During my marathon training this fall, I occasionally would have the thought that I was entirely physically and mentally capable of getting my sub-2:45:00 marathon, if only I could unlock the magical formula of what exactly and precisely I should do on any given day in order to achieve my goal. I knew, based upon what I had run in the past, that the sub-2:45 was right there, but how to get to it? If only I could know exactly what to do or not to do each day so that I could run a sub-2:45!!! I knew it was there! Just waiting inside me! My body could do it! But how!!? (An aside: these are the kind of thoughts you find yourself preoccupied with when chasing down an new OTQ.)

Somewhere latent in my body was a sub-2:45 marathon ready to be unleashed! Getting to this magical PR power felt like I was picking a secret athletic lock; I just needed to somehow know the magical combination of workouts to do in their secret, magical order: whether to run X or Y distance on such and such day, or whether to make this specific run longer or shorter, or how to time my volume and intensity in my buildup, so that the sub-2:45:00 did indeed result on December 8, 2019!

Isn’t this what we all really want though, no matter what our time goal in any race? We want to know how to get faster. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it), an angel is not going to come down out of the sky and say “you, runner, shall go precisely 10 miles at 7:15 pace every Tuesday!” or otherwise dictate our workouts for us on a daily basis so that we do run to our max potential. It is actually impossible to know the exact training formula for letting loose that maximum OTQ/BQ/PR that is surely in you just waiting to get out! (This is a crazy thought if you think too deeply about it.) That said, you can begin to figure out more generally what does and does not work for your particular body so that you DO succeed. You may not be able to predict what future workouts will absolutely and best suit you, but taking the time to reflect upon what those best workouts might be might in fact help you out an awful, awful lot. (Who knows? Maybe you are in fact doing the very very best workouts for you!) Take a step back to check in with all the moving parts of your body and life; launch yourself forward towards your goal, less overt divine intervention required!

There’s also a very small chance that you’re reading this and thinking, but eh, it’s just an arbitrary time decided upon based upon past human experience and possibly a committee of some kind! Why all the effort? Why does it really matter if I get that x:xx:xx that allows me to run another race or that beats my previous best?! It matters because we are our best selves when we dream and hope and strive towards a goal. I don’t think I need to tell you that life is hard—that’s pretty obvious—but it is those other things that might seem trivial on some level, like actually running faster than you believed you were capable of running, OR not achieving your goal but accomplishing and inspiring others along the way, that makes life more meaningful and humane.

Keep dreaming of your dream running time and what YOU might need to do to get there. During all my pondering while running miles this fall, and in my time now after qualifying at CIM, I’ve boiled down my many, many thoughts about marathoning to 10 keys that I believe helped me most towards my own OTQ, a dream come true that I occasionally still have to convince myself really happened! I hope these help you train to be your best self too!

1.) Progress is measured in both a micro and a macro-cycle. Take a step back occasionally and make sure all gears are running smoothly.

I’ve talked about my training log before, and I’m sure I’ll talk about it again: if you aren’t writing down your workouts and your daily and weekly volume, start doing this today. It is so much a part of my daily ritual that I barely feel like my workout is complete until I record it. In developing a plan for CIM, I had the ability to refer back to all my previous marathons and what I thought worked well and not so well so that I could “revise” for this time around. This also wasn’t so complex that I was looking back at all of my previous 9 marathons; for each of these, I had always checked out what I had done for the marathon or two immediately before, so for CIM 2019, I really just had to evaluate how my Grandma’s 2019 and CIM 2018 cycles went.

As a math and English double major in college, I sometimes feel that it is no surprise that I love my training log—the place where words and data all come together, but I have taken my old-fashioned hand-written log up a notch by having both a daily main training log, where I joyously record all the minutiae of my runs, in addition to an “at a glance” log which is basically an overly large 9x14 piece of white paper, on which I draw a grid for recording daily and weekly totals of volume. Sometimes you need to refer back to basic volume, and sometimes you need to see what you did very specifically for the week before a certain race: this dual log system lets me do both.

2.) Get the volume in, but do it your way.

