Marathon Training Update 3-10-10
My marathon training is not going well.
I am now less than four months away from the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon, and I feel like I am digressing in my training. Yesterday, I caught up on my "Office" viewing, while running five miles on the treadmill. Today, I watched "Community", which is becoming less and less enjoyable as the first season progresses, and only finished 4.5 miles before getting winded, bored and a little rushed for time. I don't know how much those factors actually caused me to stop, but I do think the diminishing quality of my television choices played a major role.
I have thrown a couple of distractions in my path to spice up my marathon training. One is the Big Climb to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It happens on March 21st. I will be climbing 69 flights of stairs, huffing and puffing the entire way. It's one of those workouts that's so intense, that you end up tasting blood in your breath by the end of it. And to be perfectly honest with you, I'm not in great shape right now. I wonder a lot about why I feel congestion in my chest these days. Is it cancer? Has it spread to my lungs? I constantly do what I refer to as "The Five Finger Shuffle", probing the area around my collarbone for lumps. Sometimes my hand will just reach toward my neck absently, and suddenly, I feel something down there. Is it a lump? No it can't be. Is it? It might be. No, it's probably not. This is a game I play several times a day, even now, five months after my cancer was eradicated. I can't help looking in the rearview mirror.
I would be busting out 10-12 mile runs on my long run days at this point in my training, if I was serious about running a marathon, but I can't manage it yet. A 7-miler is about all I've been able to complete in the last week and a half. And I stopped to walk a couple of times along the way. I guess I'm just hoping to keep building a base, while trying not to get injured. I have a lot of experience in training for races, but not a lot of experience training an out of shape body like this one.
I am now less than four months away from the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon, and I feel like I am digressing in my training. Yesterday, I caught up on my "Office" viewing, while running five miles on the treadmill. Today, I watched "Community", which is becoming less and less enjoyable as the first season progresses, and only finished 4.5 miles before getting winded, bored and a little rushed for time. I don't know how much those factors actually caused me to stop, but I do think the diminishing quality of my television choices played a major role.
I have thrown a couple of distractions in my path to spice up my marathon training. One is the Big Climb to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It happens on March 21st. I will be climbing 69 flights of stairs, huffing and puffing the entire way. It's one of those workouts that's so intense, that you end up tasting blood in your breath by the end of it. And to be perfectly honest with you, I'm not in great shape right now. I wonder a lot about why I feel congestion in my chest these days. Is it cancer? Has it spread to my lungs? I constantly do what I refer to as "The Five Finger Shuffle", probing the area around my collarbone for lumps. Sometimes my hand will just reach toward my neck absently, and suddenly, I feel something down there. Is it a lump? No it can't be. Is it? It might be. No, it's probably not. This is a game I play several times a day, even now, five months after my cancer was eradicated. I can't help looking in the rearview mirror.
I would be busting out 10-12 mile runs on my long run days at this point in my training, if I was serious about running a marathon, but I can't manage it yet. A 7-miler is about all I've been able to complete in the last week and a half. And I stopped to walk a couple of times along the way. I guess I'm just hoping to keep building a base, while trying not to get injured. I have a lot of experience in training for races, but not a lot of experience training an out of shape body like this one.
Bill,
Don't be so hard on yourself! You're doing great! If it makes you feel any better, I get winded just jogging out to the mailbox. I spend 45 minutes on the treadmill and only go 3.1 miles! There, now, don't you feel better?
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