I subscribe to Runner’s World. I’m not exactly sure if I got the subscription myself or if someone sent it to me, but I get pretty excited when it shows up each month. Contained within are snippets of motivation that keep me both excited and informed about not only my running and training but that of others, too.
The cover man of the latest issue is Lance Armstrong. Retired from the world of professional cycling, Lance is ready to tackle the marathon. He’s unsure how he’ll fare, but the story within contained a number of expert’s opinions on what time the 7 time Tour de France champion will need to complete 26.2 miles.
I haven’t really followed Lance and his obvious domination of the cycling world. I haven’t formed my own opinion on whether or not he was a doper. But I do remember reading an interview with him where he said that he liked both beer and wine. In that same interview he talked about how he had to abstain from both during his lengthy 9 month training periods.
I’m well into my the training for my third marathon. Before I started this one I’d considered giving up drinking once again. I drank only a bit before my first marathon and don’t really remember how much or often I imbibed during last year’s training. This year, however, I surely didn’t go the route of teetotaler. I’ve kept a pretty active social lifestyle, which quite often has involved a couple of drinks.
Friday night it involved a LOT of drinks. I flew up to Boston to visit a couple of the bands that I manage who were out on tour together. I had no intentions of wreaking the kind of havoc that ensued by night’s end. However, I did. I had a great time, though bits and pieces from the last few hours of the evening I can hardly recall.
I fell asleep around 4am Friday night and had to wake up at 7am to go to the airport. I squeamishly survived the flight and wondered if my blood alcohol content could have been over limit (something I would have never considered before – usually thinking that a night’s sleep, no matter how short, is enough time for one to go from drunk to sober – until I spent a few weeks this summer in Sweden, where the limits are much, much lower than the US) for driving.
When I got home around noon my roommate and a friend who was crashing on the couch both commented that I reeked of alcohol. I was a bit disturbed by that fact, because even though I did not feel 100%, I surely didn’t think that I was still a walking barrel of whiskey. Robert, the house guest, who is training for the Seattle Marathon at the end of November, and I were scheduled to do a 12-14 mile run that day.
I was feeling bad enough (sleep deprivation alone would’ve been a cause for concern) that I went to bed for another hour. When I awoke around 1pm I still felt bad. I’ve never been one to get really bad hangovers, nor have I been one to let a drinking lifestyle affect all of the other things that I have going on. It’s probably this thought process that’s allowed me to continue to drink while training.
Luckily the weather in DC was what I’ve come to expect from fantastic fall days: an immaculate blue, cloudless sunny sky with a cool breeze and temperatures in the mid sixties. Robert and I each decided to leave the house with long sleeve poly pro shirts. Just a few steps from the house I almost felt that this was a mistake, the warm sun shone down and warmed me quite quickly. I’m usually quite stubborn when it comes to my choice of outfits, meaning once I’ve taken off from the house I stick with what I have on. The consequences are rarely dire, though the potential for being uncomfortable is far greater as the length of the run increases.
I chose one of my favorite routes for the 14 miles – from my house down to the Capital, around Hains Point and then return along Rockcreek Parkway. While we were almost at the awakening statue on Hains Point (which has been featured in a series of national running advertisements recently) I asked Robert if he’d ever been there. He reminded that the one time he had been there was last year when he and our buddy Chris came out to run alongside me for the second half of the Marine Corps Marathon. The weather during this run was just as beautiful and perfect as it had been that day.
The effects of the previous night’s activities were really beginning to affect me about halfway through the run. Robert wasn’t feeling particularly well either, so I was once again forced during a long run to make my mind convince my body that finishing was possible. Once we came out of Hains Point and had almost 5 miles remaining, my mind was set on having the run completed. I was dehydrated with a couple of cramps and even my upper thighs (just below where they join the hips) were feeling quite sore (a soreness I’ve had on quite a few runs this season). Though the final 4.5 miles was very long, it was all very familiar. In fact, it was the exact same 4.5 miles that I ran during the previous week’s 18 mile rain laden, sleep deprived long run. The familiarity allowed me to easily pick mental goals along the way. “Okay, here comes the stretch along the Potomac.” “The next part is not covered by shade and is right by the road, but once you round the curve it’s quite a nice stretch.” “It’s probably only 2 miles left until the huge hill coming out of the zoo.” Each and every one of these reminders were small motivators towards finishing the entire run. That, in and of itself, was a pretty big accomplishment.
Following the run I briefly stretched and took a shower. After that, my body really began to show that it was not a fan of my actions. The drinking or the running alone are pretty abusive. To combine the two completely polar extremes was a shock the body wasn’t ready for. I plan to do my very, very best to avoid putting myself through such a process ever again.
I talked to my buddy Chris yesterday, a day after the run. He told me that he “crushed” his 14 mile run (a saying he said he took from me, much earlier in the training schedule, before my long runs became challenges for reasons other than just the distance covered) and was excited about the race. He did inform me that he was planning on slowing his goal to a 3:45 instead of the 3:30 we had initially set for ourselves. I am unclear what my strategy is going to be. As Chris reminded me, “we have a big week coming up this week,” (10 miles on Tuesday, a few other 5 mile runs and then 20 on the weekend). I plan to re-assess my goal for the race after the 20 miler, but intuition tells me I will start out running 8 minute miles (3:30 pace) for the first 13 and then see if I think I can put it into overdrive and finish with anything below that. And, as for the big week, I am traveling in California all this week and am not entirely sure when, where and how I will be able to get all of my runs in. Stay tuned.
