Top Ten Things to Do During Marathon Taper Week

It's the week before the marathon, and according to my marathon training plan I'm ready to run the marathon. Marathon runners know this week as Marathon Taper Week. Relatives and friends of marathon runners know this week as Get Out of the Way Week. And they use this time to plan a vacation in a different hemisphere from where the marathon runner will be located this week.

In the spirit of marathon taper week I've put together a "Top Ten" list of things for a marathon runner to do during taper week.

Top Ten Things to Do During Marathon Taper Week

10) Don't think about not running. This is really hard to do, because this is the week that the weather is perfect for running, and you notice that everyone else in the world is out running. 

9) Carbo load. You need to load-up on those carbs. Pasta, potatoes, bread. Bring it on! Remember, beer is full of carbs.

8) Check the weather forecast for race day. Obsessively check the weather. If you don't like the weather forecasted for race day the first time you check, keep checking until you get the forecast you like. 

7) Decide on what you will wear for the race. Have outfits ready for every type of weather condition you can imagine. Spend time trying on all these outfits.

6) Clean out your closet. Since your weekly mileage is down, you have all sorts of extra time. Be productive and clean out your closets. If after cleaning out your closets you still have extra time, you can clean out your garage, your kitchen pantry, your laundry room. The options are endless.

5) Memorize the race route map. This is important because you can't count that race officials will properly mark the course. Do you really want to  blindly follow the crowd and chance going off course? It's happened before. Don't take chances and memorize the route. 

4) Go on a  short, two-mile easy run to keep your muscles loose. This is also better known as attending the marathon expo. You can get your two miles of cross training easily by walking to the expo, walking around the expo, and standing in line.

3) Put together your marathon play list. If you spent enough time memorizing the race course, then you can even choreograph the music to coincide with the landmarks on the marathon route.

2) Set your alarm for race day, and in case you're worried that you will not hear the alarm, set two or three other alarms. The more alarms you can set, the better.

And the most important thing to do on marathon taper week.

1) Show up at the start line on the right day. 

The 26.2-Mile-Long Party

There is a mosh pit of people lined up on either side. The paparazzi are clamoring to get a better shot of you. The band is playing. People are cheering, waving banners, clapping. Complete strangers are trying to get your attention and are shouting out your name.

"Way to go, Kathy!"

 

"Looking Good, Susy!"

 

"Keep up the good work, Nicole!"

You look directly in front of you and see a cleared path to follow. People move out of the way to let you pass by. You are nervous and excited. The energy is all around. "That’s right," you think, "It’s time to Party. It’s time to get this 26.2 mile party on the road." Because this marathon has just started.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that anyone who links the word party with the word marathon is completely out of her mind. And I would normally agree with you on that one, if it weren’t for the endorphins from all the running. It’s like Elle Woods from Legally Blonde said, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy.” Yes, these endorphins make me so happy that I’m convinced that running a marathon is as much fun as a party, but wait, I can actually prove it.

First, other than Oktoberfest, where can you go and hang out with a mob of happy people with whom you share the same interests? A marathon is full of people with shared goals. Thousands and thousands of brand-new friends who, just like you, have trained for months. Friends that know what it's like to live off GUenergy gels and Gatorade for the past three months. They have carbo-loaded. They understand all about hill repeats, speed workouts, and long runs. If you tell them that you just ran 20 miles and then sat in a bathtub full of ice cubes afterward, they will nod and smile in understanding. And don’t forget that they also speak your language. Not only can they say the word fartlek, they can say it without bursting out laughing or quickly getting out of your way when you say it.

And if having thousands of new friends isn’t enough, how about all the celebrities you’ll see along the way? At my last marathon, I actually saw Elvis. I know, you thought he was dead, so did I, but there he was singing to me in front of the conservatory. By the way, I also saw Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, the Blues Brothers, and a gorilla. A real gorilla. He was just standing there giving everyone high-fives.

How about all the free food and drinks? I used to think that Saturday morning at Sam’s Club was the place to go for free food and drinks, but no, a marathon has that beat. You go to Sam’s Club and there you might see five, maybe six free sample tables with one person working and fifty people lined up in a single file line to get a bite of bacon-wrapped, cheese, mini dogs. At a marathon, you’ll find at least twenty-four stations of table, after table staffed by hundreds of people handing out refreshments, and the best part; no waiting. And then there are the random strangers that will give you bottled water, free candy, fresh fruit, home-baked cookies, and even ice-cold beer. Try to get free, ice-cold beer at Sam's Club.

