Consistency over weeks and months (years!) is the best way to be successful in this endurance journey (and game). Overreaching like what I did with the two races or like what I’ve done at times in training is an excellent way to destroy your consistency.

Sometimes we’ll even tell ourselves that we couldn’t train b/c of work, family, etc. When that happens be careful about what you are blaming for your lessened workouts… I’ve found over the years that we’ll find things (people) to blame, wen it is not it or them at all.

Right now… I know that my struggling to get in a good workout is my fault. If I was training for a race right now …… I would be getting really concerned missing this many days of quality exercise.

Congrats on completing your two marathons and thank you for providing your thoughts on doing the two close together.

I am planning on doing the same thing later this summer and will try to take note of your comments. I have 6 days between the two I am doing and they are out west so at a bit of altitude. My plan is to enjoy them and I will now pay special attention to what I eat and my sleep before and after each event. It will be interesting to see if I have similar issues.

Best of luck on your future events.

Also, thank you for sharing what you learned from the challenge. I think you made a number of very valuable points. We often try to do it all (work, family, train) at the expense of sleep, forgetting the sleep is critical to our performance as athletes. It’s always valuable to be reminded of the impact nutrition and sleep can have, especially when they’re combined effects.

Thanks, and good luck in your future events!