Table of Marathons

11 MCM (not for time) 11 Wineglass (950/1442)
10 MCM (not for time) 09 MCM (348/1076)
09 Washington's Birthday Marathon (22/44) 08 MC Historic Half (51/210)
07 Frederick Marathon (32/60) 06 MCM (394/1076)
05 MCM (547/1047)

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Slow Build

11.5 miles / 0830/ 50 F

It is hard to build miles on only 4 days' running per week. This morning, I had my slice of bread and peanut butter too quickly and to late relative my run start. It sat like a lump in my stomach for the first 6 or 7 miles. The blood used digesting my food drained my legs and I could only manage the first miles at a roughly 13 minute pace.

I did not run a harder 5K at tempo pace this weekend. I was surprised how it affected my legs early during the week. I couldn't do any leg strength training until Friday.

That's the dichotomy I constantly balance....running as opposed to strength training. During the fall, I switched back to a 3 weight days per week routine and dropped my running from 5 days to 4. After months of no progress, I'm seeing improvements in both repetitions and weight used, as well as appearance. But it is a mistake to consider weight training as narcissism. The strength training, along faster speed running, both build muscle. This strength translates directly into more efficient, injury-free running. More importantly, it also directly impacts my quality of life. In the age cohort from 10 years younger than me to 5 years older, since I started running, there have been two strokes, one debilitating cerebral aneurysm - he is in his 40s, 3 pace maker insertions - one to someone in his 40s, and 3 people with some combination of hip and or knee replacements. I do not believe I won the lottery of good health through genetics. My 3 uncles  all had cardiovascular disease, perishing between the ages of 41 and 85. My mom and her sisters all died of cancer, the earliest to perish was my mom at age 61. Denise and I seem to have fallen into a parallel universe of slow aging. We're even graying more slowly than our cohorts. The library of scientific research conclusively shows the positive relationship between exercise, particularly intense exercise, and lowered metabolic syndrome, improved immune system response, lower cancer rates, lower CVDs of all types, improved gut bacteria profile, and greater morbidity-free longevity. There is even a correlation between exercise and age-induced chromosome degeneration. Research has demonstrated in studies of identical twins that telomeres of exercising individuals are longer and less degenerated than those of their non-exercising siblings. This is significant because there is much research suggesting that aging is in part due to a build up of chromosomal errors made during cell reproduction.

The effects of getting up at 3:30 AM and hitting the pavement by 4:15 AM in running shoes or pumping in the gym are profound: striving to look like Discobolus or Diana not only improves one's aesthetic, it is profoundly healthy.