Words of The Penguin

John, "The Penguin", Bingham has been the source of a lot of sound advice and words of inspiration for runners, walkers and waddlers everywhere. We got to hear him speak at the pasta party for our first Team In Training marathon in San Diego and I have read his articles and blog entries on running long distance events. He has a few books, too.

I took advantage of his blog offer on Competitor's website to "Ask The Penguin".

Here is what I said:

Dear Penguin,

As you may know, the Rock 'n' Roll marathon series gives away a Rock Legend heavy medal for people who finish 7 events in one year. My husband and I are considering attempting this in 2011 with a full in Phoenix and San Diego and the rest all half marathons. Since 2008 we have finished two fulls and two halfs. We're going to start preparing this year with two more halfs and I will begin a blog also. Are we crazy? Any advice you could give about trying to do 7 events in one year?


Here was his response:

Thanks for writing,

No, I don’t think you’re crazy. It sounds like fun. And, doing the full marathons nearly 6 months apart seems perfect.

The key will be keeping your “eye on the prize”. You can’t let any one event become so important that you risk being able to do them all.

I would certainly encourage you to use a run/walk strategy in your training and racing. That’s one of the best ways to reduce the risk of injury.

I’ll be at the start and finish of most of the events in 2011. We’ll get to be GREAT friends.

All the best,

John


Eye on the prize. Good word, John.

In the past, when we've had only one event to train for and finish, we would be careful during training to avoid injury. Then, at the actual event, we would feel like we could do whatever it took to finish. If that meant running on a painful IT band and being able to walk for the next few days, so be it!

But with this tight training schedule, we may not be able to afford a few weeks off to recover from an injury if we plan on being ready for the next event. So we can't race in any one event with the finish-at-all-costs mentality that we've been accustomed too.

It is always important to be listening to your body and be ready to stop if you feel it waving the white flag.

The Penguin and I are Facebook friends now. This makes me happy.