Marathon Thoughts

I know it's been a while since the ING NYC Marathon drew to a close and I should have written about it before now.

The time just didn't seem right.

When the marathon ended I didn't event want to think about running, let alone talk or write about it. (Although I am a twitter follower of many elite runner.)

I needed a break.

Recently I received my marathon finisher's certificate in the mail. I also need to decide if I am going to qualify for the 2013 ING NYC Marathon.

While I am deciding what to do next here are my thoughts . . .

If you have ever wanted to run a marathon than you must run the ING NYC Marathon. It is an experience that will be hard to match. The neighborhoods, crowds of people cheering you on (if you write your name on your shirt), the camaraderie of your fellow runners and a sense of accomplishment like no other.

Knowing that you have done something that most people wouldn't even dare to attempt does give one's self a certain swagger, a certain sense of "I am superhuman."

Of course with everyone running marathons and ultra-marathons and triathlons and the Iron Man, well it does water down one's sense of self importance.

And no matter what anyone will ever say, it is a group effort. I could not have run it without the support and love of my girlfriend Mandy, the support and patience of my manager Cyd and my sister Sue.

All that being said here is what I learned about running and training for my first marathon.

1.) Don't fly across the country a bunch of times the week before the race.

2.) Stay off your feet the day before the race. (Even if you want to hang with your sister at the expo.)

3.) On race day don't pace around the starting village, lay down and put your feet up no matter how nervous you are.

4.) There are two pacers. Follow the correct one. One pacer runs the first half way fast and then slows down, the other keeps a steady pace. I thought my Garmin was broke since I was running 8:15-8:30 miles when I wanted to run 9's. (But hey I was following the 4 hour pacer!) Only when I started slowing down did I see the other pacer who was running how I trained. (Ugh, you live and learn.)

5.) Carbo loading means carbo loading. Don't think you can cheat it. I tried. That's why at mile 18 I realized I had no glycogen left in my muscles. I still plowed through but life would have been a lot easier if I had really increased my carbs that last week.

6.)Work for negative splits on half marathons during your training. It will make you stronger.

7.) Hills. You don't need to run steep, hard, fast hills. For my next marathon I will run a fast 10K then jump on the treadmill and do mile long hill repeats with the incline on 6 or 7. I ran steep, hard hills and lots of stairs. It's not the same. The bridges are long slow inclines. So hill train the way you need to for your race. (Of course I will still do really hard steep hills as well.)

8.) Don't stop lifting until 2-3 weeks before. (It will make a huge difference.)

9.) Foam rolling and yoga are your friends. Make them a part of your daily life in some fashion, even a little bit.

10.) Drop weight. Cut 10-20 pounds during your base or speed phase of marathon training. (It will be easier during that time. That way when you are doing 20 mile runs (and longer) and need more recovery time etc., you don't have to worry about losing weight or keeping it off, all you have to do is maintain. And quite frankly losing the 10-20 pounds (If you have it to lose) will make your body a lot happier after 26.2 miles.

11.) Marathon distance is a b$t&h to train for. It will consume all of your time and you have to be willing to give up a lot of your life. I prefer the half-marathon distance. I can still run long and train hard, but no run has to be longer than 2 hours. It means I still get to keep my Sundays.

12.) Taper. No really taper. Taper smart. Did I mention you should take tapering seriously?

Until next time true believers.

When the miles cease to matter.

My mileage has been adding up. Two weeks ago I hit just over 46 miles in a week. Last week I only did 36 miles as I felt it was a good idea to de-load since I was feeling the fatigue from the week before. (Actually if you count my hike on Sunday I did just over 40 miles last week. )

Something happened to me due to that 46 mile week. Another mile became simply another mile. I noticed the shift on Saturday when I had a 4 mile race in the morning. In an effort to get more mileage in I came home and ran another 6.5 miles. I just did it. It was easy. It was just more miles.

