Thick as a Brick

I will preface this post (as I could every post) with the following statement: I am an idiot. OK. That’s a bit harsh. But it can often be true! Back in the winter, I agreed to pace my wife’s best friend through her first-ever half marathon, up in Lake Placid in a few weeks. Upon looking up the race, I noticed there was also a marathon, which was the second loop of the half marathon. Of course, my lunkheaded brain said, “Geez, I can pace Mary through the half marathon, and then do another lap!” Pure genius, right?

Sure thing. Except … except … except … a funny thing happened during the late winter and spring: Other than my usual morning jogs, which generally range in length from 50 minutes to an hour, I really did not do any marathon-specific training for this race! Duh. Not a great idea. Not surprising, considering our busy travel schedule. But still …

So, once our season ended, I decided I would do a crash course in aerobic, endurance training – mixing in my normal early morning jogs with as much pool running as possible. You remember this now? “Fool in the Pool?” Yup, that’s me! With the help of rehabbing XC/track team member Billy Posch, who is here for the first part of the summer, I have been hammering in the pool as a way to build enough endurance to get through this marathon.

Entering this week, I came up with the idea of doing 10 hours (running and pool-running combined) training.  Triathletes call them “bricks” – when they combine different disciplines on the same day. My “bricks” have not been true to the triathlete term, as the runs and the aqua work have been split by several hours. True bricks are continuous, from one discipline immediately into the other. Like this: Triathletes will do crazy stuff like ride a bike for 6 hours and then do a 4-hour long run (side note: a dentist acquaintance of mine who is training for an Ironman actually did this last week!). Heck, if Dr. Mike can do 10 hours of training in one day, I can squeeze it into a week. Right? Right!

Well, I am here to report that I was able to squeeze 10 hours of training into a work week (Monday through Friday). Here’s how.

Monday: am, 55 minutes with Fast Tony and Even Faster Dave; pm, 70 minutes in the pool with Posch. Total: 2:05

Tuesday: am, 45 minutes birthday run with Slow Artie (he turned 55!); pm, 60 minutes in the pool with Posch. Total: 1:45

Wednesday: am, 50 minutes fast and hilly with Fast Tony; pm, 50 minutes in the pool with Posch. Total: 1:40

Thursday: am, 55 minutes solo shuffle with the iPod; pm, 35 minutes solo in the pool (Posch lifeguarding). Total: 1:30

Friday: am, long run 2:25 (first 62 mins with Fast Tony/Faster Dave/Slow Artie); pm, 45 minutes in the pool with Posch. Total: 3:10

Total for 5 days: 10:10.

Phew. I’m getting tired just typing this. FYI. Don’t expect much out of me up in Lake Placid. This isn’t like cramming for a final exam. Marathon training needs to be built up for months, not a week or two. In fact, my son Joey is predicting a PW (Personal Worst). Thanks, pal!