Marathon Mania (6 Days Late!)
Sorry for the lateness of this, but I was on the central coast of California, drinking more than a little wine, celebrating 7 years of wedded bliss with my hubby. But I did not want to ignore this one, as I am quite excited and somewhat fearful of my marathon plans for the fall.
TIART - Is Marathon!
A few months ago, I realized that the Nike Women's Marathon was in San Francisco, a place I adore, and the schwag is a Tiffany designed necklace given to finishers by firemen dressed in tuxedoes. What is not to like about such an event? With its proximity to Napa and wine tasting, I knew my hubby would be up for it. (sense a theme here?)
I discovered that it is a highly desirable event, so random selection entered. I had spoken with my friend Gretchen and she was going to register as well. Our mistake was not registering as a team. If we had registered as a team, we both would have been selected or we both would have been rejected. Unfortunately, one of us made it and the other did not.
Then it hit me. I live in Tulsa, OK. The date of the marathon is Oct. 19. That means my long runs are in July and August. In hot, humid, heavy air. Not a recipe for success. So I started digging around for some training plans and attempting to psyche myself up for it. I was not going to drop out of this race before I even started to train for it. That is too defeatist.
So I landed on the Hal Higdon plans, counted backward and realized I had 30 weeks to prepare. I have been working on the 12 week spring training plan to give myself a strong base with regular weekend runs of 8-10 miles going into the 18 week intermediate training plan, it is his Personal Best training plan. I am not good with strictly adhering to a plan, but I am doing most of this, plus a few more workouts.
I am on week 7 and doing well. I like having a plan and I like that this one is reasonable for me.
But I still have the long runs on July / August before me. I recently met up with the science teacher at my son's school. She mentioned that she saw I had run a good race a few weeks' ago and we started talking about running. We each had our 2nd babies within a month of each other, we are nearly the same age, and our paces are close. She offered - OFFERED! - to run my long runs with me. I cannot say how much I appreciate the offer and have already followed up with her to let her know that (1) I appreciate it and (2) I want the help.
I do not typically train with another person. Running is a solitary activity for me. It's my escape. It is the one time during the day that nobody requires anything of me, except myself. But running for over two hours? I need encouragement. Particularly this year.
You see, this will be my 6th marathon. My last one was Napa Valley in 2007. I was the most prepared for that one than I had ever been before, but I totally bonked during the race. Why? I think it is because I ate sushi for dinner the day before. I was still breastfeeding, so was pumping milk like mad. During the training, I was as thin as I had been in many many years. I think when it came time to deliver on race day, I had no reserves.
Another problem is this ongoing issue with my right foot. After running nearly 2 hours, my right foot falls asleep. I have been wondering if the plantar fasciitis had anything to do with that. If PF has been showing its nasty head for a long time and I simply ignored it. Oh, and new clothes I had bought the day before at the runner's expo. I was battling an empty tummy, a numb foot, new clothes that did not chafe, but were not comfortable, and simply wanted to finish. And that's exactly what I did. I simply finished. Not a bad thing, but not what I expected going into it. I had expectations. I had even set them with three different levels, depending on how well I felt that day. Let's just say I fell far below the lowest level.
So what am I going to do differently? I have inserts now that make my feet happy. I will be buying new shoes (at least 2 pair) this weekend. I will ensure I am adequately fueled the day before. But I know there is more. I know something will slip through the cracks and I will have to have a strong will.
In my humble opinion, the long run is not just to train the body for enduring the distance and the pounding, but it is to train the mind to handle 3+ hours of introspection. So to do this, I happily accept anyone who wants to help me through that.
No new clothes on race day. I can do that one.
Fueling during the race? I have never tried the gu or anything else. I am usually a water girl, maybe part of a banana midway, but I have never trained with fueling during a race or a long run. Perhaps I need to start adding that into my plans. Where to begin?
TIART - Is Marathon!
A few months ago, I realized that the Nike Women's Marathon was in San Francisco, a place I adore, and the schwag is a Tiffany designed necklace given to finishers by firemen dressed in tuxedoes. What is not to like about such an event? With its proximity to Napa and wine tasting, I knew my hubby would be up for it. (sense a theme here?)
I discovered that it is a highly desirable event, so random selection entered. I had spoken with my friend Gretchen and she was going to register as well. Our mistake was not registering as a team. If we had registered as a team, we both would have been selected or we both would have been rejected. Unfortunately, one of us made it and the other did not.
Then it hit me. I live in Tulsa, OK. The date of the marathon is Oct. 19. That means my long runs are in July and August. In hot, humid, heavy air. Not a recipe for success. So I started digging around for some training plans and attempting to psyche myself up for it. I was not going to drop out of this race before I even started to train for it. That is too defeatist.
