My Journey to 26.2: Here We Go Again

Monday, July 1. For two months this date has been highlighted on my calendar: start of NYC Marathon training.  As today, I am committed to 16 weeks of early morning runs, a pasta and gu diet, blisters, and no excuses.

To be honest, I am a bit scared. Training for the Boston Marathon two years ago was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  I woke up at 5:30am every day, I rarely hung out with people unless they were willing to run with me, I left parties at 10pm because I was too tired, and I went on exactly zero dates. I went 112 days without missing a workout, and the only reason I broke the streak was that keeping up the streak caused me to get bronchitis.  I loved the challenge of pushing my body to new levels every weekend, but I hated the stress and exhaustion that came from balancing an intense workout schedule with my job. Though I knew I had guaranteed entry into the NYC Marathon, I spent most of the beginning of the year making excuses as to why I couldn’t run: the timing wasn’t right, I travel too much, it would be too hard to balance the training against my long distance relationship.

Then the Boston Marathon bombings happened. On the night of April 15, all I wanted to do was run 26.2 miles. I began doing some longer runs as part of training for the Covered Bridges Half Marathon on June 2, and suddenly I felt incredibly grateful for two working legs and the chance to push myself through running. Four thousand people were denied the opportunity to finish the Boston Marathon because of terrorism. Fifty thousand people were denied the opportunity to run NYC because of Hurricane Sandy last year. I had the required mileage base from training for CBHM. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

Having made a decision, I’m going to need a few things to help me through the training:

1) Training Plan: the amazing Kelly Cassidy, who took a girl who struggled through 11-minute miles and turned her into a marathon runner, kindly agreed to create a training plan for me. The concept will be the same as last time (alternating weeks of intensity and recovery) but the running mileage will be more. I did a lot of cross-training for Boston because my body wasn’t quite ready to absorb the impact of intense running. I’m a more mature runner now and ready to push myself a bit more on mileage.  

2) Outfit: Looking good is key to any successful training plan, and most of my running gear was for cold weather since the winter I trained for Boston was so brutal. Lucky for me, Lululemon’s spring color happens to be my favorite color as well: purple.  (Thanks also to Natalia for my awesome purple “I don’t sweat, I sparkle” shirt).

3) Training Music:  I have to recycle songs for longer runs, but for short ones, I created a nice playlist to spice things up. Fun.’s Carry On really speaks to me right now (good recovery after hills song), and I downloaded a few hits from the Biggest Loser soundtrack to motivate me.   

4) Ground Rules: A few guiding principles to help me do this right:

·      No flip flops. I love the ease of slipping them on, but the movement of using your toes to keep your shoes on kills your feet. My two favorite pairs are going in the trash today.

·      Flexibility is a good thing. I did a lot of classes the first time around, which meant that I was committed to the same schedule every week. This time, I want to allow myself to move workouts around so that I can have more of a social life—and in particular, accommodate my relationship. I’m looking forward to the flexible cross-training days that Kelly has built into my schedule.

·      Don’t be afraid to take an extra day off. As long as I get in my long runs, I’ll make it through 26.2. If I’m not feeling well, or jet leg is killing me, I’ll be better off in the long run if I take an extra day off during the week.

·      Don’t skip the stretching. Avoiding injury is crucial. I’ll be taking another session of an awesome yoga workshop, JackRabbit’s Yoga for Athletes, starting August 14, and will be committed to this and foam rolling after all long runs.

Though I’m nervous, I’m also excited. Running Boston made me a stronger and better person—and that’s why I took what happened on April 15 so personally.  I can’t wait to see what joys come from going through the 26.2 experience a second time.