Out RunningJourney to the Marine Corps Marathon
I have heard that most first time marathon runners train for a marathon over the course of a year. This generally allows for about 6 months of building your base and helping your body to adjust to the pounding it will take in the training and the marathon itself.
I took the long way to get there.
My training started in October of 2009 when one of my older sisters came to me and said that she and my younger sister (I have 4 sisters all together, no wonder…) were planning on running the Marine Corps Marathon in October 2010, just over a year away. As a primer we would run the Monument Ave 10k in Richmond near my house in April 2010.
Our “real” training would not start until July 2010.
Needless to say, I got injured (ITBS) in August and even with trips to the physical therapist (2-3 per week) over the following month, stretching and strength training, I could not run more than about 6 miles without severe pain. If you haven’t had ITBS before, you cannot “run through” the pain. Needless to say, I wasn’t able to run that year. I did manage to meet my 2 sisters at mile 22 with my father and run the last 4 miles with them.
Fast forward to January of 2011, I had taken 2 months off from running all together and had only done some strength training and foam rolling. I thought it was time to get back out on the road and this time I felt a whole lot stronger. I ran two races in the spring, the ASK 5k which supports the cinic where my 6 year old gets his chemo treatments and the Monument Ave 10k. It was my second year for both races and I felt strong in both.
Starting in May, I really began to push my mileage. I was going to be using a training plan called The Non-Runners Marathon Training Guide but wanted to log more miles in my training than were actually called for in the plan. Both of my sisters had used this plan to train for their first marathons and had good things to say. My only issue was that the people with whom I spoke said that you needed to run at least 1 run of 20+ miles in your plan. My goal became to run at least 1 mile further in the mid-week runs and 2-3 miles further on the long runs.
I think this approach would have been successful. The hiccup came when I ordered new shoes about 6 weeks before the marathon. I had been having some unusual pain in my hip after runs. It would only last for about 20-30 minutes but it was a sharp pain that really felt like the inside of my right hip joint, near the groin area. I was fine for the entire run but within 5 minutes of finishing this sharp pain would come on. If I was sitting and went to move, well, let’s just say that I couldn’t. I went to the ortho and, of course, they could not find anything. He said it could be a pinched nerve or something along those lines, he was happy to set me up with an MRI but I passed.
Back to the training, I decided that part of the problem might be my shoes so I purchased a new pair. Like an idiot, I switched shoes in the middle of my training for a few runs. For future reference, do NOT switch shoes if you have been wearing the same ones for months without breaking them in slowly. I immediately got knee pain that stuck with me throughout the rest of my training.
The plan called for a 7 runs of 14 miles and longer, the last 10 week’s long runs were 14, 14, 14, 16, 16, 18, 18, 12, 8, marathon. However, because of my hip issues and knee pain my final 10 weeks went: 15, 16, 14, 16, 12, 18, 0, 12, 8, marathon. I was scared to death when the day of the marathon came. As with most, if not all, first timers, I was questioning my training. More so because I had selected a minimalist plan and had not been able to do the long runs that it had called for.
The race report will be coming soon. 