I sat in front of my computer last night, diligently plotting out my daily workouts for the next 7 months in preparation for the marathon. In writing, this may seem ludicrous. However, it's a necessary step in mentally and (eventually) physically preparing for the race.
Let me be clear: the marathon training is a 20 week endeavor, and tacked on beforehand is a necessary 6-8 week "base-building" phase of cardio and strength that will help launch a runner into a regular training program.
The base-building is self-inflicted, as my body learned a difficult lesson after a 10K race two weekends ago: if you don't use it, you lose it.
There I was, thinking that I could just cruise into a 10K this April, having completed, literally, 4 runs in the two months prior that summed up to about 20 miles at most all together. "I've run marathons before", I thought to myself. "This will just be a test of my mental stamina after mile 4."
NOPE.
Flash-back to two Saturdays ago, where my body forgot how to run after about an hour. Arms flailing and running strides turning into little skip leaps, I was trying everything I could to free-form my way across the finish line after a grueling hour-long stint around the park. What had happened to my stamina? I was a runner...I'd been racing in January, and kept up a minimal running schedule since then...I was surprised. However, after hobbling back home and pulling up my Nike+ record of runs, I realized I ran about twice each month since then - during the first and mid-month weeks of February and March.
Somehow, all the walking in my day-to-day had crept in as some excuse for cardio, and as my quads screamed out at me ("Slacker!"), I realized that I was: a) in no way prepared to run a half-marathon in two weeks, and b) going to need to seriously re-evaluate my weekly idea of "exercise" if I was to be running a marathon this year.
Running is a great leveler; it doesn't matter how many years you've been running for - the body has got to be trained to handle the lactose output, and the mind has to be ready to deal with the pain after that limit hits. The other component is consistency - if you don't run for a while, you start back at zero. This can be rather frustrating after a solidly defeating winter wherein a little jaunt on the treadmill foolishly tricks you into thinking you'll be able to burst onto the streets of a spring New York as if the season were just a blip on the radar.
So, last night marked the beginning of the "starting-back-at-zero" mental journey of preparing for another marathon. I've thrown any expectations out the window, save for the certainty that I've done it before, so I'll probably be able to muscle through it again.
But this time, unlike my 10K, I think my quads would prefer to be less surprised.
