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The Marathon’s Gifts

This week’s Marathons+Moderation guest post comes from someone who I’ve had the pleasure of not only meeting in person but also following online for ages! I absolutely loved following Tina as she trained for her first marathon and overcame injuries. Her daily prose inspire many, whether they read her blog or follow her personal training plans. If there is one thing that sums up Tina it’s her perspective on life and experience. Just take this line from her marathon recap:

“It took 4 hours, 42 minute, and 55 seconds out of my life. In exchange for the experience of a lifetime.”

Hope you enjoy this guest post as much as I did!

About two weeks before my first marathon, my husband came home one day proclaiming “I realized that I drive about 24 miles to work. It hit me that you will be running farther than that. I don’t know how you do it!” I have friends who introduce me as a “crazy runner”. When my love of running comes up in discussion and I mention an upcoming race it almost never fails that I hear the question of “But WHY would you want to run for 13/26 miles?!” And with each and every one of those remarks I get a smile on my face and a little swell in my heart. I won’t deny that I can be a little crazy…but endurance running sure doesn’t make me crazy. I feel like I would be crazy not to run.

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I started running not even 2 short years ago, after the end of my second pregnancy. I’ve always loved fitness and have been working out for a decade. I even took that passion to become a NASM certified personal trainer. Strength training is my first love, but running is my true love. Running and training for races reminds me a lot of a passionate relationship. It has its highs. It has its lows. It can break your heart or leave you soaring in a euphoric natural high. Through it all, though, the desire never fades…it likely only grows stronger.

This past spring I trained for my first full marathon. I won’t lie and tell you it was a road full of rainbows and butterflies with unicorns offering up ice cold purified water with Nuun every few miles along the way. Not even close. I incurred my first running related injury during that training. I have a post on my blog about dealing with a running injury and training how works for you, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

That marathon may have taken away some sanity, time, energy, and maybe even a little dignity in the “I should have known better” sense. It gave so much more.

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It gave me time. I know I just said it took time, but it also gave me *ME* time. As a mom of two toddlers running my own personal training business and blogging, I fully looked forward to my Saturday morning runs where I could have time to myself.

It gave me friends. I got involved with a local running group during my training. Having other friends who enjoy the sport and won’t be introducing you as the “crazy runner” added so much to my life.

It gave me appreciation for my body. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder and a lot of self-image issues in the past, seeing that my body could achieve what I previously thought impossible turned my self-image around. I no longer care so much about what my body looks like. I just want to run.

It gave me knowledge. I have learned so much about my body and better ways to fuel myself, heal myself, respect myself, and balance myself through running. I learned and overcame weaknesses I wouldn’t have known I had without running.

It gave me joy. Immeasurable joy. If I can be in as much pain as I was in this picture and still be smiling that big, you know I felt pure joy. Only a few moments in my life compared to that moment, coming to the finish line of my first marathon. I can’t wait to experience it again….I even just registered for the New Orleans Rock N Roll Full!

If you have had a goal to do a marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, whatever, because you fear what it may cost you…don’t. I’m here to say that it will add so much more than it would ever cause you to sacrifice. Go for it. You don’t have much to lose, but a world of positives to gain.

headshot_thumbTina Reale is a NASM certified personal trainer and owner of the personal training site and blog Best Body Fitness. Tina offers affordable online personal training programs and her Best Body Bootcamp virtual boot camp (now registering!). Tina also shares workouts and fitness motivation through her blog. Tina completed her first marathon – the Cleveland Marathon – in May 2012 and looks forward to continuing her quest for a healthy, balanced life as she raises her two small children. Look for her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram as well.

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Running A Marathon with Little Motivation

Today’s Marathons+Moderation guest post comes from the lovely Mary from Food & Fun on the Run! Mary and I met during Healthy Living Summit as she has become one of Meghann’s triathlon buddies in Tampa and is all around amazing! A Lululemon Ambassador, Mary is about to become a 7 time marathoner! While she ran track and cross country in college, her love for running has only evolved from there. I hope you all enjoy this post as much as I do and hop over to her blog to give her a big hello and good luck in Chicago!

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Hey guys! I am someone that thrives off of having a plan in place – whether it comes to my job, vacations, and of course running! Signing up for a marathon, and knowing exactly what I will be doing to workout for the next 18 weeks is very exhilarating. I plan my weekends around the long runs, and if a vacation or out of town trip presents itself, I am immediately looking at a MapMyRun route to see where I can tackle the miles in a new city.

But what happens when you get into the core of marathon training and your plan has a bit of a snag in it? I am little bit more than a week away from running the Chicago Marathon. Normally, my training plan is littered with tempo runs, track workouts, and pace runs, but it you look at my Workout Log, my completed workouts do not reflect that – at all. I have had no speed training for more than about 10 weeks due to a hamstring injury. Don’t worry, I’m not being a dummy and running through an injury that is going to sideline me for months and months. My injury is getting no worse at its current state. With increased stretching, icing, and massage, it is actually improving, just not enough for speedy improvements. What does this mean for me? I will not be reaching my 3:30 goal for Chicago – I will be running it to take it all in – my 3rd race in my quest to complete all 5 World Marathon Majors!