How can it get better than this? Well how about all the cool party favors they hand out. At the Flying Pig Marathon, I got a brand-new, technical shirt with the coolest logo of a pig dressed up like Batman. Who doesn’t love pigs and Batman? But together? I know, wow! They also give you a brand new Asics gym bag, and all types of free samples.

But the best thing is the fans. They line up all along the 26.2 miles for hours and hours, just to watch and to cheer-on the runners. They have cowbells. They have megaphones. They have cute babies. They have streamers. And they have the best signs in the world. They make these signs that say things like:

“Worst Parade Ever” (which is funny because it’s not true)

“Chuck Norris never ran a marathon."

“Don’t stop people are watching."

"Why do all the cute ones run away?”

And the best sign of all, at the mile 25 marker: “The end is near.”

As you can see, a marathon is just one long party. You get to make thousands of new friends. You get to rub elbows with celebrities. You get free stuff. You have strangers cheering you on and entertaining you the entire time. But best of all is that moment when you think that you’ve had enough fun. It’s been close to four hours and you look straight ahead. The end is near (that guy at mile 25 was right). You cross the finish line with your arms held high. And just as you stop, a fan places a medal around your neck. A shiny new medal. Now that’s what I call the end of a great party. A 26.2-mile-long party.

My New and Improved Marathon Playlist

I had a great playlist that I used for my last marathon, that is, until I grew tired of it, memorizing all the songs, knowing what song would come next in line, getting tired of the songs. So I thought I would just rearrange a few songs here and there, add some new songs, and "voila!" I would have a new playlist for my next marathon.

Unfortunately, as I found out when I started to put together my new playlist, it wasn't as easy as it sounded, but, finally, success. My playlist is ready, and as I promised in my previous post, here it is. It includes songs that I like, songs that have a beat that work well with running at a 9:00-10:00 minute mile pace, and it includes enough songs to cover about 5 hours of running time, hopefully more than enough time for me to finish the marathon.

I tested this playlist in bits and pieces during the past two weeks.  I had to change some of the songs around a few times, and I am now confident that what I have here is my new and improved playlist.

Well here it is:

Putting Together a Running Playlist for a Marathon

For the longest time I thought that it was silly to listen to music while running.  First, a lot of the running books I have read talked about how it was dangerous to run while listening to music, something about being distracted and not being able to hear what was going on around you.  Then, there was the whole idea of focusing on your form, on your breathing, and on your pace.  And of course,they reasoned, running with music made it difficult to actually enjoy the run. So I ran without music.

Yes, I actually did run without music. And while running without music, I was enjoying the scenery, saying "hi" to other runners, talking to people that were outside, and listening to the wonderful sounds of traffic nature, but the day I went on my first sixteen-mile run, I realized that I would need music to run or I would drive myself crazy.

That's when I started to research music players.  I spent countless hours trying to figure out what music player I needed, how much storage capacity I would need, and how long the batteries lasted.  In the end, I ended up picking the cheapest player I could get that was small, had a capacity of at least 8 gigabytes, and had a decent rating on the various websites.  After that, I thought I would bring the player home, put some music on it, and take it out for a run.

Little did I know that picking the music player was the easy part.  Next, I had to figure out how to put music on it.  It involved downloading software, formatting the player, figuring out how the software worked, and by trial and error I was able to get the player to start working.  Yes, now I was ready to put music on my player.

After a few more hours of loading my CD collection into my computer and transferring the music to my player, I was ready to listen to my music while running.  But wait, not all the songs I owned were good for running.  I quickly found out that a song wasn't good for running simply because I liked it.  No, it wasn't that easy.  The song needed to have the right beat.

So I started my search for good running music.  I checked various websites and asked other runners what songs they liked to listen to while running.  I learned that everyone had their own ideas about what made good running music.  I also learned a lot about beats per minute (bpm) and how important it was to find songs with the correct bpm for your running pace.

This was a good start. I was able to put together a playlist, and I began to run with music. For the record, while running with music, I was still able to enjoy the scenery, I could still say "hi" to other runners, I could still talk to other people that were running with me or were outside, and I could still hear what was going on around me. But after running to the same playlist for close to a year, memorizing not just the songs but the order they came in, and actually beginning to not like a few of the songs on the playlist, I needed to quickly come up with something different.

Therefore, I put together a new playlist for the half marathon I ran this past weekend.  It worked so well, that I decided to put together a brand new playlist for the marathon next month, but this whole experience has been harder than I imagined.  First of all, it will probably take me about five hours to complete the marathon, which means that I will need at least eighty songs on my playlist.  I need eighty songs that are good for running, that I will enjoy while running, that I like, and that I will not tire of quickly.

