Back in July, I received several Youtube ads regarding the Standard Chartered Marathon and thought why not sign up? This is my year of trying out new things and always saying yes! 3 months later, I am glad to have done the marathon.
As a beginner, I thought it would be helpful to share how I prepared the marathon for anyone interested in doing a marathon! Check out my review of the actual marathon here 🙂
Background
Since this was my first marathon, I registered for the Half Marathon. The race also includes a full marathon (42.195km), wheelchair race (21.097km), 10km and 5km family fun run. I signed up online on their website at www.nairobimarathon.com as an individual entry. You can also register as a corporate relay team entry.
Registration fee was 2,000 KES for both local and international participants if you signed up before October 25th. If I recall correctly, the registration fee increased to 2,500 KES after October 25th.
Once your payment is confirmed, you receive an email confirmation.
Pre-Marathon
Running Plan
To prepare for the marathon, I dedicated 3 months of training using the Nike Run Club Marathon Training Plan. I used to run 5x a week ranging from recovery runs to speed runs and long distance runs. I would recommend using NRC because it’s free and you can easily analyse your data. You can see your average pace, elevation gain, cadence, time, distance and calories burned. I also really loved that the app automatically pauses when you stop running.
I prefer non-guided workouts to guided workouts. The guided runs do not motivate me at all, if anything I get annoyed because it interrupts my music. Even though I used non-guided workouts, the app mentions everytime you complete a kilometre as well as share your current average pace. During the rest days, I actually rested instead of doing a low-impact workout. I wish I include strength training in my preparation to strengthen my muscles and joints.
I also tried the Adidas Running App and hated it. The narrator was too slow and the marathon training plan is behind a paywall. You also have to download other apps for some features to work. I did not enjoy this app at all and would personally not recommend it.
I used to do weekly recaps of my training on my Instagram. Feel free to see my progress week by week. For a detailed review of my training plan, I also uploaded a video sharing my first month of training using the app. Feel free to watch for better context.
Warm Up Races
I would also recommend doing warm-up runs before the actual marathon. StanChart organised 3 warm-up runs in Nairobi. I attended two of the warm ups. One at Karura Forest and at Parklands Sports Club. Doing these runs really helped me prepare for the marathon and understand my strengths and weaknesses. I would recommend doing at least one warm up run with other people before the actual marathon. I actually knew of the warm up race through an Instagram AD.
Tracking my Runs with Fitbit Charge 5
To track my runs, I used the Fitbit Charge 5 and Nike Run Club. I upgraded from Charge 4 earlier this year. I love that Charge 5 is small, sleek (got the black one) and not heavy on the wrist.
I disliked that there are only certain kilometres you can set as your goal. You can set 5km, 10km, 15km but I do not think you can set it to 7km or 13km. This was unfortunate because some of my runs had this as the running goal. If you do a treadmill run, you get fewer distance options as well as total running time options.
My least favourite part is how impossible it is to tap the screen to view your stats when you are sweating. With sweaty fingers, the screen does not simply respond. For this reason, I used to stop my runs minutes later after I no longer have sweater hands. This made it impossible to truly understand the accuracy of my stats.
To make matters worse, to see your stats while running you have to constantly tap the screen to see each metric. Sometimes you tap too fast and miss the stat you want meaning you have to redo this process again while running. It’s a small minor thing but it annoyed me during my runs.
Battery life was also not so great. The company claims that a fully charged Fitbit battery should last 7 days but I had to charge my battery after 2-3 days. This is very strange because my 2 year-old Charge 4 used to last longer. For context, my Charge 5 is less than 10 months old. One time, I wore my fitbit and it said it was charging when it was on my wrist. The screen was unresponsive and the battery died after 4 hours.
Fitbit Charge 5 also lacks a physical button and I hate that you have to press the peg through the holes instead of just pinning it. Lastly, the Fitbit Charge 5 was usually way off when it came to my running stats, it concluded that I always ran extra kilometres (3km one time!!) every single time. It makes me question the credibility of Fitbit and how it tracks data.
I think I should just do a detailed review of the Fitbit Charge 5.
Food Intake
My diet has not changed at all. I am a vegetarian and have not consumed meat in 7 years. I also do not drink alcohol or smoke. I prefer morning runs to evening runs so before my runs I like to have yoghurt and a banana. I love the Delamare yoghurt especially the chocolate chip and lemon biscuit flavour. For vanilla, I prefer the Fresha yoghurt.
