Training for a Marathon–One Step at a Time

Here is a write up from Megan Mitchell–a FinKraft client who recently ran the Ocean Drive Marathon. Here is a short write-up of her experience in the build up to the race and the event itself. For those of you considering running a marathon, feel free to reach out to us here at FinKraft so we can work to build a training plan around your life and help you reach your marathon goals!

I decided to run the 2014 Ocean Drive marathon with a friend who wanted to complete her first marathon. I knew this was going to be a challenge because I am currently working full-time and in the process of completing a Master’s Degree in English. Before I knew it, the race was less than four months away and I had not been training properly. I was already locked into the race but worried that the heavy mileage from my old training program would lead to injury since I was under-prepared. Luckily for me, my husband’s cycling coach (Roger) is also a running coach and he agreed to help me prepare for the race.

Now that I knew I could finish a marathon, I wanted to set a time goal to finish in under 4:30.  Roger created a flexible schedule for me so that I was able to balance work, school and running relatively stress-free. I’m convinced his emphasis on rest and recovery kept me injury-free. I always knew my plan about a week in advance, which helped me plan the rest of my life.  If I needed to skip a run for a late meeting or to write a paper, Roger rearranged my runs for the week to accommodate the unexpected. It was also really easy to view my training plans because Roger uses TrainingPeaks, which I can access from my iPhone. All I had to do was plug in my GPS watch and my training information populated automatically, so I did not have to spend a lot of extra time reviewing my work outs.

The marathon was amazing.  Even though it drizzled for the entire 26.2 miles, I was comfortable because I followed Roger’s advice about what to wear.  I ran with my friend for the first eight miles and we chatted and enjoyed the experience together.  After that, I pulled away to keep up with the goal pace I had set with Roger.  I still felt great at mile twenty and picked up the pace, finishing ten minutes faster than my goal time. It was really rewarding to know that all the time I had invested in preparing for this marathon paid off.

Now I cannot wait to do another one!