Running 2 Marathons in 3 Weeks - With a PR!

Introduction:

“You must be crazy”. At least that’s what I heard when I told people I had signed up for both my first and second marathons within a three-week period. But true to character, sign up I did! It’s difficult to put into words the amount of training that was required to not only get through both of these races, but to come out with a personal best on the second by a whopping 11 minutes!

Without delving into the details of the years it took me to arrive in this place, the journey was a marathon in of itself. True, my marathon dreams have been riddled with injuries and setbacks, but I’d like to illustrate the period of time in which things went right and finally clicked into place.

The year 2024 began with one focused goal; I would be running my first marathon May 26th 2024. In the coming months, my weeks would be filled with ever-increasing mileage, hours strength training in the gym and the inevitable ups, downs, aches and pains (shout out Integral Physio).

If that wasn’t enough, I pulled the trigger on the second marathon scheduled for June 16th, 2024, before I had even finished the first! Conventional running wisdom would advise against following suit. That aside, if you’re sitting wondering if you can do the same, I assure that you can, and I’d like to show you how.

Preparation and Training:

Before attempting your first marathon, I strongly recommend that you give yourself anywhere from 16 to 20 weeks to train, assuming that you are already running at least 30 km per week, if not more. If not, it would be wise to give yourself an additional four to eight weeks to build to that level. The reasoning behind this is multifold.

To run an injury-free race, the marathon requires your musculoskeletal system to be accustomed to the strain and stress that you will endure over the hours that you’ll be on foot. This means that you must gradually increase the load that your bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles can handle over a painstakingly long period of time.

Furthermore, your cardiovascular system must be prepped for the exertion of the race. This means building up your aerobic base, your hypothetical gas tank, by running slowly and incrementally increasing the weekly mileage to allow for training adaptations to take effect.

Anaerobic training has its merits here as well. If aerobic training is the gas tank, anaerobic training are your booster rockets. Think fast-paced, strenuous running workouts.

These serve to improve lactate threshold, running economy and efficiency, stave off potential injury and build mental toughness (a key component of completing the marathon). Mixing in one to two of these types of workouts (of which there are many types) per week towards the middle of a marathon training plan is sufficient to achieve the desired effect.

Let’s take a look at what this looks like in a practical form for a hypothetical Week 1 of a marathon training plan. Note that the following example is rudimentary and the terms “easy” and “long” etc. can be described in much more detail, outside the scope of this article.

·        Monday (off)

·        Tuesday (6 km easy run)

·        Wednesday (off)

·        Thursday (6 km easy run)

·        Friday (off)

·        Saturday (7 km easy run)

·        Sunday (14 km long run

Total weekly mileage: 33 km. This is identical to my first week of marathon prep back in January 2024. Note that this would be applicable for a beginner runner. Intermediate to advanced runners will include substantially more miles as a baseline before beginning a marathon prep.

Following Week 1, you’ll add approximately 10 – 15% to the total weekly mileage per week arriving somewhere between 50 and 65km with a 25 to 32km (max three hours) long run at your peak, which should be roughly three weeks before race day.

Three weeks out from race day, you’ll begin what is called a “taper” which is a reduction in training volume to allow for training adaptations to take place and your body to recover. This should be approximately 20 – 25% reduction per week.

While the above example is limited in scope, it provides the basic information necessary for a beginner runner looking to train for their first marathon.

Recovery/Training Between Marathons:

I awoke in the middle of the night following my first marathon simultaneously drenched in sweat and shivering, my teeth chattering uncontrollably, producing a rapid and predictable clacking.

Freezing, I attempted to wrap myself in blankets only to find my right knee burning with pain, swollen from the beating it had taken earlier. Yup, I was in rough shape.

The next few days were spent slowly relearning how to walk, first beginning with a hobble that only became more difficult each time I sat and allowed my body to stiffen into a semi-permanent seated position. What was I thinking signing up for two of these, with the second only two and a half weeks away.

Safe to say, my first week (almost a whole week) was spent entirely in recovery with zero strength training and absolutely no running. Luckily, my initial assessment of my condition proved to be wrong and within three to four days I was spry as a young chicken, itching for my next run.

By Saturday, six days later, I went out to test the ol’ legs on a very easy-paced 4km run. I followed up on Sunday with a slightly longer run of 6km and then we were back to it!

With such little time between marathons, its difficult to discern where to begin. Three weeks certainly isn’t enough time to gain speed, nor is it enough time to improve endurance by any significant measure. Thus, the focus was and should be, mostly on recovery and maintaining fitness levels.

After more or less a week of rest I simply redid the last two weeks of my taper, with a little extra spiciness for good measure. During the two weeks leading up to the second marathon, my training looked something like this:

·        Monday (30 min stationary bike)

·        Tuesday (15km easy run)

·        Wednesday (1 hour strength training)

·        Thursday (15km easy run)

·        Friday (8km tempo run)

·        Saturday (7km easy run; 45 min strength training)

·        Sunday (17km progressive run)

·        Wednesday (40 min cycle)

·        Friday (7km easy run)

·        Saturday (4km shake-out)

·        Sunday (MARATHON DAY)

That first week was looking ideal and then I started to get some nagging pain and tightness in my right hip. I made the decision to reduce mileage more than intended and mix in some cross training and trust that the previous base I had built would carry me through the next race.