After my run, I have a hot breakfast. I am vegetarian so this mostly includes scrambled eggs and toast, porridge or cereal. This usually depends on the type of run that I did that morning. Also githeri is the best food to eat at night before a marathon. You are full and sleep so well. I should add that this worked for me!
Sleep
Sleep is an essential part of marathon training so my goal was to always get at least 7h 30min of sleep everyday. I used my Fitbit Charge 5 to track my sleep. I feel like my sleep score has generally improved! I now spend less time awake and can sleep for less hours but have a better sleep score. I now get 80+ sleep scores
The morning of my marathon, I slept for 5h 11min and still got a fair sleep score of 67. Before I started running, anything less than 7 hours would get me a poor sleep score.
I would also recommend telling your friends and everyone that you are training for a marathon. This helps for accountability purposes and they will respect your boundaries.
Running Gear
I did not purchase any new running clothes and simply wore what I already had.
- Gymshark Running Shorts
- The North Face Running Shorts
- Craft Running Shorts
- The North Face Leggings
- Primark Leggings
- H&M Leggings
- Under Armour Seamless Low Long Sports Bra
- Champion Sports Bra
For some reason, all my running shorts always gave me friction except my Craft running shorts. I should maybe consider tight running shorts? I understand fast fashion is bad but my Primark and H&M leggings from 6 years ago work really well.
The Under Armour Seamless Sports Bra is the one! It was so comfortable and held everything in place. The straps are good and soft on your chest and back. It was my go to sports bra especially for long runs. Highly recommend it!
Running Shoes
As for my shoes, I got the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 38. These are my first running shoes so I have nothing to compare it to but they were very comfortable upon first try. I honestly got them because they were the only running shoes on sale.
They are cushiony but I had to constantly tie my shoelaces every 5km! I think I know how to tie shoelaces so I wonder if it’s the shoe or my technique. I would recommend getting proper running shoes before training to avoid blisters. Learn from my mistakes!
I wore my black gymshark running shorts, StanChart Marathon Shirt, Under Armour Sports Bra and Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 38 for the marathon. As for socks, I just wore ankle socks from Nike.
Sunscreen
I used the Black Girl Sunscreen to protect my screen. I love this sunscreen because it is made for dark skin so it leaves no white mask, hydrating, moisturising and has no fragrance. I use the kid’s version because it is cheaper and still does the work.
Marathon Running Music/Playlist
I cannot run in silence so I just listened to music. I used my Beats Studio Wireless Headphones. The battery lasts long and charges quickly. I hate running with airpods. They slide right off my ear and immediately fall out when I run.
My music was always on shuffle so it included songs from different genres. I started with metalcore music then shifted to rap/hiphop and finished with pop punk music. I started my run with ‘Experiment on Me’ by Halsey and finished my run with ‘Drowned in Gold’ by Boston Manor.
The angsty music pumped me so much! I pretty much screamed “you’re a liar and a cheat, i want my money i want you dead, you fake.” I was ready to cross that finish line as soon as I heard those lyrics.
Also shout to ‘Knockout’ by Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne! I forgot how much I loved that song and Nicki’s rap motivated me to stand up!
Feel free to listen to my running playlists.
- Metalcore:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3b5dn45Afv4FHsITxiRCs4?si=7f6b81f94bdd44fa
- Rap/Hiphop:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2N7eNUjQN9Y32Xku5eZ2Af?si=ef033904069d4f1e
- Afrobeats: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xilX5fN6j3JQa0fcRLExY
- Pop Punk/Alt: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/62i1nvKltJDB3SWrZBR0Pt?si=625098c36e1e4bc6
- All Genres: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1p7ybDUGmYJ1EunEoSVJvx?si=423d5a1fa1d142fb
- Pop:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7dLM1nJZioRJXGPahGk1FW?si=7d0e0deab87d4f65
I honestly do not understand how elite runners run without music. Funny thing is I knew my music was playing but sometimes I was barely concentrating to the music.
What’s Next?
I never thought I would be that person but I really enjoyed preparing for this marathon. As for now, I hope to take part in the Nairobi Expressway Marathon and Lewa Safari Marathon in 2023.
My goal is to complete both marathons in 2 hours or less. As always, I hope to not walk and just finish!
Thank you for reading this far! I hope I have inspired you to try out the next marathon in your local town and prepare for it.