If you commit yourself to a training schedule and you learn how to fuel and pace yourself properly for the distance, the marathon becomes a mental race.
As I reflect back on it now, I truly believe that I qualified for the 2016 Boston Marathon because of 4 key strategies which came together for me on race day.
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| My December Workout Schedule |
After reading the book Mastering the Marathon by Don Fink, I decided having a calendar and workout schedule would be extremely important and helpful. In the book, the author outlines 3 key workouts that must be incorporated into a 16 week training plan; long run day, marathon pacing day and speed intervals.
Unfortunately, I didn't discover the book until I was 8 weeks away from my marathon so I missed the first 8 weeks of his 16 week program. The only option I had (if I wanted to follow his training plan) was to use the last 8 weeks of his program.
I downloaded an online calendar and filled in a weekly plan that included time, distance and pace. Having everything clearly written down made life so much easier. I never had to waste time looking through the book trying to figure out which workout I should be doing on any given day. So, take a couple of hours out of your day and put together a realistic workout plan for yourself...on paper!
A FUELING STRATEGY THAT WORKS FOR YOU:
In the 3 years since I've been running, I had never put much thought or emphasis on a fueling strategy. Truth be told, I didn't have any fueling strategy. That changed last summer when I entered into the sport of triathlon.
Suddenly, I was hanging out with people who completed Ironman distance races and heard their war stories of how a fueling strategy made or destroyed their race. I decided it was time I learn something about fueling during an endurance sport.
A good fueling strategy MUST be good for YOU personally! I cannot emphasize this enough! For me, fueling isn't a one-size-fits-all option and having Crohn's disease makes it a bit more challenging for me.
Once I was able to run 16 mile practice runs, this was when I began incorporating a fueling strategy into the plan. I discovered that while I didn't mind the taste of sports beans, I was having a hard time chewing them as I ran (not to mention that I would constantly drop beans along the way). I wasn't crazy about the texture of sports gels either, and both beans and gels made me extremely thirsty for water.
Eventually I settled on salted caramel flavored GU. It took a few tries for me to be able to consume a packet quickly but once I was used to it, I was good to go. I suggest you try various fueling products and find the ones that work for you personally. Again, one size does not fit all.
I also tried various strategies for fueling until I found one that worked for me. I consumed a packet of GU 30 minutes before the race, then another GU 45 minutes into the race, followed by water. Every 30 minutes thereafter I consumed a packet of GU followed by water. In between the packets of GU, I would drink a sports drink (PowerAde was provided on the Louisiana Marathon course). The combination of GU always followed by water and a sports drink in between, worked perfectly for me during the race.
PACE YOURSELF PROPERLY FOR THE BEST RESULTS:
I cannot stress the importance of learning how to pace! Going into the marathon my goal was to average 8:45 per mile during the marathon. I determined my marathon pace by using my most recent half marathon pace of 8:01 per mile. I decided that if I could run 8:01 per mile for a half marathon, than an 8:45-8:50 per mile pace should be reasonable and doable for a marathon.
I based all of my training runs on an 8:45 per mile pace. Long slow run days were done at 60 to 90 seconds slower than this pace (9:45-10:15 per mile). Speed intervals were based on the fastest pace that I could hold which was usually 6:50 to 7:20 per mile.
But I still had one question; how should I pace myself on race day? Should I start at race pace or should I run slower than my race pace? Should I try "banking" a few seconds during the first 6 miles? No one could give me a straight answer on this.
I turned to a triathlete friend and asked him for a pacing strategy that made sense. Since I had never ran a marathon for pace, he wasn't sure what I was capable of. He gave me a simple plan that worked! Run the first 15 miles at or 5 seconds slower than my race pace (this meant that I was supposed to run 8:45 to 8:50 per mile for the first 15 miles). At mile 15 I was to mentally assess how I felt. IF I felt good and I believed I had enough energy to pick up the pace, I was to pick up the pace at mile 15 and hold as long as I could (hopefully to the finish line).
This was EXACTLY what I did and I was one of very few people who ran the second half of the marathon faster than the first half. But why was this strategy so important? After much thought I discovered why this worked:
By waiting until mile 15 to pick up the pace, my body was better able to determine a pace that it was realistically capable of. You see when run a marathon, the first 13.1 miles feels easy because you are now used to running a distance that is much longer than 13.1 miles (hopefully you've done several 16 and 20 mile practice runs). By mile 15 however, the body has become fatigued and it now has a better sense or idea of what it can and cannot do. You may think it's a risky strategy, but its a lot less risky than using up all of your energy in the first half of the marathon. If you wait until mile 15 to run at a faster pace, you still have 11.2 miles to make up for "lost time". And that's a decent amount of distance to cover. So mile 15 was where my race really began.
NOTE: My goal going into the Louisiana Marathon was to average 8:45 per mile. I ended up averaging 8:41 per mile and exceeded my goal. And I didn't feel as though I was dying during the race either.
PREPARE YOUR BRAIN AND LEARN TO SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP!
As silly as this may sound, I put a lot of work and emphasis on preparing myself mentally for this race.
There were practice runs where I purposely didn't fuel properly because I wanted to see how I would handle running while feeling fatigued and out of energy. I took spin classes with tough instructors who knew my goal and purposely tortured me all little extra during class. They would test me to see if I could mentally push myself through their abuse and I thank each and every one of them for the flogging they gave me. All free of charge mind you! They made my workouts a bit more difficult and would yell at me to "pick up the pace" or "stay true to myself". One would say "you have 2 more minutes on this hill. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to quit or are you going to push harder and give more"? They taught me how to mentally "zone out" the pain and focus on the goal.
During the marathon I didn't have too many pain issues to contend with. I don't know if it was because I was physically prepared, mentally prepared or a bit of both. When pain crept up during mile 15, I was able to forget it very quickly. When my foot and calves started to cramp at mile 22, I was able to stop the cramp before it ever took hold. When I wanted to stop and walk at mile 23, I put that thought out of my head immediately and focused on breathing and coming across the finish line strong. I told myself "it's only a 5k. You've run plenty of 5k's. You know what to do and you know if you stop your muscles are going to stiffen up. Are you ready to give up on qualify for Boston during the last 5k of this marathon"??? I talked to myself and focused on the finish line and my goal.Where you are mentally at any time during the race is of absolute importance. Enjoy the journey, enjoy your surroundings, enjoy what you are capable of doing. Talk to yourself in a positive way. Envision yourself coming through the finish line strong and confident. Know that all of your training has helped you get to this very moment. When the doubt demons come...and they will...SLAM the door on them immediately! Tom told me "whatever bad may happen, don't let it into your head". And that's what you have to do. Don't let anything negative get into your head! Negativity is a very powerful creature.
It really takes a lot of focus to run 26.2 miles non-stop. But if you train yourself physically, if you learn how to pace and fuel properly, and if you learn how to block out the doubt demons, you CAN do it! I know you can! I know you will!
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