It’s no secret that I abhor long distance running (aka Long Slow Distance*). Endurance goes with putting up and also with patience and I’m not very good at any of those. As such I’ve been pondering what to do if I actually want to complete the bloody nice Nike marathon in October 2008.
Here’s the conundrum I face. LSD is solely aerobic training. The benefits of it are increased cardiovascular function and better bodyfat utilization. The drawbacks are plenty though: decreased muscle mass, decreased strength, decreased power, decreased speed, decreased anaerobic capacity, and decreased testosterone levels (although women manufacture about one seventh the daily testosterone amount of men they still need this hormone for growth and to maintain muscle and bone strength). Not to mention that everytime I run long distance, I fuck something up. Is it coincidence that the entire sports rehabilitation industry caters mostly to runners’ injuries? Hmmmm…
In my opinion that’s a lot of drawbacks for such limited benefits. As I age, is it more important for me to be strong, have dense bones, and good balance to be able to break a fall, or to be able to run 20 miles? The answer is pretty obvious to me.
So what to do if I still want to run the marathon? OK, so it’s true that I might have signed up for the wrong reasons, namely to get the limited edition Tiffany’s necklace and cruise the chocolate mile…ha ha. But something tells me that I should just do it!, ya know, for bragging rights. Now everyone would have you believe the only way to train for an endurance event is LSD. My fast-twitch fiber being revolts against this idea.
The answer came to me this past Saturday at a certification where I got to meet endurance athletes who train a whole different way. Enter CrossFit Endurance training where you concentrate on training your anaerobic system with the added benefit that it simultaneosly trains your aerobic system (and if someone has ever done Fight Gone Bad you know what I’m talking about). Studies (see here and here for 2 examples) demonstrate that the adaptations caused by anaerobic training are similar to high volume endurance training, however, this adaptation comes at much lower training volumes. Short and intense intervals…hell yeah, I’ll take two please!!!
You may ask yourself, well if this is the end-all-be-all of endurance training, how come more people don’t do it? Number one, not everyone is built equally. Number two, people generally don’t like intense training. Tell me magic mirror, why are there are a gazillion recreational marathoners in the world but only a few recreational sprinters? Because sprinting is damn hard. In comparison almost anyone with good company and conversation can power through a marathon. He he.
In addition to the CF WODs, I’ll be doing the prescribed CF Endurance training 2 or 3 per week under my coach’s watchful eye (also will be incorporating rest/recovery techniques to keep me healthy and ready). There are plenty of crossfitters who report better times, increased resistance to fatigue, and increased power as a result of the adaptations brought on by the CF WOD and the non-LSD endurance training. Heck there’s the story of this guy who only did the CF WOD regularly. Then one weekend he signed up for a triathlon to go hang out with his friends who were also doing it. Borrowed a mountain bike, threw on his regular pair of ratty shoes, and powered through all the events to place 3rd overall. I bet everyone else in the race must have felt a bit blue!
So I’m giving this type of training a mighty try, San Francisco hills and all. My goal is just to complete the marathon, not to break the sound barrier so don’t be busting balls. LOL. If it works, it would prove to me that LSD is not the whole truth…and also that chocolate is indeed a mighty stimulant. If it doesn’t, it would prove once again that I’m fierce. Just because. LOL.
If Katie Holmes can run it without a bra, how hard can it be? [insert hysterical laughter here]
*For-the-love-of-gawd Disclaimer: Please do not take this post offensively. It was written solely to express the feelings about LSD (not the drug mind you) from the bottom of my heart. You may enjoy LSD and I commend you for your endurance and determination. Now back to me.
