how not to train for a marathon

the 2009 myrtle beach marathon weekend is here, and once again i find myself reminiscing about my own mbm experience. myrtle beach was my first marathon back in 2006, and i was a cocky little college senior at the ripe old age of 21. i was nervous as heck in the days leading up to the race but i continued to tell myself i would bq, no problem.

start of the '06 mb marathon. i'm in the gray shirt by the barricade.

to cut the suspense - i, of course, did not bq. i ran a 4:03:26 (9:18 avg pace). i did run the first half in 1:46:40 though (an 8:08 pace), and clearly died somewhere around mile 16.

how did i get to myrtle beach?
good question! i still ask myself this and i still don't have a really good answer, but i don't regret it at all. i ran cross country my sophomore and junior years of high school, ran periodically through college, and then some time in march of 2005 i began logging my runs (mileage and time). some time after that i decided to run a local 10k, the midnight flight. i ran a crappy time, somehow won my age group, and a few days later decided to run a marathon. yeah, you know, run some 5k's in high school, run a (slow) 10k, what else is the reasonable 'next step'? right, a marathon. on top of that, instead of just aiming to finish and have fun in my first marathon, i wanted a bq.

did i research training plans online? probably, i'm assuming so anyway.

did i follow a training plan? judging by my running log i'm gonna go with not really at all.

so... then what did i do? well, lets assume i went with a typical "18-week" schedule, and managed to turn it into pretty inappropriate marathon training. here's a glimpse at how those 18 weeks went:

week 1: 25.1 miles in 4 days, longest run 6.2 miles, avg pace 8:02

week 2: 32 miles in 5 days, longest run 12 miles, avg pace 8:38
(prior to this 12-miler the longest i had ever run was 9 miles, about 2 months earlier)

week 3: 26.2 miles in 6 days, longest run 6.5 miles, avg pace 9:00

week 4: 26.15 miles in 4 days, longest run 10.2 miles, avg pace 10:05
(i have a feeling some of these "runs" were walks with friends...)

week 5: 11 miles in 2 days, longest run 6 miles, avg pace 8:28
(i was due for a cutback week, right? and cutback means don't run, right?)

week 6: 28.7 miles in 5 days, longest run 6 miles, avg pace 8:19

week 7: 25 miles in 4 days, longest run 10 miles, avg pace 7:52
(apparently i was a much faster runner back then)

week 8: 21.15 miles in 3 days, longest run 8 miles, avg pace 8:02

week 9: 21.5 miles in 4 days, longest run 7 miles, avg pace 8:11
(i must not have gotten the memo about increasing weekly mileage)

week 10: 13.8 miles in 3 days, longest run 6 miles, avg pace 9:01

week 11: 10.05 miles in 3 days, longest run 6 miles, avg pace 12:14
(fairly certain, or at least hopeful, that the other 2 days were walks and not runs)

week 12: 14.75 miles in 4 days, longest run 5.25 miles, avg pace 9:16
(what, you didn't know 5.25 miles was a long run in marathon training?)

week 13: 26.9 miles in 5 days, longest run 7.5 miles, avg pace 9:48

week 14: 31.75 miles in 5 days, longest run 12 miles, avg pace 9:21

week 15: 33.3 miles in 5 days, longest run 13 miles, avg pace 8:53
(whoa! two "long" runs in the past two weeks!)

week 16: 7.1 miles in 2 days, longest run 4 miles, avg pace 9:00
(...i spoke too soon week 15, thanks. yeah this was an impressive week of training. we could call it tapering?)

week 17: 28.75 miles in 5 days, longest run 6.5 miles, avg pace 8:56

week 18: 52.51 miles in 7 days, longest run 26.2 miles, avg pace 8:56
(because who doesn't run everyday of the week leading up to marathon day, especially after barely running for the past 18 weeks?)

you're impressed, i know.

as we all know, long runs are the key to marathon training. clearly i failed in this department with 2-12 milers and 1-13 miler. i still remember that 13 miler too, it was fairly warm out and i walked a good bit. but did that stop me from feeling confident in my ability to bq? of course not. i am still pretty impressed that i managed a 4:03 with very little training and very little base. (hey, i have to give myself some kind of credit here.)

(mb '06) recognize these lovely folks?
'cause here we are 3 years later...

jess and her dad ran the myrtle beach half, saw me suffering after the full,
and still decided to sign up to run baltimore with me later that year.
i've been dragging them along on all my great marathoning ideas ever since. :o)

obviously, the marathon did not go so well. i did fine for the first 7 miles, which makes perfect sense as that was about my typical "long" run. i remember talking to an old man early on and telling him i wanted to bq. he said i looked strong and would do great. i'm sure i looked strong at that point, but i still had about 20 or so miles to go. i had this brilliant idea to wear cotton spandex shorts because they'd look cute. major chafage and being unable to shower for the next 3 days was probably not so cute. did i ever run in these shorts before? of course not. i was a huge marathon newbie.

just chuggin' along, trying to not collapse.
quitting was never an option.

i think i died around mile 16 or so. my parents had come down for the race and my dad was telling me all about how i was hitting "the wall" and to just push through it. he said he felt so bad for me because i looked awful (aw, thanks pops), and even ran to a nearby atlanta bread co. to get a bottle of water for me in case i needed some in between the water stations. i remember my whole body ached as i was running, with my lower back screaming the loudest. i walked a lot. when i got to mile 20, everyone around me talked about the whole "only a 10k to go". the relay teams had an exchange point there and it was really disheartening to see fresh legs passing you.

finishing fairly strong, i still had a kick in me.
and yes, i beat green shorts man.

this honduran man commented to me on my chafage during the race.
notice the man behind me as well...
what are you lookin' at pal?

in pain. but i made it.

in spirit of this year's myrtle beach marathon (and half marathon, 5k, and multiple bike rides), i thought i should enlighten everyone on how not to train for the marathon. as you hopefully realize, i have gotten a little bit better at actually training, although it still took a few more attempts at the marathon before i finally admitted to myself that long runs are kind of important. i wish i had done a little more research back then and trained better, but at the same time, i'm kind of proud of my pathetic first marathon. it makes for a good story, and you never forget your first.

good luck to amanda and her hubs (who have both been dedicated to their training) this weekend in the myrtle beach half!