It started back in May. I had just recently completed the SoCal Ragnar Relay (a 200 mile relay race consisting of teams of 12 running non-stop from Los Angeles to San Diego). A friend on my Ragnar team was going to apply for the St. George marathon lottery. I figured I might as well put in for the lottery, and if I got in I could train for that. Running a marathon was never previously a goal. But after the Ragnar I realized it was within reach.
I was selected in the lottery, so I began searching out training plans. I was resting from running at the time so that I could heal from my tendinitis that was bothering my left foot. It was cutting it close, but I could prepare just barely in time with a 16 week training schedule.
The first few runs were very short, slow, and not very comfortable. I started with less than 10 miles/week, slowly building mileage at a slow 10% increase per week. My tendinitis was hassling me, so I was careful to ice it constantly. During the beginning of the program I went on travel, and went on a 2 1/2 week family vacation, followed by another business trip. So my first month of training was somewhere different practically every day. It was frustrating, but I did it.
By the time August rolled around, I was starting to get long runs over 10 miles. I probably jumped mileage too fast about here, because my long run went from 10 miles to 14 miles in a week. The 14 mile run was downhill from Wagon Wheel to Ridgecrest, and I ran it fast. The following week I ran 16 miles for my long run. Then a few days later - I got injured.
I was running downhill from the college for a shorter run, and my knee was hurting. I kept thinking that if I just kept running, it will work itself out and I'll be fine. Eventually the pain got so bad that I stopped and walked about a mile home in knee pain. I was devastated! I figured something bad happened and my marathon might not happen. Ironically, when I uploaded my GPS data from that run, Garmin notified me that I had set a PR (Personal Record) that morning for a 5K! I had beat my last 5K PR by over a minute! No wonder I was in pain! But I was still devastated with the injury not knowing how long it would take to recover and if I could still run the marathon.
I got checked out by a trusted running friend who confirmed that it was my IT band. Her advise was that I could continue running if I could withstand the pain. I did a lot of my own research and started using a foam roller to stretch out the IT band. I took nearly a week off of running, then started to run again. It was painful, but got better every week. After the long runs, I was in excruciating pain for about a day, but that would quickly subside. Oddly enough, I realized it was getting better even though I was running more and more. I also realized that my tendinitis was no longer bothering me either. I had completely forgotten about the tendinitis!
My post-run routines altered to consist of rolling out the IT band, stretches focusing on the gluts and IT band, and lots of core-strength exercises.
During the training, I also found that I was always hungry. It became annoying. I would eat & eat, but I would have what I call a "carb crash" - just like sugar crash even though I wasn't eating much sugar. I felt awful all the time. After some research, I decided maybe I needed more whole grains. Rachel made some whole wheat bread for me - and that made a world of a difference!!! I started to feel normal again and have energy throughout the day. I was never "full", but I was now at least satisfied and feeling fine. So I continued to focus on eating whole grains for the rest of the training.
Eventually I arrived at the longest run of my training: 20 miles. I dropped my car off in the desert and ran home. I felt great! I had heard about this mysterious "wall" that runners hit around 20 miles, so I ran another 1.5 miles to see if I would hit this "wall". Never happened. This last long run was a huge boost in my confidence. This was the moment I was 100% positive I could run this marathon.
During my long runs, I trained to refuel. I found I could never eat anything more than a banana within several hours of a run or I would be miserable from indigestion. I eventually settled on eating a PowerBar Gel about every 30-40 minutes during the run and I would be fine. I also would finish off the last 30 minutes of long runs by sucking on PowerBar Gel blasts (like fruit snacks with electrolytes). It tried all sorts of brands and types, but I found that PowerBar was just right for me.
At one point near the last 3 weeks of the training, a friend in Ridgecrest who was also training for the St. George marathon had to drop out. It turns out she has developed some major spine issues, so that was crazy to find out. I felt really bad. I kind of knew how she felt; I had felt so devastated myself the day my IT band went haywire and I believed I may have to drop out. And this was way bigger than my stupid IT band tightness issues.
About 5 weeks before the marathon I decided to participate in a BYU study about visualization. I filled out some surveys and then listened to an audio recording at least 3 times per week until the marathon. The audio helped me relax and visualize me running the marathon - but it included things like "you pass the next mile marker and you think - wow, this is easy! All your training is coming back to you and you glide along the road to your destination..." So whenever I was running, I often found myself saying some of those phrases to myself - especially this one: "this is easy!".
The last three weeks of training I tapered off. Tapering off is extremely annoying! I felt like I wasn't pushing myself or getting any good workouts. I had strange, localized muscle soreness that would randomly appear, then go away after a day or two, only to show up somewhere else. I also focused on drinking more and more water and continuing to eat lots of protein and carbs. I also started to get obsessed about getting sick. It felt like everyone around me was getting sick. Even a nasty stomach bug was going around and everyone at work was getting a stomach bug or getting a nasty cold. Alas, I never did get sick.
I also monitored my weight during the training. I didn't keep a diary or anything, but I would check it periodically. I found that my base weight was about 148-150 lbs. That is usually what I weigh first thing in the morning before I do anything, including go for a run. After a long run and before refueling, it drops about 5-7 lbs. After a short run, it only drops maybe 2 lbs at most. At the end of the day before going to bed, I'm usually up to around 155 lbs. Those numbers remained fairly constant all 16 weeks of my training until the tapering period, where my base weight seemed to move up about 3-5 lbs.
The day before the marathon, we drove to St. George. I picked up my bib and shirt, and attended some seminars regarding the marathon. I listened to Bart Yasso (a famous runner and an editor at Runner's World magazine) give a seminar, and attended a first-time marathon running clinic. Bart Yasso gave an extremely interesting presentation about his running experiences, but the first-time clinic was worthless. It also turns out that Bart Yasso competed in the Badwater Ultramarathon with my boss back in the 80's when it went all the way to the summit of Mt. Whitney (my boss actually held the record back then).
We also ate at the all-you-can-eat pasta dinner. I chose it because I figured it would be fairly bland and safe last meal the night before the marathon. And it lived up to my expectations. Rachel wasn't too thrilled; it was like paying a premium price for a low-end meal for the whole family. Maybe next time we'll do something different.
That evening when we headed back to the hotel, I felt achy all over like I was getting sick. I also felt cold all over. So I bundled up and that helped. Rachel reminded me that apparently this happens all the time to people just before running a marathon - you feel really sick the night before, but you aren't really sick. She was right - it was just the pre-race jitters. I also hardly slept that night I was so nervous.
So, what sticks out to me as important from my race training and preparations:
- Don't add too much mileage too fast
- Do more core strength training
- Eat more whole grains (and take out more processed carbs) to feel better
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