Editor’s Note: This is a recurring feature of the Activities section. Tony Pizza started training Sept. 15 for the 2008 Salt Lake City Marathon and will be writing updates on his successes and failures up until the April 19, 2008, race date.
When you say it in your head, 201 days sounds like a long time. That’s 29 weeks, or just a little more than six-and-a-half months. When you put it down on paper in the form of a marathon training regimen, 201 days is basically a blink of the eye.
According to marathon training coach Art Liberman, an aspiring marathoner shouldn’t even try training for the 26.3 mile race until one has been running 25 miles per week for a solid year.
Part of me knows what ol’ Art is talking about. To go from being able to comfortably run three miles in around 25 minutes to running more than 26 miles over the course of several hours in just six months is asking for a chronic case of shin splints and all sorts of knee problems.
The problem is, I’m not aspiring to “enjoy the race” as Liberman says on his website www.marathontraining.com. I’m one of those people that is just trying to “survive” it.
I’m guessing that when the time comes to actually run the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 19, 2008, the start of the race will be the easiest portion. But when it comes to training for the event, starting the process has the exact opposite appeal.
Like any U student who tries to balance a full school and work load can attest to, finding free time for workouts is like trying to pick up a sewing needle with a pair of mittens.
It’s like what the old sage Andy Dufresne said to Red in “The Shawshank Redemption,” “It comes down to a simple choice really: Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
For me, that notion is pretty austere, but the concept is sound and it was effective for me. Basically, in the last two weeks I chose to make going to the gym more like breathing, eating and sleeping and less like taking out the trash or studying for an English midterm.
I am by no means perfect every day. In fact, after the first day my body felt like going to the gym less than my mind did. The key for me is that I didn’t let two bad days completely restart my training plan. As much as I wanted to use the “I’ll start over on Monday” excuse, I didn’t. As soon as that thought entered my mind, I decided that my body was ready for another workout, but my mind was being too lazy. It was after I went to the gym on the fourth day that I was reacquainted with an old friend. The endorphins that pumped through my body were all I needed to justify skipping over my daily consumption of fast food and Dr. Pepper.
I also kept an important saying in mind: “Nothing ever tastes as good as being fit feels.” We’ll see if that can carry me through the first few weeks of training.