Of Mice and Marathons

One thing to keep in mind with being tough and dealing with pain in races is that it differs with the type of race.

Anaerobic races will yield collapsing at the end much easier than an aerobic race like the marathon.

I collapsed at every finish line when running the 800 and 1500 meters in college. It just came with the territory. I haven't collapsed yet at the end of a half or full. But I can promise you my effort isn't any less now than then, and I'm certainly not weaker mentally.

In anaerobic efforts like the 800 my arms would go numb, sometimes my lips too in an effort by my body to get all oxygen to my leg muscles. I looked like a train wreck and my eyes would roll to the back of my head like a demon. It's just a totally different type of pain.

So I wouldn't just assume you aren't racing hard enough.

I second what Riley said. My legs hurt and I have had problems walking after my half last Saturday but I was functioning after the race. However, after steeples and 1500s in college I would almost vomit and and lose feeling in my fingers. Anaerobic work has a very different physical effect on the body the long aerobic work. It is a different kind of pain. If you are pushing through fatigue during the race and truly depleting your glycogen stores you are doung everything thing you can. Just because you're not falling over passed out at the end doesn't mean you're not trying hard and pushing through the pain.

I was partially joking around with Jeff about not running hard enough. I think I have my half marathon effort pretty dialed (less so on the other distances). However, I was absolutely blown away by the efforts I saw last weekend. My training partner, Brandon (30:15 10ker in college) said he didn't consider it a good effort unless he was seeing spots by the time he hit the finishing straightaway in cross. Seeing that last Penn State guy really scared me.

Pretty crazy stuff for those short races! A PR effort in the half and my breathing recovers in maybe 20-30 seconds? Less probably.

What I take your response to mean is that the body does something given the kind of effort. A less frightening example would be lactic acid build up to the point where you legs are so heavy you can barely move. Despite running at a hard (but proper effort) the body does something independent of your intentions. It is not as if you said, "boy, if my ears don't bleed I didn't run hard enough!" or that you wanted to collapse at the finish line.

Thanks, Riley.

Thanks, Dave. I am now thinking about post-race soreness as well. Since I increased my mileage and incorporated longer cool downs and 4-6 mile afternoon runs after races starting the beginning of this year I rarely get sore. This goes with the distances and paces I run as well.

I think I need to spectate some track races as well.

Watch the finish line camera of the NCAA XC meet this year, especially the women's race. Everyone collapsing, throwing up, crying. Its kind of funny :-)

Related to the podcast...

@DavidEpstein Kalenjin men marathoners: Berlin 1-5;Chicago 1-4,8; NYC 1,5,8,9. Women: Ber1,2,4; Chi 1,2;NYC 1,9. From source pop size of Costa Rica

I think performance is 100% based on ankle width. That's my only focus for the next month - get skinnier ankles :-)

You laugh, but I almost cried because my first reaction was to find it significant:

"My ankles are huge and I'll never break 2:30 in the marathon!" I'm going to work on losing weight in my head. I'll let you know how it works.

If head size ends up being a significant variable, I'm done. I have a cartoon sized head.

i believe my overall head size is average, but i have literally won a race with my nose.

my ankles have been bound since august. i also dyed my hair red and started playing high jump softball on xc skis.