Ask Titanium: How Many Marathons a Year?

Someone asked me if it was healthy to do one marathon a month and even much more. This made me think about it as I reflect on the races that I also joined over the past few months. As I reviewed my race calendar, I could see that it was only the month of June that I did not do a full marathon. January I did the Cebu Marathon, followed by Condura in February and the BDM102k ultramarathon last March. During the summer, I had TNF100 for April and The Dream Marathon for May. Then last month I did the Milo Marathon. Total marathons for this year to date is four, and total ultramarathons is two. I did a couple of other half marathon races too.

So how many marathons can one do in a year? Well, my response is something that I will speak from experience:

1. Aim for at least one marathon for one year, unless you are aiming and training for an ultramarathon.

Ask yourself the question — are you training for a marathon or training for an ultramarathon? These are two different things. If you are training for a marathon, I would rather encourage you to do one or two marathons a year, with rest period of at least three to six months in between your very first marathon and the next one. Doing a full marathon is no joke. I remember the pain I felt all over my body, in addition to the blisters and heat exhaustion that I felt as I did my first full marathon in the noontime sun! It took me nearly two weeks to walk normally with all the blisters in between and around my toes and feet. And it took me close to a month to fully recover and get back to speed. Needless to say, though I prepared for my first marathon for over a year, I still fell short during my first one.

If you are aiming to do an ultramarathon, then doing LSD marathons is the way to go to help build your endurance. I would encourage people who want to do their first ultramarathon to consider doing a 50 kilometer ultra first, before venturing towards the higher distances. It was pure determination and a lot of prayers that made me finish the BDM102k this year. Though I finished three marathons training for that ultra event, I ended up worn out and injured. I was not able to run for almost two weeks, which is the exact same feelings and condition I felt just after my first marathon. Pride can get you to the finish line, but the end result may leave you unable to run for weeks or even months.

2. Aim for a fast finish time and strong finish for a first marathon.

I am not proud of my marathons. I am brimming with joy of having finished them, but proud of finishing seven marathons and two ultras [with one DNF at 67k] I am not because I still fall short of my own expectations. My dream is to finish a full marathon in less than three hours. Alas, at the moment my fastest finish time for a marathon is 5 hours and one minute! At the rate I am training at three times a week, it will probably take me another seven years before I reach my goal. Still, I believe with all of my heart that I can reach my goal. Slow and sure is better than crashing and burning. Some people run very fast during their first year of running, living on painkillers. I do not wish to live like that. Besides, painkillers are not healthy and impede the production of new cells needed to heal the human body.

I cannot shake the verses of the Bible that refers to running races. We are meant to run the race of life to win. And I believe that each of us has a God-given race marked for us. It is up to us then to figure out how we plan to reach the finish line. But along the path that we take, there are other runners that can help us on our journey to get us to our next destination.

3. Aim to please yourself and not anybody else.

Last month, running blogs in this country was full of the recent death of a runner. It saddens me that the runner died. And yet, I cannot help but think — was it pride or was it determination that made the person push further? Was he pushing to please himself or was he pushing himself to the limit just to please other people? The last thing you would need is to please other people in a marathon. It feels great to be cheered on the road. it feels good to see family and friends waiting for us at the finish line. And yet a marathon is not for them or for others [unless you're doing a charity run]. A marathon is meant for you to discover yourself. Getting a trophy, a finsher’s medal and even a finishers’ shirt is just a bonus. To reach the finish line with no injuries amidst all the toil and tired muscles is enough to be thankful to God.

A friend did the BDM102k who had doubts about himself this year. It saddens me that he did not move that much up the corporate ladder simply because for all his talent, he felt so little and he felt that he could not accomplish much. And yet, he is a good runner! He has done several marathons prior to the BDM102k and in fact, he even finished the TNF100 Benguet — considered to be the most challenging and difficult TNF100 event in the Philippines to date! These two ultramarathons has changed the way he sees himself. He now knows that he can do much more. He discovered something that was just hiding underneath all the skin and bone. He discovered that he had an iron will and an enduring spirit.

The question now is — have you started to discover something new about yourself through running? What insights have you uncovered about yourself in finishing your first marathon? Your first ultramarathon? Perhaps trying to figure out what you can discover can itself be the challenge of training and finishing a marathon. So the question remains — how many marathons in a year? Only you can determine this, factoring your training, your regular runs and the goals you have set out for yourself. Listen to your body and learn to push back. But listen to your heart and learn to move forward.

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