How Your Doctor Finished a Marathon (Again) and What He Learned Along the Way
If you knew me twenty years ago, you would likely be looking at the title of this post thinking, "Oh yeah!? Big deal! He did another endurance race!" Throughout high school and college, I ran. A lot. Like a lot of kids in South Florida, I tried to play more mainstream sports. Frankly, I was always too scrawny for football, couldn't hit a baseball to save my life, and soccer just never clicked. What I discovered I could do well, as I tried all of those sports, was run. While others complained about running laps (no wonder, since so many of our coaches used laps as punishment!), I loved it. I ran my first organized 5K in high school, starting what looked to be a long love affair with running. When I started college, I joined the Tri-Gators triathlon club at UF (there was no running club). After doing a relay triathlon, I started doing sprint and international distance triathlons. In 1994, after several dozen triathlons, I ran and finished the first Walt Disney World Marathon, the ultimate accomplishment for many runners.
That all stopped with medical school. Yes, there was a lot of studying required, and yes, there were extremely long hours in the hospital. Honestly, though, there was no reason I couldn't have kept running. In fact, I did get back into running briefly from time to time, but just couldn't "re-stick" the habit. It wasn't until residency that I picked up on routine endurance sports again. Yes, residency...that time in a doctors training fraught with 36 hour shifts and 110 hour weeks. I was busier than I'd ever been in my life, but I made time to go cycling three times a week. Post-call was always a great chance to ride 70 or 80 miles. So, as I started training for this marathon, all while struggling to get the new practice open, I called upon the lesson I learned during that time:
Another thing most of my friends and co-workers know about me is that I am extremely goal-oriented. If I set out to doing something, it will get done, in no uncertain terms. This applies to exercise for me, which is another reason why, I think, I got into running, cycling and triathlon. There is always some race you can target. Last June, I made a wild leap and signed up for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon (the same one I'd done in 1994). I now had a deadline.
Having done a marathon once before in my life, I knew this wasn't something, with apologies to Nike, you "just do." You need a program. Which is to say, you need a schedule for preparation and progression, especially if you are trying to do something which is a challenge for you physically. Fortunately, Disney made this easy, as they had programs right on the marathon website. I picked one (the "Just Finish Upright" program!) and put it in my calendar. It was now as much a part of my routine as hospital staff meetings and meeting with the architect designing the office. Two months into the schedule, though, I knew what I had to do without even looking at the calendar.
As the final few weeks of the training program approached, I was feeling pretty confident. My long runs had been a struggle at the end, but they were meant to be. Only by pushing past your physical barriers can your body adapt. I knew what pace I was capable of and to my surprise, I was looking at a 4:45 finish, about 30 minutes faster than I had finished twenty years ago! However, in the last two weeks, something felt a little "off" in my left Achilles tendon, the same one I ruptured and had surgically repaired about a decade ago. Plus, I was supposed to do my longest run of the program (26 miles) that weekend. I resorted to the same advice I give many of you about injuries: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation (RICE). I cut that final long run to 22 miles, and spent as much time as possible with an ice pack ACE-wrapped to my propped-up ankle. Guess what? It worked!
On race day, I got up and headed to the start. My wife can attest to the fact that I get everywhere early. It just calms my nerves and clears my head so I can focus on what I need to do. Before I knew it, we were off. I did remember that, as odd as it sounds, the mental aspects of a marathon are far more difficult than the physical aspects. The first half of a marathon, when you've trained properly, feels almost effortless. It is very easy to go too fast, especially when you're running around Walt Disney World. You just have to mind your pace, and prepare yourself for the rest of the race. The infamous "wall" is in the second half of the run. So is the "runner's high," if you can "break through the wall," or if you can manage your nutrition sufficiently that it never comes. Twenty years ago, after a week of cargo-loading with nothing but rice, pasta and fruit, "the wall" presented itself early, as an unbelievable craving to quit, get back to the hotel and order a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake. That was a stronger impetus to quit than my lungs or legs were. I made it through that time by playing mental games with myself. "Make it to the next aid station, an you can walk a bit while drinking." "Make it to the next mile, and you can make it a bacon double cheeseburger." This year, I somehow managed my nutrition (those sugar gel things) well enough that I would say I never really hit the wall from a fatigue standpoint. Mentally, I had to play a lot of the same games, though. I kept running, as I was expecting to see my wife and daughter in a couple of spots (unfortunately, traffic was so bad, they could get to neither, so went to the finish line), and didn't want them to see me walking. My 22nd mile was as fast as my 4th. Then, my hamstrings just got as painfully tight as they could without actually cramping in the 24th mile. I resorted to walking a bit, stopping to stretch a little, too. At that point, though, I knew, thanks to all that training, that I was going to finish. My legs were protesting, but my mind was saying, "Shut up, legs! Move!" I crossed the finish line right on target - 4:45:34.
What have you learned about exercise as you've done it? What keeps you from doing it?
