Lessons Learned: Second Marathon

I wish I could say that I learned a lot from my first marathon, but I still had a lot more to learn (and still do!). It took me two years after my first to gain the courage to sign up for my second 26.2. To be honest, I really missed the training aspect of the marathon (and it’s still one of my favorite parts of the race)! I loved going out for Saturday or Sunday morning long runs and mid-week miles and having a ‘training plan’. I also dealt with an Achilles injury between my first and second marathons, which is why my approach to my second one wasn’t too different from my first (because I didn’t want to risk being injured again)!

I learned, once again, do not go out too fast! *Sigh* I won’t have actually learned this lesson for many marathons to come! Yeah, remember that time I come through the halfway point in 1:50 something? Not too smart…

Downhill races are great, but they can also completely trash your legs. I, once again, hit the wall early- this time at mile 18ish.

Fuel is real important. That means you probably shouldn’t skip a few fueling points along the race.

Sometimes having no expectations is the best. I shaved over 30 minutes off my first marathon time, trained less, focused on my nutrition during training a bit more, and honestly went into the race with no time goals other than to finish feeling better than I did after my first one.

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What important lessons did you learn from your first to second marathon?

Anyone else come away with a big PR between your first and second race distances?