My body gets angry when I try to train for a marathon. (I've attempted it twice) But I registered for the Hartford 1/2 today. So I guess it's official: I'll see you there!
Just out of curiosity, when did you attempt to train for a marathon? In other words, what were your average miles per week and long run before attempting to train? How much were you trying to do, and how far did you get in your plan(s)?
The first was Hartford in 2004. The main problem there was Lyme disease that I picked up around the end of June. I was too tired to put in enough miles. The second was St. Louis in April 2006 (I ran the 1/2 at both of those races). I had a 4 day per week running plan going on. The problem for me is that when I get up into mileage in the mid-teens (14, 15, 16 miles), I can't recover very well. An old injury starts harassing me and when I go out for my next run, I'm in pain. Then I'm forced into more rest days. My body hasn't been able to make it to a 20-miler that would be necessary to be prepared for a marathon.
How hard were you typically running your long runs? I used to have a big problem with my pace in that I'd always go out not as hard as possible but at the fastest pace I thought I could maintain for the run I had planned to do. That was a bad idea as I never fully recovered and the cumulative effect was injury. I started this marathon training with a different approach and have stuck to it. My easy run pace started at between 2 and 3 minutes slower than my previous easy run pace. I'm now able to fully recover, and a byproduct of this has been increased speed (didn't expect this--just starting to learn the benefits of easy effort LONG runs in terms of aerobic base/speed). In my opinion, I've become a much smarter runner by just listening to the experts and sitting back and letting the adaptations take place in only 3 months. Never in a million years would I have thought that I could ever successfully train for a marathon. It's all about pace.
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Just out of curiosity, when did you attempt to train for a marathon? In other words, what were your average miles per week and long run before attempting to train? How much were you trying to do, and how far did you get in your plan(s)?
The first was Hartford in 2004. The main problem there was Lyme disease that I picked up around the end of June. I was too tired to put in enough miles. The second was St. Louis in April 2006 (I ran the 1/2 at both of those races). I had a 4 day per week running plan going on. The problem for me is that when I get up into mileage in the mid-teens (14, 15, 16 miles), I can't recover very well. An old injury starts harassing me and when I go out for my next run, I'm in pain. Then I'm forced into more rest days. My body hasn't been able to make it to a 20-miler that would be necessary to be prepared for a marathon.
How hard were you typically running your long runs? I used to have a big problem with my pace in that I'd always go out not as hard as possible but at the fastest pace I thought I could maintain for the run I had planned to do. That was a bad idea as I never fully recovered and the cumulative effect was injury. I started this marathon training with a different approach and have stuck to it. My easy run pace started at between 2 and 3 minutes slower than my previous easy run pace. I'm now able to fully recover, and a byproduct of this has been increased speed (didn't expect this--just starting to learn the benefits of easy effort LONG runs in terms of aerobic base/speed). In my opinion, I've become a much smarter runner by just listening to the experts and sitting back and letting the adaptations take place in only 3 months. Never in a million years would I have thought that I could ever successfully train for a marathon. It's all about pace.
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