I ran the Boston Marathon a few months ago, and had the most painful marathon experience of my life. The weather was horrible, I had slacked off on my training towards the end, and mentally I just wasn't in the right spot to do well. I had never gotten leg cramps before, and when they hit me around mile 22 I was almost incapacitated. Standing up hurt like hell, and when I squatted down to rest my legs other runners shouted, "Don't do that! You'll freeze up and be stuck like that!" I ended up half-squatting untilt the cramps went away long enough to shuffle towards the finish. It was the most physically excruciating thing I'd ever done. The last 6 miles of the marathon were, in my mind, the last marathon miles I'd ever run. I'd done what I came to do and could call it quits. When I finished, my joy and pride at finishing were matched only by the relief that I was DONE and could just sit on the couch for the rest of my years.
That was April. It's now June and if you asked me what I remember about the Boston Marathon I would tell you that the pain wasn't so bad and it was so worth it and I can't wait to try and qualify at some point and run it again. Why do I do this to myself?
So the training has started, and right now I'm in the "Ramp-Up Phase." This isn't a scientific term, it's just what I'm calling the 9 weeks between now and the official start of my 16 week training program. I'm going to try out this program called the FIRST program. Here's how that works in a nutshell:
The typical marathon program involves 5 or 6 running days a week, with total weekly mileage getting up to around 45 miles at the peak of the program. Some people run less or (alot) more depending on their experience and physique. For me, 45 miles in a week was the absolute most I could tolerate. That would be a 5 mile fartlek on Tuesday, 4 miler on Wednesday, 8 miles on Thursday and Friday, and then a 20 mile Sunday run. That schedule was just killing my legs, I was overtraining and getting sick and burned out, and I had too much other stuff going on in my life to really put in the effort I should have been during my runs.
On a long run, the goal is not to run the distance fast, it's to run it at a consistent pace the entire time. Most programs suggest that you don't run the long runs at your marathon goal pace because it just burns you out, so the purpose of those runs is really to just acclimate your body to moving at a constant speed for hours on end. I was so burned out by all the running that I would try to race through parts of the long run, then take 5 minute water breaks, then jog a little, then run faster, etc... It was a 20 mile fartlek. I was doing it all wrong, and that is why I believe my times have not improved to where I think they should be.
This new program involves on 3 days of running a week, and cross training for 2 days. There's a lot of science to it, and I reccommend buying the book if you really want to learn it:
The basic idea is that running only 3 days a week enables you to run more intensely on those days, and let's you run 3 very specific types of runs that target different areas of improvement. The speed workouts improve your maximal oxygen consumption (How much oxygen your body can utilize.) The 5-10 milers at a fast pace improve lactic threshold (how long you can run fast before your legs burn out.) The long runs improve your aerobic metabolism and train your body to burn fat for energy as well as carbs.
I'm simplifying this a lot, but that's the gist. We'll see how it works. I'm excited.
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