5 at 50 Part VI: A Damn Fine Time

My 2024 CIM, and 5 practices to run your best marathon.

This is me smiling.

What if I told you running a marathon is not as difficult as it’s made out to be? That tackling twenty-six miles is as simple as stringing a few small practices together over time, then showing up at the start line and trusting the work.

Would you think me looney, daffy, wacky, or screwy (thanks, Roget’s)?

Now, what if I told you that not only is finishing a marathon within reach, but that by adopting a single practice—so straightforward as to be easily overlooked—you can continue to get faster and have more fun at the distance for years to come?

With eleven 26.2’s now in the rear view, I believe it to be true. In this article, I’ll share five basic bricks I stacked to break a twelve year-old personal record in the marathon. Read to the end for the single, keystone practice that brings it all together.

And, if you’ve got your eye on a marathon in 2025, I have an offer for you.

But first, the world’s shortest race report.

Why do I think the five practices below will get you across the finish line with a smile on your face? Because I’ve tried the other ways: rigid plans, obsession with pace, unnecessary strain… all leading to dramatic flame-outs and confusing race day flops.

This build was different. This race was different. The 2024 California International Marathon (CIM) is the first 26.2 I’ve enjoyed start to finish. The suffering of the distance never deterred me because I figured it was part of the deal.

Now I know it doesn’t have to be.

At CIM, I ran with patience, ease, and purpose for twenty miles, then reveled in the joy of a balls-out final 10k, where my legs did whatever I asked. It was the culmination of a training block in which I’d kept my mind and body connected, checked in and adjusted every day, and stayed alert for reasons to be optimistic.

I was like the best teachers: high expectations, tempered with empathy and kindness. And I was like the best students: a love of learning, fed by curiosity and adaptability. The best runners embody all these things, and on this day I was at my personal best.

California International Marathon
December 8, 2024
Previous PR, 2012: 3:06:54
New PR, 2024: 3:01:40
Pace in the first 20 miles: 6:58
Closing 10k: 6:45 | Final mile: 6:20

Now, let’s talk bricks 🧱

Practice 1: Prioritize consistency.

My previous marathon best in 2012 set me up for a date with destiny in Boston, 2013. After the trauma of that event, I quit marathoning for nearly a decade. Ten years on, my body and mind (and certainly my soul) held memories of 26.2, but the specific fitness was gone.

With three years of steady, progressive training, I was able to regain it. Check out the clear correlation between consistency—as evidenced by mileage—and race results:

• 2022 Tunnel Marathon: 3:11 (miles that year: 1,750)

• 2023 Boston Marathon: 3:09 (miles: 1,975)

• 2024 CIM: 3:01 (miles: 2,250)

It’s tough to get “running experts” to agree on much, but you won’t see any arguments about the power and necessity of showing up. You simply must find a way to get out the door with regularity. Days matter more than miles.

Consider these ideas:

• Clarify your why. When other reasons to run fail, return to it.

• Set a goal and create a plan.

• Notice what competes for your time. Can you shuffle?

• On race day: The payoff of consistent training is an intimacy with the mechanics and feelings of running. Having faced bad weather, low motivation, and other hiccups, you’ll be carrying a significant store of confidence and resilience.

Practice 2: Put in the appropriate amount of work.

This is something I’ve struggled with my entire life, err… running career. If some is good, then some more should be better, right? We know intuitively this only true to a point, beyond which lies diminishing returns (or steps backward). But how do we know what the point is?

In this CIM training block, I locked on to one word: “appropriate.”

The proper amount and intensity of work to put in should be proportional to your goal (that’s why it’s important to have one). If your goal is simply to finish, you might focus mostly on volume. If you tack on a time target, you’ll want to accumulate hours running at—and probably faster than—that pace.

An overlooked component of “appropriate” is the course itself. Specificity matters. If the race course is flat, train mostly flat. If it’s hilly at the end, run up grades in the final miles of your long runs. CIM is net-down, so I ran a lot of downhills in training. For even more specificity, on several occasions I ran long down, then did a handful of marathon-pace miles on shaky legs afterward.

A bit more on “appropriate” work:

• Spend most of your time running easy, well below expected marathon pace.

• If you have a time goal, accumulate hours at that pace (and faster). This doesn’t have to mean many consecutive miles at marathon pace. All mine was run in two-mile blocks with recovery between. Faster stuff was accumulated in short, 800 and 400-meter efforts and 10 to 20-second strides.

• Fuel your runs. All of them. Oh, and as an athlete, you need carbs. Sketchy nutrition advice abounds, but rest assured, the downsides of restricting calories or certain macronutrients are not worth any marginal gains.

• On race day: The payoff of appropriate training is a familiarity with different effort levels. Use the knowledge to pace wisely. It’s often said, the marathon is a 10k race with a 20-mile warmup. Use all twenty to come gradually up to speed, then finish hard.’

