Marathon Training Week 1: Dialing In Nutrition & Strength Training

Why do people run marathons?

That's a question I long pondered until a few days ago. Why the intentional pain? The suffering? The hours of long, slow, boring miles on weekends?

What is it about conquering 26.2 miles that so compels us to push our bodies to their local and absolute maximum over weeks of grueling speed workouts, tempo runs and strength sessions?

I don't have the answer for everyone, but I can explain my own motivations for taking on my first marathon.

Why I Decided to Run a Marathon

For the past few years since I picked up running as my primary means of exercise, I've always wanted to run a marathon but didn't know when. Before I turned 26, I thought maybe I would do it this year, due to the poetic nature of the age matching the distance (or something like that). I was increasing my mileage through the winter, but then trailed off after the birth of my second kid, Baby Ira.

On a whim earlier in the month, after searching for a new pair of running shoes—I settled on the On Cloudmonsters; more on them in another post—I signed up for my first race in 10 years (I was still in high school then). It was a "four on the fourth" deal. I finished 11th out of 800, third in my age group. Competitive juices, engaged.

So then what for the next race? There's the popular 10k here called Around the Crown where they shut down the ring road highway that circles Charlotte so folks can run around the city with a view they usually only get from their car. Cool. Unique. I almost signed up for that, and probably still will, but I was pulled to something else.

One of my best friends from college announced on LinkedIn that he was running his first marathon later in the year (and not going to lie, the last time we ran together, I smoked him. He'll admit it too). My strength trainer also mentioned Nick Bare to me and I'd been on a tear watching his marathon training videos.

And so I thought: Why not me? And if not now, when? Then I signed up for the Charlotte Marathon in November 2022. I'll have turned 27 by then but we can round up the .2.

That's how we got here. In this series, we'll break down what we're doing for training, nutrition and recovery—plus bring the highs and lows in the quest to run a sub 3-hour marathon on our first go. Here's to setting and breaking ambitious goals.

Day 1: Sunday, July 17

Last day of my residency at Duke, where I'm getting my MBA. Weekend was a grind—7 to 8 hours of class for the past two days, plus two-a-days for the past week. (They put us up in a nice hotel when we're on campus, plus it's connected to the business school. That's my room below.) Ready to power through some financial accounting then cruise the Jeep home. For wellness today, going to prioritize hydration and keeping it light and lean: it's a recovery day, plus I'll be sitting in class for 6 hours then driving home for 2. Let's get it.

Training

• Hotel gyms are great. Some folks in the program have been complaining that we don't have access to the main gym at Duke, which I'm sure is beautiful, but a few barbells and enough space to do a burpee or two is all I need right now to get it in.
• Today's a recovery day, so I'm hitting a quick 30 minute bike session. Didn't have a grand strategy for this one—ended up doing two to three minutes at a chill pace (30% to 40% effort) and then a minute of hard work effort (75% to 85% absolute maximum).
• How'd it feel? Got the blood pumping, sweat out weekend's stress and spiked the endorphins. Ready to go for day 3 of class.

Nutrition

• Breakfast: Toast from Verdant bread with Santa Cruz Dark Roasted peanut butter; oatmeal with chia seeds, flax seeds; some blueberries and strawberries on the side. Unnecessarily large glass of 365 brand oat milk so I don't need to transport any leftovers home later in the 95 degree weather. Shout out to the mini fridge though.
• Snacks: They feed us well here. There's a fully stocked snack bar with fruit, nuts, bagels and various other food items that we can graze every time we have a break from class. I went with some fruit and a few bottles of water. Light and lean.
• Dinner: Charli cooked one of my favorites as the return-home meal. Fried falafel, homemade hummus, olive oil-baked eggplant slices, mediterranean couscous with tomato and cilantro. Glorious summer fare.

Recovery

• Some light foam rolling before my spin. Walks at every chance I can get between classes.
• I could be wrong, but something tells me long drives aren't great for muscle recovery (I'm going to dig into some studies to support this hunch). Two hours ain't bad though, and I stopped halfway to stretch my legs and get gas.
• Unpacking. Light cleaning around the cribbo. Playing with a toddler and kissing a four month old. All great for active recovery and a return home after three long days away from the fam.

Day 2: Monday, July 18

Back to my regularly scheduled programming. Early wakeup, make a pourover coffee, hit the gym for a cross-training session. Wonderful way to start the week.

