Brian Rock 
Last week was the first in my transition from the Fred Lebow Half to my goal races for the spring: the NYC Half and the Jersey City Marathon. It didn’t go great, and I’m hoping this week goes better. In last week’s long run, I bombed out on the tempo sections. So this week, I’m … Read more
Last week, I put together an analysis showing the average marathon times of runners throughout the United States in 2024. A question tangential to that analysis was how the average finish times changed from 2023 to 2024. Specifically, as I’ve analyzed data for the Boston Marathon Cutoff Tracker, I’ve noticed that a slightly higher percentage … Read more
This spring, I’ve got two big goal races: the United NYC Half Marathon in March and the Jersey City Marathon in April. I ran the Fred Lebow Half Marathon last month, and from late December through January, that’s what I was “training” for. Although it wasn’t really long enough to be a solid training cycle. … Read more
Since the fall, I’ve been collecting data to project the cutoff time for the 2026 Boston Marathon. I’ve put together a Tableau dashboard to help you explore the data in real time, which you can play with here. While that tracker is updated on a weekly basis, I take a step back from time to … Read more
Ever wonder what the average marathon time was? Well here’s a meaningless number: 4:25:33. That’s the average time for all marathon finishers in 2024. But marathon performance varies quite a bit along two dimensions: age and gender. If you don’t group runners by age and gender, that average tells you more about who the runners … Read more
The best time to run a marathon is either in the spring or the fall. The weather is (usually) mild. Because who would want to run a marathon in the freezing cold of January? The only problem with this is that to run a marathon you’ve got to train. And that involves running consistently for … Read more
This week is the race – and the recovery. The week started off with the Fred Lebow Half Marathon. It went well enough. Not a PR or a spectacular performance – but a strong performance on a hilly course nonetheless. The main focus for the week, though, is recovery. I’m dropping my mileage to 60 … Read more
This weekend, I ran the Fred Lebow Half Marathon in Central Park. I signed up for the race this year because I wanted a chance to run a qualifying time for the 2026 NYC Marathon at one of the NYRR Half Marathons – and you can sign up for Fred Lebow without having to earn … Read more
Well, this is it. The final week. Those few weeks just zoomed by. The training has been wearing me down a bit. It could be the long run workouts – which have been intense over the hills. It could also be a little too much beer – the after effects of holiday celebrations. So I’m … Read more
It’s been a little over a month now since I’ve gotten my . The timing was perfect, too, because we’ve had a couple brutally cold weeks here in New Jersey that called for running indoors. My wife picked the Peloton, in part because she already had a Peloton Bike. So, the same all access membership … Read more