I really had to start talking to myself, saying yes, it hurts, but that feeling at the finish would be worth it. My back was aching and the hills felt endless, but I kept focusing on what it would feel like to get a sub-five finish versus not and it got me choked up, so I kept moving.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something incredibly daunting when you do the math of having to get from 139th street to 61st street, so I used mantras this time like, \u201cI can do hard things,\u201d \u201cBe strong, finish strong,\u201d and \u201cJust keep going.\u201d I even put temporary tattoos of them on my body and looked at them when I needed to dig deep mentally. <\/p>\n

But this time was different. I kept on track with my fueling and began passing people who were gassing out on Fifth Avenue. My muscle memory kicked in and I knew I was fueled up so my body could physically do it. I recited my mantras and when my legs got tired, I ran with my heart and thought of all those kids I fundraised for. Everything was clicking. I knew how to finish a marathon strong\u2014and that pushed me through this time.<\/p>\n

Related StoryI Paced for the Race<\/p>\n

Pacing during the New York Marathon is key and because I had done this course before, it definitely gave me a leg up. <\/p>\n

The first mile is uphill, so I did many long training runs where my first mile was uphill. It\u2019s then a quick down, which was my fastest mile of the race. The course goes into flat until about halfway where you are greeted by more, long bridges (I found those in LA and practiced there, too!) with some not-so-gentle hills toward the end, too. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to go out too fast<\/a>, but my first mile was actually my slowest for the entire first half of the marathon and I did my best to save my legs knowing the end wasn\u2019t easy. <\/p>\n

\u201cEach time you complete a training block and marathon you add more tools to the arsenal, more knowledge in how you want to execute race day or the next race,\u201d says Delaney. \u201cBy putting yourself out there in training on hills and bridges, you train both the body and mind on what to expect on race day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related StoryMy Past Helped Define My Finish<\/p>\n

I felt like a totally different runner in 2024 compared to 2022. Yes, the weather was cooler, but my mind and body had much more experience on how to combat physical and mental fatigue<\/a>. I trained on hills on late runs so I knew how to tackle them at the end of the course, I was fueled up, and I had six marathons under my belt. Nothing was stopping me.<\/p>\n

When I finally saw the entrance to Central Park, the final couple miles, I was actually picking up the pace, getting back in a 10:00 pace from 11:00s, because of my fueling and pace plan. I began telling myself I had done this before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no better lesson than experience,\u201d Delaney says. \u201cI like to say the marathon is a puzzle and the more you do it the clearer the puzzle hopefully becomes as you lay down the pieces for success. When you run your first marathon<\/a>, you have no idea what to expect as there is so much unknown happening. But you learn, get back to training, and figure out what works, what doesn\u2019t, and where to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Lanae Brody has been a journalist in Los Angeles for more than 17 years. She’s held bylines at People, Parade, Us Weekly, Fox Entertainment, and many more. Lanae spends her free time as a Team For Kids mentor and is one of 23,000 people worldwide to become a six-star Abbott World Marathon Majors finisher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the winter of 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was in a ski accident, completely tearing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28691,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-51655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-loveservice","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}