So I landed on the Hal Higdon plans, counted backward and realized I had 30 weeks to prepare. I have been working on the 12 week spring training plan to give myself a strong base with regular weekend runs of 8-10 miles going into the 18 week intermediate training plan, it is his Personal Best training plan. I am not good with strictly adhering to a plan, but I am doing most of this, plus a few more workouts.
I am on week 7 and doing well. I like having a plan and I like that this one is reasonable for me.
But I still have the long runs on July / August before me. I recently met up with the science teacher at my son's school. She mentioned that she saw I had run a good race a few weeks' ago and we started talking about running. We each had our 2nd babies within a month of each other, we are nearly the same age, and our paces are close. She offered - OFFERED! - to run my long runs with me. I cannot say how much I appreciate the offer and have already followed up with her to let her know that (1) I appreciate it and (2) I want the help.
I do not typically train with another person. Running is a solitary activity for me. It's my escape. It is the one time during the day that nobody requires anything of me, except myself. But running for over two hours? I need encouragement. Particularly this year.
You see, this will be my 6th marathon. My last one was Napa Valley in 2007. I was the most prepared for that one than I had ever been before, but I totally bonked during the race. Why? I think it is because I ate sushi for dinner the day before. I was still breastfeeding, so was pumping milk like mad. During the training, I was as thin as I had been in many many years. I think when it came time to deliver on race day, I had no reserves.
Another problem is this ongoing issue with my right foot. After running nearly 2 hours, my right foot falls asleep. I have been wondering if the plantar fasciitis had anything to do with that. If PF has been showing its nasty head for a long time and I simply ignored it. Oh, and new clothes I had bought the day before at the runner's expo. I was battling an empty tummy, a numb foot, new clothes that did not chafe, but were not comfortable, and simply wanted to finish. And that's exactly what I did. I simply finished. Not a bad thing, but not what I expected going into it. I had expectations. I had even set them with three different levels, depending on how well I felt that day. Let's just say I fell far below the lowest level.
So what am I going to do differently? I have inserts now that make my feet happy. I will be buying new shoes (at least 2 pair) this weekend. I will ensure I am adequately fueled the day before. But I know there is more. I know something will slip through the cracks and I will have to have a strong will.
In my humble opinion, the long run is not just to train the body for enduring the distance and the pounding, but it is to train the mind to handle 3+ hours of introspection. So to do this, I happily accept anyone who wants to help me through that.
No new clothes on race day. I can do that one.
Fueling during the race? I have never tried the gu or anything else. I am usually a water girl, maybe part of a banana midway, but I have never trained with fueling during a race or a long run. Perhaps I need to start adding that into my plans. Where to begin?
Labels: running, take it and run Thursdays, wine
7 Comments:
I never thought I'd ponder doing any athletic endeavor that required eating in the middle but lately I've discovered Jelly Belly Sports Beans and they work well for me, just enough carbs to give me the kick I need to finish, easy to eat, taste decent and you don't have to drown yourself in water to wash them down. I bought a case--want me to send you a pack?
I came on to suggest trying Hammer Products. Dh loves them, and they are all natural, and in many cases less sugar than most of their competitors. They are also incredibly easy to eat and carry.
Nuun is a great electrolyte replacement drink. It tastes great, is all natural and sugar-free!
But, the jelly belly sports beans, those I must try!!
MM & Shelly - thanks, I am taking notes! At Napa last year, the Jelly Belly beans were in our bag, but I did not want to try them during the race since I had not trained with them. My tummy / GI system gets wonky when I run. And then Nathan found them, naturally thought they were candy, and took off with them.
GU works! I can't believe you've runn so many marathons and never tried it!
I prefer vanilla or chocolate. It's like frosting. Though, some people are grossed out by eating frosting. Me, not so much.
PowerGel isn't quite as sweet, I find their vanilla a bit more yogurt-like.
Always take with water. Don't take too many, either, they can upset your stomach, especially if there's nothing else in there. (I wanted to hug the guy with the bowl of teddy grahams during my marathon! They saved me at around mile 22.)
Hmm, it looks like you already have stomach trouble without the GU. Well, that might explain not having tried them yet!
At least you have plenty of time to practice.
I so admire the will it takes to train for and complete a marathon. And, in answer to your question about what could be wrong with the San Francisco marathon? The only thing I can think of is that it involves running 26.2 miles. :) The firemen and Tiffany bling, though? Excellent.
I think you should strongly consider fueling on long runs (and the race, of course).
When training for the first (and only to date) marathon, I purchased several different types and flavors, and tried them on my long runs. It didn't take long to figure out which ones were tolerated better - and tasted better for that fact.
Disclaimer - I've never done a full marathon, just 3 1/2s, so I'm not in your league. However, I have used power gel and I would really recommend trying it numerous times on long runs before the actual race. I found that w/all the carbs my blood sugar spiked several times during the race and I finally crashed. It was not pretty. I was longing to crawl onto the sidewalk & just take a nap. So now I am also looking for the perfect during-race fuel, preferably something w/some protein too I think...I have stomach issues as well.
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