It’s been a little over a month since the New Jersey Marathon, and I am still having trouble wiping the grin off my face whenever someone asks me how I did. Even though the story of my success in that race is more mundane than the story of my failure in Toronto, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of telling it.
Smarter. Stronger. Faster.
From week 6 of the Hanson’s program, that became my mantra for New Jersey. But memories of Toronto, of having faith in a program that ultimately let me down, of hitting the wall and the ITBS injury, became my passenger on the long journey down the Thruway from Central New York. Then, of course, there was my current injury, the possible tendonitis in my achilles, to worry about. Marathons, as I now had first-hand experience, have a way of taking your weaknesses and magnifying them to the point of failure.
I jumped right back into training after the Syracuse Half. There was no recovery, just an immediate return to the work/run/eat/sleep/repeat routine. Although the Syracuse PR gave me some much needed confidence, with a mere 6 weeks to go to the New Jersey Marathon, I was beginning to wonder how everything was going to play out.
Like most runners, every time I enter a competitive race, I have 2 very simple goals. (Well, 3 actually. The first is not to let the road sweeper hit my up the behind. But that’s a goal I think I share with only the most insecure members of the running community.)
I am exhausted. Worse, I’m now 2/3rds of the way through the Hanson’s program, and I still have no idea if I am going to pull off this ambitious escapade.
I thought I was prepared for Toronto. I had followed the program to a T, and my pre-race routine went exactly as I had planned.
This was the week of the Hanson’s program that I was dreading. The reality check. The moment when all those self-doubts I was experiencing a couple of weeks ago were going to come to the fore.
I could not have picked a worse summer to train for a marathon than the summer of 2012 in central New York. It was the warmest summer on record, with 26 days of temperatures over 90F/32C and the second highest temperature ever recorded in the region (101F/38C on July 17). Even running late in the evening or first thing in the morning on weekends offered little relief. I was running in the soup.
Week 4 of training concluded this weekend with a couple of chilly 6-milers. Already, the doubts are creeping in: doubts that I can follow this program to the letter, doubts that my second marathon will end better than my first. Even when two kids on bikes came toward me on Route 5 this afternoon, and the second kid while passing me said, “Keep up the good work, Sir!” and high-fived me, I could barely crack a smile.
Maybe this time I have bitten off more than I can chew.
Week 2 of the Hanson’s training has now been logged. It’s been mostly easy 5Ks and 4 milers to date, but I am under no illusion that this program is going to be a walk in the park. I am already eyeing the first week in February with some degree of trepidation, when the speed training begins and the weekly mileage takes a hefty jump from 24 to 39.
Bruce Pegg 