I've decided to do a marathon this year! (Did I really just say that?! 😅🤔😛)
I'm currently reading Born To Run 2, a fantastic book by Eric Orton & Christopher McDougall aimed at, you guessed it, runners.
It's far from your average running book.
In this book they look at how to gently, safely and successfully transition to running as close to barefoot as possible for the greatest number of your runs.
The goal, really, is to be able to run any distance at any time.
My idea of awesome, actually.
This is something I've been actively wanting for... well, forever. And since I knew it would be easier to practise the drills, the games, the form fixes in the book if I had an actual goal to work towards, I did something I didn't think I was going to do this year:
I picked a running goal.
In theory, I'm going to run the Gold Coast Marathon on Sunday 2nd July in 3:59 or faster. That is, as long as it lines up with a useful time in my menstrual cycle. If not, I'll be using all the training I do for this event to pick the next closest similar event that lines up better for my body. I'm done overriding my body, these days I work with it instead of against it as much as I can.
In service of this goal, Brad helped me take stock of what my average training load had been per week in December and then we used that as something of a baseline. This is mostly so I don't overdo it when I start to increase my mileage and time on feet in the coming weeks and months.
It's not like I'm starting from scratch; I've been running on and off my entire life. Also, between 2009-2014 I did 5 trail ultra marathons and a full marathon plus another "short" but very difficult ultra marathon again in 2016.
So, I've been around the block.
I just haven't done a lot of big mileage for, well, 8 years it seems 😅 So it's time to start slowly again.
That, and I want to really run well. Like super well. And super fast. Any distance, any time.
So my training plan for January literally looks like this:
It's simple. It's not perfect as it has four weeks instead of 31 days. But it's flexible enough for me to work with my menstrual cycle and not get locked into a routine of "this on Monday, then that on Tuesday, etc" which I hate. Routine doesn't support me, it makes me feel trapped.
So, we'll see how my plan goes. On paper it looks doable and suitable for me and my personality.
1st Jan was a NYD special parkrun event. Since I'd already run hard the day before I took this 5km easy finishing in 31:20. That'll do.
Yesterday we travelled most of the day and just walked a few times to break up the trip.
So this morning, after a mouthful of water, I did my 20 minutes easy (ish).
Emphasis on the "ish" because I was also trying to increase my cadence and that makes it, weirdly, so much harder. I guess because it's so unfamiliar to me. I'm sure I'm usually sitting below 170 steps per minute; the aim (as you'll know if you're a committed runner) is 180 steps p/min.
I did alright 👇
But I was working (according to my watch) waaaay too hard. Definitely felt "grey zone ish" but I would have said I was in Zone 3 for most of it, not 4!
Definitely not a totally flat run. That's impossible in this hilly area we call home.
But it's done and I'm away. Let's see what I learn in the process 😊
{All screenshots courtesy of Garmin Connect taken on my phone.}
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Good luck with your training. Is it a road marathon? Are you sure your pulse zones are correct?
Thank you! !LUV
It is a road marathon. And to be honest, @marenontherun (btw, is your name "Maren"?) I won't mind if I have to swap it out for a short trail ultra or a trail marathon because, let's face it, I like trails better. It's just a convenient, seemingly achievable goal that I know my partner can also happily get onboard with.
My pulse zones may not be correct. As soon as I can find the motivation, I'm going to test what my actual max heart rate is (as opposed to the standard Max HR = 220 - my age) and see if they need adjusting. The other thing is, I don't run with a chest strap; it's my watch that's recording my heart rate and watches can be notoriously incorrect. So I think I need to take note of my PRE (perceived rate of effort) more so on each run than rely on my tech to tell me what my body is doing.
That is my name, yes. :)
I also don't use the chest strap very often. It's so much more convenient to just run by feeling. Also, I'm not too serious about these numbers. I run easy on easy days and in between I do some tempo.
Born To Run 2? 😲 I have the first one, but had no idea Born To Run 2 exists!!! I'm not a runner anymore, but I know the first one and it's highly motivating, so I need to get my hand on the second one!!!
Running a marathon is kind of a must, if you feel fit enough! July is a terrible month for a marathon in my country, but not in yours. I'm not sure what the temperature is like in July, but can't be that cold. Go for it!
Yes! It just come out less than a month ago. It's awesome!
Why is that? (If you care to share. I'd love to know. Why did you stop? And do you still love the idea of running? Maybe Born to Run 2 will help you get back into it??)
July is a pretty reasonable time to do a marathon here in Queensland. While it's "winter" the top half of Australia (along the coastline, anyway) doesn't really get very cold. Sometimes the day the GC marathon is held it gets to 20'C before the end of the run! But it can get down below 10'C overnight, which is better for running anyway!
I definitely wouldn't want to do a marathon in July in Tasmania 😂 Or anywhere that's latitudinally as close to either pole as Tasmania is! Like anywhere in the top half of Europe or anywhere mountainous 😝
I've been dealing with low back pain and it is not recommended. I still wanted to prove I'm capable of running, so my longest distance was 10k and had 2 competitions as well, which I'm proud of. But then my body started to signal and had to take it seriously.
10'C is perfect for running. I've been testing myself and the lowest temperature for me was -5C and I loved it.
Sounds like you have been running! Which in my mind makes you a runner!
Christopher and Eric talk about how fixing running form fixes multiple issues in our bodies, one of the top five being lower back pain. Obviously, I have no idea how bad your pain is and if running is safe for you or not, so I totally trust you'll keep doing whatever makes sense to you and please know there's stuff in their book specifically about lower back pain and running and form.
Running in -5'C!! I haven't done that. The closest I've got, I think, is running at 1'C with a wind chill factor that dropped it to -3'C for a parkrun in our Snowy Mountains here in Australia a few years ago. Cold, cold, cold!
Awesome to hear your new goal and even more awesome that you are putting it out there. I am looking forward to hear all about your adventures leading up to race day.
😄🙏😊
Good luck for the marathon/training etc... and yes agreed, having a goal can help you keep on track with your training.
Crikey there is a lot to read here...picking up on a couple of points:
1 - not get locked into a routine of "this on Monday, then that on Tuesday, etc" which I hate.
Agree with this, too much rigidity sucks all the fun out of it. Besides, I try to run how I feel and I'll decide on the actually decide on the day what I'm actually going to do. The only exception is Saturday which will almost always be the Long Run..
2 - the aim (as you'll know if you're a committed runner) is 180 steps p/min
I still haven't found where this number has come from or why it is so important. Before getting my new watch 2 weeks ago I never had a clue on what my cadence was. Turns out that I average between 175 and 185, so I'm apparently doing something right even though I don't know why 🤣
3 - Heart Rate
My garmin does the same thing, overestimates my effort and places all my runs into zone 4, and I don't think I'm pushing that hard. If I try to slow down and decrease the effort then I feel like I'm going so slowly I might as well walk!
4 - The controversial one
er... I also received a copy of Born to Run 2, currently on chapter 6 and not particularly impressed thus far. I only read the first one 4 months ago and the stories were motivating and inspiring in equal measure. It made me want to instantly lace up and run as far as I could. The 2nd Book... I know its early days but I can't get into it at all. The tone of the author, the diet suggestions, the constant preaching of 'minimalist' shoes... I'm gonna force myself to get to the end see if it gets any better
Don't let my skepticism put you off, if it speaks to you then you keep doing it, and I'll look forward to seeing how you get on over the next few months.
Hello!
You'll find out the answer to your question about cadence. I'd been hearing it for so many years and never knew, until Chris explained it simply in chapter... something.
Re. the book. Your skepticism won't turn me off. I'm a hardcore minimalist. It's almost religion-level for me at this point 😂 So I guess I best be careful not to preach too hard to you 😉 I'm (mostly) joking.
I really appreciate you sharing how it's landing for you. And I'm guessing it must feel really similar for a lot of people who only came across Born to Run (the first) very recently, or even only came across the concept when the 2nd book came out.
I read the first book 12+ years ago within months of it coming out (just because a very forward-thinking ultra marathon buddy of mine put it in front of me and insisted I read it, not because I went looking for it. Heck, I did my first ultra in a pair of tiny-toe-box, motion-controlled, over-price-orthotic filled, heel-drop Asics of some kind - I knew nothing! But I soon rebuilt the strength in my feet and got rid of the orthotics I'd been told I had to have, I've never had plantar fasciitis again and I did my next ultra marathon in Vibram Five Fingers and my feet were waaaaay better after that one than the first one! Anway, back to my point...)
I've had all that time to ponder, experiment, integrate and realise... exactly why Chris is so preachy.
