Mothers (and Others) on the Run

Recovery is well underway from last Sunday's Colorado Marathon.  I mostly follow the recovery regimen in Jeff Galloway's Marathon: You Can Do It!   For three weeks following a marathon, Galloway advises alternating days of walking and running with most of the running limited to 45 minutes.  The exceptions are the three Sunday runs.  The first of these is four miles; the second, six miles; and third can be anywhere from 12 to 18 miles.  I ran the first of these--4 miles--this morning.  Slow and easy.  So far, so good. 

By Thursday after the marathon, all of the soreness in my legs from the race had dissipated.  Probably because I ran the marathon at less than predicted race pace.  Of course, the absence of pain doesn't mean the post-marathon threat of increased injury has passed too.  So, the smartest and safest thing is to continue following a recovery regimen until three weeks have passed since the marathon.  Then, and only then, will it be safe to begin training for our next goal race.  For me, that will be August 18's Pikes Peak Ascent.

The Pikes Peak website advises training for the Ascent--which is 13.32 miles up, up, up the iconic mountain--as if training for a hard flatland marathon.  So, I'll do pretty much what I did in the spring for the Colorado Marathon.  The differences are: 1) more hill workouts and 2) lots of step-up workouts.  Apparently, there are a series of difficult step-ups near the summit that have to be done 1) on extremely tired legs and 2) in oxygen-deficient air at 14,110 feet.  WHY AM I DOING THIS? 

Just in time for Mothers Day, Running USA released it latest report of women in running.  Find it here:
http://runningusa.org/node/82755#83211
Among its finding: In 2011, women made up 53% of the fields in road races.  I'm not surprised.  I just finished the 2012 Colorado Marathon, and I was surrounded by women--many of them passing me.  Officially, of the 996 Colorado Marathon finishers, 517 were female.  Only 479 were male.

We now know what killed legendary ultra-runner Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco: heart disease.  See the full story here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/sns-rt-us-usa-marathon-autopsybre8471hr-20120508,0,1799324.story  True's body was found in the New Mexico wilderness on March 21 after he failed to return from a run.  True was featured in the best-selling Born to Run.