In October 2013 I ran my first Marathon (26.2 miles for all
those who are not familiar with the distance or aren’t runners…kind of like my
uncle who asks me so how far is a marathon? even after I already told him 10
times haha…anyway the marathon I ran was the Marine Corps Marathon. I chose
this marathon because it is one of the largest and most popular marathons in
the US and happens to take place in my own backyard…Washington, DC/Arlington,
VA.
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| My 2013 Bib |
To run a marathon one should really train because 26.2 miles
is no joke. Most training plans that I saw had you training for about 16 weeks
and some had their longest runs at a greater distance than 26.2 miles while a
few had you come close to the distance but not surpass it…me personally I would
prefer to at least run my goal distance just to make sure I can.
Now for my half marathons and 10 milers I didn’t really ever
train to distances greater than or even really close to the goal distance…I
think the closest I got was like 7 miles but I get bored easily and/or end up
having to go to the bathroom but I ran enough and was in good enough shape that
I was able to finish these races and eventually had about one a weekend so they
became kind of a training run for the subsequent race…my first half time was
about 2:07:00 and my best time before I got injured was about 1:42:00…now after
my injury the last and only half I have run since then was about a 1:54:00…this
was with very little distance running so it looks like all my in-between races
prior to injury really helped.
Anyway for the MCM I was hoping to finish under 4 hours as
the race predictor calculators available online told me that based off my half
times I definitely could. I downloaded the Hal Higdon Novice marathon training
app with the plan that I would follow this training program…well I did maybe
two long runs, the longest being 14 miles, and then decided running distance
solo was just too boring so I continued running my usual runs (about 6-7 miles
3x a week) and a weekend half or 10 miler. Come race day I started out too fast
and around mile 8 had to stop to “pee” and once my muscles cooled down it was
much harder to get started again but the MCM is such a wonderful race and is
full of wonderful runners and has awesome crowds cheering you on that I pushed
my way through the remaining 18.2 miles and crossed the finishline in front of
the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington in about 4 hours and 15 minutes…I think if I
hadn’t stopped to walk so much and used the restroom like 5 times I could’ve possibly
gotten close to my sub 4 hour marathon but what really would’ve helped me was
properly training for a marathon.
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| The starting line...very cold that morning but warmed up |
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| My finisher medal! |
Last year (2014) I had planned to do the Richmond Marathon
and actually train for it but due to a crossfit injury that got worse when I
refused to not run one of my halves at the end of May I ended up not being able
to run comfortably and without pain again until October and when I did begin to
run again man! was I out of shape compared to before my injury…my pace had
slowed by about 1 min/mile and my endurance had gone down significantly to
where a 3 mile run in the past would have been sooo easy and now I was dying
trying to get through it. Slowly but surely I kept running and now have
regained some speed and endurance but not to where I was before. I think one
major thing was that back when I was faster I had joined Potomac River Running’s
Running 201 program that focused a lot on speed work (track workouts, fartleks,
etc…) and hill work. This program was several weeks long and I found that it
really helped improve my speed and I was also doing crossfit…despite the injury
which was attained by me being careless the strength I gained from weight
training also really helped.
Now in 2015 I am determined to get another marathon…well two
marathons…under my belt and reach my goal time of sub 4 hours. So what am I
going to do differently this time? I am joining a training program…Potomac
River Running’s Distance Training Program… but one that isn’t virtual…this one
has me meeting up with a coach and other runners on Sunday mornings around
6:30AM in Georgetown to do our long runs and also has weekly track workouts
with a coach and the other runners. My hope is that by having other like-minded
people around me I will be pushed to actually train…this was the case when I did
Running 201…by myself I probably won’t do track workouts but with a group I
most certainly will. I’m also re-joining crossfit because here once again I
need the community motivation…this time I plan to train smart and not try to
lift a weight I know I can’t do. I being the training program on June 14… the
day after I do Tough Mudder so that should be fun…and I start crossfit on June
9th and I’m starting from the beginning again since I’ve been out a
while.
So to conclude if you are planning on doing a new race distance
especially a long one TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN it will really help. Once I’m a few
weeks into training and crossfit I will let everyone know how it’s going. As I
get closer to race time I’ll post a recap of the 2013 MCM.
