Yeah, it’s time for a marathon. I strongly considered training for the City of Oaks Marathon last year but got sidetracked when we got sent to Canada for two months over the summer for my job. I don’t anticipate that happening this year and even if I do get sent it should just mean I’ll get to train in cooler weather with a bigger set of hills.
So this year I do the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh. My desires are three fold.
- Complete a marathon. Cat did a sprint triathlon last year and plans to do it again this year. Triathlons could be fun but I’m not fond of swimming.
- Get in shape. When I was doing kung fu and MMA I was at my fighting weight of 195. That’s a good weight for me. I’m 10 pounds over that and wouldn’t mind seeing 190.
- Improve my hockey. Marathon training seems a strange way to improve my hockey playing, but one of my biggest problems is endurance. While hockey is more anaerobic in nature, a good aerobic base can’t but help.
I have about 8 months to train which should be about right given my base. Time to start packing on some miles during the week. Luckily I can pretty easily fit in a run at lunch given my reasonably flexible work schedule so it won’t cut into family time during the week, though once the long runs hit I’ll have to sacrifice a bit on the weekend. I’ll likely wake earlier on Sundays and hit the bricks near sunrise.
I’m nervous. I’ve done several 10k races in my life but it’s been a while and I’ve never done farther. I know I’m capable of it, but a marathon is quite a test. Hopefully it can be the start of something good.
Oh, and training for a marathon is different than training for any other type of race. It won’t help you with hockey.
I would say just run 10ks and half-marathons. If you want to know “you did a marathon” that is fine.
For me, the first race was that. The second one was revenge. The third one was revenge for the second one. Basically, I had a goal of doing a sub-4 (hour) marathon. I had run a 1/2 marathon in 1:34 and figured “double it and add a little.” I ran (well, the first 16 miles…walked the rest) it in 5:30. The next time was to try to do better and hit the 4:00. Did it in 4:20. The next one I did 3:58 and quit.
Not fun. I’ve done 3 marathons…don’t know if I’ll ever do a fourth.
Even if you do a half-marathon, it is no indication of how grueling a marathon is. Basically, you run out of stored glycogen in your liver and hit “the wall.” So, what does that feel like? Well, go find yourself a nice long stretch and run for at least 16 miles. If you still feel like you can run, you haven’t hit it. Once you feel it start coming on, stop. Then, the next weekend, do it again. Do this for four-five weeks before you run the race. That way your body can deal with the stress. Or, you can just go run like 18 miles the first time and hit the wall and know that you don’t have to run another 8.2.