A New Method to Training for a Marathon
or "How I crossed the finish line trailing elastic bandages, bandaids, 
ice bags, pill bottles, crutches, wheelchairs,..."

It is mid-October, 2001 as I write this, and I am looking back to my 
latest marathon, the Wineglass Marathon, Oct. 7, in Corning, NY.  It is said 
that running a marathon is a journey.  Wow!  What a journey I undertook this 
summer and fall!  Let me tell you about it.

I ran two marathons in the spring, both good and bad in their own ways, 
and both PW's for me.  I joined the Marathon Clinic at the Nepean Running Room 
as part of my attempt to put those spring memories to rest, and, as I told the 
group at opening night, because I was looking for some "group therapy".  As a 
usually-loner runner, I was hoping that the group workouts on Thursday nights 
would be the help I needed to do the hill workouts and speed workouts that on my 
own I couldn't push myself to do.  As a added 'push' to myself, I also 
volunteered to be one of the group leaders for the clinic.  Let me say this now: "I'm 
sorry Hilda (Nepean Running Room store manager and Marathon Clinic 
instructor), I wasn't much of a group leader."  You see, I spent 7 of the 16 Thursdays 
of the Marathon Clinic in blue jeans and sneakers, injured and unable to run.

I am no stranger to injury.  Infact, in my training over the last 4 
years for 6 marathons, 5 half-marathons, and 1 Hamilton Round-the-Bay 30k, only 
once have I gotten through the entire training schedule injury free.  But, this 
summer threw not one injury at me, but 6 in succession.  Briefly, they were a
flare-up of a chronic "runner's knee" problem in my right knee; a 
twisted ankle; a strained calf muscle; a stiff and sore back; bursitis in my left 
knee; and, two weeks before race day, a sprained foot.  

What kept me going?  Well, the encouragement and comradery from the 
Marathon Clinic, which I kept attending, even if I couldn't run.  I so much 
wanted to run the Wineglass Marathon with the group that I decided to do it 
despite lingering injuries and, I felt, my less-than-desired training.  I was 
able to do all the long runs I missed either in the pool
pool running, or on my bicycle (2 pool runs over 2hrs and 4 bike rides 
of over 70km in length).  I also maintained a twice-weekly
weights workout, and a daily stretching routine, throughout the summer.

The result - I had a wonderful race!  I relaxed, didn't worry about my 
time - infact I didn't wear a watch, so instead of taking walk breaks every 10 
minutes, I took one every mile - and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the 
people I was running with.  Unexpectedly, I had no problems with any of my injuries. 
I felt such joy when I turned the final corner, where several clinic members 
were waiting to cheer and run with me to the finish line, to my 2nd 
fastest marathon ever!  On this day, the race was the final, quite 
uneventful and almost, dare I say it, easy, chapter to a very different and 
challenging summer of running and workouts.  

Just to compare this summer's training to previous marathon training 
schedules, here are some numbers.  I usually log 550-700km in running mileage 
during marathon training.  This time, I logged just 325km.  I added 20+ hrs in 
the pool doing pool running, and over 1000km on my bicycle.  Cross training does 
work!