...errr... I did something a bit insane...
regardless of all what I read about the muscular damages after a marathon, damages which can take up to 3 weeks to repair...
it did go this way:
Monday and Tuesday I felt my legs really sore. I could go up and down the stairs, etc.. but not really in any idea of running (not even a light jog...).
I do not know what happened, but Wednesday morning I got up from bed and my legs were 90% ok, just a bit sore in some spot, etc...
Then I started to consider that I was already entered into the track meeting long ago, and it would have been a pity to lose it because the weather is still good (cool), while all the other meeting will be in much warmer weather...
it did also help that I have some business appointments in the late afternoon near the track meeting venue, so it was really "on the way home"...
So.. call it insanity, but I packed some running stuff in a bag and went to work...
By late afternoon, I felt very motivated to run and after work I headed to the Stadium...
I can not deny that some other runners did really big eyes when they saw me warming-up...
my legs were a bit sore and I had not idea if I would have been able to really push hard...
This said, I lined up with the other 20 starters and could not avoid to notice that I was MUCH older than anybody else, maybe double than the average age of the other runners...
the gun goes and I try to run around 3'15" for the first k...
The eventual winner and my teanmate Colin took off at higher speed, but I was in a small pack of 5 runners and we basically went along at 3'15" pace for the next 4k...
It is difficult to describe my feeling: in a sense, I felt like I was not suffering enough, especially compared with a monster effort of a marathon. The breath was quite comfortable, but I did not have the stride to go faster.
At 4000m I started to suffer, but it was a kind of subdued suffering....
At the last lap, we started to sprint and obviously I did not have huge legs...
I closed in 6th place, beating at the sprint a 17yo runner (!!) with a 16'23" clock which is anyway incredible considering the marathon.
(it is also a kind of PB for me.. because I never did a 5000m track race before... my 5K PB of 15'51" was on road)
It was quite funny that after the race, the most depressed was a guy who beat me at the spring by couple yards... he told me how he did prepare for 2 months specifically for this track meeting, doing intervals and intervals. And now he felt very depressed to just beat me by a little knowing that I did a marathon 3 days ago......
Well... now I will really take it easy for some time... but anyway it was great fun on the track !
2 comments:
Not totally crazy... Garry Hand (M40) ran a 10,000 in 30:33 a week after a 2:19 marathon. 16:23 is good. You should race more on the track - run 15:XX, maybe a PB? Marathon prep works well for 5000!
You can tell that guy you'd be more depressed if he had trained for the 5,000 track race and beat you in the marathon ;)
I did the same last year and although I suffered later as it took a while to come back to normal I think that was because I took a couple of week off completely after that 5000 race and before starting to run again. Maybe if you start training soon, albeit slowly. you'll be alright.
Besides I reckon you're made of stronger stuff then me, Roberto
Post a Comment