Marathon Training Thread

[Omaha 680]

Sorry, dude. Hope it gets better. Will this be your first marathon?

Yeah my first. And it was likely going to be my last as I didnt really catch the bug. It was satisfying completing a very long run but I really hated it at the same time. Mainly I just wanted to run a marathon once. I could see myself doing half marathons fairly regularly though.

But I also wanted to complete the marathon actually running. Walking long stretches and hobbling across the finish line with a six hour time doesnt really appeal to me. I'd rather try again another time. But given my age and knee issues that have popped up on these long runs I'm not sure that is an option.

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[Omaha 680]

The second paragraph in my post above was prophetic. The two weeks off from running didnt alleviate the IT band issues. My left knee flared up 5 miles in and by the half it was nearly unbearable. I pushed until about mile 18 at which point I had to walk the rest (and could barely do that). I speed walked to catch my brother who was experiencing the same issue on the opposite knee. We forced ourselves to jog the last mile. Probably not smart but we put in too much work to not run at the end.

I am wrecked today. Both knees and my right ankle (I assume from hobbling after I could barely bend my left knee). I do feel a lot better compared to last night so I expect I will recover quickly. The question is will I be able to run another race. I said this would be my only marathon but it was so unsatisfying. To be limited by my body breaking down instead of my fitness level was one of the most frustrating things I have ever experienced. The overall experience was great. Going from barely being able to run 2 miles last November to feeling confident I could do a 4 hour marathon and trying to push through the injuries was something I'm proud of. I would just like a better payoff at the end of all the effort.

I'm going to take 6-8 weeks off running (I'll swim for cardio the first few weeks and then introduce biking) and then see how I feel about making a comeback.

[Bo Diddley]

The second paragraph in my post above was prophetic. The two weeks off from running didnt alleviate the IT band issues. My left knee flared up 5 miles in and by the half it was nearly unbearable. I pushed until about mile 18 at which point I had to walk the rest (and could barely do that). I speed walked to catch my brother who was experiencing the same issue on the opposite knee. We forced ourselves to jog the last mile. Probably not smart but we put in too much work to not run at the end.

I am wrecked today. Both knees and my right ankle (I assume from hobbling after I could barely bend my left knee). I do feel a lot better compared to last night so I expect I will recover quickly. The question is will I be able to run another race. I said this would be my only marathon but it was so unsatisfying. To be limited by my body breaking down instead of my fitness level was one of the most frustrating things I have ever experienced. The overall experience was great. Going from barely being able to run 2 miles last November to feeling confident I could do a 4 hour marathon and trying to push through the injuries was something I'm proud of. I would just like a better payoff at the end of all the effort.

I'm going to take 6-8 weeks off running (I'll swim for cardio the first few weeks and then introduce biking) and then see how I feel about making a comeback.

I had IT Band release surgery at each knee with good results. I haven't run a marathon, but I do think there's reason for you to be optimistic.

[Moliere]

I biked 28 miles on Saturday with some pretty significant hills. I felt great during and immediately after. All day yesterday my knee was killing me and it hasn't really stopped. The pain is now on the inside instead of the outside where it hurt when running. That has to be something different than the IT band, right?

I'm done with any kind of training at this point. I will just ice and rest and see what happens. 6 days until the race. I have serious doubts I will be able to finish. I am pretty disappointed.

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Sorry man. Hope you get to finish the race.

I doubt an IT band would hurt on the inside. Mine never did. But it wouldn't surprise me if the cycling caused pain because maybe you haven't done it much lately? One of the toughest days for my running was waking up on the day of my marathon and spending the entire morning digitally following my friend as he ran the race without me.

[Omaha 680]

Sorry man. Hope you get to finish the race.

I doubt an IT band would hurt on the inside. Mine never did. But it wouldn't surprise me if the cycling caused pain because maybe you haven't done it much lately? One of the toughest days for my running was waking up on the day of my marathon and spending the entire morning digitally following my friend as he ran the race without me.

