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NYC 2003 - My First Marathon
by Chris Lear

Chris Lear in the midst of an anaerobic threshold test.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Over the next three weeks, Chris Lear, a Colorado-based full-time sales representative and freelance writer, will be sharing his training diary as he prepares to run in this year's edition of the ING New York City Marathon — his marathon debut. Lear, like the vast majority of this year's entrants, is not a full-time runner. Yet, as for most of the competitors running this year's event, November 2 will nonetheless represent the culmination of months of hard work and planning. Each finisher, in the end, will have his or her own story to tell. In coming weeks, Lear will share with you his story: his goals, dreams, triumphs, and disappointments as he prepares to tackle the 26.2-mile behemoth for the first time. He hopes you'll enjoy the ride…

Entry #9, October 9, 2003 — I Want the Truth

I WANT THE TRUTH!
"Step on the scale please, Chris."
AHHH! Motherless son of a cock-a-roach! 145. 145!
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

The last time I stepped on a scale was two months ago in New Jersey, when I had just begun training for NYC 2003. I thought my buddy Court Heeter was playing a prank on me then by covertly placing his foot on the back corner of the scale to tip the total over a buck fifty. He insisted he hadn't, so I dismissed the figure by figuring the scale simply needed to be recalibrated. After all, as recently as 2000, when I was competing in 1500-meter races, I weighed about a buck thirty. Now, fuhgeddaboutit.

The problem is that I've still been thinking like the runner I used to be, and making guesses as to what I'm capable of running in New York on November 2 using arithmetic that no longer applies. All of which goes to prove that if I'm to run a race at the 2003 ING New York City Marathon that gets me across the finish line instead of one that terminates with me eating a knish while cashed out on a curb in Central Park at mile 24 in a cramped pretzel-like position, I needed to stop the deception, and get some answers about what I'm really capable of.

Stepping on the scale was the first step in doing so at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Boulder, Colorado. I was there to get what is called an Anaerobic Threshold test. I stepped onto the treadmill shortly after getting off the scale, and BCSM staff member Paul Kammermeier started the test with me running 8:30 mile pace. Four minutes later I hopped onto the rails on the side of the treadmill. Paul asked me what my perceived effort was at this pace on a scale of 1-10, and he pricked my finger for a blood sample that would yield a number that told him how much lactate was in my blood. The test proceeded in this fashion for the next 30 minutes, ending only after I sailed past my lactate threshold on an effort during which I ran 5:23 mile pace and my blood lactate level reached a level of 9.09 mmol/L.

If you're like me, you're looking at that last number going, "What the heck does that mean?" Fortunately, Neal Henderson, the BCSM's sports science coordinator who moonlights as a professional triathlete, sat down with me afterwards to discuss the numbers. By matching my blood lactate information with my running pace and heart rate, he was able to give me the heart rate zones and efforts at which I should train this month to maximize my final preparations for NYC 2003. Most important, by analyzing my chart, he was able to tell me that if I were to go out right now at my dream pace of 6:00 per mile, it would be "like putting a gun to your head." That's the bad news.

Chris Lear (second from left) with the Parsec Sports Timing staff. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The good news, he said, is that given the improvement I've made thus far, and provided that I train properly from now until race day, that pace might not be too far off the mark.

I left the BCSM elated that for the first time since I've begun training for NYC 2003, I had a plan which could get me to the starting line in the best possible shape, and that I had the information that could help me run the smartest, fastest race possible. My only problem was that I needed a heart rate monitor to use this gold mine of information to my advantage.

Fortunately, my visit to the BCSM coincided with the grand opening of the Parsec Sports Timing retail store in Boulder. The store is the first store of its kind that I've ever seen; they specialize in sports watches and monitors for athletes ranging from divers to runners. Staffed as it is by post-collegiate runners Dan Boniface, Justin Young, and Donnie Franzen, they knew exactly the watch to fit the bill.

Now, it's off to Chicago. I'm amped to use this new data to my advantage as I gobble up what will surely feel like oodles of oxygen while playing with my new little toy.

Till next time,
Chris
     
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