Life in the slow cooker

Ask any marathoner and they will tell you the hardest part of the marathon isn't the last 6 miles of the race. It's the 16 to 20 weeks of training you do prior to race day. There is no running microwave. There are no short cuts. There is just time and running. Lots of time and lots of running.

I'm wrapping up week 2 of my marathon training program. The entire program runs for 16 weeks and a total of 601 miles. It feels like I'm learning to run all over again. I am chomping at the bit to get to the super long training runs. I want to go run 20 miles tomorrow and I want to do it in less than 2 hours. Thankfully past experience is deeply ingrained in my head. You see, 2 years ago, when I returned from my 16 year hiatus from running, I wanted to get right back into running 3 miles non-stop and I wanted to be fast again. I had run in the past. Surely my body would remember, I'm not 90 years old and I'm not decrepit. Maybe a little overweight, but this should be easy. One or two runs and I'll be right back where I left off sophomore year... of highschool. I immediately signed up for a 10K (6.2 miles) that was about 12 weeks away and I sat on my butt until it was 3 weeks away and then started "training".

I somehow managed to finish the race without stopping in 1 hour and 7 minutes. It only cost me 2 stress fractures and a bout with shin splints that still haunt me to this day. I had to wait 8 weeks before I could start running again and when I did my shins hurt for days at a time after a single mile run. I would have to wait 3 sometimes 5 days after a run before I could again they hurt that bad. It was miserable. It was discouraging and it was depressing. It took 6 months and 30lbs of weight loss before I could run 2 consecutive days in a row without my shins hurting. 2 years later and they still hurt a little after a hard run. That lesson was hard learned and one I will never forget.

No. There is no microwave for running. It's a slow cooker. I take each training run for what it is. It's the ingredients in my award winning chili (I have my dusty ladle trophy to prove it) simmering to perfection. It cannot be rushed. That's not to say I don't train hard, or that I don't push myself. I do. I do when my training calls for it and when my body allows it.

Running is teaching me patience. It's helping me climb out of lifes microwave and into the slow cooker. I race around everyday. With a full schedule and limited time. I can't help to think about the injuries I've incurred in my life because of my microwave lifestyle. I'm sure I've suffered physically, emotionally and spiritually for it. It's time to slow down.

The marathon is 14 weeks away. My long run this weekend is 16 miles. I'm going to enjoy the journey. More importantly I'm going to climb in the slow cooker and just simmer.

Happy miles,
Bob

Marathon Training Begins

I'm T-minus 6 days from the start of my first Marathon training run. To say I'm a bit nervous is an understatement. The thought of running for almost 4 hours is intimidating. I've completed 2 half marathons now and after each one I could maybe squeak out 1 more mile in about 20 minutes if you bribed me with - I can't even think of anything you could bribe me with. If you held a gun to my head I would just tell you to shoot me. The thought of turning around and running back to the start line, nope, not happening. I've mapped it out. It's like running from Joliet to Seneca or Gardner. That's nearly a 30 min trip by car... on the highway... at 60 miles an hour... EEP!

I guess it's not so much the race itself as it is the training. I just downloaded my training program. It says I'm doing 20 mile runs on weeks 6,9,11 and 13. EEP! Marathon training is something you can't take lightly. You have to do it. You have to prepare your body as well as your mind for the task of pounding pavement for 4+ hours. I'm sure I'll gain confidence as I go. Right now though, I'm terrified. I currently run 5 times a week for a total of 20 - 25 miles. For marathon training I'm upping that distance to 30 and peaking at 49 miles running 4 days a week. The real fun begins when I try to pepper in my fall short race schedule with my training. I'm a 5K junkie and I love my fall races. Let's see how this plays out.

The journey begins next week!