5 Things I learned about the marathon without running it
Reflections on my best marathon preparation to date
In a bold move, I am sending out this new Z Letter on a Friday, instead of a Monday. You’re all being A/B-tested for the sake of finding the best send day. So please stay relaxed and act naturally.
I am determined not to write about my current injury (Osteitis Pubis). Mostly because this issue and writing topic will accompany me for a while, and there’s probably much more insightful things to say about it in a couple of days or weeks (or months?). If you, however, want to chat with me about running injuries, you are very welcome.
Long story short, my injury stopped me (literally last minute) from participating in my A-race, the Bienwald Marathon in Kandel. If all had gone well (or even not so well), I surely would have written down my reflections on the actual preparation for this event. Mostly for the reason that it was entirely different from any other training I had ever done.
Well, the fact that I did not race does not stop me from sharing my reflecting on this marathon training. So, here’s what I learned and unlearned during those 4 months.
1. Detraining and base building is a thing
I used to regard peak shape as a status quo rather than a goal. In other words, I tried to keep “my level” (whatever that is) all year round. Whenever I had the feeling I was slowing down, I infused some interval sessions. Whenever I feared losing my endurance, I did a couple of long runs. As an alternative, I started a short-termed race preparation altogether. I found it easy to retrieve my status quo, but real leaps in my athletic development didn’t seem to happen too often.
When I committed to running my first proper road marathon after more than 3 years, the first training blocks my coach Karim scheduled were detraining and base building. And I hated it. A wobbly 8 weeks with disturbingly low milage and almost exclusively low effort runs.
After a rather sobering racing experience at a local New Year’s 10k race , I surprisingly gained great momentum in my training. I guess it was more surprising to me than to my coach, who stoically sat out all my doubts and complaints during the first weeks of my preparation and countered my (un)expected solid result at a 15k race (just one week after the 10k mentioned above) and a really fast half-marathon at a ridiculously low heart rate shortly thereafter with a “told you so” kind of vibe. I loved it. Both, his reaction and the great progress in my training.
2. Progress is slow, non-linear and not to be taken for granted
Speaking of progress. I am a very structured and well-organized person. I love it when things go according to plan. In my ideal world things are logic, predictable and controllable. During this marathon preparation, I found out that running is unlike this world.
The basic rules of cause and effect do, in fact, apply to running, as well. But only if you look at it from afar. The big picture will always reveal, that progress is actually taking place.
The problem is, that most of us are trapped in a weekly based or even day-to-day kind of view. We expect that one great workout will boost the subsequent one. We believe that a certain number of long runs will grant us the endurance to run a full marathon at a predicted race pace. We hope that every interval session will automatically improve our 10k PB.
What I learned is that all of this is true. But also complete and utter BS. It depends on the perspective. Near vs. far.
3. There is no such thing as “junk miles”
One day, Karim asked me what a jog is to me (Spoiler: He’s also a sports psychologist). There was an easy 50 minute run scheduled in my Training Peaks calendar. So, I had the chance to find the answer to my coach’s question in a real field study. Here’s what I discovered:
A jog is much more than a physical workout. It restores and sharpens our senses, grounds our minds us and reignites our desire for more, longer and tougher runs to come. It’s a crucial part of any training plan. Of running in general, for that matter.
4. You have to understand the purpose of the workout to execute it properly
I love training plans. They unknot my head, give structure to my life and bewitch my soul with a sense of purpose. While this is not a new finding for me, the way how I carry out those plans is totally fresh.
I used to favor a “grit your teeth and bear it” approach in the past. My coach Karim, on the contrary, taught me to realize (even visualize) the purpose of every single workout.
On the one hand, this gives every run a unique and tangible meaning. It feels like adding little pieces to your big goal, every time you lace up your shoes.
On the other hand, it sharpens your awareness of what we casually call a “bad day”. It is normal, that you don’t feel great and perform at your highest level on every run. Knowing the purpose of your workout at hand, gives you a great tool to decide whether to keep on going, or to call it a day. Examples? Sure.
If you are out for an easy shakeout run at the end of a tough training week, you can surely keep on going, even if you feel weak. The purpose of this workout is to get the blood flowing and fire up your recovery. Nothing more. Nothing less.
If it’s a quality long run infused with race pace intervals, it might be better to skip or alter the workout, if you don’t feel ready for this. Quality long runs are really demanding and aim to develop both, your endurance and your speed hardness. They have a high risk of injury and if they don’t go as planned, they can also backfire mentally.
5. No one cares about your weekly milage, but you
As runners, we all have a personal threshold of what we call "a good training week". Usually, it’s a number of workouts (6 in my case) and a specific number of kilometers, that give us that desirable feeling of accomplishment. I won’t tell you the exact milage I have burned in my mind, but be certain, most of my (and also your) friends have the same number in their head, haha!
I learned that it totally depends on the training phase / block you’re in, whether a lot of miles and long hours make sense or not. Sure, there’s a time for peak weeks with high volumes. But during this marathon preparation, I witnessed the biggest gains coming from the weeks with the lowest number of kilometers. Still sounds totally irrational to me, but it somehow makes sense if you look at the bigger picture, mentioned above. There’s 10-12 wholly consistent easy weeks and roughly 4 tough ones. Do the math.
Inconvenient conclusion
“So if this marathon preparation was oh so great, why did you get injured then?”
This, my friends, I will answer in another Z Letter, coming your way sooner than you think.
Everything not running
Last week’s “Why are you here?”-survey revealed that a considerable number of you (52%) signed up for Das Z Letter because they love Willpower (…and not me. What a bummer). That’s why I am considering writing a bit about the good, the bad and the ugly of running a small business more or less as a one-man show.
Not today, though. I will leave you with a quote by my (currently) favorite author Steven Pressfield instead:
“Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”
Think about it. THINK. ABOUT IT.
You‘re absolutely right. Your weekly kilometers should only matter to yourself. All those Strava leaderboards point into the wrong direction as we are all different and train different. We should rather look at the kilometers we ran weeks and month ago and then see how we progress.
Also, being scared of something is ok, but only to some extent. If you‘re too scared to think or move, it‘s probably not too helpful. :)