Currently, I'm still working on the playlist and have about sixty songs picked out.  Once I finalize the playlist, I will post it here in the blog.

Running a Half Marathon as a Training Run

This past weekend I ran the Air Force Half Marathon, and since I am currently training for the Columbus Marathon, I thought I'd use this event as a training run.  It would also give me experience using the new running belt that I was planning to use for the full marathon as well as to try out some new running strategies, namely the strategies where I just run the race for fun and don't even try to set a P.R.

The weather was amazing.  It was a clear day with no rain, which is great because I already have run two races, a half marathon and a full marathon, and a few training runs, in the rain. And although I have claimed that running in the rain is fun, I completely believe that running in clear, cool, sunny conditions is funner.

I have to say that this race was the most fun I'd ever had running, and I really love to run.  The only goals that I had set for this race were to have fun, take it easy, and finish strong.

At the start line, I lined up right behind the 2:20 pace group, since that was my finish time for my last half marathon race, and because I was hoping to run into one of my friends that ran the race last year at the same pace.  I didn't have luck finding her, but I did get a chance to meet some really cool people at the start line.

One of the most exciting things about this race are the flyovers that they have at the start of the race and during the race.  Right before the start, a parachutist came down with the American flag, and some really cool planes (I admit it, I don't know what types of planes they were, but they were pretty cool), flew overhead in formation.  Then, about three minutes later,  a wedge of geese, not to be confused with a wedge of cheese, flew overhead, and we all started to clap and cheer for them just as we had cheered and clapped for the the really cool planes that had flown over a few minutes before.

Finally, we were off, and about four minutes later, I crossed the start line.  I started out slowly.  The 2:20 pace group had taken off.  I kept reminding myself that this was just a training run, and to not hurt myself trying to set a P.R. and then not be able to run the marathon next month because I had overdone it at this race.  That would not be good, right?

Anyway, like I said, I was running slowly when all of a sudden I caught up with the 2:20 pace group.  At that point I decided that I would go ahead and stay with the group, since they seemed to be going at a leisurely pace and I was having fun hanging out with them.  The pace group leader was great at keeping everyone in the group focused and on pace.

Then, all of a sudden it was mile 8, well that's the way it felt anyway.  I was running, and then it's mile 8.  Weird, huh?  At that point I realized that maybe I had gotten faster from last year and that maybe this pace was not fast enough for me, so I picked up the pace.  I was passing people right and left, and I wasn't even trying to pass them.

Soon I was seeing people from the 2:10 pace group, and that really freaked me out.  There's no way I'm running this race at that pace, right?  Next, I'm at mile 10 and feeling strong.  Well, from this point on it's basically just a 5K race, I tell myself, so I pick up the pace again, and end up finishing the race at 2:13:31.

Okay, I was really excited. 2:13 is not going to make headlines in Runner's World magazine, but it was great news to me.  Maybe this strategy of not trying to set a P.R. is the correct strategy.  I didn't push myself, had fun, and set a P.R.

After the race I found some of my Team in Training friends.  We were hanging around, drinking our free beer and I was like, "Maybe this is the way to run a full marathon.  You run 13.1 miles, stop to eat pizza, drink some beer, and then go out and run another 13.1."  Maybe I was crazy.  Maybe I was high on endorphins, but I really felt great; however, before I actually set out to run the course again, someone handed me another beer coupon (maybe to shut me up?), so I had no need to run the race again.

This weekend, I will be running a 20-mile training run, the longest run before the actual race.  I just hope I feel at least half as good as I did after this race.

Completing My First 26.2 Miles

I did it, I actually did it, I finished a full marathon, all 26.2 miles of it. And after getting over forgetting about the pain, and after getting a great massage, and after a few margaritas, I can say (with confidence) that it was a great experience, a humbling experience, an experience that I will never forget—instead of the pain part, I obviously forgot that part.  I say this because, although, it hasn't yet been a week since the marathon, I'm already making plans for my next marathon.  I blame it on the endorphins, and on that massage.

So how did it go?  Well, the weather leading up to the marathon had been pretty awful: constant rain with no chance of dry weather. Being a nervous wreck during the ten days leading up to the marathon, I spent a lot of my time checking the weather on every imaginable weather web page I could find, looking for updates every thirty minutes, trying a different web page, hoping for a better forecast, but the forecast was always the same: scattered thunderstorms. Therefore, instead of hoping for fair weather, I started to pray for not-so-bad weather.  A steady, light rain would be fine or even just rain without thunder and lightning. Yes, as long as there was no thunder or lighting, I would be happy.

