For my last blog of RCL, instead of boring you all with adjusted training plans for sixteen weeks, I’m going to talk about nutrition. Yes, not the most interesting topic, but arguably more interesting than talking about training. 

One of the glorious things about running is that you are always hungry. I’ve always struggled with gaining weight so running has been a way for me to increase my appetite in a healthy way. But now that I’m running a marathon, I want to make sure the food I put into my body not only nourishes me, but fuels my runs and helps me gain muscle. 

Growing up, my mom was a huge runner. She would sign our whole family up for races in the summer and fall and during off season, would throw me in the stroller and run in the morning. One of the best traditions we had was pasta the night before a race and a banana with peanut butter the morning of. I never knew why we had this tradition until I started doing my own research into race nutrition and figured it out. 

The major food groups I need to be eating are carbs, protein, and fats. While not a very restrictive diet, there are certain foods in these groups that are going to be more effective in fueling my run than others. 

According to marathonhandbook.com, my diet should be composed of 60% carbs, 20% fat, and 20% protein. For my diet, most of my carbs will come from pasta. Since my family is Italian, we have a whole section of our kitchen dedicated to pasta and a whole section of our freezer filled with my family sauce. For my fats, I will be eating plenty of avocados, peanut butters, and trail mix. For protein, I will eat meat and dairy products. 

Throughout this process, I’m not going to worry about calorie counting or stressing over how much or how little I eat in a day. I’m going to let my body tell me what it needs because overall, I know myself better than a training manual. My biggest struggle, in all honesty, is going to be finding enough food on campus without draining my bank account. 

Although I plan to work this summer and will be an RA next year, I won’t be able to eat as healthy at school as I do at home. While at school, I’ve noticed that I eat what is cheap and generally what is cheap are foods that don’t have much nutritional value. To counteract this, I’m going to utilize the kitchens in the dorms and make an effort to go grocery shopping every two weeks to have “home” cooked meals ready for my long runs. I’m also going to recruit my friends to learn how to cook well as they will be living in off campus housing next year.

All in all, I want to thank you all for helping me through my marathon planning and for entertaining me with your own blogs. It’s been a lot of fun, so with that said, peace out!

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, one of the big reasons I chose to run the Marine Corps Marathon is because of the work I do with veteran’s families back home. Most of the charity work I do is affiliated with active duty families and so one way I want to give back to them is by raising money through my marathon. 

How I plan on raising most of the money is by setting up a Go Fund Me page in which people can donate a flat amount or make a pledge of how much they will donate per mile run. I’ve raised money this way before in the past when I was about 10, but instead of using technology, I went door to door having people sign a pledge if they chose to. Another way I’m going to raise money is through networking. 

Now that I’m older and have a network of people to help, I plan on working closely with my neighbor who lost her first husband in action to see what charity would mean the most to her and her family. My neighbor has become a second mom to me over the years and has trusted me to take care of her boys through babysitting and tutoring, so this is my chance to give back to them. She is also a great resource for fundraising as she works for a veteran non-profit that works on rehabilitating veterans who suffer from mental illness and physical disabilities, and takes care of the families of deceased active duty members. 

Another way I plan on raising money is through social media. I plan on making a sub page on my Instagram that will have a link to the Go Fund Me as well as updates on my training process. I think it would also be cool to set a goal amount for funds and keep a page that shows how close I am to achieving the fundraising goal. I’ve never been big on posting as it causes a lot of anxiety, but I understand that social media is one of the best ways to spread the word and raise awareness for the charity I will be running and raising money for. I also think by giving my social media a purpose, I will increase my own self-confidence and gain greater knowledge of networking.

All in all, there is still a lot I have to plan in regards to my race, but using this blog as a place to plan has forced me to game plan well in advance. Not only does this keep me from procrastinating, but it keeps my energy up and allows me to go into each run with a goal and feeling of purpose that I’m running for something and someone greater than myself.

Since this is my first marathon ever, I want to make sure I am well prepared with reasonable expectations. I plan to run my first marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes. While this isn’t a great time, this is a reasonable and attainable goal that can be adjusted based on how my training is going. In order to do this, I have conducted extensive research and determined the best running plan for me through runnersworld.com. 

I have decided that a 16 week training plan beginning on July 9 and ending on October 29 (race day) is the best course of action as it forces me to discipline myself over the summer and get myself into a good mindset. My training plan is split into four week segments in which each week offers substantial rest, cross-training, and endurance runs. As with most marathons, the training itself will start easy to build a good foundation before ramping up around week six. Around two to three weeks before race day, I will taper off my miles. In other words, I will run less miles throughout the week to make sure I am preserving my energy for marathon day. 

This week I will post the first segment of my training plan and give more personalized details to what I plan on adding or subtracting. 

