My victory lap over obesity

[Pheidippides]

Ladies and Gents, I've been inspired by a lot of people here in my weight loss over the past few months - by both those struggling with me, and those who are in fantastic shape.

So I blame all of you for the fact that I have decided that I am going to run a marathon. SHW blames all of you too, because I've convinced her to do it with me.

We have decided that we are going to run in the SLC marathon one year from now. We picked that one because this is sort of a big deal, and our respective families could come/help with child care/give us gel packs, etc. Also, because it gives me a sufficient amount of time to finish building my base and to properly train.

Which brings me to my question: do any of you have base building/marathon training programs (for beginners, mind you) that you are fond of? I am in the middle of building my base (with a program I found on the interwebs, so its usefulness is somewhat suspect), but SHW had a baby not four months ago so she's starting from scratch again.

[FMCoug]

Mrs. FM has set a goal to run the half next year. I may join her depending on how much weight I lose and how much time I have left to start training. I can't even run right now due to the pounding on my knees and feet.

I'm sure others will answer better, but check out mapmyfitness.com. It's a family of sites (maypmyrun, mapmyride, etc.). Besides the ability to create routes and track workouts, etc. they have training plans available.

[TripletDaddy]

what a cool idea.

The LA Marathon is on a Monday. I think it would be a cool goal to do next year with MMM. This year's marathon is next month, so clearly not enough time to train properly for us.

I would likely wind up walking a bunch because no way my knee holds up that entire time. However, given that the LA Marathon takes you through Crenshaw, Leimert Park, and other areas of South Central, perhaps adrenaline will kick in and carry me to victory....

Good luck and let us know your training routines. I have a lot to learn.

[bluegoose]

Excellent goal niku. And it seems very realistic, as you should have plenty of time to get ready and feel good about your training.

My wife (and TDB, I believe) really likes the Hal Higdon program.

I really like the Furman Institute program, mainly because I only make time for 3 runs a week and like to do plenty of cross-training, which this program encourages.

Others that I know (including Solon) like the Jeff Galloway program. Its a run-walk program dseigned to get you to the finish line and feel fairly well, and hopefully avoid injuries.

[Coach McGuirk]

I love Hal Higdon's stuff. I use his training for my half marathons. I had a goal of running a marathon. Then I did a half and decided that was far enough. Good luck!!

http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00index.htm

[Pheidippides]

what a cool idea.

The LA Marathon is on a Monday. I think it would be a cool goal to do next year with MMM. This year's marathon is next month, so clearly not enough time to train properly for us.

I would likely wind up walking a bunch because no way my knee holds up that entire time. However, given that the LA Marathon takes you through Crenshaw, Leimert Park, and other areas of South Central, perhaps adrenaline will kick in and carry me to victory....

Good luck and let us know your training routines. I have a lot to learn.

The training routine I am using right now is here:

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_mile.html

It has me building a running base before starting the marathon training. That makes intuitive sense to me. I'm on week 3 (although the shorter runs are a bit easy for me, so I'm adding a bit of distance). The idea is that you don't kill yourself - you push yourself but end up feeling like you have another mile left in the tank on the long runs. That's how I was Saturday, but for the Nipples of Doom (which still are sore AND have tiny mini almost-scabs on them now). Holy crap, I don't know how women do that breastfeeding thing.

[cowboy]

The training routine I am using right now is here:

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_mile.html

It has me building a running base before starting the marathon training. That makes intuitive sense to me. I'm on week 3 (although the shorter runs are a bit easy for me, so I'm adding a bit of distance). The idea is that you don't kill yourself - you push yourself but end up feeling like you have another mile left in the tank on the long runs. That's how I was Saturday, but for the Nipples of Doom (which still are sore AND have tiny mini almost-scabs on them now). Holy crap, I don't know how women do that breastfeeding thing.

That's awesome, nikuman. A couple of suggestions:

1. I concur with the Hal Higdon suggestion. His novice training program is easy, not too time-consuming, and fully adequate to prepare you for the race.

2. Buy the book "4 months to a 4-hour marathon." Great read with great suggestions.

3. Building a base is easy if you give yourself enough time. Start with 3 miles, 3 times a week. After a few weeks of that, throw in a fourth run at three miles and increase it about a half mile per week until your fourth run is a distance of around 6-8 miles. This will be the beginning of your long run. Run it at a pace that is 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower than your target marathon pace.

Good luck.

[Pheidippides]

Run it at a pace that is 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower than your target marathon pace.

Good luck.

Question on this. I've seen this consistently preached, so I take it as a pretty standard deal. Why is that? Wouldn't you want to train at marathon (or even a bit faster than marathon) pace?

[RobinFinderson]

Faith just ran an 18-miler yesterday in prep for the LA marathon. It was her longest run to date, and she did great. Barring illness, Faith will be running the LA marathon next month. I'm really proud of her, but I wasn't going to start a 'brag about Faith' thread, so pardon the insertion of plaudits here.

