Run a marathon (cont'd)

Back to page 2

March 10, 2007

Something that brings a smile to my face is that within this list of 99 things that I've written down -- running a marathon, learning to fly, reading 20 books in a year -- there are curious points at which apparently unrelating things overlap. For instance, as I was reading the book Reaching for the Invisible God today, I came across this... Philip Yancey writes:

For twenty years I have run, biked, or done other aerobic conditioning at least three times a week. I do so not because someone forces me, and surely not because it feels good -- it seldom does -- but rather because of what it allows me to enjoy. I can climb mountains and ski the Rockies without gasping for breath or pulling muscles. That is the reward for physical discipline. (The apostle Paul drew the obvious parallel: "Train yoruself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.")

I have run a number of moderate-length races, but only one marathon. For the one-time amateur, at least, the marathon seemed a different kind of athletic event altogether. It took me so long -- three and a half hours, compared to forty minutes for a ten-kilometer race -- that I struggled with mental focus. In the shorter races, I always managed to stay aware of how I was doing, how much distance remained, how I measured up to my desired time. In the marathon, I felt like I was wearing blinders, unable to concentrate on the race as a whole. I fixated on the pain in my left big toe or my bladder's fullness or the quivering muscle on my right calf. Running on a cold, rainy day in Chicago, I could feel blisters developing on my feet from the friction of wet socks. I put on a windbreaker, then took it off. I hit moods of exaltation and despair, with no apparent reason. Keep moving, I told myself. It will end sometime. The only way to get to the finish line is to keep going.

A friend had agreed to meet me at the ten-mile mark, and when he failed to appear, I sank into a depression that lasted five miles. I forced myself to look at the runners around me, to notice the Chicago neighborhoods, to listen to the bands posted along the route, and as I did so I once again I lost track of the race and my place in it. As I passed seventeen miles, a roar went up from the crowd, who had just heard on the radio that the first runners had crossed the finish line. I had nine miles to run.

At the twenty-mile mark I hit the fabled Wall and was tempted to slow to a walk. Then my friend finally appeared, and for the first time I had someone to talk to. Chicago had closed off so many streets that he couldn't make the ten-mile rendezvous, he explained as he jogged beside me. In an unforgettable acty of friendship, Dave, sensing my weakness, ran alongside me in street clothes the remaining six miles, offering me encouragement.

March 5, 2007

Last night I ran the Running Room's scheduled 9kms at the Waterloo Memorial Rec Complex indoor track. For the first time in a very long time I tried a bit of sprinting. John-eric and I ran the 250m track in somewhere around 35 seconds, which is about 25 km/h, and would make for about a 57 second lap of a 400m track. I wish I had actually timed us using my watch so that I wasn't just making a number up... I'll try that next week. It felt fantastic to run like that. Although it was a sprint, my strides were very fluid. We were starting from a jog and running quite a ways, so it wasn't the banging motion of accelerating from stand still... it only took about 5 seconds to reach top speed and from there it was smooth, fast sailing!

Just for fun I searched Google Video for "800m race" and found the 1996 Atlanta olympic men's 800m. Nice!

March 1, 2007

After two months the half-marathon training is going great. A typical week at this stage is: Sun9k, Tue5k, Wed5k, Thu3k, Sat4k. Sundays are the "long slow run", and each week we increase our distance by about 10%. This last week has been easier than the week before. I think my legs are finally getting used to things, and I've lost 10 lbs since the start of January. My heart rates have started to come down, but they're still relatively high. My recovery times are also better. On Sunday, after running 2k and hovering at 150 bps, I stopped for about a minute and my heart rate fell steadily to 99 bps, which I think is pretty good. Three months until race time!

January 20, 2007

Last Sunday turned out to be a bit harder on my body than I thought. I felt great when I got home, but waking up the next morning sure felt otherwise. It took five full days for my legs to recover. Wow! Each night when I'd fall asleep I was a brick, not waking up until the morning, and then not having any motivation to pull myself out of bed. I find it suprising that getting some exercise on a given day can so drastically affect your sleep cycles for the next week.

This week I'm going to shoot for two 5k runs and keep my heartrate to 75% max, which is 150. That's going to make it some very slow running, but the literature seems to suggest it's better to start your training in this range than to be doing 85-90% max, which my more typical jog elicits. It's a bit depressing that my heart has to work so hard to even jog slowly at this point, but on the other hand, that gives me a lot of physiological room to improve.

Yesterday I played an hour of light hockey and today we spent an hour and a half doing some easy cross country skiing, which I think has been some good cross training. So far so good!

January 14, 2007

This week has gone fairly well. I started the week off by doing some running back and fourth from work. It's 2.8 km to work, so it's a nice distance. On Wednesday evening I ran home from downtown Kitchener which was 4.5 km.

Today was my first time since last weekend doing a longer run... I set out mid afternoon feeling a little lazy, but once I got going things felt good. I ran south to William St., west to Westmount, south to Victoria, east to King, and then north back home. The route was about 10 km and took 57 minutes. Not bad! A quarter marathon. I walked for a minute every ten minutes as the Running Room suggests, which I think is a great idea for training. I'm amazed that after only a week my body has gone from a slowish 7 km run giving me a headache for two days, to being able to run a noticeably faster 10 km and feeling good afterwards. I'm sure my progress will slow, but it's encouraging!

The sorest part of my body is the arches of my feet, followed by my lower calf muscles (achilles tendon and some higher). My quads are tired but feeling good, and my abs are also a bit tired but feeling fine.

I'm concerned at this point about overtraining my sore feet and calf muscles... so I'll have to give myself at least two days to rest and perhaps do some cross training before I head out again next weekend.

January 7, 2007

Well, I've committed myself this year to attempt a half marathon. It would have been convenient to just train for a marathon right off the bat, but doing a half marathon first is probably smarter. I've signed up for the half marathon clinic at the Running Room, which looks like it will be a huge help. The clinic includes a lot of learning via a clinic manual, and it sounds like there are classes as well. The clinic starts in February.

Yesterday was my first time outside for a run. The rediculously warm January weather is perfect for being outside, so hopefully it keeps up. My poor body doesn't know what hit it... my legs are doing ok, but I have a pounding headache.