May I Have This Dance?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

You should try to run a marathon in training one day! Or are you saving yourself for the big day..?.

I've considered it, BB, and I still might. It would certainly be a cheaper option than a race - the cheapest marathons here start at about A$80 (€62) while the big city races typically about A$130 (€101).

Meanwhile, I have an injury to report Luckily (in an Orwellian sort of way) it's not my own, but rather close to home and a bit of a warning. My 20 y.o. niece is currently in the U.S.A. having earned herself a sports scholarship to one of the big colleges there to further her career in softball and javelin, at which she is especially gifted. We all thought a career on the professional U.S. softball circuit awaited her, but she's just torn her throwing shoulder muscles bad enough to require surgery (prompty undertaken and paid for by the college, which is excellent) which however will put her out of action for twelve months.

You can imagine what an interruption like that does to your career, and it's a reminder that over-training can easily lead to surgery. It's a fine line.

Not that I'm anywhere near over-training, but given I've been largely injury-free for many months now, it's easy to get complacent and ramp things up rather too much, particularly in the speed department. So I'm being careful. And even though last week saw a big increase in mileage for me, I was ready for it, and 24 hours later I feel really good - no soreness at all.

Yesterday's long 'un was also some fine tuning in the endurance fuel recipe for me. I've reduced the size and shape of my chia/pinole biscuits (which are now balls), and I eat one of those every 15 minutes washed down with an electrolyte drink. I guess the real test will be when I hit those distances beyond 36km, but over 33km it worked brilliantly. Apart from reducing fatigue significantly, chomping on one of those little suckers every quarter hour helped break the monotony. Good gear.