As a columnist for Ohio Sports and Fitness Magazine, I’ve been charged with writing informational and entertaining pieces on running. Specifically, I’ll be concentrating on the Cleveland Marathon for our April/May edition, which makes sense since I’ve done fitness tests and designed programs for 8 participants selected by the magazine to run in the event. It got me to thinking about my own marathon experiences…all painful, bitter memories.
The Revco Marathon was reasonably new in 1978, the year I decided to return to running. I hadn’t run consistently since my last year of high school five years previously, and was working for the Cleveland Athletic Club where I had easy access to weights and food. I had a plan to gain muscle mass by lifting and eating a pound of prime rib each day. I gained mass…but it wasn’t all muscle. I was in denial until I decided to go out for a run one day and struggled to keep an 8-minute pace for a few, lousy miles. Another employee of the club was planning on running the marathon, and I decided I would join him. I began my running plan with three straight days of 8 mile runs…24 miles in three days when I hadn’t run consistently in five years. I ran in a pair of U.S. Keds tennis shoes…and had a very sore knee…by the end of the week. I quit the quest for the marathon, but did enter and complete the 10K in around 44 minutes.
I’d caught the running bug again though, and continued to run over the next few years, entering road races of varying distances up to the half marathon, but specifically avoiding the marathon. When I did visit that distance again, it was in 1983 in Cape Cod, but was after having swum 2.4 miles and ridden 112. And it sucked.
I completed another marathon as part of the Iron Man triathlon the following year, but had still not run just a marathon successfully by 1988 when I entered the Columbus Marathon. By then I had earned my Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology, trained hundreds of runners to meet their running objectives and had an excellent idea about what kind of training should be done to be successful at that distance. I ran the right mileage, built up my long run appropriately, had my body fat down under 7%, tapered race week and ate the right mix of carbohydrates so that I’d have the energy and the right hydration to have a successful race. And things went really well…for about 20 miles. I was cruising at just under 7-minute pace when the wheels fell off…I hit the wall…and slowed to around 10 minutes per mile for the remainder of the race.
And that was the last time I attempted to run 26.2 miles. I’m just not built for that distance. My high sweat rate makes it practically impossible for me to be competitive at events that take so long to complete. If I don’t get sick on race day, I’m sure to get sick somewhere along the way during training. I’ve also found that I am much more susceptible to running-related injuries when I run on hard surfaces…the roads…as compared to the dirt trails of the parks.
So, I’ll write about them…but I won’t do them. I’m writing this as much to remind myself as anything else. My running has been going strong lately…my foot pain is diminishing since buying the new shoes…and I don’t want to start having stupid ideas about returning to the roads. I was able to run 45 minutes last night…my first back-to-back run days in a long time…with almost no pain. A man has got to know his limitations…and when it comes to running…I know mine.
Run Duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 750.
No comments:
Post a Comment