re: Just started training for the Louisiana Marathon

10-15 years ago I went couch to 1/2 marathon. I was about 210lbs when i started at just under 6 foot. I was fat but had some muscle under all the flab. I was about 40 years old or so. I followed a 12 week running plan. I just did the first week about 3 times to get in some minimal running shape an then ran the program as written.

I had no expectation other than wanting to finish and i didnt want to have to stop and walk. I ran it in 2:04 or so. I did it two or three more years in a row and then decided i wanted to do a full marathon. My best 1/2 time was around 1:55 so I was never fast at all just plodded along.

I then found an 18 week program for the marathon and trained for it. At this point i was probably 175-180lbs.
If the race had been in about 14 weeks into the program i would have run about 4:15 but i started getting extreme knee pain on my last 20 mile run and the taper runs became pretty hard. Again my expectation was only to finish. i wanted to say i did it and prove to myself that i could do it. By race day my knee was not happy. I forget the name of the condition i had developed but i learned a few stretches to make it hurt less when it tightened up. Come race day off i went. It was a two loop marathon so as i am passing by the park on the lsu lakes to start the second 1/2, my knee started hurting. i ate all my aspirin then and kept rolling. No way i wasnt finishing at that point after all that training. I finished in 4:45ish. Greatest feeling of accomplishment ever. Four or five years earlier i had never run more than a 10k and had hardly run in 20 years and i did a marthon.

you can do but you have to be very very disciplined. You cant miss runs, you can't BS your way through it. I front loaded most of my runs early in the week in case bad weather came so i could get it in. I came to look forward to the long run on saturday, especially when i started going further than i had ever run before. I ended up training with two of my nieces in the next couple years who wanted to run a half. Hardly run now and at 55 i doubt i will ever run a half again, but i know i can do it if i get the itch. Go get it, you will feel better, look better, and have a great sense of accomplishmnet and satisfaction.