I ran my first marathon in Munich yesterday! The experience was incredible and the crowd was overflowing with energy. It honestly felt like one giant party across the city. I thought I'll reflect a little bit on my first time running 42km, covering the three biggest learnings and my main takeaway, as long as everything is still fresh in my mind.
A good training plan is critical.
All in all, I trained for about 3 months with a local running coach who prepared a training plan for me based on my current (at that time) running status.
The plan was in the form of an Excel sheet that told me exactly what kind of a run (distance, intervals, etc.) I needed to do on any given day, including rest days, strength training days, and so on. Looking back, I feel that having this plan was critical. It was still possible for me to talk to the coach to move things around if there was a need, but generally, I really liked having this predictability. Plus, it was really motivating to do the training for the day and put a checkmark in the excel sheet when I was done!
And no, it really wasn't expensive to get such a plan made. Gym memberships cost a lot more.
Listen to your body.
Before I started training, there were a few months where I couldn't find any time at all to go running. This meant that I went from no running to running ~15km within just a few days.
This was incredibly stressful on my knee and I ended up developing a bit of a runner's knee situation. Thankfully, I noticed this very soon and went for a few physiotherapy sessions, which made a big difference very quickly. Things would've been much worse otherwise!
Similarly, about 2 weeks before the marathon day, I caught a cold and had to skip a few training runs, one of them being a ~30km. I had already done a 30km run the weekend before that one, but this would've been the second time and I was really looking forward to running a 30km again, but couldn't because of the sickness. The only choice I had was to sit it out and let the body recover.
If you're in the middle of your training and your body is asking you to do something, listen!
Mental resilience is just as important.
Training for and running a marathon requires not just physical strength but also strong mental resilience.
During the training phase, there were days when going for a run felt like the last thing I wanted to do, whether due to bad weather or simply not being in the mood. Even during the marathon (especially between kilometers 24 and 30), almost every few minutes I could hear my mind tell me to give up and jump out of the race, or just walk the remaining distance because that's the easier thing to do.
The mind plays tricks, but all of that is normal. Part of the training is to ignore all those voices, and just keep going.
My biggest takeaway from training for and running the marathon is learning just how resilient and malleable the human body is. Every time you push your limits, the body initially feels exhausted. However, if you do it again, it quickly becomes the new normal.
Being able to do a marathon has been one of the hardest but also one of the most rewarding experiences I've had so far. And I can't wait to recover and sign up for my next one!