Running Marathons and such..

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  • brandyk77
    brandyk77 Posts: 605 Member
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    last weekend? Disney?
    Yes, everyone is. Congrats!
    [I just lost ~20 lb. while training for my first marathon, which I ran this past Sunday - I achieved my goal for time and felt great throughout my training and the race itself. So I suppose everyone's different!

    Thanks! :smile: Still coming down off the high.
  • ButtercupSprad
    ButtercupSprad Posts: 117
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    I am really into 10 milers and half marathons. I promise you that if you subscribe to "Runners" magazine, you will get AWESOME advice on running. You can also go to their website and add them to your Facebook. They will send out daily tips for running too.
  • ButtercupSprad
    ButtercupSprad Posts: 117
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    Wow.....that is soooo true about laying on the couch after a long run!!! (I thought it was me being weak)!!!!
  • ButtercupSprad
    ButtercupSprad Posts: 117
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    That is really good to hear. Wow.
  • brandyk77
    brandyk77 Posts: 605 Member
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    Ha! i schedule naps
    Wow.....that is soooo true about laying on the couch after a long run!!! (I thought it was me being weak)!!!!
  • msjamartin
    msjamartin Posts: 148
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    I'm training for my first 1/2 marathon in June. I still have 37lbs till my goal yet I wanted to start officially training at the beginning of the year. I'm building up the running slowly with weight training and hoping to have my last bit of weight off before the final month so I can be in more maintenance mode when running the longer distances and needing more fuel.

    I took the Hal novice 1/2 marathon training and then, with my trainer, modified the 12 week training schedule to 23 weeks and have included strength in the mix as well.

    I have a 5k on Feb 11, a 5 mile on April 7 and then half on June 23. I hope I've spaced all this out in a realistic and achievable manner. Running is not natural to me as I'm a swimmer but I don't have the ability to do the swimming like I do the running. I'm new to all of this racing stuff. Felt I needed goals that are a stretch yet not too crazy.

    Of course my ultimate health goal is a bit out there yet...completing an iron man...that is still a couple years away.

    Good luck!
  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    For anyone just starting out running, all I have to say is this: Congratulations on being a runner!

    Many people have a lot of expectations of "oh I won't be a runner until I run fast/far/ etc" Magazines and websites may try to sell you things, saying that "real runners do x/y/z". These are all false. If you run, you are a runner, and you deserve to be proud of yourself, whatever your mileage/time/outfit/gadgets, and whether you run on a treadmill in your basement or the Hawaii marathon.

    It took me a long time to figure this out, but once I did, running became so much more fun!
  • MissFit0101
    MissFit0101 Posts: 2,382
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    I'm training for my first marathon now. I'm not an expert on running or on marathons... I am a work in progress and learn new things every day! The marathons group is wonderful so feel free to join it and post there. I'm loosely following Hal Higdon's novice and intermediate training plan currently. So far so good. Best of luck to you on your journey.
  • IronmanPanda
    IronmanPanda Posts: 2,083 Member
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    Running a marathon and losing weight really need to be two separate goals. Especially your first marathon as you will probably spend a great deal of the afternoon of your long run on the couch, napping, etc.

    If you are looking for marathon training to get you to your goal weight, you will most likely be very disappointed. As I ramp up right now to start to train for mine, I am working RIGHT NOW to drop the 5 lbs I want. I know that if I don't do it now, I won't do it during the cycle and I could also negatively impact my training with a too severe calorie deficit.

    In 2011, I spent the first 6 months running but not training for a full marathon. This allowed me to concentrate on weight loss and I dropped almost 40 lbs during that time frame. I then started marathon training and during the 4 months leading up to the race, I dropped 2 lbs. That is it. That is with 50+ miles per week, plus weight training. When my marathon came around however, I ran my best ever and felt great..well, until mile 22 at least :)

    Long story short - pick your battles.
    Many people lose weight during marathon training, so the "absoluteness" of the statement is incorrect. What she's pointing out is that you won't necessarily lose weight because people often eat more since they're hungrier from all the running, and they frequently use the extra running as an "excuse" to eat more than they should. As with any other activity (or lack of activity, for that matter) - if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight. If you don't, you won't.

    I also mostly agree with this. And it also really depends on how much you have to lose. I belong to another fitness site geared specifically towards endurance athletes and most stories you encounter there are those of "during peak training" do not lose weight. The high amounts of exercise and need for fuel become a very difficult thing to balance.

    During my 1/2 Ironman training I ended up gaining 10 lbs during my peak training while on a calorie deficit. But I am also near my goal weight. If I had more weight to lose its possible I may not have gained during this time.
  • bert16
    bert16 Posts: 726 Member
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    last weekend? Disney?

    Yep - just me, Mickey, and about 14,000 of my closest friends!
  • bert16
    bert16 Posts: 726 Member
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    I also mostly agree with this. And it also really depends on how much you have to lose. I belong to another fitness site geared specifically towards endurance athletes and most stories you encounter there are those of "during peak training" do not lose weight. The high amounts of exercise and need for fuel become a very difficult thing to balance.

    During my 1/2 Ironman training I ended up gaining 10 lbs during my peak training while on a calorie deficit. But I am also near my goal weight. If I had more weight to lose its possible I may not have gained during this time.

    Just as an FYI, I'm within 5 lb of my goal weight and was within a healthy BMI when I started training. Not trying to be argumentative at all - just pointing out that different people have different experiences - guess mine was atyipcal (but possible for others, too)! :smile:

    In any case, I wish all of you great runs!!! :flowerforyou:

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