• Clarkson as applied to race training •
[2 MIN READ]
Speaking of race-training motivation as I was last week (CER#246), this whole Jersey City Marathon (04’14’U) came up because Growler-expat Cait has been wanting to qualify for Boston Marathon. Well that was motivation enough for me to join her. The other close-in-time marathons and the running compatibility of other rudder bunnies has got a few of us doing lots of training runs together.
In the interests of reaching some semblance of race pace and completion time with Cait, I’ve been busting out some seriously character-building efforts. The first was a month ago (02’03’S) when 3 of us decided to do an 18-mile run around Media’s Metavivor 5K. The goal was to do 6 miles around Ridley Creek State Park before the race, then to do the race itself with no plan for a competitive finish, and finally to do 9 miles to finish the training run. Well, some unnamed person couldn’t resist busting out the competitive finish anyway which built a lot of character for all 3 of us as we finished the total 18. “More character than a novel.” “I’m already all the character I really want to be.” (I apologized to the other 2. I also finished 2nd in my AG.)
The 2nd time was a mere 2 weeks ago (02’24’S) when I forgot my usual long-run carb-refueling sustenance and bonked for the first time ever on a training run. SRC My-Oh Maya saved my hide by giving me some gummies and slowing down enough for me to recover.
And as if that time wasn’t enough for me to learn, the 3rd time was earlier this week (04’M) when I bonked again by adding on another 8 miles to turn an immediately preceding 13 miler (with 2 3½-mile race-pace intervals) into a 21-mile long run. Rudder bunny BB Betsy suspected this time it was electrolyte bonking, given the virtual muscle seizures I experienced repeatedly. (Triathlete.com’s “One Doctor’s Advice for Avoiding the Dreaded Bonk” mentions both carb and electrolyte kinds of bonking.)
So I have more preparation to do before this marathon. Collectively, I’m leaning on the musical adage “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2024’03’06’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption and image.
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