A Marathon Effort: One Step at a Time

My training for a marathon has begun. February of 2010. Official. All of the running I have done, prior to this missive, are preconditioning runs. All the way back to the foot races around the ball field in 5th grade that I used to talk Tom U. into running, even though I was faster and he knew he would lose. Thank-you Tom. This includes running on the Drake High School varsity track team, in San Anselmo, CA, as an underclassman, and all of my running in the United States Marine Corps. Most especially, I also include the last year and a half of running, during which time, I have been conscious of my goal and trying to get my body ready for it. I have been putting the miles in and hitting it hard. I am done doing that. That is all conditioning.

In November of 2009, I sprained my ankle. I was doing 3-4 mile runs (4x) per week and (1) 7-8 mile run on the weekend. Pushing myself up from there that was my plan. I was training, or so I thought. After the sprain I made the classic mistake of running on it too soon. A week later, I taped up and got out there. It clearly hurt it to do that. Which is my real point here. All of my life I have been willing to hurt myself for my own good. And in this case, I wasn't even doing yoga to make it better. I am now. Hopefully, as the New Method takes hold, that old "hurt yourself for your own good" mentality will stop. Gutting your way through a marathon is not the goal. Running it is.

So the new method. Its all about time. It will take 3-5 hours to run a marathon, depending on my conditioning.  The real goal is to be able to be on my feet, running, for that time. Not hiking for 3-5 hours, which is awesome, but running. Which should be awesome. Once I have trained to get there. Not killed myself for. That is not the goal. Amazing how hard it is to eschew oneself of this type of ideology. Now this blog is dedicated to one day of training after the other. The plan? Run time not miles. Week by week increases. Until I am ready to go race. There are two goals here. The first one is on the Oregon coast in May. Only if I am ready. The real goal is the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC, in October.

Week One, Starts Now. (3-4) 30 minute runs with (1) one hour run at the end of the week. If you are reading this and are curious how it goes, check back periodically, because I will update it every training day.

Day 1: (Tues. 2.23.10) 10 m. to downtown, five minute break. 20 more minutes, down 13th street and across mill creek on the tracks and back up to the statue of the Chief. Then later sauna/steam room.
Day 2:  (Wed. 2.24.10) 5 m. 1-1 basketball game @ Lion's Park for warm-up, which I won. 30 min. run up mill creek and back, followed by my daughter, Hannah's basketball game. Which she won. Biked down to the Y for 1 hr. of yoga, followed by spa, sauna, steam room...with cold immersion in between.
Day 3:  (Fri. 2.26.10) 5m warm-up run. Concentrate on breathing through my nose and smelling the river. relaxing with my stride, not rushing. Arrived at house and collected the young man who wants to run for his middle school eighth grade track team. We had some issues with appropriate running attire, thankfully grandmother was there to sort it out. We headed out into stormy weather, with good gear on. 5m warm-up jog, stop and stretch out with toe stretchers and leg stretchs on a bench. 30min run up mill creek and back down, we split up at seven eleven. Damn, he is fast and everybody happy. hahaha. good. No yoga tonight, not gonna do it. Nope.
Day 4:  (Sat. 2.27.10)  One of those days. I have dreamed of this day, maybe all of my life. What a run. Left my house at 4:53 pm. Ran from there up mill creek to the rooks park bridge turnaround @36m. Pre-sunset light, so amazingly crystal. water was beautiful and came in over my ipod music. sunset @the bridge, caught it with my video cam, should post on this blog soon. The run back down was so good, I was really feeling it, stride strong, breath steady, could smell the fecund spring aromas along the creek. my energy was rising at 1hr. bounce in my step, coulda been the march fourth album i was listening to. nothing like trombone to get one jazzed. LOVED it! Unbelievable! I felt so good. Maybe this marathon is really doable after all....total time 1hr7m.


WEEK TWO
Day 1: (Mon. 3.1.10)  The sun was shining and the need was great. It was a good run. Difficult to get into the breathing. It happened though, and I rolled it for 30m. Ending up @ the YMCA in time for yoga. So good to have the conditioning up to support my needs. This is my body. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Day 2: (Wed. 3.3.10) Great run today. 35m. Downtown into the sunset. Finishing @ the YMCA in time for yoga and then steam/suana/spa...cold water immersions in between. This is so great. I go at least a minute, as cold as I can, either with the shower or hose, in between the hot. This pulls the blood in, and requires deep breathing, then the hot pushes the blood to the surface of the skin. Yes! Cycles of this produce endorphin drops into the body.

Day 3: (Fri. 3.5.10) Feeling good for the run up mill creek. 37m. Really nice. Although, I decided not to do yoga today and then cooked my favorite meal. I am a vegetarian. I love curry broccoli, with pasta and gluten bits. Ate way to many calories, but later went and danced it off. Hopefully.

Day 4: (Sat. 3.6.10) Wow! I did it again. 1hr. (plus change) Feeling good the whole way. This week, instead of the finish being a down hill pull, it was uphill. Ran from home to the trail on the other side of Hwy. 12. Down that paved trail to its end, past 9th Street, nearly to the prison. Back uptown, past the chief, through downtown and up to the house. Even had a kick for the last block. Realizing, however, just how steep the hill I am setting out to climb is. A full marathon is a long, long ways, and takes a long, long, time. One step at a time....next week...we step up the time.