I had originally thought that I was going to devote most of my winter to perfecting my swim technique so that I don't drown in the triathlons I hope to do this spring. Well, that was the plan until I recently found out that I could potentially get another number for the Boston Marathon in the spring. Now, I am going to stop here and explain my decision because I am sure that a lot of my hardcore blog readers (aka - the only three people that probably read my last blog - Dad, Henry and Uncle Joey) are wondering why I would be so crazy to try to challenge Boston again after all I went through last year.
Well, here is my explanation. As I am sure I have mentioned, Boston is probably the most prestigious marathon in the entire world. That prestige attracts thousands of runners to the race ... many of which will probably not be able to get one of the 26,000 official positions that are available. To be offered a charity position in the race is priceless and its an offer that can't be passed up. When talking about last year's marathon, the only way I could ever describe it to everyone is that "the juice is worth the squeeze". The squeeze ... well the "squeeze" is the four months of running in the cold New England winter, the hours on the elliptical and time spent in physical therapy for injuries sustained during training. The juice ... well the "juice" comes in the way of a feeling of pride / accomplishment that can't be described as you navigate your way from Hopkinton to Boston, listen to the cheering spectators that line all 26.2 miles of the course and finally when you cross that finish line on Boylston.
In addition to Boston though, there are other goals on the calendar for 2012. At the moment, the other races that I am hoping on participating in are:
Tough Mudder - New England (May 5th)
Boston Triathlon - (August 12th)
Timberman Half Iron Man - (August 19th)
*** Disclaimer - The Timberman is probably my ultimate goal for the year and will be the biggest stretch for me. I am putting this as a tentative because I want to see how I fair in shorter spring / olympic distance triathlons before I really try to undertake this one.
Thus, I think this blog is going to focus on the training it takes to complete these races and the changes that it makes to the body along the way. As it stands now, I am unfortunately pretty out of shape. This happened as a result of a busy work schedule (~80 hours a week), vacations, going out to eat / drink too much, and excuses. Starting today though, things are going to change. I figure, to help document the benefits / changes that happen with all this training ... I am going to try to record some pictures, my weight and my blood pressure at least once every two weeks.
To help prove the point of how out of shape I am, I just completed my first workout in 1-2 months (see pic below). It wasn't pretty, but its the first step ... and if all goes well and I finish this marathon ... it will help to prove to everyone that truly anyone can complete a marathon. In addition, I am going to try to use some of the lessons that I learned from last years training to help me in this year's endeavors.
Lesson 1 - You can't train for a marathon by only running
I learned the hard way last year that endurance training encompasses more than just running. It needs to include strength training, stretching and core work. This is how you avoid injuries. This year, I am going to focus on making sure that I devote a significant amount of time these modalities every week. Most likely, I will use pieces of workouts from P90x and P90x2 ... as they are some of the best all around workouts you can have.
Lesson 2 - There are highs and lows
Last year I found out the hard way that training never goes as planned. You need to roll with the punches, and deal with what comes up. For every problem, there is a solution ... you just need to find it.
Lesson 3 - April is a long way away
4.5 months is a long time, so its important not to train to hard too fast. I am going to try to build much more gradually this year so that I can hopefully avoid some of those nagging injuries.
Thats all for now. I promise my next entries won't be as long as this one ... but I "gotta start somewhere".
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| So there is. The first workout is in the books. A 1.09 mile run at an 11 minute / mile pace. Its ugly, but it will get better! |
