We Interrupt This Training Cycle to Bring You INSANITY
On Saturday, I ran my last 20 mile training run before the Boston Marathon. It was pretty terrible.
During the three hour plus ordeal, every single muscle ached at some point. My legs were heavy. My pace was slow. My mind was adrift.
Runs like that don’t happen often for me, but when they do, I now know enough to pay attention. I ran a little bit on Tuesday, but again, didn’t feel all too great. An overwhelming sense of blah has seemed to take over my body. The crummy weather, lack of sleep and 16 weeks of primarily being stuck on a treadmill are probably the usual suspects.
Instead of dwelling on it and feeling sorry for myself (like I would have done in the not too distant past) I will just stick this one in the “deal with it” file and focus on recovery.
And what better way to focus on recovery than to watch my friends and loved ones torture themselves on 150 miles of trail?
Yes, you read that right.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES.
The Potawatomi Trail (image courtesy of Jaime Quarandillo)
Starting Friday at noon, my girlfriend, Edna*, and a whole host of other dear friends from the New Leaf and M.U.D.D. groups will descend upon the Potawatomi 150 at Pekin, IL’s McNaughton Park for 150 miles of… Fun? Exploration? Masochism? Transcendence?
I assume it will be some combination of all of the above. As Edna’s crew chief, I will have a front row seat to the type of pure guts and determination it takes to even attempt something like this, let alone conquer it. And I have no doubt in my mind that once this expedition comes to a close, the minor aches and pains I felt last Saturday will be but a silentious memory.
*To read Edna’s blog in English, check out THIS PAGE.
TheRunFactory.com 
It’s happened to me several times before (and many elite athletes have confessed it in interviews) that taper runs can just SUCK sometimes. Maybe that’s a good thing.
But there’s another silver lining here, and it’s the fact that you finished your intended run, aches, pains and all. In my head, that means that you pushed your body to its limits and it did not (altogether) disappoint you. Though finishing a 20-miler intact and with gas in the tank is uplifting, I sometimes worry that it means you didn’t improve that much. You simply ran through the motions.
But in this case, your body rebelled and you bent it to your will. That might not be the best mental image, but it captures the message appropriately I think. Now it’s time to scale back and cruise to Hopkington.
Le deseo muchísima suerte a Edna — sé que con tu apoyo va a lograr grandes exitos.
April 4, 2014 at 09:40
Thanks, Dan! I hope to find some words that accurately describe the experience at Edna’s race over the weekend. She got to 100 miles before we decided it was best to stop there. We only had 8 hours left on the clock and after 43+ hours of being awake, she needed to rest. She will be back. I will be back. We have many more stories to tell… starting in Hopkinton 2014!
April 8, 2014 at 14:15
Is silentious actually a word? 🙂
April 10, 2014 at 16:03
Not only is it a word, Kirsten, it’s one of my favorites! http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/silentious?s=t
April 10, 2014 at 16:34
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