I’m almost at the halfway point of my 4 month marathon training.  The NYC Marathon is about 2 months away, and I thought it’d be a good idea to look back on the past 8 weeks of training and see what I’ve learned.

I’ll make it easy and break it down to a nice clean number:  5 things I’ve learned so far while training for the NYC Marathon.

1.  ”The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it.” – Pablo Picasso

By far, the most important thing I’ve taken out of this whole experience has been to concentrate on my form, above all else.  When I saw myself running on HomeField I learned things about myself I would have had no other way of knowing.  So far, I’ve improved my 10K time by 6 minutes.  I’ll attribute 90% of this to focusing on the correct way to run.  Not just realizing how I should run, but realizing what I’m doing wrong, and correcting accordingly.

Additionally, scaling things back in the weight room and focusing entirely on good form and technique has yielded tremendous gains.  The most I’ve seen at any stage of my competitive life.

2.  Nutrition is key.

I’ve “known” this for a couple of years now, but never actually entirely put it into practice.  This doesn’t just mean eating right all the time, it means eating the right meal at the right time.  I’ve had some meals before workouts that sit in my stomach like a rock.  I’ve also had meals I felt gave me no additional energy whatsoever.

So far, the best meal for me before a workout has been fruit in almond milk, with pecans.  Not entirely sure why this is, but I think its because the meal is light on my stomach, and the fruit gives my body the glycogen it needs to run.  The fat in the pecans and the almond milk are an additional bonus for energy.

3.  Keep your stride rate up.

I read that this was the key to moving faster, but for some reason I never actually believed it.  I wanted proof.  So, during a 5 mile run I alternated running styles – one lap I’d run my normal stride rate, the other I’d focus on maintaining at least a 180 steps per minute stride rate.

The result:  The laps where I focused on stride rate were consistently 5 seconds faster than when I didn’t.  That’s good enough proof for me.

A high stride rate ensures that your feet touch the ground for as little time as possible.  I checked the video on HomeField to see how long my foot stayed on ground — from initial impact, to lift.

Ideally, my foot is supposed to stay on the ground for only 3 frames. I'm getting there.

4 Full body strength and balance is what’s important.  Forget focusing on a single muscle group.

I loved hearing about the crossfit games this year.  One of the competitions at this year’s event — the baseball throw.  Whoever threw a baseball the farthest, won.

While it’s cool to work on your biceps, and reach a new max on your bench, realistically you’re never using only those muscles.  As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the last time I’ve done a curl.  The guys who won the event were the guys who were balanced, and flexible throughout their entire body.  Those who couldn’t bend their arms to achieve the proper leverage to effectively throw a baseball, threw no better than my 10 year old brother.

5.  “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes

I really can’t stress this enough.  I’ve realized that a great majority of this marathon is going to be about my mental toughness.  Every training session I do, broken down to its core, has been about one thing — Finish the f&*king thing, and don’t stop.

The more pain I can push throw now, the more pain I’ll be able to push through when I’m 22 miles into this run.  If I continually convince myself to keep going no matter what, each and everyday, I’ll be able to do it when the moment counts.

I’ve got to say, more than anything this has been fun as hell.  I’ve learned so much about myself already, and I’m only halfway through.  ”Life’s a journey, not a destination.”  So far, my marathon journey has been a blast.  I’ve continued to improve every step of the way, and I still have more time ahead.  But, I’m only halfway there, more to come!