When completing marathons so close back-to-back, it’s imperative that you assess your condition initially and throughout the duration between your races. Listen to what your body is telling you. If you need rest, rest. If you need to cycle instead of run, cycle. This will allow you to be fresh and ready to crush it on race day number two.

Mental and Physical Challenges:

Marathon prep can be terribly exhausting. Finishing one and knowing you have just three weeks until you’re back toeing the line can be even more so. Truly, the mental and physical fatigue while training for a marathon can be difficult to manage.

With the increasing mileage between each week of your training and the consequential strain on your body, mind and time, it’s crucial to have strategies in place for fatigue management.

Inevitably, and unsurprisingly, the marathon build tends to wear on the body. With each week, your muscles and joints begin to ache regularly. You’ll find yourself stretching and practicing mobility in between your nightly Netflix binge just to maintain some remnant of limberness. Your daily mental fatigue will accumulate, demanding even the briefest of siestas to keep yourself going.

This is all part of the process! It’s supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to demand more of you than you’ve had, it sure did for me. So, how do we manage this unavoidable fatigue? This is what worked for me.

Prioritize Sleep: aimed for that 7 – 9 hours per night, fell short consistently. You can do better. I believe in you.

Daily Stretching and Mobility: pretty much any moment I was hanging out at home I was stretching and getting’ limber. I would suggest a full body stretching routine both in the morning and at night.

Downregulation Practices: a couple non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) sessions and a mindfulness meditation a day keeps the stress at bay. These types of practices can help boost your recovery each day and if you aren’t already practicing, you’d be wise to start!

Cross Training: in lieu of a run or two, I opted for a cycle. Cycling provides a stimulus for improving stamina and endurance while minimizing the impact yon your body. It helps your recovery and strengthens critical muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons used in running.

Listen to Your Body: Runners training for a marathon tend to develop a keen sense of awareness of their body. You begin to pick up on subtle cues your body gives that indicate you need to pull back or rest, maybe skip that speed session for a recovery session instead. These are important cues to listen to when running marathons back-to-back.

Adjustments to Training Schedule: further to the above, you need to be flexible in your training. Rigidity in your training is better suited for when you are working with lengthy training cycles. This is not the case here. Swapping runs for cross training, reducing mileage to a greater degree than planned and other adjustments as needed can ensure success in your next race.

The time in between the two marathons was surprisingly lacking in stress. Save for the first week, which was spent heavily on rest, recovery and damage control, the next two were somewhat blissful.

I knew the work had been done during the prep for my first marathon. There was no stress about trying to get faster, simply maintain and get out to enjoy some relaxed pace running. As I mentioned, I did toss in two speed sessions within the two week period, just to ensure I didn’t lose any speed in between the two races.

If you find yourself in a similar situation with minimal time between races, I suggest you follow suit! Prioritize rest and recovery for at least one week and then get out and tackle some easy miles with a speed session or two to maintain quickness.

You are unlikely to make significant progress between each race. This time is about ensuring you maintain endurance and are still in optimal shape for tackling another 42.2km.

Race Day Strategies:

Much like your training, your preparation and strategy upon race day are fundamental to a successful race. With a few very minor inconveniences, all things considered, I’d like to think I nailed the race day strategy on both days.

There are a few key categories to think about when it comes to race day strategy and as well strategy in the preceding days.

Sleep:

I don’t know who decided this, but marathons typically start at 7 am. Which really isn’t that early. The issue here is that you need to be fueling your body 3 – 4 hours in advance of your race. That is early.

In order to acclimate to the impeding early rise, I started dialing back my wake-up time by 30 minutes per day until I was getting up regularly between 430 and 5am. Not only did this assist in making the 4am wake up on race day feel normal, but it had the added effect of making me so tired by bedtime that I was immediately falling into a deep and restful sleep.

I attempted to aim for at least 7 hours of sleep per night, falling short often (which isn’t weird for me). I would recommend putting more focus on your sleep in the week leading up to your races.

Fueling:

My personal anecdotes from conversations with people who have previously completed marathons would lead me to believe that most individuals butcher their fueling strategies. This is mostly in the context of severely under fueling and under hydrating.

There is not only the intra-race fueling that must be considered but also the pre-race fueling, which realistically should begin anywhere from two to three days out from the marathon. As you’ll see, beginning three days out is more advantageous as you’ll need to consume less carbohydrates daily in comparison to two. Luckily for you, I tried both ways!

For marathon numero uno, I attempted to consume 800g of carbohydrates per day for the two days leading up to the race. This proved to be a formidable challenge. There wasn’t a Pop Tart in sight that stood a chance. Everything from Pop Tarts, to rice, to oatmeal, to pasta, if it was a carb, I was eating it.