Training

• AM: Full body workout is today's programming. 8 sets of 2 snatches for our heavy lift portion, then for conditioning, a 9 rounder of 9 hang power snatches and 6 burpee pogos bookended by a half-mile run. I'm still working on my snatch form, so I kept it relatively light today. 70 to 80 lbs for the lift portion. No weight on the bar for the 9 rounds. The burpees took me down. I used a 20 inch box as my "pogo"—jumping laterally over it back and forth counts as one rep. That was a tough one (if you're a math person, that's 108 lateral box jumps).
• PM: 3 mile easy pace run. I decided to try out some new running gear—the Nathan running backpack with a water bladder that I got for father's day and my Ran Bans. I usually rock them for casual wear, but it was especially sunny so decided to give em a try.
• Max heart rate hitting 180 during the morning session. For the afternoon jaunt, 8:01 pace for 3 miles in the 90 degree heat at a 150 bpm heart rate. Good run, better swag.

Nutrition

• Breakfast: ALOHA chocolate protein shake and a NUUN tablet after the workout. Blueberry chia oatmeal with banana and peanut butter. This is my new go-to.
• Lunch: I like to have a light lunch when I know I'm running in the afternoon. I prefer to run fasted, but with the two-a-days push running to the afternoon, I'll usually have a small portion of bready carbs and a smoothie. Today it's two pieces of avocado toast with hemp seeds on Verdant bakery sourdough (our local bread superheroes), plus a bowl chocolate peanut butter nice cream (throw in the Vitamix: one and a half frozen bananas, 1/3 cup of oat milk, 2 tbsps crunchy peanut butter, 1 heaping tbsp cocoa).
• Dinner: Big bowl of pasta with fried squash blossoms stuffed with cashew cheese

Recovery

• Stretching and foam rolling are the first things to go when I'm busy with work and family. I've been getting better at consistently rolling, but on the days I don't have it in me, I'll do some light stretching before bed.
• I've felt a few sore spots and tight muscles throughout the day. Left shoulder from hang cleans at the gym, right ankle is healing from some tenderness—500 mountain climbers in my Friday morning hotel gym and the form started to go toward the end—and hamstrings, always. Every night, whether I've rolled or not, I'll hit these spots with CBD recovery cream. Pure magic. Or science. We need more research on the wonders of this stuff.
• In-bed stretching is a great nightcap. Tonight I'm ending with some hamstring stretches and a good massage of the thighs, calves and glutes with my trusty Theragun.

Day 3: Tuesday, July 19

Chatting with my marathon coach for the first time and also making a trip to the nutritionist for a metabolism test. Plus, a morning of work meetings and a full slate of training. Let's go.

Training

• AM: Tempo run. Woke up a bit before the alarm and knocked out some work before heading out the door. Took a new course around the neighborhood—6 miles at a 6:40 pace and 160 bpm heart rate. Could've pushed a bit harder.
• Not sure if it was the new course or shoddy sleep the night before, but wasn't really feeling it on the run. Sometimes it be like that. Either way, I got in 8.5 miles with the warm up, cool downs and strides.
• PM: Joining the 12 o'clock class at the gym. Four sets of 5 box jumps, 15 pull-ups and 25 calories on the rower for some warmup conditioning, then a front squat session ramping up to a 2 rep max. Today I capped out at 155 for 2 and 165 for 1.

Nutrition

• Breakfast: The usual protein shake + oatmeal
• Lunch: My morning was slammed with meetings, so I didn't eat anything before the gym besides my breakfast. I got through the workout fine but crashed like a memecoin as soon as I got home. I chugged a protein shake but was still shaky. Luckily, my lovely wife helped me put together a nutritious and delicious roasted veggie and tofu bowl. Learning: eat at least a few hundred cals of nuts and fruit before the afternoon gym session.
• Dinner: BBQ tempeh, rice and red beans, homemade vegan potato salad and fresh farmer's market mixed greens from Tega Hills farm. Marvelous.

Recovery

• AM: Foam rolling and stretching while having morning coffee
• Post-afternoon gym session: foam rolling glutes and hamstrings
• PM wind-down: CBD recovery cream

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Day 4: Wednesday, July 20

Another packed day with work meetings and two workouts on the schedule. Let's hit it.

Training

• AM: Wednesday is "cardio party" day at the gym. Oh boy. This one was a heart thumper: 15 seconds of max effort sprints on a machine (bike, ski erg, rowing erg) with 45 seconds of rest. We paired with a partner so the schedule was 15 seconds of Partner 1 on, 15 seconds break, 15 seconds Partner 2 on, break, rinse, repeat.
• PM: 3 mile run around the hood at a chill 7:40 pace. 143 bpm average heart rate.

Nutrition

• Breakfast: blueberry chia oatmeal + protein shake
• Lunch: Leftover rice and beans with tempeh, avocado, hemp seeds and spinach
• Dinner: Oodles of noodles, plus zoodles. Spaghetti with Impossible meatballs, Follow Your Heart vegan parmesan and zucchini noodles. Compliments to the chef. Dessert of my patented Perfect [Redacted Peanut Butter Cup Brand] Nice Cream.

