Marathon part Deux

Even though I only recently published the Marathon Training blog about my first two weeks running, that actually happened back in October. A lot has happened since then, both good and bad.

I realized pretty early on that I knew absolutely nothing about running a marathon, so I started looking into it. The Internet is a powerful resource. As it turns out, a lot of experienced marathoners recommend that you have been already running steadily for about a year before attempting a marathon. You should be comfortable running between 3 and 6 miles, and averaging 10-15 miles a week. That bothered me a little bit. Not only did I despise running at my very core, I also wasn't good at it. I started to doubt the possibility of running this thing.

When I was first thinking about running this marathon, I couldn't help but look toward the end of the training schedule. I was seeing numbers like 16, 18, and 20 and was thinking "MILES!?"

I spoke with a friend about it, and she told that there's an old proverb that asks: How do you eat an elephant? The answer: one bite at a time…touché.

I realized that I don't need to worry about what will happen in week 15 of training. I only need to worry about today...and today was 3 miles...not 20.

So I began eating this elephant one bite at a time. I'd run 3 miles, and then look forward to another 3 mile run tomorrow. 5 miles on Saturday wasn't thrilling, but I knew I could do it...I had already done it accidentally the week before (see previous blog).

In the midst of this, I spoke with one of the teachers at Training Ground, because he is quite the marathon veteran. He has given me some really sound advice. One of the things he said was, instead of worry about exactly how many miles you run, just run for time. If you run about a 10 minute mile and you're supposed to run 3 miles, just run for 30 minutes. Sometimes you'll run a little bit more, sometimes a little bit less, but none of that matters, because running a marathon is all about running for an extended period of time. I thought that was amazing. Previously I had been tracking my exact miles and exact times to see exactly how fast I was running per mile. I needed to let that go and just run.

It got to the point where running eventually became, dare I say it, enjoyable. I remember running a particular 7 mile run, and coming back with a "runner's high". Before this day, I didn't know that this was a real thing. I was acting like I had it all together on the outside, but on the inside my body was having a party! I wondered if I should be driving home in this condition...seriously. I'll admit, it was pretty awesome.

So I continued. 3 miles, 6 miles, 3 miles, rest, 8 miles, cross train, rest, 3 miles, etc.

I was still a pretty slow runner. I would average 9.5-10.5 minute miles, but I could go longer distances. And then, I visited my parents in FL for Christmas.

This altitude thing is no joke. The air is pretty thin up here at 7300 feet. I didn't realize how much I was really affected by going back to sea level. I remember being shocked when I would go out for an "easy" 3.5 mile run and finish in less than 30 minutes. All of a sudden I was averaging 8.5 minute miles...even on 9 and 10 mile runs. The improvement was incredible.

After I got back to Colorado Springs, I was surprised that I actually wasn't doing so shabby up here as well. My first two runs back in Colorado, I averaged 9-9.5 minute miles. I was thoroughly proud of myself...and then it happened.

(to be continued)

Marathon Training

I started training for a marathon back in October. I would never have considered myself a runner before. I hated running, I was incredibly slow, I had no "technique". I was just plain terrible.

Recently, I've been thinking and praying a lot about my need for perfection. If something I do isn't perfect, I focus more on the failure than the success of whatever I've done. For instance, if I was to run a mile and it took me say 11 minutes at this altitude, I wouldn't have been proud of the fact that I ran a mile, but merely focused on the fact that it took me 11 minutes. "I should have been able to do it faster, so and so can run it in 8 minutes" etc.

This topic was on the forefront of my mind when my friend James called me one day in October. He asked if I would be interested in running a marathon with him in Atlanta in March (21 weeks away). I said no. No way. He said "we'd be running it for a cause...breast cancer". I said "James...there is no way I could run a marathon. period. I'm not a runner, I'm terrible at running" etc.

He asked me to think about it, and I agreed to.

When he e-mailed me the 18 week training schedule I saw that the first week was 3 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, rest Friday, and 6 miles on Saturday. 6 miles was already more miles than I had ever run consecutively in my life. The marathon was looking less and less realistic.

I spoke with James the next day and came up with a compromise. Since the 18-week training schedule would start in 3 weeks, I'd give myself 3 weeks to think about it. I would come up with my own pre-training, training schedule, and see what happened.

My first week was 1 mile tuesday, 2 wednesday, 2 thursday, and 3 saturday. It went fairly smoothly, aside from my unrealistic expectations of what I should be capable of. I slowly began to become ok with "where I am". I realized that I'm not a runner, I never have been a runner, so for me to go out and run a mile in 7 minutes at 7300 ft (the altitude where I live) is just plain unrealistic. I needed to be ok with an 11 minute mile.

Week 2: 2 miles tuesday, 2 miles wednesday, 2 miles thursday, and 4 miles saturday.

The Saturday run was the turning point. I got on GoogleMaps, and mapped out a route that would take me 2 miles in one direction. Then I would turn around and come back. Seems simple enough right?

I started running at the end of my driveway, made a couple of simple turns, and began looking for "A street". 15 minutes passed, no A street. 20 minutes passed, still no A street. 25 minutes passed, still nothing. I began to get discouraged. I had been running for 25 minutes, and if I haven't passed A street (which is 2 miles from my house) then I've been running slower than a 13 minute mile! That's not so good...at all.

At around 28 minutes of running, I decided I would turn around at the next road, and just re-map it from there. I thought maybe I had passed A street without seeing it and would see it on the way back. No such luck. I became pretty disappointed in my performance.

I ran back to my house, and stopped the clock at 55 minutes. I started thinking about what this could mean. Perhaps, I missed the road (both times) and had really run more than 4 miles? Maybe they re-named the road and Google hasn't updated it yet. Or, worst case scenario, I ran for 55 minutes and didn't even make it 4 miles. It sounded like an awful possibility. I realized in that moment that I HAD to be ok with that. I HAD to be ok with where I am. I needed to stop putting so much emphasis on my running performance, when I have clearly never been a runner before. Rather than going straight to a computer to figure out my actual distance, I "sat" with these feelings for a while. I took a shower, changed clothes, ate some food, etc.

Finally I went to the computer. I remembered that I turned around at Furrow Rd, so I Googled it. As it turned out, Furrow Rd was 2.5 miles from my house! I had run 5 miles when I only expected to run 4! Yes...I ran it at an 11 minute pace, but I was fine with that! It was cold outside, I was running at 7300 feet, I was ok with an 11 minute mile.

I knew in that moment that the marathon was possible. I called James, and committed to running with him.