3 ms·

Great job on the half! As somebody who’s recently started running marathons. you’re 100% correct to enjoy half marathons and lower distances until you “have to

Great job on the half! As somebody who’s recently started running marathons. you’re 100% correct to enjoy half marathons and lower distances until you “have to” run something longer. The marathon is the first common race distance where it just doesn’t feel like the human body is particularly made to do it. The training takes more time and is more work. Lots of long runs have the potential to end up feeling ominous instead of relaxing. Also I suspect that once you’re running full marathons at a decent pace, your training has probably crossed over from increasing health to decreasing health.

kashyapc 3y ago
Thank you! :-) Glad you say the phrase "it [full marathon] just doesn’t feel like the human body is particularly made to do it". I don't mind the training, but question the long-term safety aspect. My left foot is flat and it aches noticeably around the area of ankle joint after 22KM distance of hiking or running. This is "diffuse pain", and it goes away in a day or two. I've been trying to understand the root-cause of it for a long time to no avail. I recently visited a sports medicine specialist to get a professional opinion on whether I can safely train for a full marathon. He suggested a fancy "SPECT-CT" scan for the foot-bone. Looking at the result yesterday, everything is good; no major issues, but "I spot a sensitivity in the area of that ankle joint, but I still don't know the cause of it", he said. So he suggested an MRI scan to rule out any other issues. This will be my last attempt at understanding this problem. I know how to live with it; it's not egregious if I'm being careful. But he did say that I can train for a full marathon if I wanted, "but listen to the foot" after each longer than 22KM training run. For now, I'm still enjoying the 22-25KM range. I'll probably start some trail runs, which require different preparation for the unexpected bumps in the terrain.

kashyapc 3y ago

Thank you! :-) Glad you say the phrase "it [full marathon] just doesn’t feel like the human body is particularly made to do it". I don't mind the training, but question the long-term safety aspect. My left foot is flat and it aches noticeably around the area of ankle joint after 22KM distance of hiking or running. This is "diffuse pain", and it goes away in a day or two. I've been trying to understand the root-cause of it for a long time to no avail. I recently visited a sports medicine specialist to get a professional opinion on whether I can safely train for a full marathon. He suggested a fancy "SPECT-CT" scan for the foot-bone. Looking at the result yesterday, everything is good; no major issues, but "I spot a sensitivity in the area of that ankle joint, but I still don't know the cause of it", he said. So he suggested an MRI scan to rule out any other issues. This will be my last attempt at understanding this problem. I know how to live with it; it's not egregious if I'm being careful. But he did say that I can train for a full marathon if I wanted, "but listen to the foot" after each longer than 22KM training run. For now, I'm still enjoying the 22-25KM range. I'll probably start some trail runs, which require different preparation for the unexpected bumps in the terrain.