5 Stages of Marathon Training

I was helping to stuff bags for the Hamptons Marathon last night, and overheard a few marathoners discussing their grave injuries, and how they’re worried they might not finish, yadda yadda. And I can sympathize. I wrote about this last week. This is the point in marathon training, just before the race, when you think there’s no way you could possibly finish. You’re convinced that every ache and pain is a stress fracture, or worse. This got me thinking. You know how they say there a 5 stages of grief? I think there are 5 stages of marathon training too. You go through a whole array of emotions during your training season, sometimes all the in the course of one training run. I've chronicled them for you here.

Stage 1- HOLY CRAP! I signed up for a marathon!

This stage is a mix of excitement and fear, and maybe a little bit of insanity. I question my sanity every day of my training. At this point, you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into, but you think it could be some amazing and life changing journey.

Stage 2- Why the HELL did I sign up for a marathon?

Now comes the running. You realize there’s more to this marathon thing than running. There’s hydration and nutrition. Energy-saving techniques. Chaffing. There’s also a lot of questioning your sanity in this stage too.

Stage 3- I signed up for a marathon. I think I can do this!

At some point, you start feeling stronger on your runs. You’ve done a couple 10 mile plus runs, and you didn’t die! YOU CAN DO THIS! This stage in training (at least for me) is usually accompanied by delusions of grandeur. I start thinking I’m faster or stronger than I really am. That goal time I set when I signed up for the race? I can totally blow that out of the water. You set yourself some new, totally unrealistic goal for race day, because you’re just that sure of your awesomeness.

Stage 4- PARANOIA!!!!

Remember how you were feeling awesome in stage 3? Forget about that. Now, everything hurts. Body parts that you didn’t know could hurt are hurting ALL THE TIME. Chaffing is rampant. Your blisters have blisters. You walk like an old person. You think every ache and pain is serious and could possibly stop you from running your marathon that you spent months training for. You bring your stick and some Icy Hot with you everywhere. You start having dreams about things like not having enough energy gels on race day. You’re a full on crazy person.

Stage 5- Hey! I’m running a marathon!

This is a nice place to be. Stage 4 usually lasts a looooong time so I don’t actually reach the acceptance of stage 5 until I’m at that start line. But, ready or not, it’s time to run! Don’t forget that once the race starts, you’re likely to go through all the stages again during the run.

I’d also like to add a 6th stage to this. This is what I call the badass stage. This is where you get to strut your stuff and say, “Hey. I just ran a marathon. What of it?” This stage is my favorite. Hard day at work? Stuck on a subway train with a crazy person? So what? Nothing can kill your buzz. You just ran a marathon! It’s what makes all the pain and the insanity worth it.

So for any first time marathoners out there, this is what you have to look forward to. Enjoy!