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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Talk to me about marathons...
I started running about a year or two ago for fun, and have since completed one half marathon.....running my second half this Memorial Day weekend.
I never thought I'd have the desire to run a full marathon, but lately have been tossing the idea around.
How difficult is it to go from running a half to a full? How long did it take you to train? What training program did you use? Are there any good fall marathons on the east coast? TIA for your input!
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Re: Talk to me about marathons...
I'll direct you here
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/65080383.aspx
and I'm going to get the other post.
This has been a hot topic for the last few days.
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/65027034.aspx
And this one.
My home office. Joeyzlovieg's hubby made it for me. I love it!
I agree to read the other posts about this.
Anyhoo, I see you're in PA, my first marathon was Steamtown in Scranton. Loved, loved, loved it. It's the 2nd weekend in October (it may already be sold out for this year, but you'd have to check). I would definitely recommend it for a first though. The weather was absolutely perfect.
I'm probably doing Philly this year, which will be my 3rd full if I do it.
The training for a full is much, much more consuming (time, energy, etc) than a half is. It basically takes over your life, at least IMO. I trained 16 weeks for both of mine.
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This is what people keep saying and I'm not getting. Right now while training for my next half, and just as a general running schedule in general I'm running 4-5 miles 2 days a week and a long 8-12 mile weekend run. I weight lift 2 days and have a yoga day. If I were to train for a full it sounds like my runs would average around 6-8 miles during the week and 12-20 miles on the weekend. So the amount of time would be basically another hour each weekday morning (rounding up) and another hour or two each weekend. While I know the task will be physically challenging and it's a big undertaking I don''t think I can see yet where it totally takes over things.
Just you wait, young grasshopper. You will see what we are talking about. It is more than just an increase in mileage. It's a physical challenge, but it is a mental challenge too. I think that's part of why many of us like marathons.
Running on the Rhode
I hate you very much
I strongly encourage you to run more then 3 times a week and more than that total mileage if you're going to do a full.
Also, there's no clear way to describe the guilt/panic that may occur when you miss longer runs because of life scheduling conflicts or vice versa.
When I trained for a full I ran 4 days a week, not 3, and I'd consider that kind of the bare minimum. And the mid week 8-10 miler was tough--the extra 40 minutes mattered. Also, for me, I can run 13 miles and then be ready to go out and do something within an hour. Relatively short stretching, recovery, etc. Not so much for distances over 16 miles. I need to foam roll, stretch, ice bath, etc. That all takes time. My long runs basically took up my entire Saturday morning, which was a big chunk of what is our family time since I have a kid that naps for the afternoon and my husband works long hours during the week. And I am WAY more tired after longer runs than when I run 8-12 which meant I wasn't up for big family adventures that required a lot of walking, a late night out that night, etc.
I also don't necessarily plan around anything under 13 miles, meaning I'd still go out the night before, eat whatever, have a drink. Not so for longer distances. At least for me, what it means when people say it takes over your life is that at a minimum your entire weekend becomes about preparing for the run (going to bed early the night before, not drinking, etc), running and recovery day of, and being tired/sore the next day. It's just a grind. I've done two halves since my full and it didn't compare AT ALL. I could seamlessly integrate the half training into my life. The full training was my life
That's a great way to put it!
i love that too!
it's not just the extra time running... you have to think about what your days are going to be like the day before and the day after a >15 mile run. it's not the same as running 8 or 9 miles. the day before you run 20 miles, you have to watch how much you hydrate, what you eat, you cant stay up too late... the day you run the 20 miles? yeah, good luck being productive at all after the run. basically all i do that day is sleep and eat. it completely kills your weekend - for several weekends.
and i agree with pp, if you're training for a full (ive done one so im an expert, right?) you should really be running more than 3 times a week.
i dont remember who told me this, but running a full, and training for a full, is more than twice as hard as running and training for a half.
These are all great points! The recovery from the runs wasn't a big issue this time around (3rd marathon,) but it definitely was for the first one! My whole Sunday was shot. The bolded part is a big one and an example of how it affects your life on days that you're not even running. Saturday would be an off day for me, but Sunday long run prep was on my mind. Throw in the mental aspect that Psyri mentioned and it's a completely different beast.
Also, after all the conversation surrounding this topic this week I realized I'm not ready right now because I just can't commit.
Finally, after everything written in this post I'm 100% fine with sticking to 13.1 and shorter for a long while.
This is all good to know. I can't even really commit one way or the other in my mind right now. I know I would like to at some point and I know my running mates would love me to do it with them in January. What I don't know if what an actual training plan would look like. My life is fuckingcrazy right now as it is trying to balance running my own business, 2 kids, and the extra obligations I have taken on in the community. I like what I have going on in terms of my fitness right now, I love my running and lifting, but maybe my life doesn't have room for all the rest at this point. Idk, this is catching me at the end of a busy day right before leaving town to a hectic out of town business trip. In a few weeks when my next half is over and work has (hopefully) calmed down I can really take the time to consider it.
I really appreciate the help, support and information you have all been willing to give, and I know I will ask for more. Thanks! Wish I could buy each of you a cocktail (or smoothie or whatever floats your boat).
I think the mental prep ( and prep in general) is what takes over your life! I have no problem running 10mi before work but the longer runs definitely need more attention like the other girls have already mentioned. I have my 20 miler tomorrow and I'm already mapping out my day today as far as what I'm going to eat, how much to drink, what time I'm going to bed, etc. plus I know that tomorrow afternoon I'm going to be useless so that means getting the house cleaned and other chores done today.
St. Pete- training for a marathon was all consuming. I couldn't drink because even going out Thursday left me too dehydrated to "enjoy" my Saturday run. Saturdays after the run I just wanted to lie in bed and nurse the pain. I had to constantly make sure someone was going to the sporting goods store so there was enough Gu. I missed family events out of town because I wanted to do my long runs with my run group where there were water stations. And when I got hurt I was pissed beyond belief because I had invested four months of my life training for that race. Half training was nothing. I just did my regular runs and then ran the half. At least for someone at my fitness level, they were very, very different.
And my body changed - not for the better. Killing off weights really affected my upper body's definition, and towards the end of training I felt like I was running All The Time, to the point that I could not bring myself to do anything else except yoga. I missed my other workouts. I gained weight - not muscle weight - because I felt like I had to eat so much to be able to get through the longer runs. I had to eat carbs again, which I had sworn off, and which my body doesn't love. There was no real "eating more and not gaining weight" benefit from the long runs because there was no way for me to get through them without Gu.
Anyway, I still plan to try it again but training was honestly the hardest thing I've ever done. I said at one point it was insulting to compare the bar exam to a marathon (which everyone does) because the bar exam was a cake walk compared to the degree of commitment the marathon took. It was seriously the hardest thing I have ever done.
I hope I didn't scare you off! I am REALLY glad I did it, even though I will most likely never do it again. It was really hard, but I think it was significantly complicated by the fact that my husband was also training for the same marathon, he travels and/or works super long hours for work, and we have two little kids, too. Just the logistics of it were tricky to find time in our already jammed schedule for two people to get the miles in. Then we were BOTH really tired after the long runs, but neither got a chance to nap or rest, because we had a 1.5 and 3.5 year old to take care of. It's not like we could just veg out for the rest of the day, which I think made it seem even more exhausting than it was. If you have a supportive husband, and a good childcare set up it will really help!
I wouldn't take it lightly, but if you want to do it, you'll figure out a way. Like I said, I'm super, super happy I did it, even if my post made it seem overwhelming. It WAS overwhelming, but it was also over in 4 months, which is really not all that long. Good luck!