The cover man of the latest issue is Lance Armstrong. Retired from the world of professional cycling, Lance is ready to tackle the marathon. He’s unsure how he’ll fare, but the story within contained a number of expert’s opinions on what time the 7 time Tour de France champion will need to complete 26.2 miles.
I haven’t really followed Lance and his obvious domination of the cycling world. I haven’t formed my own opinion on whether or not he was a doper. But I do remember reading an interview with him where he said that he liked both beer and wine. In that same interview he talked about how he had to abstain from both during his lengthy 9 month training periods.
I’m well into my the training for my third marathon. Before I started this one I’d considered giving up drinking once again. I drank only a bit before my first marathon and don’t really remember how much or often I imbibed during last year’s training. This year, however, I surely didn’t go the route of teetotaler. I’ve kept a pretty active social lifestyle, which quite often has involved a couple of drinks.
Friday night it involved a LOT of drinks. I flew up to Boston to visit a couple of the bands that I manage who were out on tour together. I had no intentions of wreaking the kind of havoc that ensued by night’s end. However, I did. I had a great time, though bits and pieces from the last few hours of the evening I can hardly recall.
I fell asleep around 4am Friday night and had to wake up at 7am to go to the airport. I squeamishly survived the flight and wondered if my blood alcohol content could have been over limit (something I would have never considered before – usually thinking that a night’s sleep, no matter how short, is enough time for one to go from drunk to sober – until I spent a few weeks this summer in Sweden, where the limits are much, much lower than the US) for driving.
When I got home around noon my roommate and a friend who was crashing on the couch both commented that I reeked of alcohol. I was a bit disturbed by that fact, because even though I did not feel 100%, I surely didn’t think that I was still a walking barrel of whiskey. Robert, the house guest, who is training for the Seattle Marathon at the end of November, and I were scheduled to do a 12-14 mile run that day.
I was feeling bad enough (sleep deprivation alone would’ve been a cause for concern) that I went to bed for another hour. When I awoke around 1pm I still felt bad. I’ve never been one to get really bad hangovers, nor have I been one to let a drinking lifestyle affect all of the other things that I have going on. It’s probably this thought process that’s allowed me to continue to drink while training.
Luckily the weather in DC was what I’ve come to expect from fantastic fall days: an immaculate blue, cloudless sunny sky with a cool breeze and temperatures in the mid sixties. Robert and I each decided to leave the house with long sleeve poly pro shirts. Just a few steps from the house I almost felt that this was a mistake, the warm sun shone down and warmed me quite quickly. I’m usually quite stubborn when it comes to my choice of outfits, meaning once I’ve taken off from the house I stick with what I have on. The consequences are rarely dire, though the potential for being uncomfortable is far greater as the length of the run increases.
I chose one of my favorite routes for the 14 miles – from my house down to the Capital, around Hains Point and then return along Rockcreek Parkway. While we were almost at the awakening statue on Hains Point (which has been featured in a series of national running advertisements recently) I asked Robert if he’d ever been there. He reminded that the one time he had been there was last year when he and our buddy Chris came out to run alongside me for the second half of the Marine Corps Marathon. The weather during this run was just as beautiful and perfect as it had been that day.
The effects of the previous night’s activities were really beginning to affect me about halfway through the run. Robert wasn’t feeling particularly well either, so I was once again forced during a long run to make my mind convince my body that finishing was possible. Once we came out of Hains Point and had almost 5 miles remaining, my mind was set on having the run completed. I was dehydrated with a couple of cramps and even my upper thighs (just below where they join the hips) were feeling quite sore (a soreness I’ve had on quite a few runs this season). Though the final 4.5 miles was very long, it was all very familiar. In fact, it was the exact same 4.5 miles that I ran during the previous week’s 18 mile rain laden, sleep deprived long run. The familiarity allowed me to easily pick mental goals along the way. “Okay, here comes the stretch along the Potomac.” “The next part is not covered by shade and is right by the road, but once you round the curve it’s quite a nice stretch.” “It’s probably only 2 miles left until the huge hill coming out of the zoo.” Each and every one of these reminders were small motivators towards finishing the entire run. That, in and of itself, was a pretty big accomplishment.
Following the run I briefly stretched and took a shower. After that, my body really began to show that it was not a fan of my actions. The drinking or the running alone are pretty abusive. To combine the two completely polar extremes was a shock the body wasn’t ready for. I plan to do my very, very best to avoid putting myself through such a process ever again.
I talked to my buddy Chris yesterday, a day after the run. He told me that he “crushed” his 14 mile run (a saying he said he took from me, much earlier in the training schedule, before my long runs became challenges for reasons other than just the distance covered) and was excited about the race. He did inform me that he was planning on slowing his goal to a 3:45 instead of the 3:30 we had initially set for ourselves. I am unclear what my strategy is going to be. As Chris reminded me, “we have a big week coming up this week,” (10 miles on Tuesday, a few other 5 mile runs and then 20 on the weekend). I plan to re-assess my goal for the race after the 20 miler, but intuition tells me I will start out running 8 minute miles (3:30 pace) for the first 13 and then see if I think I can put it into overdrive and finish with anything below that. And, as for the big week, I am traveling in California all this week and am not entirely sure when, where and how I will be able to get all of my runs in. Stay tuned.
posted by Mike Mowery at 7:51 PM
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