Becoming A Better Runner: The Time It Takes To Train For A Marathon

And the importance of a support system

Here is a random, non-comprehensive list of the things you can do within 105 hours.

• Take PTO from work and take 2 and a half-week vacation

• Watch the entire Harry Potter movie collection 5 times

• Listen to the entire Beatles catalog

• Read (I’m guessing here) 20 books

• Most likely, write a book

• Drive from Maine to Florida, from Florida to California, from California to Washington, and almost make it back to my home state of Ohio

• Watch 2 full-length, recorded regular seasons of your favorite NFL team

• Most likely anything else you can think of

But me? I am choosing to spend it running.

621 miles. 18 weeks. 6 runs per week. This is what my training plan calls for, without including hill and track workouts in preparation for my next marathon. All in all, I will probably add another 80 miles on the track and doing hill sprints, eclipsing 700. That’s a lot of miles and a lot of time running. If we do some simple calculations using my average training pace per mile, I will spend roughly 105 hours running during this training block.

105 hours - yikes.

I don’t know why I decided to calculate that number, but it came to mind as I spent my Friday afternoon suffering on a long run that was taking longer than anticipated, adding insult to my cramping calves. Not every run goes as planned, and this was one of those days. I needed to get home. It was cold, and my legs weren’t moving very quickly. I wanted dinner.

Then I got a message from my coach, or as she is better known, my wife, offering some encouragement. She was counting down the miles and tracking my progress through GPS, and could see the struggle in real-time. She knew I had missed some runs in previous weeks due to illness, and that I needed to get back on track with my training. As I was getting my backside kicked by a 15-miler, she could see my pace grind to a slow motion. The message was nice to hear and reminded me that I wasn’t alone.

A support system is vital to success when you are attempting to do any major distance. And since I’ve been running, I’ve had her consistent voice pushing me to the finish line. For me, there is no financial gain or obligation to run. No one holds me hostage and says “run!”. I’m just the idiot who thought he could run a marathon. And now I’m the idiot who is training to run my third and beat my personal best by 45 minutes. Yet no matter what, she has been down to be my race day tracker, accountability partner, course spotter, and cheerleader since I ran my first 5k.

I think the biggest surprise for people getting into running is the sacrifice it takes to get to just get to the starting line on race day. These 105 hours are specific to me, and not every training plan requires as much of an investment, yet there are major changes to everyday life that are necessary to be ready for race day. For the runners, there is physical sacrifice, but there are also many lifestyle sacrifices. Each hour I am training is an hour I would’ve been doing something else. Hobbies go by the wayside and time spent with family and friends is cut short. For married folks, it’s time away from your partner in an already packed schedule with work, shuffling kids off to practices, and fitting meals in whenever possible.

These sacrifices also aren’t one-sided. My wife deals with my mood swings during training and waits patiently for me to recover from the shell of a human I am after a long run or intense workout. She has to adjust her schedule to accommodate my running and sacrifice her time to allow me to pursue my goals.

In the beginning, understanding these sacrifices was a tough lesson for us both to learn (it took me much longer to get it). I don’t think she was aware of how long training runs would take, and I didn’t know the effect the time away would have. I had to fit runs into early mornings, late nights, and weekends whenever a few hours presented themselves. It’s not cool to sit around talking about how much my legs hurt while she does everything else, or be away for hours at a time, while our kids are being difficult or need a meal. It’s also not cool to hold in the mental and emotional stresses of training, and not tell a partner what you’re dealing with. I had to learn that while she wasn’t running with me, she was still sacrificing as much as me in all the other areas.

These are hard lessons to learn that evolve with the challenges of each race. Training to simply finish a marathon is different than training to run a certain pace. It’s a constant growing process, much like running itself. Since that first race, I (hopefully - she is going to read this) have done a better job at talking about what the goal is and what is needed. If we have obligations, I work through lunch or go in early to fit my run in before life takes over. Her involvement in my running has also changed. She helps me strategize for races and has turned into an accountability partner with my training (“Don’t come home until you hit your mileage!”). She knows my goals, what it takes, and that I won’t be happy with myself if I don’t follow through. Occasionally, she will join me for a run, a welcome change from running solo all the time. She pays attention to my progress and offers encouragement. On race day, she navigates the course to find me and offer encouragement. She’s the best coach and partner a guy could ask for.

And during these 105 hours, I need it.