Track and Field Blogs - RunDMC

Cage Match – Marathon vs. Century – Thigh burn city!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! Comin’ atcha!

I rode my first cycling Century (High Sierra Fall Century, Mammoth) and can now make a comparison to the Marathon. Lance Armstrong said the Marathon was the hardest event he had ever done after 7 Tour De France wins.

The Century depletion was similar in that I felt very drained at the end. However, every marathon I have run, easy or hard, has also left me deeply sore for a week or so followed by dead legs for weeks after that. Armstrong was under trained for his first Marathon by his own admission. I was under trained for my Century. My longest ride this year was 16mi. It is sort of the equivalent of doing a 5mi run as the longest run in prep for a marathon. I seriously doubt that a person could finish a Marathon with that little specific training. But I finished the Century, although pretty slowly. I averaged just under 16mph, but it has some hills and the lowest point is 6600ft.

Maybe I am naturally a better biker than runner. Who knows? But my assessment is that The Marathon is much harder to complete than a Century.

So this week was thigh strength week. I did the Mammoth Rock 10k on Monday. I was cruising the uphill feeling good, then came the horrible pounding downhill. I should have just paid somebody $35 bucks to beat my thighs with a meat tenderizer. Ended up 3^rd and got a nice picture as a prize. Sweet! I am sick of medals. Good shirts too. Thanks, Andrew.

Thursday, I did a 90min run with my Tri friend Ryan. I still was not recovered from the MR 10k, so Ryan probably thinks I am a total chump. Of course that was great prep for a Saturday Century, which, by the way, was ~53mi farther than I had ever ridden before. Good thinking, huh? Can’t sacrifice the running workouts for some silly check box.

First Century – Check

Mammoth Century - Check

Boston Marathon (April, 2008) – Check

So the thighs are a little mushy now. On to speed work tomorrow, wooohoo!