I finished and am proud of that. But frustrated that I couldn't perform anywhere near what I feel like my fitness level is.

[BigPiney]

I finished and am proud of that. But frustrated that I couldn't perform anywhere near what I feel like my fitness level is.

Well done!

My first marathon was St. George. During training a bone spot in my foot flair up making the last three weeks nearly impossible. I ended up gutting through the marathon and running at least 30 minutes slower than I had hoped. Had surgery a month later.

Just finishing is an accomplishment.

[BrutusBuckeye]

I ran my first half marathon on Saturday with my daughter (11) and son (13). My wife and I wanted them to do something active over the summer so we signed them up for the event (and a training team for kids) and gave them some incentive to do it. In May, at the start of the program I thought there was no possible way these kids would be able to finish even a 5k. However, as time went on, they steadily improved and in early August they both did a 10k event in just under an hour.

We continued to do some longer runs and my son seemed to always be faster than my daughter, but they were pretty close overall. It was interesting to see how my son was much stronger in the beginning, but my daughter was much stronger in the end. It made running with them a little tricky.

Before the race I was predicting that my son would be faster, but not by much. On race day, they both ran near each other for the first 10 miles or so when my son bonked and slowed way down. My daughter was running very strong and completed the course in 1:55. My son came in at 2:11. It was great just to see them finish, especially since it seemed like such a rough start to the training. They both had a massive change in attitude toward running, which I'm grateful for, and are already eyeing other events.

[Moliere]

That's awesome Brutus and 1:55 is a great time, especially for that age. I've never gone under 1:57 and I bet I trained much more than them. It always depresses me a bit when I'm running and some little 12 year old comes flying past me without seeming to be breathing hard and sometimes even holding a conversation with their running group. As I get older, I wish I had distance runner lungs/muscles instead of fast twitch sprinter muscle.

[BrutusBuckeye]

That's awesome Brutus and 1:55 is a great time, especially for that age. I've never gone under 1:57 and I bet I trained much more than them. It always depresses me a bit when I'm running and some little 12 year old comes flying past me without seeming to be breathing hard and sometimes even holding a conversation with their running group. As I get older, I wish I had distance runner lungs/muscles instead of fast twitch sprinter muscle.

You should run the Big Cottonwood Canyon event. It's a very fast course and I'm sure you could get a new PR.

[Joe Public]

Way to encourage physical activity and form memories. Thanks for sharing.

[falafel]

That's awesome Brutus and 1:55 is a great time, especially for that age. I've never gone under 1:57 and I bet I trained much more than them. It always depresses me a bit when I'm running and some little 12 year old comes flying past me without seeming to be breathing hard and sometimes even holding a conversation with their running group. As I get older, I wish I had distance runner lungs/muscles instead of fast twitch sprinter muscle.

I wish I had runner legs and lungs instead of all these classically handsome good looks.

[Joe Public]

Kipchoge ran a sub-two-hour marathon. Unofficial, but still incredible.

[Eddie]

Kipchoge ran a sub-two-hour marathon. Unofficial, but still incredible.

Unofficial because he had pacers, not because he didn't actually do it.

4 minute 33 second miles for 26 miles. That's incredible. Dude is a machine.

[creekster]

Do the pacers just give him a speed goal or is there some draft effect?

[Eddie]

Do the pacers just give him a speed goal or is there some draft effect?

No draft effect. They are just rabbits that make sure he hits the right pace to make the goal.

Apparently they also had a vehicle driving the course that somehow projected a laser line on the road in front of him that showed him where he needed to be in order to make the goal. It just won't count as an official world record, I guess.

Which is interesting, because didn't Bannister break the 4 minute mile by also using pacers?

I'm guessing this means he'll be known as the first guy to run a sub 2 hour marathon, but it just won't go into the record books until he does it during an actual sanctioned race.