I also get that it's a lot to implement, like years' worth of change. I am already expecting to take the next 1 or even 2 years to slowly and deliberately implement most of the things in that book. And that's after I've already done as much change as I have. It's a lot, a lot.
So, I have a radical suggestion: Why don't you stop reading the book.
Seriously. You already sound overwhelmed by all the stuff in there. You sound skeptical (for good reason) about what they're sharing. Why not just stop?
Let it settle. Do some running. Feel into how pissed off you are that the book is so preachy. Consider which bits make sense to you and which bits annoy the f*ck out of you. Just be with everything it's brought up for you.
It's a book. It's not going anywhere. You can always go back to it in a month or a year or whenever. But no point in forcing yourself to try and take in something that doesn't feel good to you right now.
Just a thought.
And if you have any questions about anything in there that you want to run by me, to get another (less preachy) opinion about, feel free to comment on any of my posts re. this marathon training journey/running sessions. I'm happy to share my experience. And maybe hearing about someone's experience who you actually (sort of) know might make it feel more real or reachable than a bunch of stories in a book.
and Thank You for taking the time write a very lengthy reply. I suspect it all comes down to biases (that's not a criticism by the way, we all have our biases, its human nature etc.)
This book speaks to your biases, and doesn't fit with mine (not yet at least). That said, I'm still gonna read it and finish it. I've never read a book that is truly pointless and I'm sure I will be able to find at least some things to learn and new things to try.
Cadence is mentioned in chapters 8.1 and 9 btw. I sort of get it, it just seems almost too simple "run at 180 to run faster/further/easier". Or maybe I'm trying too hard to over complicate things. I guess that is human nature as well! 🤣
There is at least one point I totally agree with: "run without music"... I feel that running should be enjoyed for it's own sake, and I want to experience the sensation of running (and also keep an awareness of my flailing limbs too!)
The fact that I find this book challenging isn't an excuse to quit. If anything, it makes it even more important that I keep going... no-one ever changes if they do the same thing over and over. I need to remember that I don't know everything. I need to be open to the possibility that I might be wrong.
With that in mind, I will indeed be following your 'journey' (so cliche!) and who knows, I might actually learn something along the way
!LUV
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I love your response.
I hear you on biases. I wonder where my bias was when I read the first book? I was in "normal" running shoes and wore orthotics in my closed toe shoes everywhere, doing everything I was told I should do. Who knows! Anywhere, I know what I "believe" now! !LOL
Brad is also saying "Surely it can't be as simple as just 180 cadence?" but he's trying it out anyway. Personally, I think a focus on just cadence is an oversimplification of a jam-packed book. I think our ability to run further, faster and easier comes as a result of putting many of the things they talk about together.
This seems wise.
Music, yeah, I hear you. It was another thing the ultra running mate of mine insisted I stop doing 12 years ago. I seemed to easily give up running to music (not that I did it that much because we still didn't have a lot of good, lightweight, portable music devices then the way we do now). We just read that chapter last night and I enjoyed hearing the different perspectives. I like being able to connect to the world around me and do get annoyed (find myself flabbergasted might be a better way to describe it) when I see someone running with buds in their ears when running (or riding) somewhere with a lot of hazards, like other kinds of traffic. They can't hear their body but they also can't hear that bike/car/dog coming up behind them either!
Cliche or not, I'll be happy to share. !LUV
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Good luck with that. I would like to do a marathon, but it needs a lot of training. I would need to do a lot more running each week to prepare. Maybe I just need to enter one so I have to do it.
There are different school of thinking about how much mileage you actually have to do.
Emil Zapotek did his first marathon ever... at the Olympics... and won it. His training was highly conventional.
Brad (my beau) ran a sub 3 hour marathon when he was a junior and never did more than 20km as a long run. He did lots of short runs and regular speed sessions.
That's why I've put this one on my calendar - to make me implement the training and body rehab I've been wanting to do anyway. Now I'm kind of forced to. But I'm being smart about it because the last time I tried for an ultra it took over my life. I have no interest in any race, of any length, taking up a bigger portion of my time and energy than other important parts of my life. So I'm being... unconventional in my training approach 😂 !LOL
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Marathons are a bit scary. I can run a half without much preparation or worrying about nutrition, but a full one seems a big step up. I will see how it goes this year with some longer runs as I haven't done more than about 16km in a while.
Have fun.
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