Nobody tells you marathon training sucks!

by Kim | Sep 1, 2015 | Training

 Seriously!!! If you are like me and are a member of multiple running groups on facebook then you see the weekly medal Monday posts celebrating the success of marathon (and other distances) finishes, and sometimes by the same individuals over and over again, and it just becomes contagious.  But no one tells you all the hard work and sacrifice that goes into marathon training, and especially the beating that it puts on your body.  I mean no one in their right mind (well at least not me) would run a half marathon every weekend for 8 or more weeks.  This is basically what marathon training is; and most time running way more than a half marathon weekly.  When you think about it it really is lunacy!

Hey Deb & Tania!

I had a pretty crappy last 2 long runs.  So crappy to the point that I was contemplating quitting training this week.  I started out Sundays run making a rookie mistake.  I put my heart rate (HR) monitor underneath my sports bra.  Mind you I have never ever put my HR monitor under my sports bra so I have no idea why I decided to do it this morning.  A mile into my run I felt so fatigued and my breathing was labored  and I had no idea why since this has never happened to me.  I kept pressing on, but my 2 it was worse, and when I finally got to mile 3 I just stopped and thought what the heck is going on.  I lower the HR monitor to where I usually wear it and voila instant gratification.  That belabored first 3 miles started my run off on the wrong foot and it just went totally downhill from there.  I somehow made it to mile 7 with a few walk breaks, but the back 7 were awful.  I basically walked the whole thing because my knee started throbbing.  So what started off as a dumb mistake turned into a physical ailment that I did not want to make worse.  On top of that the bottom of my feet were killing me.  This often happens when I’m on my feet for long periods of time.  Once I got back to my car I stretched, then got inside and ate my protein bar and stared off into space wondering why I was putting myself through this!

Even my Garmin knew my run was terrible because it recommend a recovery time of 4 days!! Now that was a first.  Well 2 days later I decided to test out my knee, and I felt great!  No pain at all.  It was a 5k so a longer distance is definitely needed, but I was just happy to run pain free.  Thanks to my buddy Deb who told me 1 week ago that I need my running accoutrements, I finally invested in some leg compression sleeves, and I have to say I think they work; as I’m sitting here typing and still wearing them! So this weekend I’ll live to run another long run, and hopefully it goes better than the last 2 and snaps me out of this funk that I am in.

The moral of this story is marathon training is super hard work.  Yes in the end reaching that goal of finishing 26.2 miles and that bonus medal you receive crossing the finish-line are worth it, but it takes a lot of guts and mental fortitude to get there.

RUNon!

~Kim