I am always amazed to hear the times of lead runners in any given half or full marathon. One look at the all-time records of marathon finish times for male and female will blow you away. If you go the next step and calculate the average pace, the accomplishment is unimaginable in yet another way. While I am not trying to achieve elite status, I think it would be amazing to be able to run just one mile at the same pace that the elites average over a full marathon.
It is probably that I will never be able to run, even just a mile, at elite marathon pace. I am not even trying for that. I am simply trying to run fast enough to earn my place at the starting line in Boston. That goal has proved to be huge.
Being on the injured list is challenging in a different way. Trying to keep positive and motivated as I let my body heal is possibly more challenging to me then any of my past training. Just as I have found ways to make running on the treadmill more tolerable, I am trying to do the same with cross training during the recovery phase. It takes a bit of imagination.
Today, while spinning on my cycle, I would sit upright for periods of time, pump my arms, and imagine that I was running. At the speed my cyclometer was reading, I was really moving. I was one of the elite runners, if only, for just this run. Not only did I hit the pace for 1 mile, I actually held it for 26.2 miles. Not too shabby for being injured. I even think I made it the the all-time record list.
That’s the spirit.
go you!
Nothing like beating a record to boost the spirits!
Not record breaking cycling, but IF I really was running, it would be impossibly fast. :)
focus on the things that will get you better and help you heal.
don’t rush into it if your body is not ready.
in the mean time, break a few records if you have time.
I know how hard it is. If I can quote a line in the song Mountains “God gave us mountains, so we can learn how to climb.”
When it’s all said and done, you will be a stronger, better runner, physically and emotionally.
Running is an equlaizer. Sure, record setters run miles upon miles at an unimaginable pace, but I gaurantee you they had just as many slow miles during training. On any given day, given good health, you could run a single mile as fast as they can (just as on any given day, they might run as slow as the rest of us).