Lessons Learned and What Comes Next

It is hard to believe that it has been a week since I lost my "marathon virginity". In the last week I have had time to reflect on my marathon experience and what went right and what went wrong. All in all, it was a good experience, but there were a few speed bumps along the way.

Let's start with what went right:

1. I started and finished the LA Marathon.
2. I followed my race plan pretty closely, but had to modify a bit on the fly.
3. I saw parts of the city, I have never been to in all the years living here.
4. The volunteers and spectators were awesome.

Now...what went wrong:

1. I started the race too fast and got sucked in with the crowd.
2. I followed my race plan pretty closely, but had to modify a bit on the fly
3. I had an electrolyte issue again even though I was using Salt Stick, Cytomax and Gatorade. I had this same problem at the SRLA 18 mile race a month earlier. This is something I need to get figured out.
4. I had a constant pain in my right foot from mile 5 on. I loosened my shoes, I tightened my shoes, nothing seemed to alleviate this pain. Again, this is something I need to get figured out.
5. I didn't look around enough and enjoy all of the sights.

I have time to fix the problems that went wrong as I won't run another full marathon until the LA Marathon next year, but some of those things can help me with the half marathons I have coming later this year.

So what is next for me? I will continue to train and will not be a slacker. I still plan on swimming 2 days a week, running 3 days a week and biking 1-2 times per week. I am taking the next 2 months off of racing and won't do another race until the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon Relay with my team..."Need for Speed". This will be my first foray into a relay team and should be fun, although I have been told by my team captain that we will be going sub 4 hour for this race. Yikes...gotta start doing some speed work. Over the summer, I plan to do at least 3, possibly 4 triathlons culminating with the Los Angeles Tri in October. Later that month I will run the Inaugural RnR Los Angeles Half Marathon.