Without a time goal, my usual super pumped marathon training attitude has been a bit more lack-luster this time around. Here are 5 tips when your training motivation just isn’t there, whether it is due to a nagging injury, summer training (hello Florida runners!), or even scheduling too many back to back races.

1. Be Flexible

The thing that helped me the most was just letting go of the goal I had set, and truly coming to terms with it. I am very determined to run a 3:30 marathon. I know I can do it. October just will not be the time that I achieve it. At first, I was not ok with that. I tried to suck it up and just run through the pain. That thought ended quickly, and I realized that it is just one race – big deal that I will not PR. There will be plenty more down the road for another attempt, and I am going to do something pretty awesome on October 7th – run the Chicago Marathon –> for fun!

2. Skip a Workout

Yep, you read that right. Sleep in if you need to. Grab drinks with friends after work instead of hammering out that hour run. It is ok if you do not do 100% of every workout in your training plan. I am going to say that the majority of people that have run marathons (even the pros) have skipped a workout from time to time. Sometimes your body just needs to physical and mental break. Just pick up where you left off the following day. One piece of advice – don’t try to make up your skipped workout on another day. It will hurt other workouts you have planned for the rest of the week, and will actually hurt you more than help you.

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3. Connect with Others for Motivation

I have a group of friends here in town that I can always count on to run a few miles with me, no matter what the circumstance. If it is crazy hot, or beyond early in the morning, they are there to help me complete my runs. I was lucky to have them accompany me on one of my 20 mile long runs, and I would not have finished it without them. Their support is invaluable when the motivation to run is just not there. The camaraderie of these women is a direct reflection of me making it to the start line in Chicago. Find someone to run (or even bike ride) next to you when you need it most!

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4. Do Your Long Runs!

No matter what your goal is for a marathon, it is incredibly important that you do the long runs on your training schedule. Even if you do not have a time goal in sight, completing those 18-20 mile runs will make the actual race significantly more fun (and hurt a heck of a lot less).

5. Ditch the Garmin

I have a problem with focusing on pace way too much when I run. I will look down, see a less than favorable split, and then it throws off my whole run. If you can, map out your run before leaving on line so that you know how far the completed mileage is, and then just go run it. Bring your watch if you want, or have the freedom to leave it at home. I think you will be surprised how amazing it is to run with the pressure of time!

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Just to note: I was cleared by a doctor to run the race. If you have an injury or think you are incapable of finishing a long race like a marathon, please check with your doctor first! Running a race is not worth a permanent injury!

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A Lazy Person’s Guide to Marathon Training

This week’s Marathons+Moderation guest post comes from Leanne, the co-founder behind Uplift Studios! Hopefully some of y’all, especially the lazy ones, will relate to her techniques for enjoying marathon training even if you’re a sloth.

On the inside, I am the laziest person I know. It may not seem like it to the outside world: after all, as the co-founder of Uplift (a women’s only fitness studio in NYC), as well as a pretty serious athlete, I have a lot on my plate, and most people would probably pass out with exhaustion just by looking at my schedule on a daily basis! But while some people fight their inner cookie monster, I am constantly engaged in a struggle with my inner…sloth. On the really lazy days, I’m tempted approximately 30 times or so to give up, quit it all, and lie on my couch reading magazines. 

The same applies to running. Those are the days when I head out for a standard run (for me that tends to be 5-7 miles in some sort of combination around Central Park or on the West Side Highway), and it’s already dragging the minute I step foot outside. It can’t end fast enough. And it won’t, because those are the occurrences when even a quick five-miler seems to make time stand still.

But then I enter marathon-training mode, and my perspective magically changes. It’s fascinating. During the aforementioned slogs, I check my watch every few minutes, dread every incline, and feel acutely even the slightest bit of wind resistance. But during marathon training runs, I stop counting and stop dreading. Maybe my measly 5-minute jog just yesterday felt laborious, but once I am in marathon mode, 90 minutes fly by. Two hours is a breeze. It’s partly because as a part of my goal-setting, I committed to doing really well in my upcoming marathon, so therefore I am committed to the training–in other words, I have no choice but to go on these long runs. But more than that, it’s about letting go. I stop micro-managing my time and mileage and the markers (The 102nd Street transverse, the Reservoir entrance, the Boathouse, Bethesda Fountains, the little bandstand near Strawberry Fields, the tennis courts, the baseball fields, the other side of the Great Hill, the top of the par…) and start—shock!—enjoying these long runs and this time to myself, which is something that feels rare and precious to me these days. 

Based on that, I also learned that marathon training is also a great time practice something, and I don’t mean negative splits, tempo runs or any other training tools or modes of running betterment. It has to do with the idea I mentioned about “letting go”—long runs are the ideal time to leave the Garmin at home, and just instinctively feel a run and your pace. Rely on you, not a watch or iPhone app. That’s the real proof that any physical change or goal can be made or met with just a minor mental shift in perspective.

 

 

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