Saturday, May 8, 2021

Oops, I'm running a marathon!

On May 15 I will be running the Tobacco Road Marathon in Cary, North Carolina and I am jumping out of my skin with excitement!

Here's how this happened...

I think we all know that I love running two marathons off of one training cycle...see the end of this post for the many, many times I have done this previously (really it should be more surprising when I don't do it!). Though I specifically noted I wasn't going to add a spring marathon at the end of this post, in early April I really started salivating to run one, in part because I was running PR workouts but also because I just love the marathon.  Please also refer to * at the end of this post, hah.  

I initially set out to find a marathon that was 3-5 weeks after the Frisco 50k, on a fast course, with a competitive field, and in cool weather so that I could PR-chase.  That marathon did not exist, especially with a lot of marathons still being cancelled.  I learned I was going to have to give up the competitive field piece, and found a race that met the other 3 criteria but was full.  I requested an elite entry into that sold out race, but could not get one, so the search continued.  Tobacco Road met only my 3-5 weeks criteria - it's on a rails to trails gravel course and it will probably be warm - but I was able to obtain an elite entry into the race.  Now though, I think it's just what I need: a fun marathon where my biggest goal is to compete to place as high as possible, without regard for time.

Shortly after I decided to run Tobacco Road and right before I was going to make my travel arrangements, my TFL bothered me for several days and I decided I wouldn't run it after all.  Then the 50k fixed my TFL, or more likely it was just one of those weird taper things (when I read this post it made a lot of sense!).  I also felt less beat up from the gravel 50k than from any road marathon I've ever run, and after a lot of consideration and prayer, I booked my plane ticket to North Carolina for some more rails to trails racing!  My friend Christian will be joining me as an elite in the half marathon!


I think we all also know I am very analytical, so I looked at my past experience as part of the decision-making process.  I've responded well to running two marathons off of one training cycle numerous times, and more than once I've then done a half marathon that went wonderfully two weeks after the second marathon.  More often than not, my second marathon has been faster than my first, I believe in part due to fitness gains sustained from the first (I realize a 50k is not a marathon, but for the purposes of this analysis I'm considering it like one).  Once I started looking back, I decided to make a list because I did not realize nearly how much I'd done this!  Although running multiple goal marathons off of one training cycle is still not "standard", it has become more common in the past couple of years thanks to things like Sara Hall's awesomeness and people making multiple 2020 OTQ attempts before the window closed.  When I first began doing it, it was simply because I didn't know any better and it was fun...well, that is still a lot of the case, haha!

My double marathon+ list (I did not include any shorter races or half marathons I did during the build to marathon #1, but they always happened as well):
**I will also mention that twice the two marathons off of one cycle thing did not go as hoped for me, and oddly enough both times were when I added Houston.  Besides the clear take-away that I should not add Houston, I think I have identified the problematic variables in the equation, which included last-minute rescheduling from CIM 2019 to Houston 2020 due to my brother's passing, bronchitis (never helpful in races!), and a holiday plus power-packed vacation between races - plus CIM 2017 to Houston 2018 was also influenced by my super long training build to CIM, during which I ran all of my easy runs too fast.  Both times I ran Houston I had a lot of second thoughts about it - likely God telling me not to run it! - which should have told me something as well!  Hindsight, right?

Ultimately, none of us are guaranteed another training cycle, so I'm extremely thankful to get to tack on one more race to this one that I am already beyond thankful for.  After the race I'll take some downtime before a summer of speed followed by building to a fall PR marathon attempt, or two...

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