Today was horrible. We had a 17km medium-long run scheduled. I couldn't do it.
I slept horribly last night, a late dinner left the food heavy in my stomach, I was still sore in my joints and some muscles from the Wednesday long run (38km), my ankle was tender, and it was a recipe for disaster.
I was going to just not go, but my supportive wife kicked me out of bed and reminded me that Coach had said this run is very important. It is the conclusion of an intense week of running, the final one really as we begin tapering, and I should not skip it. So I went.
I had zero energy. We were running the beautiful Yishi trails. I could not move my legs. They were like bricks. I knew I would not make it to 17km like that. I flipped the switch in my head and decided I would make it an 11km recovery run instead, and that is what I did. I ran 11.3km at an average pace of 6:27 /km
5 comments:
we still love you anyway
you wrote - "I was still sore in my joints and some muscles from the Wednesday long run (38km), my ankle was tender"
A question I would ask you besides for all the lost weight and long term health benefits involved with running - overall do you feel better than before? Do you have more energy? Need less sleep?
I have also done some running and wonder that perhaps many marathon runners are overdoing it and to some extent 'yasa scharo b'hefsedo'. Do you think you would feel better or worse if you would jog say half the amount?
I am just asking from a purely physical perspective. There may be other gains related to having a sense of accomplishment and training oneself to push oneself and succeed that may be beneficial in many areas of life.
the truth is that all health benefits or problems are an aside. I am doing this not for health, but for the challenge. Running a marathon is like climbing everest, or finishing shas, or the like. It is the ultimate goal in its field.
I read somewhere that a marathon is actually bad for the body. Especially if done often. I do not know if it is correct or not.
I do know that right now I have lost a lot of excess weight, I feel great (generally) and I am not having any adverse problems. That actually has surprised me, as historically I have bad knees and ankles, and I thought I would never make it this far.
I sleep fine, but I always did. I sleep very little at night (just 4-4.5 hours, though I always did. I feel healthy, but that might be the benefit of the weight loss, as I felt healthy before but sluggish from being overweight.
So I cannot attribute any specific healthy feeling, other than weight loss, to running, and I do not know if it is the healthiest thing in the world or not, but I do it for reasons other than health.
The other guys running are all pretty healthy, so it can't be too bad. The coach says this will add 5-10 years to your life. I have no idea if that is true or what it is base don, but that is what he says.
so how much weight have you lost since you began?
I have not kept track exactly from beginning to end, but based on my weight that I was at 2 months before I began, and based on the weight I was at a month ago, my estimate is 45 pounds.
Post a Comment