My First Marathon in Review

Well, it's been a week and a day since the marathon. I've a had a lot of time to look back and think about things like what I did right, what I did wrong, what I'd do differently. So here's an honest look back at my first marathon experience. 

What went right? 

I felt really good the morning of the marathon. In fact, when I walked up to that starting line, I felt born again. I hadn't felt that level of excitement at a race in forever! I felt very relaxed and excited to take on the challenge. The morning of the race, even though I didn't feel like I needed the bathroom, I stood in line just in case. Lucky I did too, because by the time I got up there, I had that old familiar feeling. That, plus the next coupe of aid stations with porta-potties had lines as well. 

All during training, I practiced fueling with trail mix, raisins, protein bars, etc. I had a good feeling for how often and how much I could tolerate. I pretty much knew what worked, and what didn't work with the snacks I had available to me at home. Rather than carbo-load the night before, I started on the Wednesday before the Saturday Marathon. I upped my carbs at every meal over several days rather than the night before. The morning of, I ate nothing. I treated the marathon like I did my long runs. I started in a fasted state. I would have had to have been up at 5 to eat anything and have it digested in time that I wouldn't feel sloshy or full. I never run well with food in me. 

When the gun went off, I stuck to pace - or what felt like my pace - and didn't get caught up in the excitement and go sprinting off like I used to do in 5Ks. My pacing was pretty spot on up until mile 20 and then started to slow down but I had a good idea I would finish in time. 

I took Gatorade and all the water stations. In the later miles, 20 and up, I'd also take a water a couple of times. Starting around mile 1 or 2 I had a half box of raisins I brought with me. I had the other half around mile 3. At mile 6 I started taking gummy bear packets and having those at each station. The aid stations were ever 3 miles or so which was perfect for the timing I'd worked out in training. 

At mile 23.66 (I looked at my Fitbit) I had to walk. My legs just stopped when I came to a hill. I didn't let it get me down. I did what I did in training. Gave myself 50 steps with my right foot, and then I started running again. However, after running again, it wasn't long before I had to walk again. So I just ran-walked the last 2.5 miles give or take and didn't let it get me down. I knew where I was and that I'd finish by the cutoff. 

After the marathon, I walked to the car rather than have my wife come get me, took a really long, really hot shower, and before bed, I massage-rolled my legs with one of those massage rollers that looks like a weird bumpy rolling pin. For dinner that night, I will add that I ate a lot of pasta to replenish my glycogen stores. I honestly believe that helped me a lot with recovery. 

In the days that followed, I walked a little over a mile on Sunday, a mile on Tuesday, and a little over 2 miles on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I was traveling for work but I did get a short 15 minute or so walk in Thursday night. All in all, the day after the marathon, I was able to walk, go up and go down stairs, just like a normal person. 

What went wrong? 

Due to it being a major election year, and a Hurricane, I actually missed over 2 consecutive months of training and had to practically start over. All of October and all of November plus the first week of December was shot! I lost a lot of progress. Sure, I had a few runs in there, but it was not at all what I needed. 

But in all honesty, I can't think of much that I did wrong on race day. I felt like I was really smart. I did get a tight stomach around mile 19. I had way more Gatorade than I was use to and my stomach felt like it had enough. But I was so worried about hitting the wall and needing electrolytes, that I kept drinking. Having never run over 18.21 miles, and therefore not fueling or drinking after mile 15, I was in unchartered territory at miles 19, 23 and 25.5.

What could I have done better?

First off, I would have tried gels during training. They seem so much easier to carry than boxes of raisins. It may have helped my legs feel fresher for the last 2.5 miles and perhaps I could have run farther before having to walk. 

I think I would have ignored traditional advice and gone for a 20 mile long run. Knowing how slow I would be, I think that extra half-hour on my feet, while not helping too much due to diminishing returns physically, would have helped me tremendously mentally. I also wish my 2 non-long runs during training weeks were farther. I typically just did 2-3 miles and went up to 4 or 5 in the last couple of weeks. I think some higher mileage other than my long runs would have served me well. 

I should have run more hills. While I did have long uphill runs in my training, I didn't do hill workouts per se. I knew the course would be hilly. Heck, it's Asheville. But I so focused on the river arts part since there were so many out and backs, that I failed to realize just how many hills there would be in the downtown and Montford areas. 

At mile 23, I saw my wife and daughter and I said "I'm in so much pain". I was feeling rough, but I shouldn't have made that comment. Tired was a much better word. I really believe that speaking that out loud was a sort of incantation that then made me feel worse that I was really feeling at the time. I think that messed me up mentally and took my head out of the game - so to speak - just long enough that I had to stop and walk at mile 23.66 when I saw a long gradual uphill. While I did run-walk from 23.66 to the finish, I think I could have run more had I not let those thoughts in. 

Important Notes and Things I Need to Remember

The week before I signed up, I could barely run 6 miles. My pace for 5.77 miles was 14:59 and had to be able to average 14:53 for 26.2 miles!!! I had roughly 8 months to train, two of which were lost due to work and a hurricane. 

I was struggling with Plantar Fasciitis prior to signing up and the only shoes that helped me were barefoot-style shoes. I trained and ran the marathon in Vibram Five-Finger shoes. All pain-free!

My wife and daughter where there and it was so helpful to see and feel their support. They saw me at mile 12.5, 19, 20, 23, 25.8 and the finish. 

Originally, this was my "one and done" marathon. But if I'm being honest, Sunday night, I was looking at what other marathons were coming up later this year. LOL

I'm sure there's more I'll think of. Things I did right, wrong or wish I'd done. I may come back and edit this, but I'll make a note of it. 

Marathon Training Update: Week of December 22nd

 Crazy week! So unproductive, but also a big surprise going into the Week of December 29th. let me explain. 

I was supposed to do a long run on December 22nd, but did not. I was running around doing last minute Christmas stuff. Weren't we all? 

On Monday, Dec. 23rd, I did do an upper body workout consisting of 3 sets/10 reps each of Shoulder Press, Dumbbell Rows, Arm Curls, Triceps Kickbacks, Front and Side Raises. I did not run.

On Tuesday, I did a lower body workout consisting of 3 sets/10 reps each of Dumbbell Deadlifts, Step Ups, Lunges and Calf Raises. I did not run on Christmas Eve.

On Wednesday, Christmas Day, I didn't do anything but eat and open presents. Never planned to do anything but this. 

On Thursday, I realized what an unproductive week it had been and so I got up, got dressed and went for a run. Well...sort of. I ran walked for 3 miles. I ran a mile out and then had to walk about a quarter of a mile. I then ran again but had to stop another time before running it back in. My time was 41:42 which was a 13:46 pace. This was a faster pace than many of my recent runs despite walking a little. So that was weird, but encouraging. I did not however, do my upper body workout that I had scheduled. 

Friday,. Dec. 27th, I took a break as I was sore from Thursday's run/walk. I did not do my lower body workout as planned. 

Saturday,. Dec. 28th, I hiked 2.5 miles with my wife.

So, as you can see, not a great week, but it was the holidays and I had a small win in there. 

The surprise came on Sunday, Dec. 29th when I decided I was getting back into it and went out for an eight mile run. It turned into 10 because for the first time in a long time, I wasn't feeling any pain. Two weeks prior I ran 10 miles in 2:27:43 and felt pretty good. A little pain that night, but was ok the next day. On the this day however, I ran 10 miles on a very similar course (more up hills toward the end), ran the whole way and ran it in 2:21:23 - a whole 6:20 faster. Go figure. Maybe my body just needed the rest. I can tell you that all during the week of the 22nd, I was really struggling with motivation, so maybe my body was trying to tell me that I was overtraining - despite the very low mileage. I'll also add that all my running routes have been affected by Hurricane Helene. A lot of the greenway is blocked off or inaccessible. A large part of the Arboretum trails are closed. Bent Creek seems to be improving fast so that may be an option soon.

The Marathon as of today, seems almost unachievable. It's hard to imagine running another 16.2 miles, but I guess that's the point, right? To do something that seems so challenging? 

Until next week, Happy Trails. 

Marathon Training Update: Week of December 1st

Here's an update on how training is going. I think I'll do this every Sunday until the Marathon in an effort to keep me going. For some reason, I'm really struggling with motivation. I don't know why. Maybe it's the distance. 26.2 does seem pretty intimidating but this was something I really wanted to try. If I really search my feelings (Jedi trick), I think it's because I missed so much training over the election period when things got so busy. Now, I have no motivation because in a lot of ways, I feel like I'm starting over. 

Anyways, here's what I've done this week. 

Week of December 1st

On Sunday, I did not do a long run. Looking back, I can't even tell you why I didn't run. I just remember thinking, I'll run long on Monday. 

