{"id":2500,"date":"2022-08-20T12:46:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T19:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2022-11-28T06:37:24","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T13:37:24","slug":"3-things-learned-from-a-half-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/20\/3-things-learned-from-a-half-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Things Learned from a Half Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Also posted here on <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@dyerelian\/3-things-learned-from-a-half-marathon-18bbb57137c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Medium<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"a8ac\">I recently ran in my first half marathon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"41f9\">Guess what happened,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"f784\">I learned three new things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"a4c0\"><strong>The Journey:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"c541\">In June of 2022, I just heard that my wife\u2019s cousin, Scotty J had started a company and was going to be hosting a half marathon and 5k run in Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"9f39\">Even better. It was going to start and end next to my wife\u2019s parents\u2019 home at Marine Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"02b1\">Scot is a bro, so, of course, I have to support him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"7b23\">I decided to do a half marathon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ad47\">Why? \u2014 I\u2019ve wanted to do more organized racing, and this was the perfect opportunity to try something challenging and to train for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"9ae4\">Here is my approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"e820\">A half marathon is 13.1 miles. So I googled&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=what+is+a+good+time+for+a+half+marathon\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cwhat is a good time for a half marathon<\/a>\u201d and found that a decent time is around 2 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"7376\">So I knew I had to be able to run non-stop for around 2 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"14aa\">When I was training for Kilimanjaro, an instructor from REI mentioned that a way of training that worked for him was to set a time goal instead of a distance goal. (For example, walk for 3 hours non-stop)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"470d\">I had found that tactic helpful then and employed it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"3396\">I started by setting a goal to run 45 minutes non-stop, without worrying about speed too much while keeping above a jog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"53e5\">I completed this on a treadmill at L.A. fitness \u2014 I ran about 5 miles in 45 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"1a0c\">The next day my feet felt like ancient ruins on the brink of collapse. I hobbled around like learning to walk again. I realized this would be tough, and willpower won\u2019t be enough. I needed to support my body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nutrition \u2014 I started making sure I ate at least one bowl of super oatmeal* a day<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yoga \/ Stretching \u2014 20-minute foot\/leg practice every other day (Fun to do around the kids who will use you like a jungle gym)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Running shoes \u2014 Ordered a new pair of New Balance 990vs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Experts recommend getting fitted at a running store, but these seemed to work for me.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Running clothes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New socks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Compression capris<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Workout \/ Weight Loss<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Less weight and easier on muscle and joints<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"4149\">I then keep running 2\u20133 miles every few days and once a week 6 miles, then 7 miles, then 8 miles on Sunday one week before the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"641a\">So now, in preparation \u2014 no more leg workouts, drink lots of water, and make sure I have a plan for race day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"7881\">Race day comes \u2014 We are up early and drive over to Long Beach and the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"9a96\">I completed the race in about 2 hours and 10 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"53de\"><strong>Three things I learned:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Testing out equipment and how you plan to use it \u2014 Running without music<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I decided to run with just my apple watch and headphones \u2014 using the watch\u2019s download feature to play music and keep my pace \u2014 I had tested this feature in previous runs but never with my phone out of range.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guess what happened. \u2014 I could not get the music to play and fumbled with restarting my watch and headphones for the first 2 miles until I gave up. I ran the race without music which was fine, but not how I trained.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"bc19\">2. Learning from the experience \u2014 Don\u2019t dump water in your socks<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>During training, I drank water from water bottles \u2014 during the race, they provided water in cups \u2014 Toward the end of the race, I dumped some water on my head to help cool me off (like you see in the movies)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guess what happened \u2014 A large portion of the water went straight down my body soaking my shorts and, even worse, my socks \u2014 I ran the last 4 miles making squishy noises with each step<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"506b\">3. Testing my limits \u2014 I\u2019ve got 20% more, not 50%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As mentioned, a half marathon is 13.1 miles, and I had trained to 8 miles \u2014 thinking that I could tough out the last 5 miles at the same pace<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guess what happened \u2014 I toughed out at the same speed until mile 10, then ran into a wall. My pace went from 8:30 min\/mile to 13 min\/mile for the last 3 miles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"d068\">What a fantastic and challenging experience. I finished the race, had a good time, and did not get hurt. And even more importantly I learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"cae6\">I did have a goal of completing in under 2 hours, so I plan to take my learnings and crush another half marathon soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Also posted here on Medium) I recently ran in my first half marathon. Guess what happened, I learned three new things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,321],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-medium-post"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielyerelian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}