Marathon Training- Update #1

I’m two and a half weeks into the California International Marathon (CIM) training plan that the awesome Coach Gwen worked up.  Being a naive marathon-virgin, I announced I was going to try and qualify for Boston my first time out.  After looking at the training plan, I briefly considered bailing on the entire thing, writing COWARD on my forehead and not washing it off for 4 months.

After a few days of waffling I rallied and decided that since I’d already registered I would train for the marathon until someone or something told me to stop.  So there.

Here’s the first five weeks of the training plan Gwen worked up for me.   (I didn’t do the Medium Long 14 miler on 8/8 because I ran the Eldora 11k(ish) Trail Race that morning.)

In the first week alone my weekly miles doubled.  I went from running 2-4 days a week on a “whenever you get around to it” summer vacation mentality to running steadily 4 days a week for two weeks, and then increasing to 5 days a week after that.  My “long runs” increased from 8 miles to 14 miles within the first week.

Not that I’m whining.  Just sayin’.  The first week and a half my muscles talked a lot about the brutality they were being subjected to.  My hips were especially cranky about the entire thing, until they lived to tell the tale of the August 22 Long Run of 15 miles.  After that they settled down, decided that nothing they could say would make a difference, and stopped complaining.

Gwen and I talked extensively about my goal race pace, and the reality of a training plan.  I want to pull off a 3:30 marathon; she says it’s more realistic to shoot for 3:40 at this point in time.  Given that we’re less than three weeks into a 16-week training plan, this could change once we’ve built up some miles, but she’s building in some wiggle room for me.

I’m finding that I’m consistently below the suggested pace for most of the runs, and that even with the recovery runs I have to make a concerted effort to not run 8:30’s.  Thus, recovery runs are the bane of my existence because they don’t feel natural at all.  Gwen laughed really hard when I told her this and said that in October, I’ll be welcoming the chance to run slower a few times a week.  I log all my miles on Dailymile.com so I can’t really hide from Coach Gwen.  If you’re interested in seeing how things are going, stop by and get the unadulterated poop on my training.

That being said, here is a short list of Things That I Know, in no particular order:

Running slow on a recovery run is tons harder than running long or fast.

Running in heat sucks.

Humidity sucks worse.

Sometimes listening to music makes me scream.

Good shoes are essential.

Bonking is really bad.

Driving seven miles one way takes eons longer than running seven miles on the same road.  I hate driving.

If you don’t take a good poop before running, plan your route so that you can take a bathroom break about 1:10-1:25 (hours) into your long run.  I’m not explaining why.

Holding a water bottle messes up your upper-body rotation in mean, nasty ways.  Carry the thing on your body or don’t bring it at all.

It’s okay to stop sometimes and marvel at how far you can run.

It’s good to ask for foot rubs sometimes AFTER you’ve showered.

Pedicures are vital.

No one wants to hug you when you return from a two hour run.