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Reflections from my first marathon

Going from being a 5km runner to getting sub 3:30 in the marathon. Here are some things I wish I knew beforehand.

By Noah DouglasPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
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Reflections from my first marathon
Photo by Pietro Rampazzo on Unsplash

I’m a person with an obsessive personality. You’ll find me constantly wanting to have something to work towards. With lockdown being an obstacle to the plans I had, I wanted to put my mind productively towards a goal. Being interested in running and having one or two friends mention they wanted to do a marathon, I decided ‘why not?’ It couldn’t be that hard.” I was dead wrong. It was a whirlwind of emotions and easily one of the hardest things I’ve done. Here are some things I wish I knew beforehand.

Things to think about in your training block:

Prioritize looking after your body

Because marathon training is so long, the biggest challenge is actually to stay uninjured for the whole time. I gave myself 16 weeks to train; however, I fell ill with Covid so was out for two weeks, in addition to an ankle injury.

Despite this, I looked into ways to look after my body away from the actual running. Stuff like stretching, using resistance bands, and foam rolling. I only wish I implemented this earlier as I believed this would’ve made a huge difference and potentially prevented the ankle injury. Don’t be reactive in looking after your body.

I do recognize it is boring, but just a 5–10 minute routine can really help out. Additionally, on days when you are resting, light strength and conditioning really helps. A simple Youtube video and using objects around your house is perfect. You’ll find you won’t get those niggles nearly as much. In a marathon training block, you can’t really afford an injury, trust me you’ll thank me when you get that killer time.

Do more distance than you think

Being primarily a middle-distance runner I was accustomed to regular running but running for two+ hours was definitely new. Despite acknowledging that I was going to have to build my distance, I implemented it late. Most of my weeks were around 40km and the biggest week I did was around 80km.

Despite this number sounding intimidating for the time I wanted, I probably should have been doing more. As a result, I definitely found the later stages of the race really hard. The longer distance training sessions allow you to practice all-important nutrition and hydration. You also get time to sort other things like music, kit, shoes and all that, so come race day it’s second nature.

My personal recommendations to any runner are that you need at least 1 longer run each week as well as lots of other sessions to get a decent amount of time on your feet. From person to person your weekly average will be different depending on what finish time your want and the time you have available. But as a rule of thumb there usually is a strong correlation between more distance covered in a week and quicker marathon times. I personally wish I was also averaging around 80km and topping off closer to around 100km at my peak. However, please make sure you taper, allow your body to rest for goodness sake.

Join some running groups/ tell other people about your race

Like me, you may get worried about what other people think about when you tell them about races. Good. That’s how you should feel, it makes it real, it brings accountability.

I was part of a few running group chats and lots of my family and friends knew that I was doing the race. This forced me on those rainy days to get out there and run. Of course, I could’ve stayed inside but when all my fellow runners had asked how my week of running had been or seen on Strava I’d done nothing I’d be embarrassed.

Similarly amid the agony of the training or even the race itself, I would think about those people. I thought about making myself, my friends, and my family proud. It was a great motivator.

By lucas Favre on Unsplash

Things to think about on Raceday:

Don’t try anything new

Amid all this training I was trying this diet called the Keto diet. For those who don’t know this essentially means no carbohydrates. However, being the silly person I am I decided to carb load the night before the race with an XXL Papa Johns Pizza contrary to the diet I had been doing for a while. Massive carb-loading definitely works for some, however, for me being so far removed from carbohydrates for a while I was thrown a bit. As nutrition is such a big thing and very variable from person to person always try stuff beforehand and see what works for you.

Similar can be said with all your gels, clothes, and hydration. Do what you have normally done. Don’t run in new shoes for the first time, don’t have gels if you’ve never had them before, and don’t run with a hydration vest if you’ve never done it before.

Raceday you want to be as relaxed as possible and just enjoy the occasion. You achieved a massive feat completing all the hard training so enjoy the time.

Don’t go off too quick

I’m sure all of you have heard this one before but I mean it. Your first 30 minutes of a race can make or break you. If anything it is more of a mental game. If you go out at a comfortable pace you believe you have a lot more to give and therefore have a lot more confidence. But if you are huffing and puffing 5km in, somethings wrong.

I personally believe in running at the pace you want for your goal time then negative splitting it at the end if you have more energy left. This allows you to not worry about having to sprint and makeup time nor being burnt out at the start.

Personally, my rule of thumb, especially for long runs, is to break up the race into sections. So for the marathon, I split it into basically four 10km races and at each, I would analyze my pace and either go faster or slow down. I found when I did the race it mentally made it more doable.

Understand that pain is necessary

If you go in before the race knowing that pain is coming your way you won’t be surprised by it. Everyone bigged up the notorious ‘wall’ feeling you inevitably hit. Although I went through a lot of emotions I don’t think I ever hit a wall. I think this was due to me bigging up the pain beforehand and preparing. As a result, I mentally felt a lot stronger.

I also understood that all of this is temporary. Cheesy I know. But like I said in the previous section, break it into sections. Focus on what you’ve done and when you’ve passed the half marathon point know that you have the strength and ability to do the rest.

There is often this phrase thrown about in running groups called, ‘going into the hurt locker. It’s the idea that you recognize the pain, embrace it and come out victorious. I like to come up with little motivational thoughts and memories, focus on the crowds and remember my family and friends. It will differ from person to person- but work out your strategy to survive the hurt locker.

By Chander R on Unsplash

Ultimately when running make sure you enjoy it at the end of the day. I can give you all the tips in the world but if you're not having fun what is the point. My first marathon went really well. I got 3:28:28 which I was so happy with. I loved the crowds, I maybe would’ve probably done nutrition a bit different and trained a bit more but there is always “what if”. As runners, we have to be proud of ourselves and what we have achieved- and as races are coming back, you’ll always be able to get that new PB next time.

I hope you found my reflections helpful, if you have any ones please feel free to comment on them below. Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best with all your training and future races!

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About the Creator

Noah Douglas

Perpetually curious.

Journeyman of faith†

Runner, writer, marketer.

Some of my other work ↓

www.noahdouglas.net

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