How to Train For a Marathon:

Finally a month later i am finding time to post a blog about my La Marathon experience. I have gotten so many e-mails and messages from people asking how i trained,how i motivated myself, how i ate during training and also asking how hard it was. I promised i would post all you need to know about training, along with my own experience so here it goes....

My Dad got me a gym pass to LA Fitness in 11th grade. I went to the gym almost every night after i got my pass. I would run 3 miles, lift weights, squats, sit in the sauna and do sit-ups. I would normally spend about an 1 1/2 at the gym either with my boyfriend at the time, my best friend, my dad or alone when i needed time away from everyone. The gym was my get away and i loved going. Eventually the relationship i was in became really unhealthy and i stopped doing a lot of things for myself, including going to the gym. I got rid of my gym pass and asked my dad for a treadmill for x-mas instead of renewing my gym pass as he did every year. Sure enough i got my treadmill and running was my new focus! I put the treadmill in my room (my room at Dad's house was huge, hence the reason i lived at home for so long ). At first the treadmill did not get much use. Mainly because i had so much going on. I was working at the law firm 8-5, working at abercrombie certain nights from 6-10/weekends and going to LBCC 2 nights a week. I was busy and i was busy trying to make my relationship work too. I gained about 10 lbs in between that time : P ten gross pounds! Yuck, i would look at pictures and think to myself "how did i let myself go, i was sooooooooo into working out". I felt gross! I quit abercrombie eventually and had my nights back. I started running on my treadmill after dinner every night (3 miles)! After about two weeks i became so frustrated, i was not losing any weight! 117 every time i would get on the damn scale and it made me so angry!! I had to do something different. So, i cut sodas out of my diet and stopped eating fast food. My life was so on the go at that time, all i had time for was fast food and sodas! About 2 weeks later, the numbers on the scale started changing..115 woohoo!!! From that point on i became obsessed. 6 miles burned enough calories to where i could still afford to some of the "bad" things i craved so i ran 6 miles everyday no matter what (on the treadmill and outside). My weight dropped to 105 and had pretty much stayed there ever since. I gave up sodas almost 7years ago and still never even crave one...i became a health nut and now it's a lifestyle i have created for both Josh and I. I created a lifestyle for myself and i am very dedicated to every part of it.

So now that you know how i started running, you must know that i NEVER EVER thought of doing a marathon. It just never crossed my mind that i was an athlete and that i could accomplish such a thing as 26.2 miles. Like really, who in their right mind does that for fun? You know from a previous blog i posted that my boss ran it too and he talked me into signing up along with helping train me. Being the competitive person i am i decided to take on this challenge and give it my all. I was determined to finish and finish strong. They say most girls either do not finish a marathon or they do finish but in 5 hours or longer. I was not going to be one of those average girls and anyone who knows me, knows this about me: I will not settle for anything less then what i want! I am a strong headed girl and i have ALWAYS been a strong headed girl i will go for what i want and i wont stop till i get it.

I started training in November 2009 and marathon day was March 21, 2010. Basically 4 months of training. For anyone that wants to train for a marathon/half marathon here is an idea of how i trained:

TRAINING:
I Started running on a Sunday. Saturday or Sunday should always be the day you do a LONG RUN. Your long runs are EVERYTHING when training, short runs just prepare you for those long runs. Your first long run should start at 10 miles. Here is an idea of what your running schedule should look like while training for a marathon:

Week #1
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week#2
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-12 mile run

Week #3
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week #4
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-14 mile run

Week #5
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week #6
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-16 mile run

Week #7
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week #8
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-18 mile run

Week #9
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week #10
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-20 mile run

Week #11
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week #12
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-22 mile run

Week #13
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-10 mile run

Week #14
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-15 mile run

Week #15
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-12 mile run

Week #16
Mon-Day off
Tues-6 mile run
Wed-6 mile run
Thur-6 mile run
Fri-5 mile run
Sat-Day off
Sun-MARATHON DAY


Keep in mind that I ran 5/6 miles Tues-Fri because it's routine for me. My boss (who is a faster runner then I) ran 4 mile runs throughout the week during training and that totally worked for him. Like I said, you're most important runs are your long runs so NEVER EVER skip a long run because all your doing is setting yourself back a whole lot. I did all my short runs and ten mile runs on my treadmill and my long runs down by the beach or the riverbed. I bought this awesome expensive GPS watch to track my running when i run outside. I definitely recommend this watch to anyone who runs outside. It tracks everything from your pace, calories, speed, laps, etc...it stores nearly 200 of your runs so you can always look back and see which run you did the best on. It's also fun to have marathon day because you can pace yourself perfectly to your goal time.

