The beginning of the journey: Training update, January 18

I will be posting weekly updates throughout my marathon training/podcast production process. These updates are intended to add some personal/narrative components alongside the scientific conversations featured on the podcast. This first update is a bit extended, as it really covers some of my background and the first 7-ish weeks of training.

My background

I am not a runner. At least I have never considered myself one, and as of yet, I still don’t. I suppose if I make it to the finish line of the Boston Marathon I’ll have to reconsider. I was, at one point in time, a swimmer. For the decade between ages 12-22 I was a pretty dedicated, competitive swimmer, training as much as 50 weeks a year throughout middle school and high school, and continuing in college at Emory University. I wasn’t a great swimmer, but I swam a lot and was in, by any reasonable standard, very good physical fitness.

After college I went straight to grad school at the University of Michigan, getting my Ph.D. in 2006, after which I taught at U of M for two years. In 2008 I came to Wellesley College (my current institution) as an Assistant Professor. In 2011 I was married and became the father to two wonderful step-kids. In 2013 we added a third child.

I provide this background because I want to give you a sense of my own experience and activity level coming into this process. One of the challenges of initiating any kind of a new routine is simply that, it is new. It is not necessarily that you aren’t able to handle the changes, it is just that change is hard, and dealing with the unfamiliar can be an obstacle in and of itself. Part of the goal of these “diary entries” is to chronicle the process from both my personal and scientific perspective. My background prior to this process is that I was once a highly-trained athlete, then I went to grad school and started a career, and eventually started a family. Since I graduate college I have not been inactive, but I have not had a regular or sustained form of moderate/elevated physical activity. I walk the dog. I take care of my kids. I go about my day. That’s about it. Over the last few years as I have entered into my later 30s, the joints have gotten a little more noticeable, and my weight, which had long been pretty stable, has slowly but steadily ticked upwards. In many ways, I think my trajectory is probably not too uncommon.

Training

My baseline level of activity prior to the start of marathon training is pretty conveniently available via the all-encompassing grasp of technology. Specifically, my phone. I usually have it with me, so it does a pretty good job of tracking how far I travel on a given day. My typical day-to-day activity level, mainly achieved through twice-daily dog walks and parenting, was about 3.5-4 miles of walking a day.

My official training regimen began the final week of November. The Museum of Science running team is part of the broader Boston Marathon Coalition, a partnership of charity organizations that field teams for the marathon. We have several coaches, a recommended training schedule, and weekly group long runs that we are invited to partake in. Thus far, I have done a pretty good job of sticking to the recommended training.
As you can see, my activity level jumped up considerably in December, with noticeable peaks in that activity associated with long runs. Those numbers have ticked up a little bit more in early January, with the below figure ending with last weekend’s long-run of 10.8 miles, the longest run (yet) of my life.

My focus in these early weeks in training has really been on finding a consistent running form, while doing my best to manage the increased strain on my body from suddenly doing a decent amount of running. Finding a running form that felt comfortable and efficient has definitely been aided by my knowledge of anatomy and some of the conversations I have been having with colleagues while recording the podcasts. My point of emphasis was initially very much thinking about my footstrike and stride length, and as I have been ramping up my activity level, has shifted up more towards thinking about my knees and hips. Part of this has been some initial medial tibial inflammation (“shin splints”), which as they have come under control, have given way to some general muscle/joint aches in my knees and hips. But on the whole, so far, so good!

The other thing I have been focusing on is enjoying the run. I don’t love running. I sort of suspect that when this is all said and done I still won’t love running. With a background as a swimmer, something about the physicality of ground reaction forces moving up through my body is off-putting. It feels (appropriately) a bit destructive. But I love being outdoors. I love experiencing the world at a different pace. And I certainly love the endorphin/endocannabinoid kick I get after a good run (tune in to later episodes of the podcast to learn more about those endogenous drugs!).

Moving ahead, I’ll give brief updates each week on the training, the state of my body and mind as I go through this, and other thoughts relating to the experience. Stay tuned!

Scenes from the road/trail

I’ll try to add a couple of photos from the journey each week.