- Mileage – up to 60 miles early, March Triple Crown (a real pain at the time, but kept me in tune with my capable speed).
- Weight – I weighed between 15 and 20 lbs heavier last marathon.
- Pacing – Learned to pace towards even run, pushing negative splits for races up to 13.1.
- Light taper – I ran hard up to 3 days prior, but did reduce mileage the last 2-3 weeks.
- NOT RECOMMENDED… Running a half-marathon the week before. However, it did happen to be a good tune-up and confidence boost.
- Ran a course with early hills– like KDF, Pig, or the like — preferably without significant hills the back stretch. The hills kept me on my pace target instead of beyond it like the OBX marathon.
- Run my PR marathon badly, by going out way too fast and crapping out at mile 15.
- Kept a meticulous calorie log to maintain/lose weight.
- Shoes – The new pair of Saucony Trigon Ride 5s really helped… I bought a 3rd pair of these and ran 10 miles or so just before the race. My previous shoe–Mizuno Wave Rider 9s–felt like it lacked cushioning past 20 miles in the marathon.