Thursday, September 25, 2008

Err on the side of caution

As a fitness professional and experienced trainee, I knew the idea of entering the Baltimore Marathon and trying to run 26.2 miles was a foolish one. A half marathon would have been doable and I was actually still planning on doing that until other things took priority.

Sometimes life gets in the way of training. Work, kids, social events and other responsibilities are all valid reasons to miss workouts. I've got a fairly large home improvement project I am working on right now and it is one that requires immediate attention. Remodeling a 60sqft bathroom is not a huge task but it is a job that would take one man at least a week. And being that this is the upstairs bathroom and the one I use while I am half asleep in the middle of the night, I need to get this done ASAP! Commode downtime has to be kept at a minimum!

Anyway, back to the marathon bit, I'm not going to do it. Not even the half marathon. I may go out and hit the neighborhood route that day but we'll see how everything is feeling first. Pulling up the old floor this week had me on my knees and anyone who has done any floor work knows how tough that can be, even with knee pads.

This was definitely an unforeseen circumstance... but so was my run and the idea to run a marathon.

I just finished writing the article "Big Man Running" where I warned my fellow largemen not to increase their mileage too quickly. I actually found myself writing "do not go out and try to run a marathon". I figured it would be a good idea to take my own advice.

I am in no hurry to be anywhere or do anything when it comes to running. I think I'll err on the side of caution and get the idea of long, long distance running out of my head for now.

Just a few weeks ago I posted a blog asking the question "What is long distance?"... a week later I ran 10 miles. I think I found the answer to my question. Although I am new to the "blogosphere" I am finding some interesting things happen when you put your thoughts out there on the inter-net.

3 comments:

Pierini Fitness said...

Dan, you made a good "business decision".

When you ramp up marathon or half-marathon training, take a peek at the training ideas of former Olympian Jeff Galloway who advocates a run/walk/run training cadence.

He claims that training this way will make you just as good as doing non-stop long run training without the higher risk of injury. Sort of like long-distance interval training.He was very convicing when I heard him speak.

Best training!

Dan Cenidoza said...

Pierini, an 82 year old I work with has run in the Baltimore Marathon the last 3 or 4 years. He too suggested to me the run/walk/run method as he himself does that. He said that his times are actually better when he doesn't try to run the entire time. Interesting.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Doug Nepodal Sr. RKC said...

don't you know what happened to the original guy that ran to marathon??? HE DIED!!! our bodies aren'tmeant to run that far. Good choice my good man.