Lessons from the Madison Marathon
You know, Erin and I ran TWO half marathons together this spring (one and two), and the race photographers could not manage to get a decent photo of the two of us together. I was kind of bummed.
But the Madison Marathon? During which Erin ran the last 6ish miles with me as a bandit? Two great photos (of her anyway, and with the Capitol in the background!):
Maybe one of us should always run as a bandit?
Anyway, post marathon recovery has been good. I felt great by Tuesday night and went out for a short run yesterday. I will start training for the Milwaukee and NYC Marathons the week of June 13th. I will try to take it easy until then!
I have been thinking of a few things I need to do differently for my next marathon, a few “lessons learned”:
- Do NOT use the Pedi-Bean to remove calluses from the bottom of your feet – they are THERE for a reason. I had one callus on the bottom of my left foot that I worked on rubbing down, and guess what hurt the most during the marathon? The bottom of my left foot. Where that callus was.
- Eat a normal dinner/breakfast the night before/day of. I had crackers and fruit and a PB sandwich late the night before. Dumb. And there was no microwave in the hotel, so I didn’t have my normal breakfast (oatmeal). Also dumb.
- Don’t eat junk food the week before the race. I did. And my bathroom schedule was all off. I didn’t have my normal morning poo and stopped to go three times on the course. Awesome. I still kind of think if I hadn’t stopped at mile 8 I could have stuck with the 4:15 pace group awhile longer. I am not saying the entire race, but at least a few more miles.
- Don’t get so heavy. I weighed more during this race than the Chicago Marathon. This race was easier, but still, I was carrying that extra weight. Not fun.
- Don’t get so cocky. Seriously, I thought I had this race in the bag, based on my awesome training. Not so much. And I thought the hills would be no big deal despite not training for them. 5a – Train for hills. My next two marathons have hills, so I will be running them. There are actually a few hills near my home!
- Support is KEY. It was so wonderful to have Steven see me and be so encouraging, and to have Erin run the last few miles with me.
I really want to get better at this. I don’t want to be someone who runs marathons but really sucks at it. I really need to up my mental game. On the way home, I said to Steven “Why are half marathons so easy for me, but fulls aren’t?” He pointed out that I told him at mile 11 I was not going to meet my goal – before the half marathon point. My heart just wasn’t in this – I gave up early on. I think I was looking for something to cheer me up and make me happy, and that was too much pressure to put on this race (and unreasonable too).
Here are a few photos that show my mixed emotions:
Note: those smiles are staged.
The first time I saw a photographer on course was when I was taking that GU in the third pic… that must have been mile 16? I remember thinking “I hope the only official photo of me from this race is NOT me taking this GU.” Luckily, they had a lot of photographers at the end.
After I wrote that, I looked at the picture and realized that was me drinking water very close to the end. I don’t have my belt on (I gave it to Steven at mile 22). So, they didn’t include the GU pic. That is good.
I have not been intentionally quiet here this week. I am just worn out (from not getting much sleep), and cannot think of much to blog about, besides running and exercise. I will do my best to not have this turn in to a solely running blog, but we’ll see what happens.
Themocracy
Wow. I look ridiculous! But I’m glad they got some photos of the two of us together 😉
Those are some great lessons to take away from this experience.
I thought you looked good! Well, good next to me? 🙂
Seriously, I didn’t think about that stupid pedi foot thing. That was so dumb of me! A lot of this was. Oh well 😉
We all go through blogging slumps – sometimes I just cant find anything fun to write about! Hope you get some rest this weekend! You got some great race photos! Mine are always horrible!
Hahaha, you should check out my current status update!
I got an awesome foot scrub that finally got rid of all the bad calluses I have on my feet. Then I hopped on the treadmill for 3 miles, and not only got blisters on those exact spots, but one was even a blood blister. FROM 3 MILES RUNNING! I had a feeling it was not a good idea (seeing the calluses were in my usual “hot spots”), but didn’t know it’d be this bad!
I guess we are not meant to have pretty soft girly feet…
I guess I am lucky I have never had a blood blister! Steven has… but I just get the big juicy ones. Eww.
Goofy photo of you and Erin! It sounds like you’ve been thoughtful about this and how you may adjust training for Milwaukee & NYC!
I have a question – do you in general like the photos of you? (nothing against your photos!!) I have been reviewing my photos from Illinois Marathon and Soldier Field and have not been happy enough with my photos to post or share them. I feel like I truly look like a penguin waddling! You appear to be standing much taller (apart from our height difference) than I do as I run…
One thing I want to work on this summer is looking better in my photos! Just have to figure out what that actually means!
I generally do like photos of me. I mean, sometimes race photos are pretty bad… but that just makes me laugh. I am pretty easy going on myself though. The only ones I dislike are the ones where my face looks fat.
If you want to look better in your running photos, you should probably focus on your form! Not saying you need to, but it may help 🙂
You learn every time you get out there, and you’ve taken some great lessons away from this one. I’d be happy to hit some hills with you! That’s one area we can all use some work, I think…
Shall we hit the hills tonight then? MUAH HA HA HA
ha
I hope you know how bad ass you are. You are!
Thanks sizzle 🙂
Are you running with a Bluetooth in your ear?
No – lol. That is my Sony Walkman MP3 player! http://www.ilaxstudio.com/blog/2011/03/17/sony-w-series-walkman-mp3-player-review-and-giveaway/
I do have another cordless MP3 player that doubles as bluetooth, but I don’t use it when I am racing because it means I would have to carry my phone. And the last time I did that during a race (ahem, Chicago) I ruined it (my phone)!
I’m lovin’ those capitol photos! And don’t worry, I always try to smile when I see the camera man. Otherwise my pics looks sooo silly!
I still say “Congratulations!”. And it’s always good to learn something from a race, even if it means that you didn’t have the most awesome race ever. Plus, you had great smiles for the camera.
I have tons of hills where I live – can’t escape them, really – and I curse them every single time I take a run right out my door. But I do feel that they make me stronger.
Finally, I’m so happy to know that there is a name for running a race illegally – bandit! That is so awesome.
Wait, you ran a marathon? Did I know this? I leave the world for 1.5 weeks, and the things that happen….
Anyway, congrats!!!
And I’m sure in the future that whole ‘lessons learned’ list will be something that you’re thankful for in the future. Mistakes now hopefully mean more marathons without [the same] mistakes later 🙂
Thanks for this. I just bought one of those pedi-bean thingys and have been working on removing calloused blisters off the inside ball of my feet (just down from my big toes). I will keep in mind that I should not use that thing for a few weeks leading up to the marathon.
I think you did put a lot of pressure on this race to mask other things in your life. At least you realize it and can hopefully put less pressure on yourself in future races. I can’t even imagine running longer than a half marathon distance (yet). I’m just impressed that you keep trucking along by signing up for more marathons. I have every intention of only running one but we’ll see.