Running the One City Marathon in March was something of an accident, but even with zero training and the residual effects of having the flu, as soon as I finished it knew I would run another. I told everyone I was done because I wanted to test whether I truly wanted it, but deep down I knew I would be back for more. I bought Hanson’s Marathon Training Program, started doing my research, and jumped in with two feet with the goal of qualifying for Boston – which for me, means finishing the marathon in about 3 ½ hours, or the equivalent of 8 minutes per mile for 26.2 miles.
Even though I’ve been running for years, I’m a relative newbie to the idea of training. I’ve always just set a daily goal, run that, and gone to the gym a few times per week. I didn’t pay much attention to my pace, I never tracked anything except the distance, and I would often semi-frustrate other people when I would tell them I had no idea how fast I was going during a group run. In the last few months of digging into what a good training block should look like, here’s what I’ve learned:
· Most marathon training is at a relatively easy pace. For me, this will be about 8:30-9:00 minute miles, although some would say it should be even slower. I won’t go into the details of why since it’s pretty technical, but the point of these runs is often to recover from a hard day or get ready for a big workout while still adding in mileage.
· Speed work is what makes me faster. I knew this to be true before, and I’ve done it on and off through the years. Truthfully, I hate it. My stomach gets butterflies before a big workout and I often feel inadequate to the task. But I have noticed big gains from these, so I know it’s worthwhile in the end.
· “Make your easy days easy and your hard days hard.” I didn’t fully buy into this mantra at first, but I’ve found it to be true. Easy days are for adding slow miles. They don’t stress me out, and they are often pretty enjoyable (unless I’m itching to go faster). I don’t work out my legs on easy days, because I want to be fresh for long runs, tempo runs (at or faster than marathon pace), and speed workouts. I won’t lie, doing any kind of leg workouts after my big speed runs is HARD, but this makes the recovery days so much sweeter.
Mileage will differ greatly from one person to the next, but right now my sweet spot is 50-55 miles per week. Elite runners will cover 100+ miles so that number is paltry in comparison, but that is a huge jump for me. My normal running routine before was about 25-30, so I knew that would take me awhile to work up to in a healthy way.
Every time I’ve trained for a half marathon in the past resulted in a hamstring injury, so I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Even though actual marathon training is about 18 weeks for me, I decided to start early. I didn’t want to jump from 25 to 40 miles in the span of a week or two, because I knew that wouldn’t end well. So I started plugging away, building mileage, and practicing workouts without holding to a specific pace if I couldn’t hang with it. I know I can run the mileage needed for marathon training, so now it’s all mental endurance.
Some of you might be reading this and thinking you could never run a marathon, and although you probably won’t believe this, I once swore I never would. I do NOT think that everyone has to or should finish one (unless you want to!), because some people don’t like running, some don’t like running that far, and some are way more into other activities. However, if you are a discouraged runner who feels like they could never do it, or if you look at my times and think they are unachievable, I want to show you what’s really behind my running improvements.
· I have worked my way up slowly, and I’ve been running regularly for about 8-10 years, depending on how you count it. When I first started running, one mile felt like a pretty far distance. Now that’s drastically different, but it’s taken me a long time to get there.
· I eat a lot of carbs. This has been a pretty big change over the last few months, and for awhile I had a mental block against it because carbs=bad, right? Well...not so much for runners. It’s a good thing I love white rice, because without that or sweet potatoes, this gluten-free girl would have a tough time getting the right balance.
· I lift weights 2-4 times per week, depending on how much time I have. I also focus a lot on core, even if I have to plank while Willow climbs all over me. Every little bit counts.
· I visit the chiropractor faithfully every 4-6 weeks to keep my hamstring in good shape, and I always make sure to work that out on leg days, too. So far, no injuries...knock on wood!
· I get up early, even when I don’t feel like it...unless I can see a greater advantage to sleeping in. Each night I mentally run through the next day and lay out a few scenarios. For instance, I knew that on the day of this writing, if I didn’t get in my run before Nathan went to work then it wouldn’t happen. Other days I know I can fit it in later, so if I’m completely exhausted when the alarm rings, I turn it off.
· As much as I can, I keep a pretty regimented sleep schedule, from about 10pm-5am. I nap when I’m able, or at least lay down for 20 minutes on days I have a few minutes of free time.
· I regularly foam roll (this is the one I use), especially on hard workout days. This helps dramatically with the soreness. Right now I’m not doing massages, ice baths, or anything extensive, but I’m also running a lot less than people who have to do those on the regular!
I get it: this is a big list. But I wanted to show what I’m putting into my running to get out of it what I’m hoping for: a Boston qualifying time in the spring. I’m slower than many, and faster than some. But regardless of where I compare to anyone else, I’m putting in the work so that when I step onto the starting line of the One City Marathon, I know I’ve given it my all. And no matter what your goals are, I hope you can say you’ve done the same.
