marathon training

Hi folks. As my 'identity' indicates, most people out there in the world who know who I am, know me as the Series Composer for the online series / DVD set 'Broken Saints'. However, as also indicated in my 'interests' list, I do lots of other things besides, and one of those things is running. I mention this here because, well, it is very much in my thoughts today because of how my legs feel. It goes like this: I have always had a thing for distance running, but I kind of stopped taking it 'seriously' back in highschool - my running coach told me I had to 'get my priorities straight' with regards to how much time I was spending on music, so I did - and stopped running. I have gotten back into it several times since, but something always goes wrong - either I start too fast and injure myself, or I just get too busy with something else, or I go off on vacation and never start up again after returning.

However, this past spring I quite rashly took a friend up on his invitation to sign up for the Berlin Marathon and run with him. He's run it before, and is a few years older, so I figured it would be an opportunity to try to build up to doing something that's kind of always been in the back of my head. So I started training. Well, that makes it sound more organized and formal than it really has been. I started running again, and so far haven't stopped. I began, very slowly, to collect information on how one goes about preparing for such an insane physical challenge. I tried to sort out a few of the things I've always done wrong, and do one or two things right. And I started to do the Long Runs.

Which brings me to yesterday. I have been increasing the length of the Long Runs, as one is meant to do, and yesterday managed to do 32 km. Yowza. That's now officially the farthest I've ever run. And my legs are feeling it today. I think, from what I can gather, that what I am feeling is normal and fine, and not necessarily a clear sign of overuse injury. I went out for a long walk earlier to stretch out, and didn't fall over. I rode my bike some, and didn't crash. All good signs I think. But wow, I am trying to visualize doing the last 10 km feeling like I did for the last few hundred metres yesterday, and it's pretty daunting. Of course, the marathon is still almost a month away, and theoretically in the rest periods, if you are smart and do the right maintenance, the muscles adjust, the body adjusts, and the next time you find you have more endurance, and the wall looms a little later. So far, as I've increased the distance, that has been the case. So... wish me luck!

t