Most accomplishments in life require training and preparation. Those feats that appear in headlines or history books come about as a result of much unseen effort. Like an iceberg, the more substantial part of the story often remains unseen. Running exemplifies this characteristic of life with unusual accuracy.
The longer the distance, the greater the need for conditioning. Even shorter runs bring with them an exponential increase in risk of injury if the runner's mind and body have not been prepared properly. A baseline of fitness must be built incrementally, one run at a time.
As I reflect on my upcoming marathon, I remind myself of each component of my training. I have built a baseline of endurance through gradually running greater distances from week to week. Saturday long runs were critical in cultivating the mental and physical stamina for a marathon. At their longest, twenty miles and further, my joints and muscle systems developed in ways that will withstand the prolonged use and abuse of the race.
My preparations have also included weekly quality workouts. The cardiovascular system requires more than simple endurance but also strength and efficiency. By running at a tempo pace for twenty minutes or more at a time, my muscles developed more effective ways to utilize glycogen and anaerobic sources of energy as well as raw strength. Through interval training (where I ran repeated short distances of 800 meters to a mile with brief recovery periods between bursts) I have augmented my cardiovascular system's capacity to get oxygen to exhausted muscle cells.
I have also been mindful that in the end it is in the recovery from these runs that true conditioning takes place. Only by eating a good diet and allowing plenty of time for the body to rebuild from the rigors of training have I been able to cultivate a level of fitness that will enable me to improve upon my last race performance.
In the final two to three weeks before the race, I have enjoyed the fruits of the training by tapering the number of miles I run. In the taper, I run less and take time to build up stores for the actual race. The challenge of the taper lies in an increased desire to run: I find myself craving the distance and the speed. As I get closer and closer to the starting line I begin to feel like a race horse at the gate, yearning to put it all on the track.
Because of these unseen and quiet preparations, come Sunday morning, I will be at the starting line on the Las Vegas Strip, up to the challenge of the race. In light of the many training runs, the race will be a reward, a gift to myself, and a celebration of the journey to compete. The culmination of numerous runs and countless hours, this contest will reveal a bit of the unconquerable runner within me.
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