Intro
This year, my plan was to not necessarily sign up for any races and just to focus on building consistency. Last year, I ran around 340 miles total in the year, so my goal for this year was 400 with a stretch goal of 500 miles.
This got off track pretty quickly when I hurt my ankle while bouldering around the end of January. While my ankle started to feel better within a couple weeks, when I started running again, I started to have shin splints. From mid February to mid April, I had multiple cycles of trying to run 10-12 miles in a week, feeling shin splints, then needing to stop for 1-2 weeks. Finally, I realized I’d just have to ramp up extremely carefully.
From mid April to mid June, I very carefully ramped up from 8 slow miles a week to 15 not so slow miles a week! As this progressed and my shin pain disappeared, I finally felt comfortable considering a race. On June 25th, I ran the BAA 10k with several friends. I was hoping to run it a bit faster than I ended up doing (8:25 pace), but it was an extremely hot day. In either case, I felt ready to continue ramping up my mileage!
It’s always been a dream of mine to run a marathon, and at this point, I felt potentially ready to at least start training for one. If I couldn’t keep up, my backup plan would be to train for pace on a half marathon.
Week 1
Planned runs: 3 + 4 + 4 + 8 = 19
Completed runs: 3.18 + 4.30 + 3.61 + 8.35 = 19.44
This week was tough! Coming off of a 10k race in scorching weather, I was already fairly sore, but I’d have to get started right away to fit in my 4 runs this week. I’d just switched from 3 to 4 runs per week recently, and I was still getting used to the tiredness of having to run 2 days in a row. To add to my difficulty scheduling, Boston’s skies were filled with smoke from Canadian wildfires, so I had to monitor the air quality and make sure it was ok before I went out.
8 miles was tiring, but I was able to do it at an 8:42/mile pace after the speed training I’d done for the 10k. I did feel like as I ramped up my mileage, I’d have to consciously slow down my pace to reduce the impact on my body.
Week 2
Planned runs: 3 + 4 + 4 + 10 = 21
Completed runs: 3.66 + 4.18 + 3.19 + 10.07 = 21.1
Starting midway through this week, I headed to Minnesota for my cousin’s wedding. This week would be extra challenging for scheduling runs between various wedding events, but also it’d be an extra hard challenge on my shins given all the extra time on my feet due to wedding events.
By the time I made it to my long run, I was definitely tired and a bit sleep deprived, but I took it slow and steady and made it through (9:25/mile). 10 miles was enough to cover most of my favorite neighborhood paths, and at the end, Neha joined as well!
The rest of that day ended up being quite exhausting with dance practice and various wedding/reception events, and I was very glad I didn’t leave the long run for Sunday morning.
Week 3
Planned runs: 4 + 5 + 5 + 11 = 25
Completed runs: 4.14 + 4.13 + 5.07 + 11.31 = 24.65
This week, my long run would take place within a friend’s jam-packed proposal weekend. If I could make it through last week and this week, I’d feel ready to commit to training for this full marathon.
Once again, I was a bit tired and under-rested for the long run, plus it was an unfortunately hot day. However, Abhijit happened to be in NYC as well, and so he joined me! He was the real champ, running almost 2 miles to me in the morning before we embarked on our 11.3 mile run for the day, so he did his first half marathon!
The Hudson River Parkway was my running path when I had lived in NYC some years back, and I enjoyed the nostalgia of revisiting it. However it was hot and continued to get hotter. While the frequent water fountains helped, we certainly slowed down through the run going from ~9:15/mile to ~10:15/mile. Still ended up finishing at a 9:40/mile pace.
The jump in mileage from last week to this week was pretty high, so I took things a bit light on my short runs, but hopefully the upcoming taper week would give me a chance to catch up.
Late this week, the startup I worked for had a bit of an implosion so I found myself with a lot of extra free time on my hands. This strengthened my resolve to commit to this marathon.