You are you and nobody else. This is a good thing. This also means that it is up to YOU to figure out how YOU work best! I know I am not going to ever be running 75 miles a week—this is very very fine with me, as my 75 mpw self would also probably be hopelessly injured and/or slow. I get my volume in not just from running, but from a heck of a lot of yoga and swimming. Over the past years, I have really refined this system so that it gets me the results I want: I’ve figured out over time how to do the right number of long runs within a cycle, and how to supplement my run cardio with pool time which I actually love. This works great for me! I actually really really enjoy it too! Take the time to figure out what combination you will both love doing and which will keep you healthy. Note: this may take some experimenting, and it may take years to build up your volume! I didn’t start with what I’m doing now back in 2013!

3.) Don’t fret too much, whether on race day or any day.

You will be ok no matter what the results of the race. It is perfectly fine to really really really want a goal. That said, find a way to compartmentalize a little bit so your desire doesn’t become an abounding sense of nervousness. This may mean you have to trick yourself a little bit. That is also ok (most of the time, as I learned back in my philosophy class at Notre Dame)! For Grandma’s 2019, when I woke up, my heartrate was something like 30 beats per minute above what it normally is because I was so nervous. This is the sort of thing you want to avoid experiencing. Remember things that will keep you calm and relaxed. Remember you have put the training in and you should have faith in yourself. Remember you are supposed to be HAVING FUN doing this and that you are lucky to be running at all for goodness’ sake! Put things in perspective and go out there and do your thing! Keeping the sense of enjoying what I was doing at the forefront of my mind was very helpful to me leading up to CIM—sure, I was still very nervous, but I found a way to not think about it so consciously.

4.) Consistency above all else.

There is no one magical workout or week that will get you where you want to be. Instead, the daily and weekly “grind” (which should be fun by the way, and not feel like too much of a grind!) is what is going to get you results. Do what you need to do in order to remain consistent.

5.) Don’t blast your regular runs.

Save the race efforts for race day. For me at least, I have found that there is only so much gas in the tank so to speak to expend during a marathon training cycle. Be sure you go nice and slow on your recovery days. During this fall at the peak of my marathon training, I sort of accidentally starting taking Thursdays (in addition to my usual Mondays) off from running, or I would sometimes literally run one mile at 11 minute pace just to go move the legs a very small amount. Taking this extra easy day on the roads (or….not on the roads if I wasn’t running at all!) on Thursday gave me far more energy for when I really needed it on Friday, when I (during the academic year) teach 3 classes and usually run 5-9 miles total as two runs immediately surrounding my first yoga class of the day.

6.) Practice fueling for race day.

If you are reading this as a beginning marathoner and are thinking “woe is me! I cannot even drink Gatorade out of a cup without getting it in my eyes!,” never fear! This is something that I promise, promise will get easier with time. At this point, I could drink a large mocha immediately before a big long run and probably be 100% fine during said run. I can also chug just about any electrolyte fluid in just about any weather while still moving at a rapid pace.

Bring your anticipated race day drink/fuel with you on your long runs. Get used to drinking and eating on a run! Find what works for you. Also be sure you are fueling enough! I had most of three packets of GU Roctane Summit Tea (750 calories total) in addition to approx. 4 GUs (100 calories each….I was so in the zone that I am not even sure whether I had 4 or 5 GUs, but I know it was at least 4!). Know how much you may need and remember you can play it by ear (by legs?) while you race a little bit if you need to adjust! Every body really is different in this regard, but it does help for instance to know that you at least plan on having a gel at approximately miles 6, 12, 17, 20, and 23. I do think it helps to have a spare “emergency” gel somewhere on your person, whether stashed in a sports bra or pocket.

7.) Integrate extra yin yoga into your long run weekend days.

After my weekend long runs of 15+ miles, I did not always feel like flowing along in a steady vinyasa on my mat. I would be tired, tight, and not feel like moving. Find just a few—even 3 to 5—yin yoga poses that you can reliably do even when you’re ready to just crash on the couch. Here are a few ideas for you, also shown below. Remember you can always do full yoga workouts with me HERE too!

A. Pigeon pose. I could write a novella explaining all the nuances of this pose, but for here to keep it simple: position either your knee between both hands or the shin of your leg parallel to the front of your mat. Note that the shin parallel version is also deeper—just go with whatever angle of your front leg allows you to keep your hips square to the mat and your back hip pressing down. Inhale tall, then exhale fold over front leg. Hold 1-3 min./side.

