Forums >Look What I Can Do!>Injury free training and marathon!
It's maybe not quite as splendid an accomplishment as some, but finally finished a marathon! I've given it about 4 tries over the past 5 years, and 100% of the time I would come down with an injury in training that would absolutely stop me cold. Plantar fasc...(ok I don't even want to say it unless it hears me and comes back), off and on (mostly on) tendonitis in both ankles, etc.
Then, finally a good year, thank you 2011! In January I ran my first half, in the fall I did my first 200 mile relay (!!), and finally just two weeks ago the http://ncrtrailmarathon.com/ came around. With goals of finish/come in under the 6 hour cut off/finish in under 5/4:40/4:30/and so on...I didn't look at a watch, train or run for time, and still came in around 4:28. The run was easy, I hit no walls, had delicious gu, and met great people. All without getting seriously injured for once, and also while ditching the training plans and just "going for a run" each day.
I'm happy it finally happened, I've been aiming at it for years.
But what next? Another for time? A 50k? A 50 miler? Only time will tell! Now though, now I get to rest for a couple weeks.
~J
Queen of 3rd Place
Congratulations and way to keep at it! I admire your perserverance. What did you do differently this time around other than not worry about time?
Oh, and that's some runner's high you were having if you can use the words "delicious" and "gu" next to each other.
Ex runner
The run was easy, I hit no walls, had delicious gu, and met great people. All without getting seriously injured for once, and also while ditching the training plans and just "going for a run" each day. I'm happy it finally happened, I've been aiming at it for years.
Glad your perseverance has paid off. It sounds like you had a great time.
Hoping 2012 will be another happy and healthy running year for you (and me too).
What did you do differently this time around other than not worry about time? Oh, and that's some runner's high you were having if you can use the words "delicious" and "gu" next to each other.
What did you do differently this time around other than not worry about time?
I haven't really worried about time, for the most part, since college. Previously, I'd always gone and found a training plan that seemed to fit with my expectations for what I wanted to do, how much speed work I wanted to do, etc. I would then try and execute it to the best of my ability. Somewhere along the way things would go wrong.
I don't know that it was so much a matter of specifically looking to do something different, so much as I just ran and decided I would run far, and then eventually I got to the point where I didn't really have any excuses not to. I over-trained a little for my half in a "I just want to finish it" sense, since I was doing like 17 mile runs before the half ever came along. I suffered in the heat during the summer, and was doing doubles and hitting around 40-50 miles a week for a bit when "training" for my relay. Then I just sort of kept running. I hadn't signed up for a race, hadn't really done more than say "I think it'd be nice to do a marathon in the fall or winter or spring" and then just decided to keep running through the fall. One day I did a 20 mile long run and figured I should stop procrastinating and just do the first one that seemed feasible at that point. Until the relay in the fall I was paying close attention to mileage, actually logging runs here on RA, etc. Then I just took the "I think I'll go for a run, this is how much time I feel like being outside on my feet today" mentality for the next few months.
Also, gu can certainly be delicious. I happen to enjoy some of the Cliff brand of gels. During my race I also had chocolate agave one where those were the only two ingredients so...that was actually pretty tasty. I wouldn't ever have it again while running because it was so incredibly thick, but it was really good tasting.
That's awesome...Yay for bodies that cooperate with our goals!
I don't half-ass anything
"I have several close friends who have run marathons, a word that is actually derived from two Swahili words: mara, which means 'to die a horrible death' and thon, which means 'for a stupid T-shirt.' Look it up." - Celia Rivenbark, You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning