I’ve signed up for a marathon
A few weeks ago, a training buddy of mine invited me to come do my long runs with a group he was forming. They were training for the Okinawa Marathon on March 7, 2010 and were up to 8 – 10 miles at that time. I had been doing 6 – 7 miles on Sundays and thought I’d go try a couple with them. The first one I hit was 10 miles and I had a blast. Primarily because I had no idea how painful the run was since I was busy talking to the other guys the whole time. The entire experience was very much like my Saturday bike rides in that you don’t get bored and focus on the pain when there are other folks around to talk to.
The next week I ran 12 miles and still enjoyed it as well. The next day I signed up to do the marathon with them and a few days after that I had a coach draw up a training plan for me based on my personal best times in the 5k and 10k over the last year and all the triathlon training volume I’ve had.
I now do a 6 mile run at a medium pace, speed work on Thursdays, and the long easy run on Sundays. I fit in the swimming and cycling when I have time and energy. The last few long runs have been 12, 16, 16, and 18 miles respectively. I’ve also started doing a 20 minute ice bath on my legs after each long run. The first dip in is painful, but it really helps the recovery process go more quickly.
Fortunately, I’ve not really had any major injury issues come up. I tightened my laces too tight a few weeks ago in my right shoe and now I have some major tendon irritation on the top of my foot. That was solved with some creative re lacing of the shoe to release the pressure on that zone. The shoe looks funny, but it’s working just fine.
Bottom line is that I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to complete the marathon, but I know that I prefer to ride my bike, and I know I’m better at riding my bike as well.
Maybe an IM tri is the works someday…depending on how this marathon feels when I finish.
Leave a Reply