Convinced that I would not let the weather get the best of me, I packed for every possible weather scenario.  In addition to the regular running attire I had planned to wear, I packed a disposable rain poncho; a trash bag; a jacket which I planned to discard during the race; and a lightweight, water-resistant, running jacket that folded into its own little pouch, and which fit nicely into my running belt.

 

The morning of the race, our Team in Training (TNT) group assembled in the hotel lobby so we could take a group photo and walk over to the start line together.  Once the photographs were taken, and everyone was ready to go, we began to walk over to the start line. 

And, unfortunately, my weather readiness was not disappointed.  The moment we arrived at the start line, the temperature went down by about ten degrees and it began to rain, but, no problem, I had my poncho and jacket. The start line was jam-packed; it was hard to move into position.  Supposedly, they had set-up starting corrals, but I never really saw them.  I just saw a bunch of porta potties and spectators blocking the way and not letting the runners get through to the start line.  I’m not really sure how we did it, but somehow we pushed our way to the start line, and ended up in position one minute before the gun went off. (You'll have to excuse the blurriness of some of these pictures.  It's hard to take pictures while running)

 

And we were off—theoretically.  At this point, my heart was probably moving faster than my legs, since it took about ten minutes for us to actually cross the official start line, after which I started to run slowly jog, and strangely enough passed quite a lot of people.  In a way it was a bit of a morale boost, but, in a way, dodging walkers and discarded clothing items as if on an obstacle course got old pretty quickly.  After finally making it through that obstacle course, we started to run on a bridge, but I actually hadn’t registered the fact that we were on a bridge, and began to feel lightheaded  (no doubt because I hadn’t had any sleep the night before), and I started to worry that I might pass out, until I overhead someone talking to her friend saying, “Can you feel that?  The bridge is shaking!”  It sure was a relief to realize that I wasn’t going to pass out any time soon.  

 

Soon, I took off the poncho, even though it was still raining.  It just was too hard to run with that poncho on, and, anyways, it really wasn't doing much to keep me dry at this point. Next, I took off my throw-away jacket, and was considering actually throwing it by the side of the road, but could not let go of the jacket.  Some invisible force kept that jacket permanently attached to my hand.  I was going to drop it off at the next water stop, no, the next one, no, the next one.  I kept this up until I just told myself that I would hold on to the jacket until I got to about mile six where Hubby was going to be.  Mile three passed, mile four, mile five.  Then I heard two familiar voices shout out, “Nicole!”  I looked over and saw my friends Holly and Susy. I was screaming. I was jumping up and down. Then I looked farther down and saw Hubby standing there taking pictures.  To say that, that moment was the highlight of the race, would be an understatement.

 

Unless you count being serenaded by Elvis.

Or seeing Big Foot holding a sign which read, “Run, Human, Run.”

Or this guy, huh?

 

And then, just as I was starting to question my ability to finish the marathon, I see this guy:

It was around that time when my legs cramped up, and I stopped.  I think I hit the wall, well that’s what I thought it was.  I mean, my legs cramped up and wouldn’t move, doesn’t that sound like the wall?  My legs hurt really, really badly.  I gave birth to a baby without pain killers, and still didn’t remember that kind of pain.  It was so bad, I started to use my Lamaze breathing techniques, which freaked out some of the runners because everyone (yes, I actually do mean everyone) that was passing me at this point stopped for a moment to ask me if I was okay.  

Finally, one of the TNT coaches showed up around this point and asked me how I was doing.  I told him that I was just fine, but that my legs hurt really, really badly and that I thought I had just hit the wall because my legs wouldn't move and isn't this what hitting the wall meant? He just told me that I was crazy for thinking I could run a marathon needed to drink more water, and eat a few more energy gels.  Fortunately, they were handing out energy gels at this point of the race, and I started to stock up on them.  By the end of the race, I’m sure that I had consumed at least eight packages of energy gels, twice the number that I had packed for the race.

Pretty soon, I started to feel better, so the coach abandoned me ran back to check on the other team members.  Waddling along bowlegged, taking my time like it was a simple Sunday stroll, I mentally clawed my way to the finish line, when all of a sudden I looked behind me and saw Kim, another TNT member.  We greeted each other, she continued on, and not too long after that, I got my second wind and started to run. It was a miracle!  My legs started to work again.  Before I knew it, I was at mile 25.5 and Susy and Holly were standing there cheering me on again and giving me another boost, which helped me get to the finish line.

