7 Lessons from running 3 marathons in 9 months
In late 2023, I took up running as a way to decompress from the stresses of college. I went into running with the little experiences I had from middle school cross-country and sporadic pandemic runs. It was post-college when I decided to spend my funemployed free time to sign up and train for my first half marathon.
In hindsight, training for my first half marathon was about as disorganized as solving a rubix cube for the first time. I used carbon-plated race shoes as my daily trainers. I did a 14-mile without any build-up, resulting in my first knee injury. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! Somehow, I pulled out with a time of 1hr 41min (7:48/mi pace) - not bad!
A year and some change later, I knew I had to cross off full marathon from my bucket list, so I signed up for the Long Beach Marathon. It was this race where I knew I had to make some serious changes in training regimen. After 18 weeks of training, I pulled a time of 3hr 18min (7:20/mi pace).
I had caught the marathon bug. Since then, I ran LA Marathon in 3hr 1min (X:XX pace) and the SF Marathon in 2hr 56min (X:XX pace) - my personal best thus far. My goal here is to share my biggest learnings after running 3 marathons in 9 months, and logging over 2,000 miles.
1. Fatigue over fitness
I saw this as the richest indicator of improvement in running fitness. Ensuring my fatigue level was greater than my fitness level was helpful for knowing if I was pushing hard enough. For this, I used a tool called Intervals.icu. This means accumulating enough fatigue to push your fitness to a higher level than it was before. If I wasn't working out as hard, I knew to bump it up a notch. If I was working too hard, I knew to take the foot off the gas a bit.
2. Training the mind
In a way, running marathons is all about the journey than the destination. The key to achieving the performance you want is predicted by showing up when you least want to. Running in the rain, waking up at 5am, running 14 miles on treadmill, running up-and-down hills - these are all things I wanted to do the least but eventually found to be the most influential in developing mental resilience necessary for race day.
3. Learning about your body
As time-consuming as training for a race is, I found it beneficial to use the 8 hours a week spent running trying new things and learning what my body liked and disliked. During training blocks I am constantly trying new gel brands, diets, supplements, and staying with what works best for the weeks leading up to race day.
4. Finding a daily out-and-back route
This was probably the best running hack I used to make training feel easier. Every day for months I would run the same exact street starting from my apartment to Golden Gate Park. I ran down Hayes St. in SF probably about 300+ times. Seeing the same restaurants, stores and parks as I ran took out the mental strain of crossing off a specific number of miles. I knew running to this particular statue in GGP-and-back would easily cross off 5 miles without thinking. Reaching Ocean Beach and turning back meant an easy 10 miles. This was even something I researched before moving to my new apartment!
5. The tempo long run
This is the type of run I tried best not to skip. This is the best mirror of what you'd feel on race day
6. Embracing zone 4 heart rate
Contrary to the popular "20/80" rule of marathon training - ensuring 80% of runs are in zone 2 and 20% in zone 4, I probably did the opposite. 80% of my runs were in Zone 4, and race day Heart Rate ended up in this area.
7. The 3-day carb load
Out of three races, I've been grateful (knock on wood) to not have experienced what some may call "the wall" at the latter half of a marathon. I think this is primarily due to my aggressive approach to carb-loading. Prior to each of my races, I develop a plan to ensure I'm ingesting 8-10g of carbs per kg of body weight. For me that meant around 550-700g of carbs for 3 days leading up to race day. Below is a rundown of my typical diet during these three days. A small helpful tip is to load more on Friday and less on Saturday to prevent race-day bloating.
| Thursday (~555g) | Friday (~618g) | Saturday (~600g) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Oats (1 cup dry), banana, honey, raisins, white toast + jam, ½ cup OJ (~142g) | Pancakes (3), maple syrup, banana, 1 cup OJ (~150g) | Oats (1 cup dry), honey, banana, pancakes (2), ½ cup OJ (~150g) |
| Lunch | White rice (2 cups), lean protein 6 oz, peeled zucchini, pretzels, sports drink (~148g) | White rice (2.5 cups), lean protein 6 oz, teriyaki, pretzels (~162g) | Largest meal: white pasta (3.5 cups), marinara, lean protein 5 oz, white bread (2), sports drink (~200g) |
| Snack | Bagel + jam, sports drink (~88g) | Bagel + honey, banana, sports drink sips (~100g) | Bagel, pretzels, banana, sports drink 20 oz (~150g) |
| Dinner | White pasta (3 cups), marinara, lean ground protein 4 oz, white bread (~152g) | Main load: white pasta (4 cups), marinara, lean protein 4 oz, white bread (~176g) | Earlier & smaller (5–6pm): white rice (2 cups), lean protein 3 oz, white bread (~100g) |
| Evening | Applesauce, 1 cup (~42g) | Applesauce, 1 cup (~42g) | Banana (optional), stop solids by ~8pm (~27g) |
Race morning (Sunday, 3–4 hrs before, ~85g): bagel + honey + banana, sip sports drink to the start. Keep normal caffeine routine.