{"id":4921,"date":"2010-02-16T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921"},"modified":"2015-12-28T04:05:15","modified_gmt":"2015-12-28T09:05:15","slug":"my-second-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921","title":{"rendered":"My Second Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

My second marathon<\/a> was in Tiberias, along the Sea of Galilee, and it was not unlike my first.\u00a0 Though I\u2019d trained harder in an attempt to run a 4 hour marathon, I failed. Marathon day was unusually hot and sunny for January (79F\u00b0), and I didn\u2019t pace myself correctly. I also found that having next to no carbohydrates in my body did not help. As part of my \u201csystem\u201d I decided to skip the traditional pasta meal the night before the marathon, and instead ate chicken and salad for dinner. On the morning of the marathon day I ate half a banana.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sea of Galilee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

From the start of the run, I knew something was not right. I did not feel energetic, but I attributed it to nerves. By the 10th<\/sup> mile I realized the race was going to be harder than I\u2019d expected, but I decided to stick to my not very well thought out plan. I ran the first 15 miles with a friend, Benny, who works as a trainer in my gym. Benny had decided to run the marathon knowing he was very under prepared. I, on the other hand, thought I was well prepared.<\/p>\n

At mile 15 Benny started to slow down and I decided to speed up a bit (what a mistake).\u00a0 I ran at a good pace for another 5 miles. But at the 20 mile water station, I felt pretty bad and my heart rate was over 160. I tried to slow down a bit but had a hard time. I knew that if I could keep going at the same pace, I would finish within my goal.\u00a0 So I kept on going until -with only 4 miles left – I felt I couldn\u2019t go on (I hit the wall). I started to walk and saw runner after runner pass me by.\u00a0 I tried to run some more but could only keep it up for a few hundred feet at a time. Those last few miles were so horrible, I felt like crying. I felt like I was going to throw up. I was in terrible pain, both physically and emotionally.\u00a0 After all of my hard work and training, I was failing. And I couldn\u2019t do anything about it. I did manage to run the last half mile, and I crossed the finish line running.\u00a0 I completed the course in 4:18. Not at all what I\u2019d hoped for.<\/p>\n

It became very clear to me that I was doing something wrong.\u00a0 So with blisters on my toes and my legs still aching, I decided I\u2019d run the next local marathon (Tel Aviv Marathon), and this time, I\u2019d do it right.\u00a0 The Tel Aviv marathon was scheduled for two-and-a -half months later.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t leave me a lot of time to train, but I was going to do it anyway.\u00a0 Two days after the Tiberias marathon, I went out for my next run.\u00a0 It was a slow five mile run.\u00a0 I ran the two following days as well.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the right thing to do because my body needed to rest, but I was frustrated with myself, and I needed to commit to the next marathon.<\/p>\n

I knew that just training more was not the answer. I needed to change the way I was doing things, so I decided to try something different. I called the dietician I\u2019d met at the Tiberias marathon, who works with athletes, and scheduled an appointment.<\/p>\n

The dietician, Yafit, who is also a wind surfer and a cyclist, has a Masters in Physiology.\u00a0 She specializes in preparing athletes for marathons and triathlons.<\/p>\n

So I went for my first meeting with Yafit one week after the marathon. She told me I needed to change two things if I wanted to be a better runner – the way I train and the way I eat. \u201cYou can\u2019t run a marathon without carbs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The first thing I needed to do was to go to a sports health clinic to take a lactic acid test<\/a> in order to determine the correct heart rate levels for my run.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the clinic feeling like my blood sugar was a little low. I had left the house in a hurry and forgot my glucometer.\u00a0 I asked for something to eat at the clinic and the nurse gave me two slices of bread. By the time I started the test (after measuring my body fat and lung capacity), my blood sugar was over 250. The nurse was about to send me home, but I told her to wait a few minutes. I went out and started walking up and down the stairs in order to lower my blood sugar. I came back 20 minutes later and my blood sugar was 249.\u00a0 I was allowed to take the test.<\/p>\n

The results of the lactic acid test held some very important information – my body can run forever as long as my heart rate does not exceed 160. Over 160 and I\u2019m running on borrowed time.<\/p>\n

On the basis of the lactic acid results, Yafit created a training schedule which included four runs a week and 5 small meals a day. She also told me to run according to my heart rate and not according to pace.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been doing this for three weeks now and it works. Or at least it seems to be working. I\u2019m faster and feel better when I run.<\/p>\n

Again this makes sense \u2013 listening to my body\u2019s inner ticker, and not to a watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[82,575],"yoast_head":"\nMy Second Marathon | ASweetLife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Aviad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921\",\"name\":\"My Second Marathon | ASweetLife\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-16T18:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-28T09:05:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f6c9e8ec6bf77b78cd95c9bd446b6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My Second Marathon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f6c9e8ec6bf77b78cd95c9bd446b6\",\"name\":\"Michael Aviad\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63a6e8cc1247d7220941709685b8c84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63a6e8cc1247d7220941709685b8c84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Aviad\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?author=129\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My Second Marathon | ASweetLife","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Aviad","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921","name":"My Second Marathon | ASweetLife","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg","datePublished":"2010-02-16T18:00:24+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-28T09:05:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f6c9e8ec6bf77b78cd95c9bd446b6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg","width":1280,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=4921#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My Second Marathon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/","name":"ASweetLife","description":"The Diabetes Magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f6c9e8ec6bf77b78cd95c9bd446b6","name":"Michael Aviad","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63a6e8cc1247d7220941709685b8c84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63a6e8cc1247d7220941709685b8c84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Aviad"},"url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?author=129"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}