A year ago when I ran four half marathons and nine other races I never would have felt that way. Due to my heavy mileage everything has become relative. My average run is now 9-10 miles. This weekend I have a long run of 18 miles as a tune up in Central Park. It's just 18 miles. What I care about now is how fast I finish it. How I run it. The miles no longer matter but the quality of the run does.

The biggest worry I have as of late is trying to squeeze in these runs with my work schedule. My travel season for my job is starting to get rolling and the anxiety is building. It's a lot easier to run 20 miles at home rather than on the road in a strange city where all you are doing is hotel and plane hopping. Red eyes where you land at 6 AM are terrible for running.

But there's nothing I can do to change any of that. The first Sunday in November will be upon me and I will have to put my head down, tackle the bridges and maintain my pace. I can't go back redo all of my training . It will either be there or it won't.

9 Weeks out - 7 till my taper.

I'm nine weeks away from the ING NYC Marathon.
Well, actually it's more like 8, but I'm coming into the end of my 9th week.
This is also going to be my first over 40 mile week.
For a lot of runners that's not a lot of mileage, but for me it is a milestone. I'm also making a huge jump in my mileage. (I'm passing 40 by A LOT.) I have another long run scheduled for Sunday AM (which is also the 9/11 anniversary). I'm anticipating route changes since 6-7 miles of my run happen in Liberty State Park and I expect most of it to be closed off due to the events that will be taking place.
Hopefully I will be able to get out and about early before things get crazy. But I am determined to get in at least 16 miles on Sunday.
For the next 5-6 weeks before I start my taper it's only going to get tougher and pile on from here.

Looking to do my last big long run October 16-18th. Then I will be on the road for work. What's lovely is that I will be traveling to the Pacific Northwest! I will have the amazing opportunity to run out there during the beginning of my taper. New scenery and unknown routes - how exciting! I will be spending a couple of days in Portland, so I hope to find a running group or two to head out with while I'm there.

With the marathon looming I've had to really focus. Jiu Jitsu sadly has taken a back seat to running. But that's the way it has to be. There's no way I could consistently train both and recover enough to do well at running.
Post marathon I'm looking forward to putting running on the back burner for a few months. Of being able to take all of the energy, focus and drive that's been my running and put it into Jiu Jitsu.

I've also been consumed on the writing front.
Adapting my teen/supernatural pilot into a YA novel series. (Which has been A LOT of work.)
I'm also hard at work on a web series that I'm in pre-production on. Slowly putting those bits together piece by piece and I'm hoping to have an episode or two up and running this Fall.
I write so much original material that I am finally working on spec scripts. I'm grinding away on a CASTLE spec and on a COUGAR TOWN spec.

If only I didn't have to have a "day job" and could only write, run and train jiu jitsu with the odd acting job thrown in for fun!

Believe or not but RUNNER'S WORLD has been really helpful in the training plan department. I've been adopting workouts that, I feel, have been making a big difference.

This week I did a 3 X 2, 20 seconds faster than MRP with a 1/4 mile recovery between repeats.
Next week will be 2 X 4, 20 seconds faster than MRP. Then 3 X 3 capping out at a 5 x 2.

My remaining races are: Mind/Body/Spirit Games (Sept. 17th), 5th Avenue Mile (Sept. 24th), 18 Miler Marathon Tune Up (Sept. 25th), Staten Island 1/2 Marathon (October 9th).

I'm also doing something new. Starting this week I'm doing Alternating Long Runs. Where one week I will do a long, slow, steady run longer than two hours and the next week I will do a Fast Finish long run. With the later, I begin the run 1-2 minutes per mile slower than race pace. Half way to three quarters through I hit my MRP. Then I finish the last segment FASTER than race pace. I'm hoping that 2-3 of these before the marathon will ensure a solid sub four hour finish time.
I got this idea from mcmillanrunning.com. It' s a great site and I recommend it to everyone.

Until next time true believers!