> I completed the first marathon in April in 2h:12m; and the second one last month in 2h:9m.
Fyi: you might want to add the "half" word from earlier in your post into this sentence as well. 2 hours is a very respectable half marathon pace. For a full marathon, it's Olympian!
Glad to hear you're enjoying running. I also transitioned from "long walks almost every day" to "wow i can actually run pretty well" and I have just one piece of advice...
Don't get too into the stats. It's much more fun if you don't agonize over the optimizations, IMO.
Oh, and if you normally trail run with headphones and listen to music or podcasts, every once in a while try going without the headphones. I find I have my best ideas on runs where all I can hear is nature.
(Oops! Added the crucial missing word, "half". I thought I checked carefully, bad me. Sorry for the sloppiness. Yes, full marathon is something else! )
Nice work yourself on your transition, go you! :-)
Two hours for a full marathon was the "Breaking 2" project[1] that Eliud Kipchoge finally achieved [in Vienna, a separate event]. It's inhumanly lung-busting. I wouldn't get there in a million lifetimes!
On stats: totally! I'm not at all obsessing over it; just using high-level stats as a moderate motivation. I also don't look at my watch (only use it for running) at every lap or anything like that. Headphones: I have a rule of "no music at all" for running. It's my way to tame the inner dragons. (For walks, I do use the headphones, though. And you're totally right on mixing it up; neuroscience backs up your suggestion too.)
Fyi: you might want to add the "half" word from earlier in your post into this sentence as well. 2 hours is a very respectable half marathon pace. For a full marathon, it's Olympian!
Glad to hear you're enjoying running. I also transitioned from "long walks almost every day" to "wow i can actually run pretty well" and I have just one piece of advice...
Don't get too into the stats. It's much more fun if you don't agonize over the optimizations, IMO.
Oh, and if you normally trail run with headphones and listen to music or podcasts, every once in a while try going without the headphones. I find I have my best ideas on runs where all I can hear is nature.