This was my first marathon! The weather started in the 60s with lots of humidity and finished in the 80s. I had trained in cool Minnesota spring weather with most mornings in the 30-40s and this was a shocker. Normally Duluth is fairly cool with a breeze, but I learned a lot from running in the heat. I was trying to run 3:30 because all my training runs suggested that I should have been able to reach that on a good day, so I started out a little fast at 7:45 and think that this was a very poor idea, especially on a hot day. I hydrated well the days before, but only drank about 30 oz of water the morning of. Looking back, I should have drank more fluids and even some sports drink. I also should have drank more at the first water stops. I had a fuel belt so I drank lightly off of that, but the heat caught up with everyone so fast. I held my own and was at 1:44 through 13.1, but within the next few miles, many started walking for the first time and my left quad started cramping. I struggled through the last ten miles at about a 10 minute mile pace because of cramping of both quads and having to walk at times. I was just thankful to finish considering they thought about calling the race! I was very humbled by the experience and will take a lot from it in preparation for my next marathon. I want to do a marathon in October, possibly Des Moines. Anyone have any experience with Des Moines? I realize I need to work tempo and pace runs into my workout and not just get the miles in. I would also like to do some cross training and some lower body strength training. I have a strong core and upper body, but put the cross training and lower body strength training on the wayside once the mileage increased in my 18 week program. Any advice on setting up a program with tempo and pace runs and what exercises to do for strength training and will challenge me, but still enable me to get my runs in. I am planning on taking this week off and trying to ease back into running the next couple of weeks and really putting my all into it in the middle of July. I will try to start a 12 week plan for Des Moines. Any advice on what mileage or how to transition from one marathon to another in a 3 month time period? This is a great site and I just want to learn all I can. | 