I was told to do a little uphill training. I did not listen and did not do any uphill training at all. I recommend everyone else to train at least some uphill because LA Marathon had a ton of hills i was unprepared for. Somehow, i don't know how..even with no training for uphill at all i made top 3% of all the women and i fin shed before 90% of the men. If i would have trained uphill too, my time would have been even better! O-well, next one for sure

EATING:
All of you already know i eat extremely healthy. It's a lifestyle for me so i did not really have to change my eating habits while training. Eating right is important if your a runner and especially if your training for something this big. Bad foods can effect your run and mess with your stomach or create cramping while running...I eat a ton of berries, bananas, oatmeal, protein such as fish and chicken, spinach and drank a ton of water because it's just as important to stay hydrated. A Typical day of eating is something like this for me:

Breakfast- Oatmeal w/ blueberries and raspberries and half a cup of coffee with soy milk

Snack-Yogurt and a banana

Lunch-Spinach leafs with a cut up apple in it and a little cheese with dressing

Snack-Fiber bar

Dinner-Sushi, chicken salad, or some sort of chicken dish (i eat my biggest meal at night since i run in the mornings)

Desert-Anything i feel like..Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Chips, cookies..could be any of those : ) it's my only time to splurge!

The night before any long run (a long run is anything over ten miles)i ALWAYS make a HUGE pasta dinner with wheat pasta of course. This is pretty much the only time i eat pasta. I make pasta with garlic bread and it makes for a wonderful carb load and run the next day! You will notice eating pasta the night before a run will truly help with your run..it gives you a great amount of energy to run off.

Training Necessities:

-GU Packets (Josh bought me a box of these and they lasted my whole time training and marathon day....The box comes with a mixture of GU..some with no caffeine, some with little caffeine, some with 1x the amount of caffeine and some with 2x the amount of caffeine. I will go into the purpose of GU shortly)

-A good Pair of running shoes (I Found that Nike is does not carry a good shoe for long runs so i stopped buying Nike and i now use the Asics Gel 2150...much cheaper shoe, very light weight (which is what you want) and very comfortable)

-GPS Watch (it's hard to find a good one, i have the Garmin Forerunner 305 which is kind of big and bulky but I'm not trying to look cool during my run lol i wanted the best watch to track my performance and this one is GREAT. They run between $200-$300)

-Water (I was lucky enough to have my husband with me on all my long run so he carried my water but i know they sell a water bottle you can sorta attach to your hand which makes it easier to run with) You wont need this marathon day though, there are a million water stations.

-Comfortable running clothes...the lighter the clothing the better..and a good sports bra ( I have a few that sucked and actually cut into my skin during my runs)

GU packets:
These are great for that boost of energy you may need during a long run. I recommend only using them on anything over 6 miles. I only used them on runs over 12 but that's only because i really don't need the energy...someone just recommended i train with them and so i gave them a shot and surprisingly i liked them. Anyway, a GU pack is basically a quick source of carbs the pack contains 100 calories and 25g of carbs..you take one every 45 min or every 6 miles. They are great and if you start getting hungry during your run they curb your appetite as well. If you drink a lot of caffeine shame on you lol j/k if drink a lot of caffeine then the packs with caffeine will work best for you. I found that for someone like me who does not drink much caffeine at all could not use the one's with caffeine because it upset my stomach during my run so i stuck to the ones with no caffeine.

So now that you know the basics of training, stay tuned for another blog on my Marathon experience and tips i have to share if your considering running one yourself.