Week 4
Planned runs: 4 + 5 + 5 + 9 = 23
Completed runs: 4.25 + 5.34 + 5.08 + 9.08 = 23.75
Ahhh, the joy of the first taper week. After the last two weeks, it felt wonderful to have a week with no engagement/wedding celebrations combined with a decrease in total mileage. While I was slightly short on last week’s short runs, this week I was able to exceed them! And for the 9 mile long run, I ran a 9:28/mile pace, which wasn’t too much faster than my 9:40/mile last week, but I did a much better job at keeping a continuous pace throughout. I do very much feel I’ll have to be better about slowing down on long runs as they continue getting longer.
I also felt over these last 3 weeks that my shoes were not cushioned enough as I started to get 8-10 miles into a run. I’d only put around 330 miles on them, but they were fairly minimalist in the first place, so they probably wouldn’t be comfortable as I ramped up my mileage. I decided to get new shoes before next week’s long run, though I’ll hang onto these for post-marathon short runs as I still think they have some life left in them.
Week 5
Planned runs: 5 + 6 + 6 + 13 = 30
Completed runs: 5.35 + 6.07 + 6.00 + 13.04 = 30.46
First off: farewell to 4.x runs. My favorite “long” route in normal running times was a 4.2 mile loop. It’s crazy to think that none of my runs will be that short again until the final couple weeks of tapering pre-marathon.
In other news: I got new shoes! I’ve gone from the lightweight Saucony Kinvara 13 to the large and pillowy ASICS Gel Nimbus 25. The new shoes are bright teal and feel absolutely amazing. All exertion and tension in my calves, shins, and ankles immediately disappeared. I used them on the second and third short runs of the week, the latter of which was in Nashua with Neha. On this run, the path we took was quite hilly. Because my shoes were so cushiony, I took the hills at a pretty fast clip, which felt fine then.
However, by the time I reached my long run that week, I realized that while my new shoes may have eliminated shins/calves as a limiting factor for me, that meant that now the limiting factor was my bigger leg muscles like my quads/hamstrings/glutes. This is definitely a better state of affairs, because I think it’s easier to strengthen these vs shins, though that was little comfort during my long run this week. Within around 5-6 miles, my legs already felt leaden. By 8 miles in, when Jenn joined me, I was exhausted and ready for some frequent and regular walking breaks. I ended up finishing at a 9:48/mile pace, though I was going quite slow by the end. However, I’m still happy about the fact that I made it through 13 miles: the longest I’ve ever run outside of a race!
I’ll definitely need to focus on slowing down pace on short and long runs, especially with these new shoes, until my legs get stronger.
Week 6
Planned runs: 5 + 6 + 6 + 15 = 32
Completed runs: 5.32 + 5.83 + 6.15 + 15.06 = 32.36
After my leg fatigue last week, I took my runs slow and steady. By the time I reached my long run, I was feeling much better than I was prior to last week’s 13 miler. This time, Jenn wanted to join for around 10 miles, so I had her choose the path! During my 13 mile run, Jenn recommended I try running elsewhere on long runs because the esplanade gets quite sunny. As a result, we crossed the Charles along the Longfellow bridge and took it into the Back Bay Fens. Then we followed the Emerald Necklace path through Olmstead park and around Jamaica Pond before turning back. The path was beautiful and quite shaded!
One of my concerns with straying from the esplanade was not knowing where water fountains would be. Jenn advised getting a hydration vest or water bottle. I realized I didn’t really need to carry enough water for an entire long run, just enough to take me between the water fountains I DID know about, so I just carried a small 10oz disposable bottle with me. This was light enough to just hold in my hand, but also did the job hydration wise.
I had resolved to take a walking break every 3 miles or so, but as we got into the middle portion of the run, Jenn had a bit of a stomach ache so we ended up walking for longer than I had expected. However, by the time Jenn peeled off, I was still feeling quite good with around 4 miles to go during which I was able to avoid walking breaks! I ended the run feeling much better than I ended the 13 miler, though my pace was just 10:30/mile.
