The time has come. Several runners have begun training for the 2025 TCS NYC Marathon, and Monday, June 30 marked Day 1 for those of us doing an 18 week build. Between haphazard training and failure to launch (and publish) a weekly installments of training updates like I did in 2023, 2024’s training cycle was aimless chaos. I thought I had it together, but in my crystal clear goggles of hindsight, it was simply not it, and I got the (non) ending I deserved.
Before getting into the weekly technicolor play-by-play of what I’m doing to get myself ready to run from Staten Island to Central Park for the THIRD time, here’s a little recap on how I found myself training for this race for a FOURTH time.
2 Finishes & a DNS
2022 was all about finishing my first marathon, and that’s exactly what I did.
However, I got my ass handed to me by unseasonably hot weather. While I was the fittest I’d ever been, a lack of nutritional know-how was my downfall. 5:08:12. I ended up carrying a screw top Aquafina bottle with me for the second half of the race. The random woman handing them out around Mile 10 in Brooklyn will never know that she literally saved me that day, and that I ran the next 15 miles with that thing in hand.
I wouldn’t ditch that goofy plastic bottle until <1mi to go. I only did because I didn’t want my first ever marathon finish line photos to include a relic of shame. It’s bad enough to be caught with a hand on your Garmin.
I went back for redemption in 2023. I worked with a sports dietitian, kept track of all my training in my first NYC By the Numbers series. While I was not as “fit” as 2022 on paper, I still PRed by 14 minutes. 4:53:55.
In 2024, I was only about 68% invested (mentally and/or physically) in the process at any given time.
While I ran a ton of miles, they were pretty low quality, and my lackadaisical attitude toward participation translated into how the entire training cycle went.
I went through the motions. Got injured. Tore the labrum in my left hip, angered it to no end in the peak of training. Pulled the plug 5 days before the start gun went off. DNS.
What’s the deal with 2025?
This brings us to 2025. Consider it my redemption arc, if I can stay healthy enough. Having satisfied my fundraising requirements, I was fortunately able to defer 2024’s bib to this year.
Last year, I wasn’t as mentally or physically dialed in as I had been in the 2 years prior. I refuse to let that be the case in 2025.
As far as training goes, the robot overlords are taking the helm. I will be following Runna’s 18-week NYC-specific plan. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Runna is an app that creates personalized data-based training plans.
Runna isn’t paying me to use their product, this was a conscious (and paid for out of pocket) decision to opt into a plan that could show me everything laid out in advance.
If you know me, you know I don’t geographically stay put for long. In the first 12 weeks of training, I will spend 46/84 days on the road. More than half the time. 54.7%, to be exact… but who’s counting?
Let’s Talk Goals.
The longer the race, the safer I tend to play it. In 2022, my fitness indicated I should have been able to run 26.2 at ~9:45/mi, which clocks a 4:11 finish. Well, I didn’t really know how critical proper fueling and hydration were beyond 13.1, and on an unseasonably hot day I got my ass handed to me. Instead of finishing in any sort of time, by Mile 10 I just wanted to survive. So I did… in 5:08:12. 11:44/mi pace. Not exactly on target.
The following year, my goal was to identify and fill in the gaps in preparation that led me to stumble in my first race.
I worked with Featherstone Nutrition (100% worth the time and $$$ investment if you can swing it) as part of the Fall Marathon Nutrition Group in 2023 to right all my fueling wrongs. I gained 10lbs after 2022 (life happens, ok) and wasn’t as strong/fast as I was in the year prior. Found myself afraid to push it too hard on pace and fizzle out again. I just wanted the object in motion to stay in motion.
Therefore, I ran at an effort that felt manageable, fueled properly, and crossed that line 14min faster with the energy to keep going. I can proudly say I ran that entire race without any walk breaks outside of aid stations, where I’d slow briefly to refill my handheld.
Bridges = run. ALL OF THEM.
Clearly, I had figured things out, right? Not the sub-11 pace I’d casually hoped for, but I was now a 4-something marathoner and knew how to eat and drink enough to get me from start to finish. I was more focused on effort and feeling than whatever the clock said. That was just a bonus.
2024 was unspectacular. I knew I could still finish if I got tired. I knew what fueling cadence worked for me. I knew that even in training if the distance felt impossible, I’d figure it out on race day. I’d already done it twice.
The “meh, I got this” attitude ultimately did me in. The marathon didn’t scare me anymore.
Big mistake.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, so I knew I needed to make a few tweaks in 2025 if I didn’t want to have an unremarkable year.
2025’s Intentions: Adding Strength work back into my routine, and not chickening out of tough workouts.
Let’s (not) Crank Up the Volume
Volume has always been a tricky thing for me, given that I’m not all that fast. Never have I ever cracked a 50 mile week, although I came close back in 2023. A lot of it boils down to TIME.
Anything above and beyond 40mi in a week isn’t really doing me much, physically… so that’s where I told Runna to max out. My weekly average will ultimately land around 30mi/week.
Long Run Progression
The nerd in me loves to use a Long Progression as anchor points in a training plan. Knowing Speed and Easy workouts will come and go in manageable distances, the Long Run is the closest run of the week to what race day will feel like.
When I started working with Joanna on SeaWheeze, she opened my eyes up to the periodic build>drop methodology within a training cycle. Hustle hard until you can’t take it anymore… take a week to soak it all in, repeat.
When I mapped out Runna’s Long Run progression next to mine of previous years, the structure lover in me was on board.
So yeah. That’s what’s up. I paid for this plan out of pocket, there are no discount codes or kickbacks to be found. Time to see if Runna’s worth the algorithm it’s built on.
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