🚀 go-pugleaf

In

>I ran my first marathon at age 16 on about 30-40 miles a week with my previous
>long run being 13 miles.  I ran relatively slow and walked the last couple of
>miles.  My next was at 17 on maybe 40-45 miles a week, but I raced.  I ran
>another 3 as an 18 year old, on about 60 a week.  In all cases, I didn't get
>hurt and recovered quickly.

>16 years later I managed to finally break that PR I set as an 18 year old.  I
>trained like hell for 4 months, 70-80 miles a week, and felt like something
>that the cat spit up for about 3 or 4 weeks after.

>Run 'em while you're young.

>-paulf


I don't know if I would agree with Paul here, Alison.  I'm 19, and have run
a marathon, which I trained extensively for (50 miles per week or so).  The
actual run wasn't too bad, it was the after effects.  Our bones, though
fully developed, haven't peaked in their strength yet, and won't for about
five or six years.  Besides, we're nowhere near our aerobic peak either,
which usually occurs around 28 to 30 years of age.  There's no need to push,
because we have plenty of time.  I've seen some really good middie runners
wrecked by pushing to hard and too fast on a huge and *unnecessary* run. 
One moron ran 30 miles in practice one day, and 20 miles the NEXT!  Tore all
sorts of important things, and can't run more than a mile now without
sweating from pain.  Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it.

Sunil Dixit
U of Rochester (sd007b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu)