We’re now officially in the second half of October, and I’ve stepped my marathon training up to a new level in preparation for the big day. Shorter hours of sunlight and long hours at DASHA mean squeezing my running time in in a serious way – this translates to shorter runs on my lunch breaks during the week, and longer runs on the weekend. My wife, kids and the DASHA staff are all incredibly supportive.
The ING NYC Marathon on Sunday, November 3rd will mark my 14th marathon, and I’ll be running to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This organization does so much to raise funds for research and support services for blood cancer and blood cancer patients. I’m hoping that race day will be chilly, with temperatures in the mid-40s, no wind, no humidity, with a slight breeze – in other words, not too hot and not too cold. While I’m sleeping the night before, the clocks will change, so I’ll actually get an extra hour of sleep, since it will be “fall back, spring forward,” as the saying goes.
I look at a training schedule as something that is very individual – it has to be tailored to fit the runner. No one knows your body like you, what you can and can’t handle, how much and how far you can or can’t push yourself. I run anywhere between 40 to 60 miles per week, and I run and go as I feel – sometimes that means running super fast, and sometimes that means running slower and focusing on building strength and endurance.
Some days, my fastest mile can be a 7-minute mile at mile 18 of a 20-mile run. Some days I go even faster, and others slower. I ran a 3 hour, 20 minute marathon at the ING Hartford Marathon a few years ago, and a 1 hour, 29 minute half marathon in March of 2009, but I’m not focused on time. It’s going to be whatever it’s going to be, and I’ll still feel great. A lot of people want to pound up the miles and do so without paying attention to inconsistencies in their performance or listening to the information their bodies are giving them back, and if you’re looking to be a lifelong runner, it’s important to pay attention to the signs your body gives you so that you can take care of it and keep doing what you love.
Years ago, I tore my rectus femoris (a muscle on the quadricep) running. It snapped off clean, and it took me well over a year to heal, working through the pain and problem using a combination of ART and Graston, deep tissue massage and stretching. I was patient and I worked slowly, focusing on improving and getting back to where I was without further injury. A lot of runners face common knee problems like iliotilial band syndrome – which can be treated with a program similar to the one I described and used to treat the injury to my rectus femoris. These injuries don’t mean you have to quit what you love – they are actually opportunities to examine your technique and what you can do to improve it, so you are running more efficiently and in a way that is best for your body.
I’m not a superstitious guy, so there’s no singular way that I prepare for race day. The night before I’ll likely have some pasta with chicken – the body likes to have carbohydrates to burn off, not unlike how your car needs fuel in order to run. For breakfast on the morning of the race, I’ll probably have something like a bagel, banana and Gatorade. I like to listen to music by Tiesto, a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic music. He does a lot of song mixes and mash-ups that have a driving pace which propel and drive me forward. I’ll be wearing my Team DASHA shirt by Sugoi, black Nike shorts, black ankle socks, and my Saucony Fastwitch 6 sneakers.
Shannon and my kids will be cheering me along on race day once we make it into Manhattan, and we’ll celebrate with a big meal that evening. Shannon’s already excited to join me for the half-marathon when I run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in New Orleans in February.
If you haven’t already done so, please visit our Team DASHA LLS fundraising page for the 2013 ING NYC Marathon by clicking HERE, and consider making a donation. No donation is too small, and every little bit helps.
DASHA wellness & spa is a luxury lifestyle brand and New York City-based wellness center created to offer a truly holistic approach to wellness. To learn more, visit dashawellness.com.
