I read a lot and on many different subjects. Yes, I still find myself out of the loop more often than I like to admit. So this week, it will be about things I wish I knew earlier than I found out.
Marathon is 26.2 miles
These are screen shots of my 4 marathons since I started using Garmin. I started the moment I crossed the start line and turned them off right after crossing finish line. As you can see, all of them say quite a bit more than 26.2 miles. Marathon is only technically 26.2 miles – that’s the length of the course. However, there are a few factors that will impact the actual distance you will run, some more obvious than others. The easiest one to guess is that you will add a bit of distance if you need to take a bathroom break. They are usually close to the road, but it’s still a bit away. There is also taking corners, where you can add a bit of distance and depending on the race, there may be a lot of those. A huge chunk of that distance though comes from fighting for position on the course. On some races, such as Marine Corps or Baltimore marathon, you run in big crowds on roads too narrow for everybody to fit in nicely. So you end up looking for openings and that can add up. There is also another thing that adds up distance (or might lose you some) on your GPS: bad connectivity. I have dealt with that quite a bit during races and while on regular runs. For many, this may not be an issue. However, some areas have just bad GPS connections. In my case, the issue most frequently come from proximity to government buildings. I regularly run by Pentagon and I ride my bike every now and then close to Langley. DC and VA are full of areas where GPS gets confused (pro tip: make sure you know where you are going ahead of time rather than relying on maps in your phone, especially if you are driving). It has gotten better over the years, but is still frequently an issue.
Biofreeze
This is probably actually the top thing I wish somebody told me ahead of time – I didn’t know of its existence and I could have used it both during Marine Corps Marathon and Disney World Marathon, both way too hot for me. When I was waiting for my flight home from Orlando, I met a lady who did the Dopey Challenge (5k, 10k, half and full on four consecutive days at Disney) and she kept talking about biofreeze and how much it helped her. I looked it up online and found a lot about it being pain relief. Apparently though it also helps when you are overheating. I wish I knew… I was overheating so badly… They had it in huge red containers at every medical station (every mile due to extreme weather) and I saw people putting it all over themselves. While running, I thought it was vaseline, so you wouldn’t chafe. I did find it suspicious that people were putting it all over themselves. Why would you grease yourself up when it’s this hot??? I still remember using grease during my first open water swim race instead of a wet suit (I will definitely write about that experience in the future). It looked like pure insanity! Now I know it was the smart thing to do and I wish I knew it earlier. Note from my personal trainer: I asked Diana (my personal goddess of all things fitness and nutrition) about biofreeze. She said it’s a good idea afterwards for recovery, but not during the run. It relaxes your muscle and you don’t get the full muscle memory out of it.
Feet warming up from freezing while you run hurts
Speaking of freezing… Having your feet freeze while you are waiting to start. This one I don’t think I could have prepared myself for. When I was waiting for the start of the Philadelphia Marathon, it was freezing – literally. I was dressed as warm as I could, but it didn’t help my feet. My feet are always freezing and clearly, they totally froze. Once I started warming up, they started to warm up as well. Around mile 2, it hurt as hell. You know the pain – when you go outside in freezing cold and then you thaw out when you go home. So it’s much worse when you are trying to run on the feet that are doing that. I guess lesson from that is to invest in something to warm up your feet if it’s this cold when you are waiting for your run to start.
Shear exhaustion afterwards
I believe that by now, this one is well advertised online: people like to plan all the parties they will attend afterwards, all the eating and drinking. Reality is much more prosaic. All you want is to shower, be off your feet and preferably take a nap. I don’t know how many of you own watches that remind them to move if they sit for too long. After my first marathon when I had my watch, it started beeping and I got really angry at it, like ‘I already did 40k (or whatever it was) and you want me to still move??? Go to hell!’ I talked to a coworker who has one of those watches and runs marathons a few day later and she admitted that when her watch started beeping, she got so angry that she threw it across the room. So apparently that’s normal. Another kind of exhaustion I have experienced was mental. After my first marathon, all I wanted to do was cry. I still don’t really know why. I haven’t experience it to that degree since, but it’s a good thing to be prepared for: you will be drained of both physical and mental energy afterwards.
Knee pain
I was surprised that it wasn’t really my muscle that hurt afterwards as much as my knees. I have experienced some knee issues before, so I spoke to Diana about it. Apparently, it’s caused by bad running posture and stepping crooked. The more tired you are, the sloppier your step gets and that’s what causes tightness and pulling on everything inside your knee. Since it’s tight ligaments, there are some pretty simple stretches that can relieve a lot of that. I promise to post some time in the future about stretches I have learned to relieve pressure and pain in various body parts.
Little widgets that make your life easier
A lot of us enjoy various gadgets while we run. Many of them are not strictly necessary, but that doesn’t stop us, does it? For example: we know we could hold our phones in our hands while running, but who wants to do that on a longer run? That’s why they have arm bands. Although I have a personal issue with arm bands – cell phones are getting bigger and now the corner of the band chafes against my arm. It’s awful and frequently I get embarrassed to wear short sleeves in the summer. I think we all love our Glide for chafing in places where our skin rubs. Image above is of a fabulous discovery I made in Philly. It was going to be cold and I knew I would have to wear a jacket, but I was not excited to use safety pins and poke holes in the aforementioned jacket. At the expo, I found a stand with these little magnets and they had such awesome images! (I happen to be a fan of Wonder Woman) Later, I found out that there are also plastic options. Once of my marathon-running friends said that he thinks that the plastic ones are better because they are lighter. Personally, I have a talent for breaking things, so magnets sound like a better idea – I can’t break those! My daughter really enjoys playing with them, too. I guess to each their own, but I am happy to know that there are alternatives to safety pins out there.
I am sure that there are many other things that I had to learn the hard way afterwards. These are highlights for this week, but I am sure more will come. Have a great weekend and I hope the weather will allow you to train outside!