Monday came and I did not run long. In fact, I did not run at all. I did to 3 sets of 10 reps for my upper body workout that I got back to doing. I do Shoulder presses, arm curls, triceps extensions, side raises and front raises. 

Tuesday I again, failed to run. 

On Wednesday, I did 10 push ups but did not run. 

On Thursday, I realized it was just 100 days until the Marathon on March 15th and a little something lit up inside. I ran 4 miles and did my upper body exercise routine. 

On Friday, I did not run, but that was planned. I did however workout my lower body. I did 3 x 10 split squats and glute bridges. 

On Saturday, I planned on running but then ended up Christmas shopping. I figured I'd run later, but we were out all day, and when I did get home and was about to run, my wife reminded me we had a Christmas party to go to that I had completely forgot about. 

The Start of a New Week

Sunday, December 8th - just to give you a preview of next week's edition - I planned to run 8 miles. During the run, I thought, let's go 8.75 which is roughly 1/3 of a Marathon. I ended up having to make a small detour and actually ended up running a little bit extra and finished my run at 8.93 miles in 2:07:38. This was approximately a 14:18 pace which is better than the 14:37 I have to maintain to finish the marathon in the time allotted, which is 6.5 hours. 

The Hominy creek greenway was very clear from the RV park most of the way until just before the parking lot. It turned out, the trail was closed there. They had work crews cutting downed trees and removing debris so I couldn't finish my run by going that way. I had to turn around and head back toward Carrier Park. 

Marathon Training? Not So Much! Thank you Hurricane Helene!!

Last I wrote, things were going good. I had mentioned that the week of September 22nd I started with a 5.37 mile hike and that I was going to do my long run on Monday. I did. I was working out with dumb bells doing curls, triceps, push ups. I was eating a lower carb diet, but feeling totally fine with running. I was doing really well at keeping my carbs to 120 grams or less per day. I was losing weight, getting faster, feeling better, things were GREAT!! But let me tell you, it got crazy after that!

Week of Sept. 22nd

After the 5 plus mile hike on Sunday I went for my long run on Monday. I ran the farthest I've ever run: 14.05 miles in 3:20:52 which is a 14:18 pace. Not as fast as I'd like, but faster than I need to run to make the cutoff of 6.5 hours. I rested Tuesday and Wednesday I was going to run in the morning but work got crazy and I was taking phone calls. I figured that I'd run at night but it poured rain! 

On Thursday, I had to go to a county first thing and it poured ALL Day so I did not run. Friday the rain continued non-stop and late Friday early Saturday, Hurricane Helene arrived in Western North Carolina. We lost power, water, cable, internet, and even cell service. In the afternoon, when the storm left and the sun came out, I walked 3.1 miles to check on my daughter and then walked back home. Why? Gas stations were closed. Numerous roads were closed or impassible by car, etc. but since I couldn't reach anyone by phone, I walked to check on her.  

Week of Sept. 29th. 

On Monday, I walked 4.25 miles to the local County Board of Elections office so I could start assessing damage in my various counties. (Remember, I work for the State Board of Elections). I of course then walked home 4.25 miles. I repeated this again on Tuesday, walking a total of 8.5 miles or more, since I did a bit of side excursions to find food, water, etc. I was able to find gas Wednesday, but I was still walking places after work to find food and water each night for this week.

Week of Oct. 6th. 

I didn't run most of this week. Hard to run and get sweaty and gross and then have no way to shower, not to mention that trails, greenways were still closed. I did finally run on Friday, the 11th for 3.5 miles which felt really good overall but I could tell I hadn't run in awhile. Work was insane this week trying the help get counties back up and running. We did manage to go to a friend's place in Waynesville, NC and stayed there and once again had water and power and such, hence me running again. 

Week of Oct. 13th

On Sunday, I decided to try a semi-long run. I went out for 7 miles and ran it in 1:25:17. That's a 12:11 pace!! I was so happy and excited by my time/pace. The funny thing was that I wasn't even trying to run fast. I was just out exploring Waynesville. Sadly, work was insane and this was the only day I ran this week. 

I was supposed to have a half-marathon on the 13th but it was canceled due to storm damage on the greenway and rescheduled to November 2nd, which I can't do so I canceled my entry. 

Week of Oct. 20th.

Crazy work schedule and I didn't run. Phone calls early in the a.m. starting at 7 or earlier and calls as late as 9 p.m.

I'll save the week of Oct.27th for next time as I haven't run yet today, but plan to run later. I was on-call this morning until noon.