Deep into it

The interesting thing about training for a marathon is trying to manage the balance between perfectly trained and overtrained. It doesn't sound like much - just put in the work for X amount of week and presto, go run your rear off come race day. If only it was that easy.

Overtraining is much easier to do than to train properly. Athletes, and runners specifically, are a driven group of people. They also seem to be a paranoid lot, too. Just the notion that someone else might be training harder is enough to send one screaming down the street in some sordid fartlek workout. Ever see a guy screaming at the top of his lungs while mixing a 5x1-mile in 5:20 into a 15-miler? Yeah, well it's like something out of Hunter Thompson. If you see that guy coming, just walk to the other side of the street. I promise I won't chase you.

Anyway, I'm deep into a marathon-training program now for a race on May 4. There are two races that day - one called the Pocono Mountain Marathon and another called the Frederick (Maryland) Marathon. I'm leaning toward the Pocono Mountain one because the net downhill course might be more conducive to running a fast(er) time. However, based on how it's going, it's fair to think that I might be ready before May 4 rolls around. I get this idea because the workouts I am doing now are just as good as the ones I did leading up to the 1998 Boston Marathon. The only difference is that the workouts I did in '98 were faster.

Still, 10 years later I still can crank out weeks of 93, 94, 90 and 114. No, it isn't as easy. Actually there were three or four days mixed in there were I thought it was over. I felt like the inevitability of injury was ready to cripple me and the nastiness of burnout by overtraining had bit me on the ass. In fact I spent two straight days indoors where the most athletic thing I did was get in the car to pick up the Thai food. Two other days I returned from a run, went inside and dropped facedown to the floor with muscle aches in places I never knew existed. One time I felt the heart attack-like pain of an anxiety attack mixed and muscle spasms in that soft flesh behind my armpit with a few days of pounding tension headaches thrown in like sprinkles on top of soft serve.

Yet for some reason I keep going out there every day. The routine stays true - out of bed into the easiest yoga poses ever (toe touches count, right?), a vitamin, a Cliff Bar, coffee and water. After the diuretic does its thing, I dress, warm up with some strides and go.

What else am I going to do?

But if I make it too May 4 will it be too much? Is Boston on April 21 better timing? What about the National Marathon in D.C. on March 29? How about just sticking to the original plan?

Nevertheless, a guy who runs 80 miles by Thursday on the way to 114 for the week gets fit rather quickly. Nope, the speed is gone, a victim of 20-mile days from the so-called base period (you mean there are other periods than just the base one?), but I have the strength of an old Clydesdale... or at least an old Clydesdale that can run 5:50 pace without sweating.

Just don't ask for 5:45.

Anyway, I'll detail the first four weeks of the marathon build-up either tomorrow or the next day (or the day after that). In the meantime, today I did my second straight Monday 20-miler. Actually, I went 20 and a quarter in 2:17:44 and I feel OK. According to the entry I made on my charts and excel sheets, here's the way it went:

I got tired about 70 minutes into the run, but overcame. My left hip was also a bit bothersome, but not to the degree that it would stop me. Otherwise, it was a nice, solid long run. The distance part - as usual - was easy.

In the meantime, here are the weekly mileage breakdowns since I decided to start getting ready for a spring marathon:

Oct. 29 - Nov. 4: 72.7

Nov. 5 - Nov. 11: 84

Nov. 12 - Nov. 18: 80.5

Nov. 19 - Nov. 25: 85.6

Nov. 26 - Dec. 2: 85.4

Dec. 3 - Dec. 9: 96

Dec. 10 - Dec. 16: 69.5

Dec. 17 - Dec. 23: 85

Dec. 24 - Dec. 30: 55.5

Dec. 31 - Jan. 6: 93

Jan. 7 - Jan. 13: 94

Jan. 14 - Jan. 20: 90

Jan. 21 - Jan. 27: 114