Week 1:

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 25 min run (about 3 miles)

Wednesday: cross training (30 mins)

Thursday: interval training run (30 mins)

Friday: rest day

Saturday: cross training (30 mins)

Sunday: long run (75-80 mins)

 

Week 2:

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 30 minute run (about 3.5 miles)

Wednesday: cross training (30 mins)

Thursday: interval training run (35 mins)

Friday: rest day

Saturday: cross training (30 mins)

Sunday: long run (75-80 mins)

Week 3:

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 30 minute run (about 3.5 miles)

Wednesday: cross training (30 mins)

Thursday: interval training run (40 mins)

Friday: rest day

Saturday: cross training (30 mins)

Sunday: long run (75-80 mins)

 

Week 4:

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 30 minute run (about 3.5 miles)

Wednesday: cross training (30 mins)

Thursday: interval training run (30 mins)

Friday: rest day

Saturday: cross training (30 mins)

Sunday: long run (75-80 mins)

You’ll notice that two days are set aside for cross training. My thought is that for the first cross training day, I will do Peloton and for the second cross training day I will swim since I will start training over the summer. Once the weather gets a tad colder and I start to taper off, I’ll switch back to heavier weight lifting to make sure my muscular endurance is high. For my high interval training runs on Thursday’s, I plan on using Peloton to guide me. They have a large selection of interval training runs to choose from. 

As always, I will make sure to stretch before and after all of my workouts to minimize my chances of injury and make sure I’m in the best shape possible to run on race day.

Sources:

https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/marathon/a776459/marathon-training-plans/

 

As I have said before, training for a marathon is mostly a mental battle. Some days you feel discouraged or that you can’t possibly see yourself making it the full 26.2 miles, but you can’t let those thoughts stop you. Anyone can run a marathon if they really put their mind to it, it’s just a matter of showing up and putting in the work. By eating right, training right, and building confidence, half the battle is won. The mental battle is the other half. What I’ve found to be the most helpful practice to keep my mind focused is mindfulness and meditation. 

Mindfulness and meditation is a practice often talked about in regards to mental disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and depression because it centers the mind and helps one gain perspective. However, mindfulness and meditation has also been found to make a person less susceptible to physical illness, improve sleep and relieve physical ailments for those suffering from various medical conditions.  

By no means is sitting still and focusing on the breath easy. I first started mindfulness and meditation when I was a sophomore in high school. Before I started mindfulness and meditation, my mind would race constantly with anxious thoughts about what was going on in my own personal life and the world around me. The thoughts were so overwhelming, that one day I put on my running shoes, blasted music, and ran until my intrusive thoughts subsided. I ran for seven and a half miles that day and from then on I was hooked on running. The problem was, running didn’t fully stop the racing thoughts inside my head, it was only a bandaid. It wasn’t until I talked to a mental health professional that I realized half the battle to dealing with my anxiety was combating my thoughts by simply sitting with them. When I first heard this, I was terrified. No one dealing with anxiety wants to listen to constant negativity. But, I was convinced this was the only way to help subside the thoughts so I gave meditation a shot. 

I first started mindfulness and meditation with the Calm app. I would try to sit for three minutes and focus on my breath but I found it to be really difficult. I would constantly rely on the narrator of the meditation to bring me back to the room. It took an active effort to sit through the meditation every day for thirty days before it started to impact my overall mental health. After thirty days, I found that I no longer had shin splints from running, I was sleeping better, and I was an overall happier person. 

For my current marathon training, I will be focused on preparing my mind mentally to be patient with myself and my body as I gain mileage. There are days where I am discouraged that I didn’t run far enough, fast enough, or even run at all, but through mindfulness and meditation, I will work on showing gratitude to my mind and body for pushing me through this challenge so that I can achieve a goal I’ve had for years.

It’s officially time to sign up for a race. As promised, I’m letting you guys pick my race for me. From the ones I’ve chosen, I took into consideration the terrain I’d be running on, proximity to school and or home, and temperature with which I’d be running in. 

 

Marine Corps Marathon

This is a marathon I’ve always wanted to run. Not only is it close to home, but anything military related holds a special place in my heart. With over 10,000 participants running this marathon, the energy will be great and help me to keep running. Not only did I tutor for Operation Warrior Foundation, but I live in a predominantly military neighborhood so I know that I would have plenty of support and people to cheer me on while I run my race. I also plan on fundraising for the Wounded Warriors during my race so it makes sense to run the Marine Corp. The drawbacks for this race is that it is on October 29, 2023, so it would be during fall semester and I’d have to find transportation to get home. The added plus side though is that I will be in town for my sister’s wedding the week before so I can drive the course to overlook how hilly the course is. 

 

Philadelphia Marathon

This marathon was not on my radar until my roommate recommended it to me. The pros to this marathon are that I have plenty of friends I could stay with who live near Philly. They would definitely come cheer me on so lack of support is not an issue. The cons are that I’m not familiar with the Philly area, and although I know the race will be safe, without knowing my way around the city, I know I will be slightly nervous. The other downsides to this race are that it’s held on November 18-19, 2023, so we could possibly be on Thanksgiving break which makes transportation scarce to find. Upsides to this race are that it would get me out of my comfort zone and allow me to see more of Pennsylvania. 

