So After running the Fox Valley Marathon, the Twin Cities Marathon and the Naperville Marathon in 3 months. I am happy to report, I'm done with marathons for 2014. But I had a lot of fun, and I did learn a few things.
1) The first marathon is the hardest. Fox Valley was on Sept 21 and was a strain on the body and mind. Not because of the race, but because I hadn't run any marathons in 9 months. My mind and body were not prepared for it, and I started too fast and suffered a lot. Twin Cities Marathon was two weeks later on October 5th and It was a bit easier to deal with the mindset of marathon running. Even though the course in Minneapolis-St. Paul, was pretty hilly. But I felt more confident of finishing. Getting to Naperville, November 9th, I was confident of finishing, and mentally relaxed, and had a lot of fun doing it, there was no pressure, and at 4:10:16, was the fastest marathon of the three. Once you mind and body understands the task at hand, then it's time to enjoy to see what you can do. It actually became fun.
2) It's not the running, but the recovery: People were curious what I did between marathons to prepare me for the next race. Answer: Not much. My runs were easy and in moderate distance. My longest run was 17 miles two weeks before Naperville. Other than that, it was slow and short in mileage. After each marathon, 2-3 days were taken completely off before going back to running. I got massages and chiropractic adjustments in those days off. The most important part was getting back to easy running as soon as possible.
3) Let's hear it for running form: After toiling on working my running form for the last three years, it really turned out to be the positive for this endeavor. Because I worked on a balanced running form and a midfoot strike, I got through the marathons with zero injuries. When I wanted to run, I ran. there was no physical issues to hold me back. I stretched and foam rolled several times a week. And at 45 years old, that's a really good place to be. I ran in Sketchers GoMEB 2's for Fox Valley and Twin Cities Marathon, and I ran in New Balance 1400v2's for Naperville. I switched to the New Balances because of chafing of my toes in wearing the Sketchers. New Balance were way more comfortable in that distance.
4) Nutrition is important, sorta: When you run in marathons, you can't help to notice the sheer amount of gels and food people carry with them, Saw a runner in Naperville finish with six gels still around their waists. It's easier to carry what you exactly need, instead of what you think you need. And in all of these races, additional nutrition was available on the race route. So always check to see what the races offer. In these events, my food choices were very simple to follow. Clif Gel bloks before the start, 2-3 GU gels for the rest of the race. Combination worked pretty well. I stayed away from chocolate flavors because they irritated my stomach. Huge fan of Gu's salted Caramel gel's. Simpler the better. Find choices and stick with what works.
5) I'm ready for 2015: Training well into November makes training rather easy for the rest of the winter and into the next year. Hopefully the weather will be a bit easier than last year (fingers crossed), and I can take this momentum and keep going through the winter. Why stop? It's way too hard to start up again.
6) But I'm glad I'm done: Don't know if I'll do this again, it was fun, but man, I'm really tired.
