Run around the Island!

I finished a 31.6 mile run/jog/walk of entire perimeter of Manhattan on August 1st. This blog is my experience from what was technically my first ‘ultra-marathon’ run all around the beautiful Manhattan island. The blog is divided into two sections. First I cover the ‘experience’ and then, I delve in to the details of preparation, route, logistics, challenges and such.

If you are already someone who has run marathons and ultra-marathons, I am guessing much of what is said here  is probably a different shade of your own experience 🙂

Why? Why run 31+ miles on a summer afternoon all around the city?

Well, for me it is just because I love running and running is a beautiful expression of meditation in motion. That is my reason. Love for running is helpful when you have to stay on the road for 7+ hours on a summer afternoon. While short and fast runs are very useful for building certain parts of physical fitness, the joy and bliss of a long slow drawn run is quite something else for me. A protein bar can give you the calories and nutrition you need, but there is no comparison between a protein bar and a multi-course meal at a fine restaurant.

Secondly, I love New York City. This is my home for the last 17+ years and a place I hold very dearly in my heart. As I go into the challenges, this fact is quite a help in plowing through certain sections of the run and the city.

The loop run lets you enjoy the views of the city and its surroundings in a very different manner. In short, you take in a  panoramic view of the city, and not just what you see with your eyes but the wide variety and array of flavors and contrasts in nature, wealth, energy, vibe, people, cultures and however else you personally process the world. New York City is probably one of the very few (if not the only) cities with people from every single country of the world. And that makes this place the true microcosm of the world as a whole. And a panoramic view of that microcosm is quite an experience!

Needless to say, this type of endeavor takes preparation 🙂 Both physical and even more importantly mental. When I say mental, I also include emotional and spiritual aspects.

The Mental Processes!

I used the word ‘processes’ for a reason. While you and I have very little control on what thoughts will pop up in your head at what point, we have a lot more control on what processes we follow in our mind. You can call them habits or processes or patterns, but when the body is tired, energy is low and you are doing things which you have no memory to tap into, these processes become saviors.

First, I had to define what my mental processes are that I will follow before and during the run. And then, stay very disciplined to follow those processes with all the focus of my mind and diligently to the T.

From my previous runs, I knew the speed at which my heart rate jumps into ‘red’ territory. While heart rate is required to be in this territory to do cardio workout, you cannot run with heart rate in red zone for 7 hours. Based on that information, I had a plan of the pace to run from start till end. Some math and I had a spreadsheet with minute by minute breakdown of what speed I will run for the entire 32 miles. I mostly stuck to my plan except of course, running in a city meant unforeseen changes to route and situations. But some rules I followed without fail to ensure no physical breakdown were –

• Rule 1 – Never let my heart rate exceed 170 for more than a few seconds. Immediately slow down if heart rate goes over 170 until the heart rate comes back under 130.
• Rule 2 – Unless the heart rate is comfortably under 140, do not exceed run pace of 10 minute mile. Immediately slow down if running faster than 10 minute mile even if body feels fresh and capable.
• Rule 3 – Never run more than 3 minutes without a walk break of at least 1 minute even if the body is feeling fresh and capable. On  miles 20 and above, never run more than 2 minutes without a walk break and on miles 25 and above – 1 minute is all I would let my body run at a time. For the first 10 miles, drink water on every mile completed. Eat something for every 3 miles completed. For later miles, sip at least one sip of water on every walk break.
• Rule 4 – If there is a pain in any part of body, slow down, evaluate, do some stretching, re-run and re-check.
• Rule 5 – If heart rate is too high or if the chest or upper body is tightening while running, slow down, let heart rate come down and then re-run, re-check.

As I mentioned the preparation also involves a spiritual component. The two emotions that I had to embrace very dearly were Fear and Pain. There is no running away from these two friends. 20+ years of meditation does help. There is a freedom in running with an empty mind bereft of the fear of mortality and a mind that loves the pain.

I am fascinated by how as we grow older from being little babies, our threshold for tolerating physical pain grows and quietly, at some point in adulthood, that threshold starts dropping off again.

As I ran regularly, I learnt to differentiate between the pain of strain and the pain of injury. The former is a friend, the latter is your foe. There is no joy with this body of ours without learning to fall madly in love with the pain of strain.

Preparation

If you are an experienced long distance runner, the first 3 sub-sections are probably very known material. I talk about the city route challenges in the fourth sub-section.

Pre-Run Physical Prep

• First and foremost, you have to be physically capable of running long distances. That comes with practice. How much practice? That depends on you and your body. If you are a natural athlete, I guess it takes lesser preparation. But I am not. Far for it. It took me almost 1 year of continuous running every week to bring my body to a place where it can endure 31+ miles. To be precise over the last 48 weeks, I missed running for 2 weeks. I have been running at least thrice and sometimes more for the last 46 out of the 48 weeks. I was running on/off before that for the previous 6-7 years. However, the disciplined, “come whatever may – I shall not miss my run” was the last 46/48 weeks.
• In addition to running every week, for the last 9 months, I have also been doing weight/strength and conditioning workouts on my muscles at least twice a week.  And to top it, I make sure I do at least 10-12 miles of walking in addition to all the running. Walking and workouts ensure buildup of muscle strength and keep the key joints aligned. And finally, at least once a week – I use yoga postures to fix any lingering mis-alignments/brewing injuries etc. which has helped me to so far, touch wood, have no running injuries.
• While this run of mine was not a competitive race, I have run a half marathon in a simulated race situation and running long distances at a full pace certainly helped me understand my body’s capabilities and limitations.
• I also learnt to develop gears to my running. That means being able to run at varying speeds with varying levels of intensity. This comes into a huge play when you want to increase the distance without increasing intensity. High Intensity = Lesser Distance and Low Intensity = Greater Distance.

