Training for my first marathon

Dumb, a glutton or what?


I guess my decision to start training for a marathon puts me into one of the aforementioned categories. I am a thirty year old, previous smoker who, until two months ago, never ran over two miles in one sitting in his life. My new "quest" came about when I came to the realization that I no longer wanted to be viewed as an overweight smoker.


I quit smoking on January 30, 2009. Shortly thereafter, a buddy of mine asked me what I thought about running in a community 5K event. I eagerly took him up on his offer and set out to run my first 5Kwithin one month. I went from running 0 miles a week to 15 miles a week and completed my first 5Kin 30:04.


What did I learn from this modest endeavor? Running pain and overuse injuries are very real and hurt like hell. I went from hardly being able to run two miles to being able to run over 3 within a month and all I did was hurt my knee enough to where I had to take a week and a half off from running.


If anything, the aforementioned experience taught me that I needed to follow some sort of training program if I was ever going to be able to finish a 26 miler. So where did I turn? Did I call around to schools or look in the phone book for coaches or running instructors? Heck no, son. I googled that sumdabitch and found Ol' Hal Higdon and a myriad of other marathon training programs. Many of these online sources consisted of four month training programs. All of them had the familiar warning that you should already have a running foundation of a year prior to prepping for a marathon. Did or am I going to take their advice . . . NOPE?

However, I am cautious. Instead of diving right into the marathon program, I decided to do the responsible thing and follow Hidon's base establishment program. In this regard, I have run the following since starting on his base build up in March:

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat/Sun
3/23 up le/1.75m upper le/1.5 up/1 0/2miles
3/30 Up 2 m+ le Rest 1.5m/up le up/2m
4/6 Full 2.6m up Rest up/1.5 0/2.2 m
4/13 Up/1 2.5m Rest Up/1.2m Rest up2m/3m
4/20 Up/1.5 3m Up 2m Rest up 2.9m/3m
4/27 Up 3.1m Up 2m Upper 2m/softball
5/4 Up 3.1 Rest Upper Rest Upper/Rest


You will notice that the forgoing schedule has up, upper or le in the columns. That represents the weight lifting I have been doing while training to run. So logically, up or upper stands for upper body and le stood for legs. I refer to legs in the past tense sense I am no longer weight training that particular body part. Why you ask? Because working out legs, including running six days a week was causing joint and knee pains. Getting old sure is a bitch!!!

The upper body workout concentrates on the following muscles: Chest, biceps, triceps, back, shoulders and abs. The workout is completed with one exercise for each body part consisting of four sets. The reps for each set goes in the following order 12, 10, 8 and 6. On the Saturday or Friday workout I add in a burnout exercise for the fifth set which consists of doing an additional 12 reps with your 8 rep weight and then doing a different exercise another 12 reps (bench pressing your 8 rep weight 12 times and then doing butterflies with 30lbs dumbbells for 12 reps) or doing a pyramid of 6 reps with lighter weight each new set all the way down (6 reps of curls at 60lbs, 6 reps of curls at 50lbs all the way down to 10lbs).

I have continued weight training because none of the running sites I have read state any type of definite weight training program and none of them affirmatively state that you should not lift weights. I intend to keep lifting the weights so that I can be lean and have muscle (we will see how staunch I am in this position when my mileage goes up substantially more) without just being legs, bones and lungs.

You will also notice that on the May 4th week I took some time off from running. This is for two reasons. The first reason started around the Sunday where softball is mentioned. My fraternity had its first annual (can it be annual if a second has not occurred yet?) softball game of actives vs. alumni. I had only played one game of softball in the eight years prior to this game. I had no hesitation in my physical ability to play in the game because in my mind, I had been lifting weights and running regularly for well over a month (I was running prior to the above referenced journal). BOY WAS I WRONG. Between base hits and fielding I did a lot of sprinting in the game. The next morning I woke up and my upper thighs felt like someone had filled them up with concrete. That was my first determination that my running program probably was not preparing my legs enough for the pounding they would take in a marathon. I did not realize different muscles were used for running sprints versus running for a sustained period of time.

The concrete upper leg syndrome was not the only benefit (because of my realization) that I received out of going to the game. An old friend of mine was there as well. He was always a heavier built fellow (like myself), but when I first saw him he looked like he had lost around thirty pounds. After the game my wife gleefully exclaimed "Robbie, guess what so and so is training for"? "A MARATHON!!!". I then discussed my desire to train and run in a marathon with my friend and he let me in on the secret as to why he was already running 12 milers and had already shed around 30 lbs *within five months of starting to run from scratch)....he had a running coach. My friend told me all about the program he was on and the assistance he was receiving and it really sounded like a great tool to have. Thus leading me to my second reason for taking some miles off.

I called the coach and discussed the possibility of him working with me. He quoted me his price (which was more than what my friend was paying...either bad luck or my bartering skills suck) and told me what all would be involved in the training. He would help me with speed, endurance and strengthening my legs. We would meet once a week and he would prepare monthly training regimens for me to follow. He also told me that lifting weights should be fine, but not to do really low reps because bulking up was not ideal for running. We scheduled our first meeting, Monday, May 11 and left to go on our merry way. Now, my second reason for taking a running break may not be readily apparent. But I assure you, the reasoning has already been laid out. It is for two interrelated facts. One: I knew the coach was going to bust my ass on the first meeting so I figured I would heal up my ever worsening joints prior to being properly trained how to run. Two: Weight training can cause you to pull muscles that will effectively keep you from running, hence why (I believe) many sites do not make a recommendation on whether you should weight train or not. Long story short, I pulled my groin muscle while working out my chest muscles... not working out legs...chest. Man, getting old really is a bitch.

So, I guess my real training is going to begin this afternoon. I am going to blog about the experience and hopefully, keep this journal going until the day of the marathon, early December. I really am looking forward to completing this challenge. Every site I have read recommends you focus on the reasoning that you are attempting to run in a marathon. For me, I would like to be able to complete a marathon within one year of quitting smoking. My second reason is also to improve my health so that I can hopefully, live longer than my dad and granddad did who died at the ages of 41 and 43 respectively.

Let's hope those are strong enough reasons to keep me going.