So, I’m about three weeks away from my half-marathon, and while I’m looking forward to it, I will be kind of glad when it’s over. Just being honest. My “long” runs are in the 90 minute range now, and while I do enjoy the challenge of getting faster at them, I don’t enjoy knowing that I “have” to do them each week, and planning my life around them. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. I chose to tackle this goal, and I am very grateful that I’m healthy and strong enough to do it. But let’s just say, I won’t be unhappy to not be doing 90 minute runs each week – ha! Will I keep up some kind of long’ish run each week after 10/6? Possibly, but it will be more like 60 minutes at most.
Ok – as I’ve been going through my training, I’ve gotten some questions from folks about whether or not they should do a half or full marathon. My answer on this is “it depends”. Here are reasons why you should do it.
- You really enjoy running…I mean, it LIGHTS YOU UP, makes you soooo happy and you sing as you’re lacing up your sneaks to head out for your run. Are there people out there like this? Just kidding….sort of. I am not one of them! 🙂
- You’ve always wanted to tackle an endurance-type event (a “bucket list” item, if you will)
- You’re in a rut with your current routine, and need a new fitness goal (this was my reason for deciding to train for my upcoming half)
There are probably lots of other reasons you should do it that I’m not thinking of at this early hour, but those are my top 3.
Did you notice that there is nothing in the list regarding weight/fat loss?
Exactly.
While it IS possible that you’ll lose weight, it is also possible that you’ll lose muscle and actually gain weight. Sorry, but that’s how the cookie crumbles. And speaking of cookies…if you’ve ever trained for an endurance event or just do a lot of endurance/long duration exercise, have you noticed that your hunger and cravings increase?
Bingo.
And going one step further – did you “justify” eating whatever you want with the “I just ran x number of miles or exercised for x number minutes/hours, so I can eat whatever I want” excuse?
Oh yeah…me too.
If you decide to train for an endurance event with the goal of losing weight/fat, you just might be setting yourself up for disappointment
Some tough love here – it isn’t as simple as calories in and calories out, especially as we get older and hormones fluctuate. And, to make matters worse – a lot of endurance exercise puts excess stress on the body, which can increase cortisol and cause us to hold onto fat (especially in the midsection), and have major inflammation. This is a lot of the reason why some people end up a bit flabbier and jigglier at the end of marathon training than they were at the beginning.
This was me for a lonnnngggg time. Although I was thin, I just couldn’t seem to tighten up in certain areas, and I was inflamed all the time. Then there were the injuries…but we’ll talk about that later!
[Tweet “If fat loss is your main goal, then there are other ways to do that that don’t include pounding the pavement for hours”]
Bottom line – having a half or full marathon goal is awesome. Completing such an event is so empowering and is an amazing feat; BUT, ask yourself if you’re doing it for the right reasons. If fat loss is your main goal, then there are other ways to do that that don’t include pounding the pavement for hours. Quite the contrary in fact. We’ll talk about those later :-).
Does the above sound like you? Let me know!
Have a wonderful weekend!
xoxo,
Tara
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Related: How to train for a half-marathon and hold onto muscle