Miles Week 13: 24.88 (Sunday's long run: 8.88 miles)
Miles Week 14: 19.5 (Sunday's long run: 18 miles)
Miles To Date: 210.38
Eight hours ago my group (the "Cathy O'Brien's," named after a marathoner who made the Olympic Trials at 16 years of age and remains the US's only 2-time female Olympic marathoner) wrapped up our 18-mile run in near-perfect time for our 12-minute mile pace: 3 hours, 35 minutes (we finished one minute too fast).
Incidentally, we passed the halfway mark, mile 13, at 2 hrs, 30 minutes, which is in the neighborhood of winning Olympic marathon times for women... that's running 26.2 miles at a pace of around a 6-minute mile.
I tried this time to be aware of the state of my body throughout the run: An easier-than-usual start - really feeling comfortable by mile 6 (this is normal for me, I've learned) - starting to tire by mile 12 - feeling muscle fatigue and painfully tight knees by mile 15 - pushing through serious achilles pain and desperately looking for mile markers by mile 16.5 - and limping over to the food table after crossing the final marker at mile 18.
As we say down in Texas: LORDY!
The "hot-and-throbbing" part, of course, is my legs. Good God. I finally took the plunge, so to speak, and employed the therapy I've been hearing about, but was just too damn chicken to take: a post-run ICE BATH. I like a cold plunge after a sauna, but a straight-up ice-bath is a different animal altogether. I kept my shirt on, and I screamed getting into it, but after that, believe it or not, it actually didn't feel cold enough (45 degrees F, 4-8 minutes). Three bags of ice next time, instead of one.
Then I moaned and complained getting up the stairs to my room, then - save for a lunch break on the back porch - I pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon horizontal.
And not even productive horizontal! Not even sleep-productive! Too hot to sleep; too tired to think or move - there was minor email, there was no telecommuted work, there was no online Scrabble. I realized some weeks ago after the 12-mile run that I actually even have difficulty thinking after these long runs... when I mentioned this to my friend (after forgetting, mid-sentence, what the hell I was trying to tell her), she said, "Well of course! All the blood is in your legs!" This may or may not be true, but in any case I do have difficulty holding a conversation, lately, on Sunday afternoons.
How do the pros DO it? My weekly mileage is wildly divergent, hovering around a median average of about 15 -20 miles a week. Serious marathoners, of many ages, professional or not, usually run about 50-70 miles per week. How do their muscles and tendons and joints TAKE IT? Now my legs feel tight, and tired, but not throbbing. There was a time when 6 miles was practically unthinkable, and now it's my warm-up. Will a time come when my muscles and psychology have developed to the point that a 7- or 10-mile maintenance run in the middle of the week is a normal thing?
My friend Chris, in my running group, thinks that when you start asking those questions the answers lie mostly in our individual DNA: Some people, no doubt, are born to run. They are gifted with a naturally beautiful form which takes, relatively speaking, very little toll on their bodies. No doubt of course this is absolutely true - and yet, even in a practice to which I am not born, I have lots of room to grow.
And I just wonder: What's the limit? There is one. What in the hell is it?
It's impossible for me to run 18 miles (at a relatively fast pace, for a non-runner), to experience the excitement and companionship and sheer joy of this, without thinking forward to plan the next challenge. The New York City Marathon, in the town I have grown to love, to adore? The Boston Marathon, the world's oldest marathon and no doubt a crown experience for any marathon runner? The qualifying pace for Boston, for women 35-39, is an 8.5 minute mile. I'm training shorter runs right now between 9-11 minutes, and long runs at 12. It would take long and concentrated training to make that pace ... but still, it might very well be within my reach.
Is it? Is it possible?
1 comment:
Just tuned in again. I continue to be amazed at what you are doing. REALLY AMAZED. It is interesting to think, way down the road, as you say, of having this be a mid-week thing you do because you can, and want to continue to be able to do again--maybe better next time.
Here you are, plumb worn out, but thinking about marathons of the future. YEA LAR! I am proud of you.
much love, ZUK
Post a Comment