Podcast #74 | How I PR’d by 7 Minutes at 2023 Chicago Marathon (and How You Can Too)
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Well… I did it! I ran the best marathon of my life on Sunday!
The 2023 Chicago Marathon was an amazing experience. I’ve never felt so good in a marathon before!
I finished in 2:46:35, setting a 7 Minute PR over my previous personal best from the 2022 Boston Marathon.
I had to work really hard for this. My past few marathons were very challenging. I repeatedly hit the wall around mile 18 to 20. But in this race, I felt incredible from start to finish!
I worked really hard for this one…. in fact, I had to revamp everything.
How Did I Achieve This Breakthrough Performance? (and how can you too?)
1. Run Consistent High Mileage
After a period of lower mileage around the birth of my child, I was able to increase my mileage to nearly the highest it has ever been for the majority of my Chicago Training. I logged multiple 70 to 80 mile weeks and ran 6 long runs between 20 and 24 miles. This gave me the endurance I need to run 26.2 miles to the best of my ability.
Lesson Learned: Building your mileage is the most important thing you can do to become a better marathoner. Do you want to safely increase your weekly mileage? Check out my base-building training program here.
2. Try A Fresh Variety of Workouts
I ran very different workouts this training cycle. While I followed the general principal of The Six Phases of Marathon Training, the specifics of my workouts were quite different than my last three marathons. This kept my body guessing and stimulated growth.
Thank you to my coach (and wife) Erica Knighton for the incredible training plan this season!
Lesson Learned: If you’ve been doing the same thing for several training cycles and not seeing continued improvement, switch it up! Talk with your coach about modifying your workouts or if you don’t have one try a new marathon training plan.
3. Love What You Do
The marathon has a special allure. It’s scary long, incredibly difficult to get right, and you have to train for months in preparation for one special day. Honestly, it has not always been my favorite event. But I keep coming back to it. I’ve had my ups and downs with the marathon before and have been really frustrated with it for much of the past few years. But I still really wanted to get it right.
Whereas in some of my past marathons, I didn’t have the love for the event and had mix feelings about my upcoming race, in this season I really embraced the marathon and fell back in love with it.
Lesson Learned: You have to love what you do. You’ll be so much more successful in any endeavor – running, work, or life if you are excited and want to be doing it. Find what YOU love and follow that path. It might look different from the path of others and that is ok.
4. Look for Little Ways to Improve
One of the things I do with the athletes I coach 1:1 is look for little areas for improvement throughout training.
This training season, Coach Erica and I found several ways that I could get just a little bit better.
We Improved Upon…
- Found better marathon training and racing shoes for my body and stride, which eliminated cramping issues for me.
- Put more emphasis on strength training early on to prepare me for the harder and longer runs in the later stages of training.
- Increased the length of my long runs significantly to improve my confidence and eliminate historical cramping issues.
- Completely overhauled my fueling and drinking strategy to increase energy during long runs.
- Strategically carb-loaded in the three days before my marathon following the best scientific guidance available.
Lesson Learned: Don’t get stuck in your ways. Little things can add up and make a big difference. While I revamped many things this season, don’t try to tackle it all at once. I suggest looking for one or two things you can improve upon each training season.
A Question For You!
What’s one way you want to improve in your next training cycle?
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