Chandi Schwab
I am on week 13 out of 18 in training for the Boston Marathon. It has gone pretty well. No injuries (knock on wood)and my body is feeling pretty strong. Weeks 5, 6, and 7 were really rough for me, and I thought that I was going to have to cut back on mileage or do something different because my body wasn't keeping up.
I met some girls at the gym that are great runners (much faster than me) and they offered to let me run with them. I had been running the majority of my runs by myself and it was getting so monotonous and hard to push myself. I started doing my Saturday runs with them on my 8th week. The first was a 21 miler and I ran 16 with them, I was so nervous and ready to find an excuse, but I did it. I woke up at 5 a.m. and drove over to a local elementary school to meet them. From the moment we started running I could tell it was going to be rough, but I stuck with it and pushed myself the best I could. I figured as long as they were a visible distance away I wouldn't get lost and I would be fine. I griped and moaned the whole way, my body hurt so bad, but I had a huge improvement in my speed and it was so worth it when it was over.
I am sharing this story because I have been amazed at the muscle memory our bodies have. It is neat to see how much we can improve with hard effort balanced with proper recovery. I have done my long runs with them since then and in just a few runs seen great strides and improvement. I have also really worked on speed the past few weeks and I am amazed how my body responds. I am by no means fast compared to a lot of people but faster than I was, and that makes it all worth it.
When we want to improve we must push ourselves hard and beyond the comfort zone. If you do this you WILL see results. Our bodies are pretty incredible if we can find the balance pushing ourselves to the max, then allowing for proper recovery. Good luck!!
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