First Marathon Complete (Honolulu) - Questions and My Advice for Beginners

TLDR: First marathon complete, I have questions for experience runners, and advice for beginners. Advice: RUN THE COURSE IN YOUR TRAINING as much as possible. This helps you prepare mentally. Start training early. If it's a big race, be prepared to be running in a lot of traffic early in the race. Train in your race conditions, if it'll be hot, train in the heat (carefully). RUN IN THE SHADE, EVEN IF IT'S A FEW YARDS. Questions: What do my splits tell me about how I ran?

I just finished the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday, and wanted to share my training and race experience, as well as ask a few questions to more experienced runners.

My official finishing time was 4:53:10, I am very happy with my time and how it went. Recieving the medal was worth it.

Training

I ran a half marathon in September 2023, but took a break from running before July of this year (2024). I followed the Hal Higdon Novice 1, which I tried to follow to a tee except for illness.

4 weeks out (the last week of increasing mileage) I got sick for about 10 days. I tried to finish that final training week, but injured my calf. This calf injury lasted until the race, so I had only a few short runs before the race. My advice is to start EARLY. Start an 18-week training plan 20 weeks before the race date to give yourself extra wiggle room for sickness and injury. Listen to your body, and if you really need a rest day, take it. But also, don't skip runs if you're just tired/lazy. It's important to run when you are supposed to, and much easier to skip a run.

Practice fueling on your long runs. I drink a lot of liquids when running, so I got a running vest which helped me a lot. Practice different types of chews, liquid electrolytes, gels, etc.

The best piece of advice I can give about the race, is to run the track as much as possible on your training runs. 90% of the runs I did was along the course, which helped in multiple ways. 1. I could mentally segment the course, and I always knew where I would be going so it didn't seem like the end was impossibly far away. 2. You can mentally and physically prepare yourself for the worst parts of the course. Anyone that has run the Honolulu marathon knows how much of a pain Diamond Head is, both ways. Mentally preparing for this was so beneficial.

Practice running in your race conditions. If you know it'll be hot, prepare to run in the heat. Of course, be VERY careful, and don't be unsafe. Practicing to run in the heat/sunlight can help a lot for preparation. But be very careful about this, I suffered from heat exhaustion a couple times during my training; there is a fine line.

Race

The race started a 5am, so I started waking up ealier a couple days in advance, which helped a lot. I ate a small breakfast at 3:30, and got to the starting line at 4:30. There were very long lines to the bathrooms, and with 29,000 people running the marathon/10k, the "starting zones" were chaos. It took 15 minutes to actually start running. Warm up before you get to the event if it's a big event, I was trying to stretch in shoulder-to-shoulder traffic.

The first 10k was very frustrating, since there were SO many people who clearly were in the wrong starting groups (as was I, since I couldn't get to where I needed to be). I spent most of my time dodging people, and it was impossible to get into a rhythm. I wanted to "get past the walkers" but it didn't stop until the 10k mark (when they finished). So be aware that this can happen, and don't let it mentally frustrate you like it did me. Just run your race, and use it as a way to pace yourself at the beginning.

I highly recommend having a "pit crew" if possible. My family zoomed around the course to meet me at multiple places and refilled my bottles/fueling. This was invaluable, and a great way to look forward to certain places.

I tried to 10/10/10 strat, and it worked for me. What really helped, was running in the shade. It was SO hot after the sun came out at 28km, and I purposefully chose to run on the sidewalk and have to weave in and out a little bit so that I could be in the shade, instead of running a straight line in the sun. This was the right decision. I saw many people suffer from heat exhaustion, as did I when there was no more shade the final 6 km's. Run in the shade, even if it's just a few yards.

Finally, the best way to finish running, is to finish running. Just get it done.

What's Next?

Now, I recover. I have a lot of pain in my calf, and blisters, etc. Any recovery tips? When should I start running again.

I set my 2nd fastest HM time in the 2nd half of the race, what does that tell me about how I ran? At the end, I had nothing left to give. That was probably because of the insane heat and humidity, but I was feeling slightly nauseous and light-headed.

I am now moving back to Norway, where it's freeeeeezing cold most of the year. How the hell do I run outside in the freezing cold/ice?

Thank you for all of the posts and replies in this subreddit, it's helped a lot.