How do you know you’re talking to a marathon runner? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. Only kidding, well, kind of kidding. Plenty of marathon runners are happy to talk about their race any chance they get, especially during the first few days of nursing sore legs. However, the weeks and months of training don’t always get the same amount of love, even though they’re just as important as the race itself.
Let’s talk about those weeks — the early morning miles, the Sunday long runs, and the afternoons spent on the couch recovering. I set out for my first marathon this fall, but I had no idea where to start, so I let my running watch be my guide. Here’s how Coros (and later Garmin) got me through 26.2 miles and where the training plans came up short.