The Marathon

I don't know if I'm a blogger, but we'll find out. Starting is hard because you, dear reader, have no context about me. I feel the need to explain myself into dull irrelevance. I'm just going to dive into a topic that has been relatively prominent in my life in 2009, my marathon training. With the race less than a month away, and most of my good stories from training long behind me, now is a relatively stupid time to start a blog. But, I can't start blogging back in January now, can I?

I’ve been hoping to run a marathon. A year ago I wouldn't have thought it was worth it. Two years ago I wouldn't have thought it was possible. And five, I thought anyone who was running without some kind of ball to put into a net, an endzone or a hoop, was crazy. My formal training began with the advent of my personal exercise log, which while slightly annoying, as I feared, has proven to be immeasurably worthwhile. So before January, I could run 3-4 miles most days of the week, but I have no proof that I actually did it. I'm sure my short-term memory exagerated my efforts then, and now I certainly have no idea what I was doing. But since I started logging, on the other hand, I can tell you I ran 4 miles on a treadmill in 31 minutes on Jan. 4th with certainty.

I've run a half-marathon twice, both with relatively little consecrated training, and both with relatively few problems. The marathon training has been different. My simple strategy: "running alot," ignores the great and varied challenges that marathon training requires. I erroneously thought the main obstacle would be time. A busy daily schedule can stop marathon training, but budgeting enough time isn't alone sufficient.

On my early long runs, my gut had a mind of it's own. It wasn't just intestinal rumbling, all systems were sending out the siren call for a pitstop. Call it a strong sympathetic reflex, or call it weak will power, I just had to go! The details could be shared in a more graphic blog, but for now, I'll let that suffice.

Mid-February, on a then-current-longest run of about 15 miles, I had some pain on the lateral side of my left foot, maybe the peroneus muscles being overused. By the last mile, I was limping, a habit I would maintain for the following days. I backed off on running for a couple of weeks, avoiding anything over an hour and substituting in some cycling workouts. But, I knew that in order to be ready for the full 26, I needed to get back to the long runs.

With a few other creeping aches and pains, I went to the internet and read about the anecdotal virtues of an icebath. Some praised them as a kind of lower body cure-all. They suck. But only at first. I tap into my inner Samana, and once I'm in, I feel fine. It's hard to be objective, since I can't admit that putting myself through that process is a waste of time, but it sure does seem like I recover faster after an icebath. And it does seem like a natural extrapolation from the use of local ice for all sorts of minor injuries. So I'll keep it up, for now.

Most recently my left knee has been bothering me. A little bit with soccer, but mostly with my long runs. The (current best) 18-miler on a treadmill (it was cold and raining) left me limping, especially down the stairs. Then, my hopeful 20-mile run around the lake turned into a pitiful 7 with only 3 weeks to go. My knee just wasn't happy, and I certainly don't want to end up injured. As I trudged home, I thought my goal was sunk. Just not enough time to train. I was doing too much too fast. Now I'm post hoc counting it as my rest week. I'll give the 20-miler one more shot this weekend with a knee brace, and then, contingently, I’ll be marathon ready. The lousy day at the lake filled me with doubt, but now, a day later, I'm reminded that it’s not over yet, so we’ll see.

I used the word "hoping" earlier because I've found that there are many extrensic factors, and I'm not interested in forcing myself through injury to get to the finish line. There has certainly been some "digging deep" experiences, but at the same time, I'm listening to my body, watching and feeling it. So far, it has been a good teacher.

So I posted my first entry. Hurray!