Paying Your Dues

 

At some point in every marathon training program it seems as if you pass through a phase where you go through the motions almost as if by rote. It is hard to stay fresh and keen - never mind sharp and focused - through four and a half or five months of training. You have moments where you just want the damn thing to be over with as the days and miles go by and it can feel like you are a rat stuck in an exercise wheel over which you have no control, the proverbial treadmill you can't get off. But accruing mileage is your way of paying your marathon dues. There is simply no substitute for miles.

These are the times when you give thanks for your running buddies and pace groups, your coaches - praise be to Jeff Galloway - and whatever other ways you have for retaining your motivation. Moments like these I find my Polar S625X is a blessing. It gives me an ongoing record of all my work-outs (and having the Blog of course), and is a gentle form of coercion that sometimes seems to be the straw that tips the balance in getting me out on the road. Even when I run alone I feel as if I have company. Damn you all to Hell! (but thanks for being there!)

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, if a little on the cool side. I couldn't make the group run so went out by myself in the late afternoon. It was wonderful to see so many people out on the trails. And up by the University of British Columbia I passed by dozens of students out enjoying the roads.

I did 7 miles in 55 minutes, with an average heart rate of 143. I took at least ten minutes to warm up and went out easy. Taking a tip from Jeff Galloway, I did the last mile at marathon effort.

Only a month to go on Monday!