Nutrition and Hydration on Run Day

• Common knowledge is that for any run beyond 1:30 hours, you have to drink water and eat on your runs. So, for a run like this, you have to naturally drink LOTS of water and eat LOTS of food. As the temperature was going to be in 80’s, I was going to sweat a lot. My watch at the end of run estimated I lost about 6.8 litres of fluids in sweat. Obviously, to avoid any complications of dehydration, I should be targeting a re-fueling plan of atleast 5 and even more litres of liquids over the period of run. Sweat takes out not just water, but also salts from the body. So, just drinking 6 litres of water won’t cut it. I have to combine some sports drinks, salt supplements into the water quantity. I used gatorade, salt tablets with water and water mixed with lime/salt for this.
• Another common knowledge is when you are running on medium to high intensity, you are likely to burn approximately 200-300 calories and 40-60 gms of carbohydrates for every hour of running. So on a run of 8ish hours, you have to plan to eat atleast 1200-1600 calories which include about 160-200 gms of carbs. With that in mind, I used gels, seedless dates and protein bars in addition to the sport drinks. Earlier on the run, for the first 3-4 hours, solid foods are ok but as I went past the 5 hour mark, I just couldn’t eat the bars. I had to stick to gels and sport drinks thereafter.
• I ended the run with no cramps. So I am pretty happy with my hydration and nutrition strategy. 🙂

Gear

• Nike Winflo 5 Running shoes
• Quickdry sweat absorbing t-shirt (carried an extra shirt for change at half way point. Absolutely made a big difference)
• Running shorts and compression shorts with pockets to help with carrying water/phone while also sucking out the sweat
• Sweat absorbing socks – 2 pairs, with a change at halfway point
• A hydration vest that carries 2 litres of water, 2 small bottles, gels/bars and pockets for cash/cards/keys.
• Not technically gear but a useful tip – pay attention to possible chafing. For a very long period, when the clothes keep rubbing against the body drenched in sweat, chafing can happen. For me, it’s inner thighs. So I did use shea butter lotion before and again at the half way point.

Route and Challenges

You will see below the strava route map captured from my garmin phone. It’s mostly accurate except for a weird slip up around WTC and also around east river park.

In summary, the route is –

• Started at the entrance to battery park (intersection of west st and batter pl) and followed the bikeway onto the south st/FDR
• The bikeway is straight without breaks (except for small construction around pike Pl) till you enter East River Park.
• Followed the east river promenande to end of the park and continued on the bikeway till 34th st.
• Turned on to FDR service road at 34th till 37th and turned to 1st Ave at 37th st
• Followed 1st/UN Plaza till 53rd st
• Followed sutton place from 53rd till 63rd st and then took the bridge down to river side John Finley walk
• Here the walk was supposed to be uninterrupted till 78th st but a construction blocked the road between 76-78th st. This lead me to turn back and take the pedestrian bridge  over to york ave and followed York till 79th
• I rejoined the bikeway/walkway at 80th st entering the Carl Schurz park.
• Thereafter the bikeway/walkway followed along the river till 116th st pedestrian bridge. Again, the walkway was closed here for construction.
• I took the pedestrian bridge over to East Harlem streets and zig-zagged my way through east harlem till 155th and Frederick Douglas
• Here again I missed the bridge which would have put me onto the Harlem River Greenway at 155th st – so I had to follow Frederick Douglas St for another mile and join Harlem River Greenway before the road merges onto the highway
• Luckily Harlem River Greenway was a relatively empty and uninterrupted stretch until Inwood’s 10th ave
• In Inwood, I criss-crossed over to the Inwood park for a bio break and a change of clothes. Also, this place has a lot of café’s and deli’s. So was useful to refill water and sport drinks.
• From the park, I followed down on Seaman ave and turned onto Dyckman Ave before joining the hudson greenway using the ramp at the west end of dyckman ave
• Hudson River Greenway is a mostly straight unbroken road all the way down to Battery Park. There are couple of possible mishaps if you are not watchful – one is around GWB and the other around 145th St where the greenway forks into Riverside Park. You would want to stay on the hudson river greenway at all times.

Some minor challenges while doing this route

• East Side is the more challenging side. You have to zig-zag your way onto the streets and that means possible traffic and other such considerations. So, I chose to run east side earlier in the morning to keep the distractions to minimum.
• Running/walking through East Harlem and Harlem is not a pretty jolly and jovial experience. The sidewalks are not always clean and you have to be aware of your surroundings. Just thinking of running will not always be possible. But keep moving is the best advice.
• Constructions and walkway closures are to be expected and you have to think on your feet to detour. Hopefully without adding too many miles. The fear of adding to already long day of miles can be a little jarring to the mind. Be prepared.
• In good old days, a starbucks would have been a good and easy place for a bio break, but now you have to map out the restrooms in advance. There are public restrooms in Carl Schurz park, east river park, Inwood Park and parts of Hudson river greenway (the piers). Most public restrooms in the city open around 8 am. So plan accordingly!
• There are always café’s and restaurants within a quick detour except for the short 2 mile stretch on the Harlem River Greenway. So you are never too far into the wild. But detours add miles to your legs, so plan your stops as much in advance as possible.

If you have reached all the way to this line, read the whole post, thank you! And I hope you learnt something new and I hope you have a great experience if you chose to undertake a run like this.

Don’t forget you can also walk the whole distance. It takes a bit longer but I am sure it is as much fun 🙂