See, smiling again! Okay, back to serious now.

Practice 3: Get some rest.

In life and marathon training, rest is as important as work. This can be difficult to put into practice because we’re conditioned to believe effort is where gains are made. “No Days Off” and “Go One More” are good marketing slogans, but generally bad training advice. Apparently, “Put Your Feet up and Relax” doesn’t sell supplements.

Ignoring recovery can sabotage training and push you into fatigue or worse. Write rest into your schedule and take more if your body tells you to. Consider having regular rest day/s “float” to use them when life gets hectic. Feel good and have few responsibilities? Save the rest day for later in the week and go run!

Leading up to a marathon, reducing volume and intensity (tapering) allows our bodies and brains to build to full strength while staying sharp. How much to scale back is nuanced and personal—one of the “mysteries of marathoning” that bears continual experimenting. For CIM, I found just the right balance of recovery and work.

In sum:

• Mindfully incorporate varying periods of rest into your training.

• Rest when you’re tired. Rest when you’re stressed. Just rest.

• Create the conditions for consistent sleep. Snag an occasional nap if you can.

• On race day: The payoff of mindful recovery, sleep, and tapering is a body and mind that are fully-charged for race day. Pro tip: You can rest during the race, too. If you feel fatigue setting in (especially in the first twenty miles) modulate your effort until energy returns. If it never does, relax into the new pace.

Practice 4: Tap your team.

From the guy who wrote It’s Okay to Run Alone, a revelation of my CIM experience was just how much marathoning is a team sport. Some define “humility” as having a low opinion of oneself. That’s not it. To me, humility is an admission that we don’t have all the answers and either can’t go it alone, or realize we’re better with some help. Then, it is asking for that help.

My wife is my greatest cheerleader. Her support is unconditional, but because I had big goals for CIM, I asked her for help anyway. When life tightened, I asked her to help protect my training time, and she did. When I quarantined before the race to avoid getting sick (around Thanksgiving no less), she did it with me. Point is, see and be grateful for all the people lifting you up.

Other runners are on your team, too. I’ve had races where I felt suffocated by others. They seemed to be in my way, or not “serious” enough. At CIM, these familiar emotions arose when I couldn’t move past the huge 3:05 pace group. This time, I let the frustration go and ran alongside them. For miles, I relaxed into the rhythm of our collective footfall. We moved as a wave. It kept me loose for the final push.

Some other ways to tap your team:

• Find training partners for accountability

• Think about run clubs for variety (and a posse… CIM had raucous club support)

• Consider a coach for expertise and guidance

• On race day: When you’ve practiced noticing how many people are on your team, race day can feel less like a competition and more like a celebration.

Practice 5 (the Keystone): Notice.

Here’s the simplest, most powerful brick you can stack. Be present. Ommmm.

I write about this a lot, so we’re going to keep it short. But, friends… improved mental skills can help you realize the most of your physiological capacity. Tune in to the feedback from your body and mind. Use what you notice to make small adjustments, or simply see it, think, “Isn’t that interesting?” and carry on.

You’re in possession of a remarkable machine, and when you pay attention to how it’s running (punning intended), you’ll have more funning. Promise.

Here are a few ways to do it:

• Meditate. Headspace has a competition pack I’ve flashed many times in training and racing. I focus on a physical sensation like feet on the ground or Gyan Mudra (thumbs touching forefingers) to bring me back to the moment.

• Work on breath awareness.

• Pay attention to dreams. Sorry (not sorry) if you think this is hooey.

• On race day: Mindfulness practices won’t necessarily give you a Zen marathon. What you will get is a toolbox of stuff you can use to engage with mental chatter, move through physical states with less resistance, and become more skilled at navigating emotions.

The Finish Line

The marathon is seen as tough, and I don’t mean to minimize it with a cheeky headline. However you arrive at the start line, you will have been tested. You’ll have overcome trials no one can ever fully see or understand. However you arrive at the finish line, you will have been changed forever.

What I learned at CIM, is the actual event—when we tend to a handful of little things with intention and consistency—very nearly takes care of itself. It’s a lesson that’s been building all year as I worked to PR 5 distances at 50 years-old.

“Easy” doesn’t mean we can predict the time we’ll see on the clock and simply coast to the finish line. The ease I’m talking about comes from a deeper place. One of quiet confidence. A knowing that, if only in fleeting moments, we glimpsed our best selves.

Run lightly,
-mike

Eyeing a 26.2 in 2025? I can help.
Contact me about flexible, personalized training plans and 1:1 coaching.*
mike [at] runninglightly.com

* I coach masters runners who lead, or are interested in a mindfulness-centered, alcohol-free lifestyle.