Recovery

• Rolling
• Rolling
• And more rolling. Shouts to Triggerpoint.

Day 5: Thursday, July 21

Recovery day at the gym. Kept it to one workout today (no morning run) and hit the noon class, so the morning around the crib was a bit slow. Picked up an exercise bike in the afternoon from FB Marketplace to work in some low impact cardio on active recovery days (I need to get my heart rate up in the morning or else my day is off).

Training

• Gym: Active recovery. 30 minute as-many-rounds-as-possible. Pick 3 cards: the numbers dictate reps and the suit decides exercise. I ended up doing 185 cals on the bike, alternating between arms only and legs only, and a good portion of pushups.
• Garage clean-up: The exercise bike purchase prompted a full-scale overhaul of the garage. Wish I had before and after pics. Tossed some old suitcases, stacked up the tools and seasonal items on the shelf, hung our sports gear and chairs on the walls. So satisfying.
• Sometimes a good cleaning session around the house is the best active recovery (and easy entertainment for a three-year-old).

Nutrition

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with almond butter, jam, banana and hemp seeds. Protein shake before the afternoon gym session.
• Lunch: Big bowl: impossible meatballs, sweet potato, roasted cauliflower and half an avocado over Ralston Farms mixed rice. Superb.
• Dinner: Tofu stir fry and vegan dumplings (Nasoya brand) we picked up from Publix

Recovery

• Active recovery part 1 - easy gym day to get the heart rate up into Zone 2/low Zone 3.
• Active recovery - reorganized the whole garage
• Don't you love an impromptu project?

Day 6: Friday, July 22

One action-packed day of active recovery down, and we're back at it today. 5:30 am strength training, 10 am meeting at Town Hall. Leggo.

Training

• AM: This one was a beast. 6 rounds, 5 minutes each: 5 deadlifts @ 155 lbs, 100 jump ropes, 10 get out the pool, 100 jump ropes, 5 deadlifts
• PM: Quick two mile jaunt through the adjacent neighborhood. Hilly. I've been running some new routes around here.
• Wasn't planning a two-a-day but felt I could use the run. Sometimes it be like that.

Nutrition

• Breakfast: chia blueberry oatmeal + protein shake
• Lunch: Needed something quick before scooping my sister and her partner from the airport. Went with banza chickpea vegan mac (lots of protein!) with frozen peas. Solid.
• Dinner: Homemade pizza! With the aunties visiting from Brooklyn. This was a fun one: a veggie with olives, spinach and some other goodies, and a white with caramelized onions and hot honey. Both with Miyoko's vegan liquid cheese. Made some almond butter chocolate nice cream for dessert to show off the new Vitamix.

Recovery

• AM: Stretching and foam rolling post strength training workout.
• PM: Not much. Bit of Theragun on thighs and hammies.
• General soreness has been noticeably better over the past few weeks since I added breakfast back in and ramped my calories to 4,000.

Day 7: Saturday, July 23

Week 1 almost in the books. Long run and lots of fam time on the slate today.

Training

• AM: 8 miles at a relatively chill pace. Last run before the official marathon training plan kicks in.
• Came out for the first mile way too hot and decided to do a pyramid. Slower til mile 4 and faster the rest of the way home. To control my speed and keep it easy, nasal breathing miles 3 to 8.
• PM: 3 mile walk with the fam at the beloved Anne Springs Close Greenway. 95 degree heater of an afternoon.

Nutrition

• Breakfast: Post-run protein shake. Hit the farmer's market with the fam and guess what? Vegan black-owned food truck. Got some peach cobbler pancakes, tofu scramble, cheesy grits and plantains. Pancakes were stars of the show.
• Lunch: Food was all over the place today with guests visiting. Wife made an oatmeal bake (if you don't know what that is, look it up), so had a few pieces of that. For real lunch, we made our family favorite. Buffalo chickpea salad on sourdough bread from the farmers market.
• Dinner: Simple paste with broccoli rabe and eggplant sauteed in olive oil, plus some crispy Field Roast sausage.

Recovery

• The 3 mile slow walk with the fam was a great way to get some nice blood circulation in the legs after a tough week of training.
• (When I say slow, I mean slow: My three-year-old daughter walked the whole thing by herself.)
• Ended the day with a massive meal and a good night of sleep. Now that's recovery.

What a week. Energized and nourished, I'm ready to attack the first week of my official training program from my marathon coach on Monday.

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Looking forward,

Yowana

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