Suggestions for the first marathon?

hunisu · Post by **hunisu** » April 19th, 2006, 12:36 pm

Hope it's going well for you!! YOU CAN DO IT!!

johnnybike · Post by **johnnybike** » April 19th, 2006, 5:05 pm

Good luc k

Wood_Duck · Post by **Wood_Duck** » April 19th, 2006, 6:18 pm

Well. I finished.

Four hours, forty-two minutes, forty-two seconds and 9/10

Off to stretch and crash.

Oh my.

Susan

Sasha · Post by **Sasha** » April 19th, 2006, 6:21 pm

Woo Hoo! Congrats.

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » April 19th, 2006, 10:48 pm

Wood_Duck wrote:Well. I finished.

Four hours, forty-two minutes, forty-two seconds and 9/10

Off to stretch and crash.

Oh my.

Susan

Susan,

Really that was a fantastic effort. I was proud to "be there" for your first marathon ever. (We did the row online together on RowPro). It was funny because after I finished, I would watch you on the computer screen with bated breath every time you took a break. I kept thinking, "Come on Susan, keep going, keep going!" I was afraid that you were going to have to stop completely or something, but you did it!!! Well done!

Shannon

kit44 · Post by **kit44** » April 20th, 2006, 9:08 am

Way to go, Susan and Shannon!

You've both inspired me - Susan, I read your intro, and once I realized that you've been rowing for 6 months to my three years, I gave myself a stern talkiing to - settling for the half, indeed! If you can sit on the rower for 4 hours and 20 minutes, so can I. I'll be giving it my best shot next week, once I find out my work schedule. How sore are you today? And Shannon - was that your first as well, or have you done this a few times (I seem to remember 3, and the dreaded 100? or am I confusing you with someone else?) Congratulations, both of you - no matter how long it takes, or how many you've done, that must feel like an incredible accomplishment!
Kit

kit44 · Post by **kit44** » April 20th, 2006, 9:09 am

Oops, Shannon - I did confuse you with Carole....sorry about that!

Kit

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » April 20th, 2006, 11:40 am

kit44 wrote:Way to go, Susan and Shannon! You've both inspired me - Susan, I read your intro, and once I realized that you've been rowing for 6 months to my three years, I gave myself a stern talkiing to - settling for the half, indeed! If you can sit on the rower for 4 hours and 20 minutes, so can I. I'll be giving it my best shot next week, once I find out my work schedule. How sore are you today? And Shannon - was that your first as well, or have you done this a few times (I seem to remember 3, and the dreaded 100? or am I confusing you with someone else?) Congratulations, both of you - no matter how long it takes, or how many you've done, that must feel like an incredible accomplishment!
Kit

Kit, Carole is the nutter who did the 100K!

This was my second marathon, I did my first during the Holiday Challenge in December. I am stiff today and have a few blisters, but not too bad. I think I'll be moving kind of slowly for a few days, but then I'll be back to my usual self!

Shannon

Carole · Post by **Carole** » April 20th, 2006, 1:22 pm

oi less of the nutter....

well done ladies...

BriK · Post by **BriK** » April 20th, 2006, 1:38 pm

Congrats to you, Susan and Shannon!!!
You are both an inspiration about the true meaning of determination!!!

Brigitte

Wood_Duck · Post by **Wood_Duck** » April 20th, 2006, 7:38 pm

I went to work for 5 hours then I went home and got everything set up. I loaded the DVD player with three disks (Lord of the Rings.), put my water and mandarin oranges, body glide, etc on my daughter’s “child-sized” card table (just the right height for rowing) I had lots of nervous energy. There were three of us on RowPro—Fran from UK, Shannon from Canada and myself.

