On Sunday March 6th, I ran my first marathon, the Marathon of Treasure Coast ! My time was 4:07:05 , 38th overall! Was it tough? Do you even have to ask?!
I had no serious injuries this year. Oh I had my fair share of muscle strains & sprains but no fractures. I also did some prehab/rehab body work. Basically foam rolling as well as mobility work. Outside of running I also worked on strengthening my body, with extra focus on lower body ( calves, glutes) and core. This meant heavy weighted squats & dead lifts a couple of times a week along with daily body weight 1 legged squats . I also did a little bit of plyometrics/explosive work once or twice a week.
Of course there was lots of running. In the fall, my longest race was a 10 k so most of my training runs weren't longer than 9 - 12 miles. But around December I made my long runs longer. By January I had run a 17 mile long run. On the Saturday before the race I did a 20 mile run. This is an example of specific training for a specific event. I was averaging 40 - 45 + miles plus per week after January.
Obviously there were several things I should have done to lower my pace. On many of those long runs, I started running interval style. At first 1:00 fast, maybe 80 % - 85 % intensity, then 2:00 easy. Eventually I worked towards 1:00 fast, 1:00 easy over my long runs, including the 20 miler! I won't lie, the "fast " 1:00 wasn't always that fast, at least after 15 miles! However, I should have started running this style much sooner. And while this was a marathon, I definitely should have done more short & medium distance speed work/intervals such as 12 - 20 x quarter mile repeats or 1 mile x 4 or 6 repeats. Based on previous races, not just 5 K's but 10 K's and even my best half marathons ( 2009 & 2010 ) I honestly believe such training at least twice or more a week can make a difference. I also should have ran twice a day , at least twice a week. Usually a medium - long distance run in the morning & these short , fast intervals in the evening.
One thing that helped was hill runs. Even though people think Florida is flat we went over bridges 4 times! There were also quite a few steep hills in Jensen Beach! I trained on the St. Lucie West bridge, usually doing up/down intervals , about .14 miles each way as well as the Roosevelt bridge, which is a mile each way. I did these work outs at least once a week, sometimes twice
I also focused on form, correct cadence, correct landing of the foot. Such things are important to avoid injury and can help with speed. To a lesser extent maybe if I had run a longer warm up I would have been able to start with a good pace ( my first mile was around 11:00!). Each mile however became better, averaging around 9:15 - 9:30 per mile. I'm proud to say I didn't stop once. I only took water at mile 22 maybe & Gatorade at mile 24 maybe, and I spilled 90 %! Maybe I should have taken those earlier. Something to consider next time.
One other factor that held me back was lack of hip flexor mobility. Clearly this is why I have to foam roll more and do more mobility work. Remember, running fast is achieved through fast stride rate/ cadence & stride length. And stride length doesn't mean reaching your legs out but rather the angle between your forward knee and hip crease.
There are many people I want to thank. On the web some good sites include naturalrunningcenter.com, therunexperience.com & stewsmith.com. Locally , in terms of actual running advice a big shout out to PT Bob Haviland & Dr. Kurt Barnhill. Their experience & advice in marathons really helped. In terms of body work & the importance of structure & postural alignment as well as mobility work, over the years the following people have really helped. I'd like to thank LMT Ari Globerman, MasterCharlie Chen, Dr. Aihan Kuhn & LMT Michael DiCampli. You folks have also been able to help me literally get back on my feet again!
Hopefully you found this post informative. I hope you can learn and apply from my experience, whatever your activity may be,but especially endurance/tactical athletes. Meanwhile, back to training for me and on to the next challenge.
Here are a couple more pictures of me on the Sewalls Point bridge I think. This was our first of four trips over these bridges! I know for sure under mile 10 ! And here are picture of my run at the finish line and here. Thank god! By the way, the reason for the difference between my official time and the time at the finish line is because we left in different groups based on our race numbers. No complaints. Thanks again to everybody for their encouragement and advice. And I hope this post shows you what's possible with smart, progressive training.