For the second go around, I decided to give my digestive system a much-needed break and started three days out, consuming approximately 500g of carbohydrates per day. Much more manageable.

On both race days, I awoke three hours before the marathon and got some immediate solid carbohydrates in the form of, you guessed it, Pop Tarts. Shortly after I either consumed a gel or some liquid carbs.

Both are fine sources, but I would encourage you to meter your fluid intake, lest you feel the urge to answer nature’s call mid-race (like me during my first marathon).

Personal Best Achievement:

Initially, I didn’t expect to set a personal best during the second race and surely nothing close to 11 minutes faster. That was until, someone pointed out that the first marathon would serve as a serious primer for the second.

Typical running advice would scorn you for running a marathon distance three weeks before a race. Indeed, current dogma in running stresses that the farthest you should aim for during training is roughly 32km or three hours, whichever comes first.

This is due to recovery concerns. Three weeks isn’t a substantial amount of time to recover from a distance greater than 32km. However, I knew if I could come out of the first scot-free, my body would be overly prepared for the second.

This is exactly what happened. Shortly after the first race, I wrote my goal time on my shoe for the Manitoba marathon in sharpie in ritual fashion. Was it overreaching? Maybe, but I intended to find out.

During my first go, I felt I had kept my foot slightly on the brake. I wasn’t sure I could complete the entire distance. I hadn’t ever run more than 30km in training and 12.2km is a WHOLE lot of time for things to go seriously haywire.

So, I believe I held myself back. There was something left on the table, and I was going to tap into it.

At the start line in Winnipeg, I made myself over to the 3:50 pacer. I was going to wing it and hang onto this dude for dear life for as long as possible and see what happened.

The race was going phenomenally for the first 30km. I ended up leaving the pacer and 3:50 crew behind slightly as I got cockier throughout the race. I even had the arrogance to think to myself at around halfway, “marathons are f@$king easy”.

That all came to a halt shortly after 30km. The pacer caught up to me, no longer with the individuals we had spent the majority of the first half with. We ran together for about another 6km before he started clicking off 5:15 min/km splits and I lost sight of him.

I accepted that I wouldn’t hit my goal and was completely okay with this because I was having an unreal race. The course was beautiful, weather was amazing, fans were out cheering, and there were plenty of sprinklers throughout the race to cruise under and cool off.

Good times all around.

To boot, I was giving it my all. Whatever my time ended up being, it would be as good as I can possibly do at that current moment in time.

The finish was something out of a movie. The last 400m of the race is the entry into the Bombers stadium, bringing you onto the field surrounded by stands filled with cheering fans. Truly an epic finish.

After I crossed the finish line, I stopped by watch and checked my final my time. 3:49:46. I had beat my goal time by just 14 seconds! Side note: I really need to reconfigure my Garmin to show total time running so this will stop happening to me (same thing happened in Calgary)..

Lessons Learned:

Coming out of this experience, and at the risk of sounding cliché, I feel a renewed sense of “I can achieve anything I work for”. I like to consider these two races a starting point from me, from which I can build upon.

There are certainly bigger dreams of mine in running I wish to achieve. Qualifying and running for the world majors being paramount to all of them. But in essence, that’s the kind of self-confidence tackling a marathon (or two in a row) can instill in you.

“If I can do that, what else can I achieve?” The proverbial ceiling has been raised far above where it was.

I learned that my strategies for race days are on point. I have a good handle on hydration, fueling, recovery and pacing. The thought, research and testing of all these strategies during training proved to be fruitful. These should be key areas for you to focus on in preparation for your own race.

I have a strong awareness for my own limitations and set goals that are just out of reach but surely achievable. At some point in the race, you’re going to want to quit. Your body will be screaming at you to stop. You need to be mentally prepared for this and ready to scream back “hell NO”.

For me, this came at km 37 during both races. The first 35km felt manageable, km 35 – 37 felt a bit dicey as I felt the fatigue and heaviness coming on and km 37 and onwards were just brutal. At that point, no amount of caffeinated GU gels was going to perk me up. That point in the race is all a mental battle.

But my pace barely faltered. This is how you know you’ve set realistic goals for yourself. It should be hard, it should be a grind, but you should not slow down or stop.

In the grand scheme, the marathon is a short race. 3 – 5 hours of your life to achieve something you’ve worked tirelessly for. Leave it all on the table.

Encouragement:

The marathon will challenge you in ways you have never been before. From the two I’ve completed; I would imagine they never get easier either. With each race, you set the bar higher and higher.

Already I have my sights set on a 3:30 finish time in August in Edmonton and beyond in 2025. It becomes not only an opportunity to try and finish, but an opportunity to showcase your efforts and to strive to beat your personal bests.

If you’re about to start out on this journey, I commend you. You’re about to go down a path to demonstrate to yourself and the people around you what you're made of and once you cross that finish line, your ceiling of what you can achieve will never be the same.

And what is life without striving to achieve something monumental and astounding like finishing a marathon?

With that, I’ll leave you with a quote from Dean Karnazes that is particularly relevant; “Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not demanding more from yourself.. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”