I earned this medal, and I also earned the sticker: the 26.2 sticker.  Now my 13.1 sticker doesn't have to hang out on my minivan all by its lonesome self.

The runner girl accomplishes her goal, runs her first marathon, crosses the finish line, sets a personal record of 5:25:11, THE END...

Coming soon, to a race nearby, an amnesiac runner girl decides to conquer what she had always thought she wanted to do: run her first marathon race.

Yes, I already signed up for my next race. I think that it's official, I have lost my mind.

Marathon Gear Check

Since in two days I'll be running the marathon, and since I'm not supposed to run for the next two days, I spent today getting my gear together for the race.  Here you see the things I'm taking; the things over which I have control.  Of course, the weather is not under my control, but I sure would like to pack some of that for the race too.  In lieu of that, I'll be praying for good weather, or good-enough weather, or not-too-bad weather, because although we've trained in all types of weather, I really, really would like to run the marathon during a nice, sunny, cool, non-rainy day. Here's the gear that I will be taking with me.

• Running shirt with my name on the front.

• Shorts, compression running tights, and compression socks

• My GPS watch with heart rate monitor

• My mp3 player with an awesome playlist, and an arm sleeve to hold it while I run

• Running belt with my energy gels, tissues, a camera (this one is waterproof and shock proof), asthma inhaler, other emergency items, and a plastic trash bag; our coaches tell us we need to carry a trash bag to use for keeping warm, dry, or as a port-o-potty (I'm not so sure about this last use, but who am I to question this.)

•  Throw-aways: clothes that I can wear before the race and then throw away after I warm up.  The race volunteers will pick these garments up, wash them, and donate them to a homeless shelter.

• Body Glide; very important to avoid chaffing.

• A very lightweight jacket, in case I get cold after I've already thrown away my throw-aways.  This jacket even folds up into a small pouch, and is water resistant.

• Other optional items. I'll probably wear the cap, but I'm not sure about the gloves or the sunglasses.  Maybe if I wear the sunglasses, it might actually be nice and sunny during the run.  I'm thinking I might even wear sunscreen.

Oh, did I forget something? Oh, yes the most important item: my running shoes!

Tomorrow, I'll be checking in at the hotel.  I'll also be picking up the race packet at the expo and will get my race bib, timing chip, marathon shirt and other goodies.  It will be a good opportunity to shop and take a look at all the cool running stuff.  I'm so excited! The coaches tell us that we won't get much sleep the night before the race, so I plan to sleep well tonight at home.  Wish me luck.

Counting Down to the Marathon

That time has arrived.  The marathon is only six days away, and it’s all I can think about, it's all I can talk about, it's all I can dream about.  If any conversation starts, if any topic is brought up, if anyone tries to talk to me about anything other than running, then he better be ready to hear me talk about running because that’s what we’ll be conversing about.  No other topic will do.

Do I really want to hear my husband talk about work or politics?  Do I want to hear my friends talk about the royal wedding or American Idol?  Do I really want to argue with my children about whether our sun is a yellow dwarf or a yellow giant?  I think not!  If it’s not related to running, I know nothing, I see nothing.

Look on the bright side, this also means that in six days, this will all be over.  That's right, because after six days I won't be talking about running, right?

Training for a Marathon With Team in Training

I'm so excited about my upcoming marathon race. Yes, I'm currently training to run 26.2 miles as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training.

Training is going well. This past Saturday we went on a 12 mile run. The coaches had sent us an e-mail a few days ahead of the run with the following message, "We have some exciting routes planned for this Sat. run (and more to come...)." Apparently, "exciting routes" for a running coach is what a normal person would call "lots of crazy hills."

Even with that, my run went great. One of these crazy hills was so steep that I asked the coach were the ladder was. I'm not kidding! This hill was probably about 45 degrees. Anyway, I was able to run up the hill, but had to stop for a few seconds at the top because my heart rate had gone way, way up. I finished the run in 2 hours and 25 minutes. This included the time I spent chit-chatting at the water stops and time spent waiting for traffic at the intersections. I had on a pair of compression tights that really helped a lot and my knee and calves did not bother me the whole time. After the run, I stretched really well, ate a Luna bar, showered, put on some compression tights and iced my calves. My legs did not hurt like they did last week.

Today, I went to the gym and ran about 6 miles on the treadmill because of the crazy weather, and still no pain in my legs. Our long run this coming weekend is only 8 miles and then the mileage starts to go up past any distance I've ever run before. We have a 20 mile run scheduled in April.

The question still remains, will I make it to 26.2? Stay tuned.