 

Baltimore Running Festival

I had never heard of this marathon until I started researching it. The terrain looks nice with mild hills and it will have over 10,000 participants which will help motivate me while I run. It’s about an hour and a half from state college and about an hour and a half from my house, so finding a hotel and transportation will be costly. The plus side is the lack of traveling I would have to do but other than that, there aren’t many pros to this marathon. I guess the crab theme is pretty cool, so I will give it that, but I’m not a huge fan of Baltimore and never have been. This race is held on October 14, 2023, so the temperature will be perfect race weather which is a giant plus. 

Now it’s time for you guys to decide. From the three marathons I chose, which one do you vote for? I have to sign up soon to get my official training plan together so let me know below!

https://www.runguides.com/pennsylvania/runs/marathon/all

Rhythm. It’s one of the most important sources of calm we can have. Whether you are a dancer, athlete, or runner, rhythm is at the heart. In psychology, rhythm is synonymous with flow. Flow is when everything disappears around you and you are one with the action at hand. It’s an extremely healthy and euphoric practice that you have to work really hard to achieve. For running, flow and rhythm come in the form of runner’s high. 

I’ve only experienced runner’s high a handful of times. I’m naturally a sprinter, so getting into long distance running was a real challenge. But, with any addiction, you chase the first high. Ever since I first experienced runner’s high, I run to experience it again. With each mile, I focus my breath, and set my rhythm to increase my chances of flow. I chase the feeling of my heart rate stabilizing, my stride feeling lighter and longer, and a true, unforced smile on my face. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. But this is the mentality I go into every run with. 

Recently, runner’s high has felt unachievable. They tell you that every runner hits a block as they train for a marathon. Feeling discouraged and frustrated are normal, but you have to push through to overcome them. For me, I have been extra discouraged because I’ve been struggling to find the time to run. The most time I can allot for myself in the past two weeks has been thirty minutes. This means that every single one of my runs is a speed training run rather than a pace training run. 

A pace training run is one in which you run for a longer distance (anything above 5 miles) and focus your breath and read your body so that you can adjust accordingly. A speed training run is one in which you utilize your built endurance to try to run faster to increase heart health. These runs are generally your one to two mile runs. It’s important to practice both types of runs to switch up your training and force your body to adjust under different circumstances. Unfortunately for me, this is more of a mental practice than a physical one. 

I’ve always been hyper-competitive. Whether academically or athletically, I strived and still strive to be the best. Coming to college has been a real adjustment because I have had to learn to accept failure with grace rather than approach it with vengeance. This is not to say that I’ve always been the best athlete or smartest person in the class, but I was always the hardest worker. I’ve never let myself fall back on excuses for my own shortcomings. But for marathon training, I’ve had to make mental excuses for why I can’t find the time to run. This creates a war within myself. One in which my body tells me that I can go farther and work harder, and one in which my mind tells me that I need to slow down and regroup. The upside of all of this is that it has forced me to learn patience with myself. Loving yourself does not mean you don’t get frustrated, it’s understanding that your mind and body can be in disagreement but still work to make you better and go farther. So, as I run through this rough patch, I’m praying my mind and body come together and allow me to re-experience flow. 

 

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768

 

With a new year comes a new goal. My goal this year is to run a marathon. It’s always been a dream of mine but has never come to fruition due to Covid or injury. This year, however, I’m completely determined to run 26.2 miles. 

My idea for this semester’s passion blog is that it will follow my training ups and downs as well as general updates on how training is going. Because my marathon won’t be till the summer or fall I’ve decided I’m going to let you guys decide which marathon I run based on a list I give you one week. So, now that we’ve gotten the logistics of the blog out of the way, let’s jump into the blog!

Training so far has been a disaster. Last semester, I started running four times a week with two short, speed training runs, one long pacer run, and then one Peloton run for fun. It was working really well and I was gaining good mileage, but then Thanksgiving happened. 

Over Thanksgiving break, my body completely shut down and I had a 103 degree fever for three days and couldn’t move. My muscles were stiff, my lung capacity was low, and I was heavily dehydrated. I also couldn’t eat very much which is terrible because all runners know that calorie intake is extremely important to fuel your runs. Over the three days of being sick, I had lost 10 pounds and was feeling weaker than ever. 

Luckily, my fever broke and I was able to spend the rest of the break recuperating. When I got back to school and tried to run again, I could barely run two miles without my lungs burning. It was pretty discouraging so I tried to switch my training plan up. 

Because I won’t be running my race until late summer or fall, I can use this time to build strength through weight lifting and other forms of cardio like stair master or cycling. I will still run once or twice a week, but until my lungs get better, running long distances will be on the back burner until race time is 15 weeks away. 

One of the ways I’m rebuilding my lung capacity is through Peloton. By letting an instructor guide me through my run or bike class, I can focus on what they are telling me to do rather than how bad my lungs feel. I really enjoy blasting music or a podcast during my runs and Peloton offers a bit of both. 

Another key way I’m going to rebuild my strength is through breathing exercises. It’s often an overlooked component of training, but if your breath is settled, then your mind is settled and you can run further for longer. Everyone has heard of runner’s high. I experience it best when my breath is stable and in tune with my pace. In order to get back to a place where I can experience runner’s high, I need to focus on training my mind and body.