B. Shoelace, aka the legs portion of cowface pose. Stack knee over knee just the best you can here, then fold forward. Relax through your torso to let yourself be fully supported by your legs (or a blanket on top of your legs). Hold 1-3 min./side.

C. Dragonfly, aka wide-legged seated forward fold. Sit on the edge of a blanket if you feel like you need to prop your bum up or if you feel too tight in the front of your hips when beginning to fold forward. Support yourself on your forearms on the floor or place forearms OR forehead on a bolster, pillow, or yoga blocks. Hold 5-10 min. total.

8.) It’s ok to not do all the little things right—you just want to do most of them right. The ones that you “don’t” do right will probably be good stress-relief.

I didn’t always go to sleep on time this fall. Sometimes I stayed up watching Forensic Files because I had a long day and I needed some time to do something that required not-much-thought before going to bed. Is getting enough sleep important? Heck yes. Is having time to chill after working all day important too? Also, heck yes. You don’t have to do every single little thing right—you just have to have an appropriate balance that is allowing you to be a happy, rested, well-rounded person.

9.) Think just the right amount.

This one falls into a similar category as no. 3 “Don’t fret too much” and the tip above: the mind is a powerful thing, and to say it is beneficial to have the right mindset heading into a marathon almost feels too obvious to even state. Remember that it is totally ok to be nervous. That is because you care about what you are doing, so of course you are going to be nervous.

In the marathon, versus other races, there is a lot more time to just be thinking about things. This is where you can sometimes run into trouble—I found it absurdly helpful to somehow keep in my mind what I might be on the way to doing but also to simultaneously not be thinking too much about it, because then I would have possibly freaked out a little bit. When I say that from mile 17ish onward, I only allowed myself to think “just like swimming”—I really really was just thinking that over and over again. Whether it is a mantra you have planned ahead of time, or something that comes to you during the race, or even if you just aim to cultivate a relaxed but focused mindset, this is going to be something that is very helpful to you.

10.) Acknowledge that the end of the marathon is probably going to really hurt, but remember that if you just fast forward another 30-40 minutes or so, you will be so, so happy that you stuck with it.

I actually had this thought at the point of CIM where we passed the bridge with the cyclists on the stationary bikes and got hit with that weird little bit of rainfall—if you just Keep. This. Up. you are going to do what you set out to do. Be mentally strong and prepared for when the going gets tough, and remember that it isn’t going to last forever! How will you feel on the other side of 30 or 40 minutes if you DO successfully bear with this pain you are experiencing now?

No magic formula will ensure you go faster, but the right amount of reflection (and relaxation, I would argue) within your training situation can make your running more productive on many levels. This balance of reflecting and relaxing can make you faster, but will also keep you healthier, happier, and more consistent—which will ultimately make you faster anyhow. I think a recurring theme in many of the points above is using distraction to your advantage: there were so many times this fall that I was honestly so busy with everything besides my running that I would think suddenly “oh gosh, I need to map out the rest of my training!” or “hmmm, I should probably figure out when I should do that last big long run!” I was in some sense just carried along by the wave and rhythm of my weekly training that I had taken the time (over several years) to establish, that during many moments, I didn’t have to think too much, and when I did, it was very pointed and useful—like calculating the length of my longest run, for instance—rather than over-analyzing my running. The same happened on a smaller level within the actual race itself: I used a mantra and my belief in my training to boost myself up during the last 10 miles or so, and this kept me strong and got me to the finish just where I wanted to be. Hoping these tips help you in your training too!

Slideshow below: sometimes you just have to also believe it was meant to be and take the signs as you see them. If there’s any time you need a little magic and faith, it might be when you run a marathon.

1.) Yoga and swimming are my two cross-training keys.

2.) I just so happened to move to a table at the front of the elite technical meeting—thus I spotted Chris’s swimming t-shirt. Note my paparazzi pic! (My husband just now: “you took a picture of the dude while he was speaking?!:”)

3.) Day before the race: double rainbow seen from my hotel room window.

4.) After the finish, photo by husband!

10 Game-Changers in Getting my OTQ