[cowboy]

Question on this. I've seen this consistently preached, so I take it as a pretty standard deal. Why is that? Wouldn't you want to train at marathon (or even a bit faster than marathon) pace?

Training at marathon pace during your long run isn't necessary. The purpose of the long run is to get your joints in shape for the pounding, and to get your heart used to pumping at high rates. But running 15 miles at a 160 HR does just as much good as running 15 miles at a 175 HR. Training at 175 just increases your chance of injury.

I know it's hard to believe, but trust the experts. I didn't, and ended up injured. My brother trained for his first marathon with a goal of sub-4, or a 9 minute pace. He never once trained at a 9 minute pace and finished the race right on track at 3:56.

[Pheidippides]

Training at marathon pace during your long run isn't necessary. The purpose of the long run is to get your joints in shape for the pounding, and to get your heart used to pumping at high rates. But running 15 miles at a 160 HR does just as much good as running 15 miles at a 175 HR. Training at 175 just increases your chance of injury.

I know it's hard to believe, but trust the experts. I didn't, and ended up injured. My brother trained for his first marathon with a goal of sub-4, or a 9 minute pace. He never once trained at a 9 minute pace and finished the race right on track at 3:56.

That's good to know.

Upon further review, I think I may actually run the Houston Marathon instead of the SLC Marathon. While I realize that Houston is run in January (and hence four months earlier), that still leaves me a solid eight months of training. Also, my family is apparently (if the phone call I got today is to be believed) hellbent on moving to Houston by the end of the year. Since I'll be training down in Houston anyway (and I well remember the effects of running at altitude from my HS days (I used to train at 7500 feet in the summer)) it makes sense.

It's almost exactly one year from the day I started my diet, which is nice for coming full circle. I'll have to think about it.

[beelzebabette]

That's good to know.

Upon further review, I think I may actually run the Houston Marathon instead of the SLC Marathon. While I realize that Houston is run in January (and hence four months earlier), that still leaves me a solid eight months of training. Also, my family is apparently (if the phone call I got today is to be believed) hellbent on moving to Houston by the end of the year. Since I'll be training down in Houston anyway (and I well remember the effects of running at altitude from my HS days (I used to train at 7500 feet in the summer)) it makes sense.

It's almost exactly one year from the day I started my diet, which is nice for coming full circle. I'll have to think about it.

FWIW, I think it's a great idea. The closer your training conditions are to the race conditions, the better prepared you'll feel mentally (which, for me, was the bigger obstacle with my first).

[Teenage Dirtbag]

Nice! You'll never forget your first marathon, it's a great experience.

I've heard great things about Houston. Ryan Hall set the American 1/2 marathon record there. I would love to run it someday.

You are smart just working on building your base for a few more months. You can pick up marathon training about 16 weeks beforehand. As far as your paces, cowboy is right. You don't want to run marathon race pace during your long runs, with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 miles at the end every couple of weeks. The purpose of the long run is to get you used to being on your feet and moving for that long. If you want to do some speedwork during the week, you could, but I would limit it to once a week at most. You have to give your legs time to recover, and if you're always running fast, they never get the chance. You will end up injured. It's the biggest mistake that newcomers make. The long run is the most crucial run. You have to do them.

In my opinion, Hal Higdon has the best free training programs around. He has a book called Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. It's very informative and helpful. You can also sign up for his message board and he frequently answers people's questions.
http://www.halhigdon.com
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/halforumslogin.asp

[TripletDaddy]

These are the times when I wish we had someone here like RunnerCoug. That guy knew what he was talking about....

[Pheidippides]

Nice! You'll never forget your first marathon, it's a great experience.

I've heard great things about Houston. Ryan Hall set the American 1/2 marathon record there. I would love to run it someday.

You are smart just working on building your base for a few more months. You can pick up marathon training about 16 weeks beforehand. As far as your paces, cowboy is right. You don't want to run marathon race pace during your long runs, with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 miles at the end every couple of weeks. The purpose of the long run is to get you used to being on your feet and moving for that long. If you want to do some speedwork during the week, you could, but I would limit it to once a week at most. You have to give your legs time to recover, and if you're always running fast, they never get the chance. You will end up injured. It's the biggest mistake that newcomers make. The long run is the most crucial run. You have to do them.

In my opinion, Hal Higdon has the best free training programs around. He has a book called Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. It's very informative and helpful. You can also sign up for his message board and he frequently answers people's questions.
http://www.halhigdon.com
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/halforumslogin.asp

I guess Hal Higdon it is.

The nicest thing about the Houston Marathon (other than the fact that mile 25 goes right past my office building, and I can see 90% of it from my office window) is that it's super flat. And at sea level. Plus I don't have to worry about travel.