The Great Austin Experiment

This is the first time I’ve run with a marathon training group that has enforced the base phase of training. This may be the first time any group in Austin has done that. In the past I’ve joined groups that assume the runners have a base of running fitness by telling the participants “you should be able to comfortably run ____ miles at the start of this training.” Then the group goes straight into speed and hill workouts and building weekly mileage – with occasional drop-back weeks – up to the traditional start of a pre-marathon taper period.

And what an experiment it’s been! We started at the end of May just building mileage. By mid-July I’d worked my way up to my highest mileage ever (60+ miles per week) and, with a couple of drop-back weeks, I’ve been able to sustain it into August.

The mighty Ken and his fellow fasties have worked themselves into 100-mile frenzies week after week. Testosterone, testosterone. But everyone seems to be staying healthy.

Team Rogue has raised a lot of eyebrows in Austin’s running community.

The running has been the easy part, honestly. It’s everything that surrounds the running that’s been challenging and even comical. Fortunately for me my husband is a partner through all of this. We’re both participating, so we haven’t had to sacrifice time together like so many others must.

The hard part has been all of the pre-run prep like having to pack up work clothes, shower stuff, breakfast food, and lunch the evening before each run; having to go to bed so early that it’s still twilight so that the 4:00 a.m. alarm might not hurt so much; having to rush to prepare dinner so you can eat early enough to digest before the next morning’s run. While we did allow ourselves to watch our recorded coverage of the TdF, we’ve missed most of the Olympics coverage.

There have been some humorous stories about my teammates’ challenges, mostly associated with getting to work on time after squeezing in a 14- or a 16-miler on weekday morning. Folks tell about rushing to work late for meetings, or missing meetings entirely, or getting to the office and “I still have soap in my ears,” or having to work a boat sales floor till 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. after a Saturday morning 22-miler. For me, the blow-dryer has gone unused plenty of times in exchange for a precious few minutes to grab a bite to eat and still get in the office door ahead of my Director. And makeup? Forget that.

Recently, I hung Pearl Izumi’s new ad on my office wall: “If you ran without sacrifice, congratulations. You just jogged.”

I’m almost 48. I’m running the biggest miles I’ve ever run. I’m holding together quite well. I’m part of the great Austin experiment, and I ain’t jogging.