It’s been a fun ride. Early in 2017, I made a point to just say to myself if I don’t start now I probably never will. I needed to get into gear the 50 Half-marathons and 50 Full-marathons in the United States rolling. Also to include 7 Half-marathons and 7 Full-marathons on each continent. On top of The Big Six Marathons. So I kicked it off with 5 states in 2017, the only problem was that it was within 9 weeks of each other. Sounds dumb? Sure. But that’s okay. I just want to put out there a few things I learned from this experience.
Maryland – 1:35:40
New Jersey – 1:31:03
Pennsylvania – 1:29:02
Delaware – 1:27:27
New York – 1:34:11
More mileage needed. I know for a fact I didn’t get enough milage under my belt. While the last few months I had been averaging over 100 miles a month, It was possible due to just running more often (sometimes up to 3 times a day) compared to running long runs. If I want to make myself more competitive I know I’ll need to double up on some days (run early in the morning and after work) and adding more milage. My longest run during this time didn’t eclipse over 8 miles. But I know moving forward I’ll need to hit double digits consistently.
Nothing wrong with a change of scenery. A lot of my training was controlled. I had a decent amount of treadmill runs. And when I was running outside, I would often hit a trail (which is pretty flat) or just the running paths I would have didn’t have much elevation change to them. In order to improve, I need to seek hills. I should run challenging trails. There are a lot of great parks where I am and I need to take advantage of them to take my running to the next level.
Strength training saved my legs. I will continue to weight lift. I’ll do my best to pick up really heavy things, push heavy things, and pull heavy things. I think it’s one of the reasons it allowed to not invest as much time in the distance and mileage portion of my training. But with that said, I will have to find the balance of creating a great strength program to not just supplement but to augment my running. I won’t sacrifice one for the other because I think with research, reading, and learning I can find a great balance and not have to sacrifice one for the other.
Proper warm-up, slightly necessary. I don’t necessarily mean static stretching. Nor do I static stretch prior to any workout, no matter the intensity. But getting a great dynamic warm-up is important to success in the workout or racing event.
Change up the Footwear. It’s well documented I love Nike and only run in Nike. The shoe of choice, Nike Zoom Fly. I rotate numerous Nike Zoom Flys. I occasionally will run in Nike Pegasus 34s, usually for track workouts and speed days. But for any other occasion, it’s the Nike Zoom Fly. Rotating through the shoes assures me the shoe itself has recovered from the workout the day before, it keeps the shoes fresh and allows them to last longer preventing me from having to buy shoes more often because I am only running in one shoe.
I am excited for what 2018 will bring. Hopefully able to knock off a few states. Let’s do it! Happy Holidays!