Also, I had been having some twinges of upper back pain over the last few weeks. After looking it up, I believe it was the result of having poor posture during job hunting. I moved my desk chair to the dining table even for just watching TV and focused on better posture during running, and things seemed to improve!
Week 7
Planned runs: 5 + 7 + 6 + 10 = 28
Completed runs: 5.25 + 7.23 + 5.28 + 10.20 = 27.96
From the start of this plan, my goal was to skip no more than 1 run per 4 weeks on the plan. This week was one where I really felt I’d end up having to skip a run because…
It was proposal week!!!
That being said, marathon training halts for no one. I did my three short runs three days in a row so that I could shift up my long run to Friday instead of Saturday (which was proposal day). This was not easy, but thankfully this was a taper week.
I ended up doing my long starting from my aunt’s house where I was staying with my parents. I ran to the arboretum, did a few laps there, then came home. What I didn’t expect was the amount of elevation change along the way. Most of my runs have had 30-60 ft of elevation change, which is basically none. When I ran in Dunstable 2 weeks ago with Neha, there were a few large hills, which pushed elevation change to around 250ft, and this was noticeably difficult. During this week’s long run, I had 430ft of elevation change! This included sections where I had to turn off the road onto a narrow stone staircase that descended between houses. On my way back, the uphill was particularly brutal.
For the last couple miles, I was mostly on flat ground and feeling the excitement of not having to run 15 miles, so my last 2 miles were at an 8:30/mile pace, with my total pace at 9:30/mile! I love taper weeks. And the proposal went well too.
Week 8
Planned runs: 5 + 7 + 7 + 16 = 35
Completed runs: 6.6 + 5.3 + 7.21 + 16.05 = 35.16
With the proposal over, it was time to turn attention back to training with a jump up in mileage. I felt my legs were starting to get stronger, so I pushed myself a bit on pace for the short runs this week, with my fastest short run being at an 8:30/mile pace. I decided to stay on the Friday long run schedule since I wasn’t working at the moment, making my Friday mornings more free on average than weekends.
For this long run, I wanted to stray from the esplanade again, but I was a little worried about getting too far from home. I decided to run to Fresh Pond, do 4 loops there, then run home. This would also allow Neha to join for a portion!
I arrived at Fresh Pond and finished up my first loop when Neha joined. During the first loop, it had started to drizzle a bit, but on that second loop, it poured. Neha and I completed our loop and stopped briefly by our proposal spot before she headed back and I finished my two additional loops. My seemingly endless loops around the pond in rain and amongst wind-blown trees became a sort of surreal purgatory. When I finally finished my time in the pond loop and emerged from the trees back into civilization, the rain also started to lighten, and, high on endorphins, I felt transcendent.
Pace-wise, I decided to split the difference on my 13 and 15 mile approaches. I took pretty regular walking breaks of roughly 1 minute every 2 miles. Once the rain picked up, I wasn’t able to check distance on my phone, so I just defaulted to taking a break every 20 minutes, though as I got near the end of the run, I definitely needed breaks more often. Surprisingly, I was still able to finish at a pace of 9:54/mile, which was much faster than the 10:30/mile of my 15 mile run! Plus, I felt amazing at the end. My muscles were very fatigued, but the rain had at least cooled me down enough to keep my head and heart happy, and something about the absurdity of a near 3 hour rainy run left me in a strangely giddy mood.
Midway through my rainy fresh pond loops, I noticed some white foam running down my legs. At first, I thought it was a napkin in my pocket that had dissolved, but when I touched the foam, I realized it was soapy. In the rain, my shorts had gotten heavy enough to cling to my legs, and over many miles of running, they underwent a lot of friction against my skin. This effective simulation of a washing machine frothed up the residual detergent in my shorts!
