After a race, I posted a photo on Facebook, finisher's medal and all. I wrote that marathon training works if you read the instructions and follow them. My friend Dennis Clement left a comment: "What instructions?" I thought I'd write a quick post about building up your training and tapering before a race. Then I realized I should explain weekly mileage. And heart-rate zones, because those had helped me. A few words about cadence, too... I'd read books and stacks of articles, tried things out, and paid attention to what actually worked for me. So, at the end of the year, I decided to write it all down. Maybe someone would find it useful. The post got a little out of hand.
These are my own observations: what worked, what went wrong, and what I made of it all. This is my story, not advice. I have no idea how things will turn out for you. I just hope you enjoy the book and find your own reasons to enjoy running.
I called this book Runatic Year. Somewhere along the way, running stopped fitting neatly into the box marked "exercise." It crept into my habits, plans, travels, and conversations. Runner meets lunatic: a runatic. This book is about what happened next.
Spoiler alert: what happened to me
At 180 cm, I weighed 89 kg and couldn't run a kilometer without stopping. And let's just say I didn't smell great.
Then I took up running, and things improved. My weight dropped to 82 kg, I finished a marathon - 42.2 km - in just under four hours, and I was reasonably pleased with myself.
When I turned forty-five, I got more serious about running. Over that year I slimmed down to 72 kg, got my body fat down to 8% or less, and ran a marathon in three hours and twelve minutes.
Here's how it happened.
My first run
Years earlier, my friend Alex and I took a road trip across the United States. We rented a car and drove from the Atlantic to the Pacific: Washington, Miami, New Orleans, Colorado, Arizona, Las Vegas, and finally Los Angeles. Plenty of people dream about a trip like that. We actually went, and had the time of our lives. In the evenings we drank beer in local bars. In the mornings Alex went for a run, and then we spent the day on the road.
"Why do you run?" I asked. He said it showed him a whole different side of a city. Running lets you cover more ground than a tourist out for a stroll, and you see things you'd miss driving down the main roads. Early deliveries. People heading to work. Pedestrian streets, beaches, and parks, instead of just parking lots and big attractions. You see so much more.
That sounded convincing, so I ran my first 5K. We were near Lake Powell, in a hot, dusty desert, and it went terribly. Everything hurt. I was painfully slow and horribly out of breath. I quit immediately.
Back home, though, I bought a pair of Nikes - I just liked their advertising. Since I now owned the shoes, I downloaded Nike Run Club and gradually got into it. That's how I became a Nike runner.
For a while, nothing particularly interesting happened.
I ran occasionally. I managed a half marathon, then a marathon, then another. My times were nothing special.