Training vs Not Training for a Marathon...My experince with my first marathon

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.

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.

 

The starting line...very cold that morning but warmed up

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 9^th 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.