Training — Reflections on a marathon experience

Coach Joe English

“This past weekend I ran my first competitive marathon in more than two years and it brought back many memories and sensations that I thought would be good to share with you. Over the past two years, I have in fact run a number of marathons, but bringing back the competitive element has helped me put myself back in your shoes — to the extent that it added back in the pressure and nerves that haven’t been there for awhile.

So, here are a few of the things that I remember feeling that I wanted to share with you:

— Tapering is tough — I say it a lot, but that taper period (the part of the season when we wind down our training and recover for the race) is still mentally the toughest part of the season. I had the same sensation that so many of you will talk to me about: you will feel like you have “forgotten how to run”. I recall thinking to myself that I had just run 22 miles 3 weeks before the race and that I had raced 17 1/2 miles two weeks before the race, but I still wondered if it would “come back to me”. Of course it does. The training is there and this is part of the recovery process, but even for a person that has been racing marathons for 20 years I still had this sensation. You will too when we get to the end of the season.

— Ugh, it’s 3:30AM and I’m not asleep — I talk a lot about the fact that it is hard to sleep the night before a big marathon. You know what, this just never goes away. The truth is that the mind is running fly patterns getting ready for your big event and its the equivalent of having the lights and TV on while you’re trying to rest. The research all shows that this is a good thing, because it means that your brain is preparing you for your event.

— The pace in the second half really does feel harder than the first half — we’ve already talked about pacing and I’ve mentioned that even pacing is the way to go. I’ll once again stress that running the same pace in the first half does not FEEL the same as running the same pace in the second half. As someone told me this weekend, “even pacing does not mean even effort.” The second half is actually substantially harder, which is why it is so important to understand your pace. The further off you are in the first half (meaning going out too fast) the harder your going to fall in the second half.

— Keep your goals realistic and don’t be so hard on yourselves — People are constantly hanging their heads to me saying things like “I would have like to run 1 minute faster” or “that guy passed me in the last mile”. Unless you are trying to qualify for the Olympics then this is just pressure that you’re putting on yourself. The fact is that you are actually IN the race, you’re out doing it, you’re going to finish. These are huge milestones — and we need to keep our view of the world realistic. I wrote more about this in a commentary today here.

— Have fun — no matter how much pressure we put on ourselves when we marathon, we need to make sure that we still have fun. I realize that many of you are running or walking in someone’s honor, but this still is an amazing journey and you deserve to look around and get some joy out of the spectacle around you. Enjoy the ride, because it is a really cool ride you’re on.

I’m sure there is much more to say, but I will end by saying keep it up. The training is the tough part of the journey. The marathon is the icing on the cake.

Coach Joe English, Portland Oregon, USA
Running Advice and News
www.running-advice.com

No related posts.