LESSON #1: THERE IS ALWAYS TIME, YOU JUST HAVE TO MAKE IT. No matter how busy you are, there is time to regularly exercise, even at extreme levels. As many of you have heard me say, "Man was not built to sit on our butts for eight hours a day." We were meant to spend our waking hours hunting and gathering our food for the day. All it takes is 30-90 minutes a day at least three times a week. By the way, I was very fortunate to have a wife and daughter who helped me make time to run.
Another thing most of my friends and co-workers know about me is that I am extremely goal-oriented. If I set out to doing something, it will get done, in no uncertain terms. This applies to exercise for me, which is another reason why, I think, I got into running, cycling and triathlon. There is always some race you can target. Last June, I made a wild leap and signed up for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon (the same one I'd done in 1994). I now had a deadline.
LESSON #2: SET GOALS. Mine happened to be pretty big. Twenty-six miles or so of "big." Yours doesn't have to be. Just set a goal for yourself. Make sure that goal has a definite deadline - "What are you going to do, by when?" Programs like Couch to 5K work because there is a definite end game.
Having done a marathon once before in my life, I knew this wasn't something, with apologies to Nike, you "just do." You need a program. Which is to say, you need a schedule for preparation and progression, especially if you are trying to do something which is a challenge for you physically. Fortunately, Disney made this easy, as they had programs right on the marathon website. I picked one (the "Just Finish Upright" program!) and put it in my calendar. It was now as much a part of my routine as hospital staff meetings and meeting with the architect designing the office. Two months into the schedule, though, I knew what I had to do without even looking at the calendar.
LESSON #3: USE A SCHEDULE UNTIL HABITS FORM. Habits take about 6 weeks to form, so until then, make exercise part of your daily schedule. Seriously, if you have to put it in that 5:30pm to 6:00pm appointment slot, then do it!
As the final few weeks of the training program approached, I was feeling pretty confident. My long runs had been a struggle at the end, but they were meant to be. Only by pushing past your physical barriers can your body adapt. I knew what pace I was capable of and to my surprise, I was looking at a 4:45 finish, about 30 minutes faster than I had finished twenty years ago! However, in the last two weeks, something felt a little "off" in my left Achilles tendon, the same one I ruptured and had surgically repaired about a decade ago. Plus, I was supposed to do my longest run of the program (26 miles) that weekend. I resorted to the same advice I give many of you about injuries: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation (RICE). I cut that final long run to 22 miles, and spent as much time as possible with an ice pack ACE-wrapped to my propped-up ankle. Guess what? It worked!
LESSON #4: DON'T IGNORE ACHES AND PAINS. Taking a little relative rest and attending to my injury early on kept it from being a bigger issue, one which might have derailed by running plan and significantly affected my finish time. In fact, I had to learn this lesson the hard way. In training for the 1994 Disney Marathon, I developed Iiliotibial Band Syndrome, a common runner's malady. Instead of taking some time to heal, I "ran through" the injury. I ended up so hurt by race day that I missed my goal of a 4:00 marathon by over an hour!
On race day, I got up and headed to the start. My wife can attest to the fact that I get everywhere early. It just calms my nerves and clears my head so I can focus on what I need to do. Before I knew it, we were off. I did remember that, as odd as it sounds, the mental aspects of a marathon are far more difficult than the physical aspects. The first half of a marathon, when you've trained properly, feels almost effortless. It is very easy to go too fast, especially when you're running around Walt Disney World. You just have to mind your pace, and prepare yourself for the rest of the race. The infamous "wall" is in the second half of the run. So is the "runner's high," if you can "break through the wall," or if you can manage your nutrition sufficiently that it never comes. Twenty years ago, after a week of cargo-loading with nothing but rice, pasta and fruit, "the wall" presented itself early, as an unbelievable craving to quit, get back to the hotel and order a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake. That was a stronger impetus to quit than my lungs or legs were. I made it through that time by playing mental games with myself. "Make it to the next aid station, an you can walk a bit while drinking." "Make it to the next mile, and you can make it a bacon double cheeseburger." This year, I somehow managed my nutrition (those sugar gel things) well enough that I would say I never really hit the wall from a fatigue standpoint. Mentally, I had to play a lot of the same games, though. I kept running, as I was expecting to see my wife and daughter in a couple of spots (unfortunately, traffic was so bad, they could get to neither, so went to the finish line), and didn't want them to see me walking. My 22nd mile was as fast as my 4th. Then, my hamstrings just got as painfully tight as they could without actually cramping in the 24th mile. I resorted to walking a bit, stopping to stretch a little, too. At that point, though, I knew, thanks to all that training, that I was going to finish. My legs were protesting, but my mind was saying, "Shut up, legs! Move!" I crossed the finish line right on target - 4:45:34.
LESSON #5: DON'T LET YOUR MIND BE A BIGGER OBSTACLE THAN THE ACTIVITY ITSELF. Really, how many of us don't exercise because we rationalize our way out of it? I'll admit, now that I am post-marathon, I'm still running, but I do it. "Hmmm, it seems a little too hot out." "I'd rather go to brunch and have a mimosa than run 10 miles." What a lot of folks find out is that the mental barriers to exercise are usually so much harder than just running, or walking, or biking, or whatever.
What have you learned about exercise as you've done it? What keeps you from doing it?
