So I haven't been very good at blogging lately. It has been six weeks since my last post. Been busy with life - mostly trying to get my schedule set around my new job. I'm working an hour or two longer every day than I used to, and instead of a 20 minute drive, I now have a 45 minute drive. It's all I can do to get my runs in as it is! But I'm getting into a new groove.
I had a meeting with my personal trainer two weeks ago, and he helped me lay out the first stage of my training program. The longest I've run so far is six miles, and he wants me to continue increasing my mileage over the next three months. At first I wanted to mix in some interval training to help my lactic threshold, but he explained to me that interval training is quite hard on the body, and that really should not be the goal of my first marathon. To survive a marathon, I need to condition my body to tolerate distance.
I am not the type of person to take someone at their word; I am an engineer - if I can do my own research, I will. So I did. And found out that he was right. Interval training is hard on the body, and the risk of injury is too high. One injury could set me WAY back, to a point where I probably won't be able to run come October 2. So no interval training for me.
He laid out a plan to get me from a six mile run to a ten mile run in 12 weeks. That will take me to May 30th. His goal from there would be to get me from 10 miles to 20 miles in another three months - taking me to the end of August. That will be about five weeks prior to the Marathon. This makes sense to me, so I have total buy-in and started this week.
I am also reading a book called "Run: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel". The basic premise is that confidence and psychological momentum play just as big a roll in performance as physical fitness and strength. He talks a lot about how some elite runners who run ultra-high mileages burn out quite early in their careers, whereas others who don't run as much are setting records in their late thirties. Like Constantina Dita-Tomescu, the Romanian distance runner, who won the gold in Beijing 2008 Olympic Women's Marathon with a time of 2:26:44 - at the age of 38. Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian distance runner, currently holds the men's world record marathon at 2:03:59 - set at the age of 35. The author makes the case that you must find out what works for you, and stick with it - defend any intrusion at all costs. Experience plays a big roll, which someone in their early 20's does not have.
The author of the book describes a method of rating your runs on a scale of 1 to 3. 1 is a bad run, 2 is average, 3 is good. Also note whether your confidence went up or down. I am considering using this method and will see how it goes.
I am learning a lot. The weather is getting nicer. I am finding that when I run, sometimes I do not want to stop. I'm still not sure if I can run a marathon... that is something I still have to prove to myself.
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