It’s not so much that I hate running. It’s that I love boxing . . . and skating,
and, well just about any form of exercise that involves short bursts of energy. I’m an interval trainer. At my
boxing gym, I push until my lungs burn, I’m seeing spots, my face is throbbing,
my muscles are shaking, and every part of my brain (at least the part that’s still
functional) is screaming “Quit, you idiot!
Quit!” But I don’t quit. I ignore the rational part of my brain and
dig in and go harder until I’m done, which is usually 30 seconds to 3 minutes
later. I can do anything for 3 minutes – I’ve got
grit. Up to now, that’s how I’ve gotten
through runs. It is marginally
successful for short distances.
According to Runners World (which comports with my own
experiences), relying on grit instead of training is a recipe for injury. Of the four half marathons I’ve run, I
properly trained only for the first one in 2007. My fitness level has improved considerably
since 2007, something that is not reflected in my race times since. Each time since 2007, I’ve limped across the finish
line: disappointed with my time and
vowing to immediately start training for the next race. That vow is then broken the next day when I
can’t walk. Running in Vibrams further complicates matters. For those of you unfamiliar with Vibrams,
they look a lot like aqua socks and have about the same amount of support. The idea is that if you run on your mid-foot
instead of striking first with your heel, your muscles take all the impact that
your joints used to take. Vibrams have
saved my knees and hips. After my second
half marathon (the first one for which I did not train), I ended up having to
see a chiropractor to put my hips back in the right place. After that, I switched to Vibrams and I will
never go back to regular shoes or a “heel strike” running stride.
My Vibrams gaze upon the Golden Gate Bridge (now you know why I am "Toe-Shoes")
Unfortunately, the repetitive pounding onto a thin layer of
rubber can be hell on your feet unless you build up slowly. Without training, I’m golden up to about 8
miles, then the wheels fall off. The
last time I ran a half marathon, my joints felt fine, but my feet swelled so
much the next day I was having pregnancy flashbacks. When the swelling did not go down by the following
day, I visited urgent care to check for stress fractures. I gingerly hobbled to the exam table, ready
to whine about my poor swollen feet. Except
that when the doctor came in, he was an amputee – he only had one foot. So now I’m the asshole with two perfectly
normal feet complaining to the doctor with only one foot how bad my
self-inflicted foot pain is. He was more
patient than I deserved, confirming via x-ray that I had no stress fracture and
sending me off with pain meds and a lecture not to run in bare feet. This was after 13.1 miles.
Excuse me, doctor, while I remove my swollen foot from my mouth.
My experiences have taught me that although boxing boosts my
fitness level, it is not enough to prepare me for distance running without
injury. The only way to train for
distance running is to run . . . long distances (I bet you’re glad you’re not
paying for this blog). I will not be
able to limp through the last 18.2 miles of the marathon. If I want to conquer 26.2, I must train. So I chose a training plan that only makes me
run three days a week. It turns out
SloJo is doing the same plan. And I know
she’ll do great because she already runs more regularly than me. I currently box six days a week and sometimes
run one or two. Starting in October (it
is a 16 week plan), I will transition to three days of running, three days of
boxing, and one rest day. Hopefully this
will keep me both motivated and injury-free.
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