The first 6 km was OK. During the second hour I began asking myself why I was doing this crazy thing because I wasn’t even halfway. I did pause every 30 minutes for a sip and to stand up and stretch. Every hour I walked around and stretched drank something and ate some mandarin oranges. Ok once I was so shaky when I stood up I kicked over the container of oranges and had to sop it up. The third hour was really rough. My arms were tired and my butt was sore, I couldn’t believe I had another hour to go. Parts of my body were chafing like arms? I expected thighs but arms? Fortunately I had the bodyglide handy! Oh and I stopped to put band-aids on my blisters (right middle finger and right heel). It was time for bubble wrap…, finally I only had 10 Km left. At this point, I knew I would and could and should finish. It was just a matter of getting it done.

I tried to limit my breaks. I tried to row AT LEAST 30 minutes without stopping. Later in the row it was 25 minutes, then 20. I lost Fran at some point her numbers just froze—a glitch in internet connection, perhaps? Shannon stopped too but I later figured out she finished (under 3.5 hours for a PB!)

The funniest point was during the last 10 K when I was tired but determined, a character in the movie I had been watching was exhausted from a 3 day forced march said to himself for motivation, “breathe, I just have to keep breathing.” That helped.

I certainly won’t be doing another one anytime soon… But I am thrilled that I stuck to it and did it. It was quite an accomplishment!

After, I went and soaked in a very hot bath. To distract myself during the row, I kept asking myself what I was going to eat when I was done to celebrate. Nothing sounded good. I finally came up with nachos. So after the bath I had my nachos and they did satisfy. Although instead of the Sangria, I drank Gatorade. Then I crawled into bed.
Susan

PS: I burned 2112 calories and lost 5 pounds of water!
PSS: Some of you will be attempting this craziness later. I below is the list of things I had on hand….
Water
Clif bar
Mandarin oranges
Tissues
Chap stick
Face towels
Seat towels
Bubble wrap
Lots of handle bar socks
Headbands (I changed them every 90 minutes)
BODYGLIDE
Band-aids
Heart rate monitor
Check computer power and screen saver settings….

Wood_Duck · Post by **Wood_Duck** » April 20th, 2006, 7:40 pm

Kit--I have been rowing for a year and six months. Since Nov. 04.
AND I have been training seriously since January for this effort!

Yukon John · Post by **Yukon John** » April 20th, 2006, 8:11 pm

Wood_Duck wrote:Kit--I have been rowing for a year and six months. Since Nov. 04.
AND I have been training seriously since January for this effort!

Well done Susan! I'm Shannon's husband, John. I was there cheering and encouraging Shannon during the "hours of struggling" and I watched your time on rowpro too and I feel I know you a bit because Shannon mentions you often (all good things

.) I was trying to send some positive vibes your way too. I did a marathon the day before you guys so the memory of how hard it was is still very fresh in my mind. Your's took longer then mine, so you had more time to have to put up with the pain and discomfort. I couldn't have imagined going any longer so I think you've beaten me, fare and square

. Congratulations again! You are one very tough individual! John.

kit44 · Post by **kit44** » April 21st, 2006, 7:08 am

Oh, Susan - thanks for much for the lengthy and informative post - I'll be printing this one out for guidance for my attempt tomorrow. I guess I missed the year and thought you'd only been rowing since Nov 05 - so I feel a bit better about not attempting the full marathon yet. But I think I'm ready - haven't done as much dedicated marathon training, but I've logged almost 200km/month since the HC, and greatly increased my time on the machine. I think one more towel to cover up the numbers at the dreaded halfway point might be an idea! I'll let you know how it goes, and if I make it! I confess, I'm really hoping I'm not on the machine as long as you are - like John, I'd rather compress the misery into a shorter time! Wish me luck! I'll be thinking of you thoroughout for inspiration!
Kit

hunisu · Post by **hunisu** » April 21st, 2006, 10:10 am

truly an inspiration!

Right now I'm just hoping to get through the blue moon row in June. I've had to take a couple of days off due to some inflamation in my chest.

You did a great job! Congratulations for stucking it out & getting it done! Yay!!