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Notes -
I remain in pain after my weekend activity, a redux of my eponymous walk-run with a new challenge, the Athenian Race. It’s been a running joke with some of my friends, Spartan Race and marathon running enthusiasts, that the proper classical way of testing things would be a race based on the battle of Marathon. While the modern Marathon event is based on the legend of Pheidippides running back to Athens to tell the people that the army had won at Marathon, 26.2 miles away. What’s often missing from this account is the significance of Pheidippides run. The battle began with a multi day standoff at the Persian landing grounds: the Athenian hoplites stared down the massive Persian invasion force on the beach at Marathon for days, neither side willing to launch a frontal assault, the Persians because of the superior arms and armor of the Athenian hoplite infantry, the Athenians because of the superior Persian numbers. The Persians, seeing an opportunity, reloaded half of their forces onto the ships, and sent them to attack Athens by sea. The Athenians, facing only a weakened Persian force at Marathon, attacked, won a resounding victory with few losses, and then turned and marched back to Athens at a pace sufficient to head off the Persian fleet. So my own little challenge: the Athenian Race. Do some kind of strenuous resistance workout, representing the battle, then complete the 26.2 miles. The entire event should take less time than it would have taken the Persians to sail to Athens, helpfully estimated by ToaKraka at eight hours.
My wife and I took a weekend trip to the shore, I woke up at 445 to get my workout in. I like to wake up super early and go do something on vacations with my wife, it gets me extra time on vacation, and I can’t sleep in anyway. I packed my 62# KB, and went for a push-press half hour session, landing at 400 reps. With my shoulders and triceps shot, I changed into running shoes, and took off to the south end of the island. The shore in the off-season is, in my mind, the ideal place to go for a multi-hour run. It’s empty enough that no-one is in the way, and I get a sense of solitude, while also being populated enough that I can use the Wawas every five miles as rest stations if I need anything. I’m woefully unprepared so I value that flexibility. I completed my goal, but today, everything still hurts. I kinda want to make this my annual challenge, something I need to keep up the ability to do.
need to carry your shield and spear the whole way like a proper hoplite!
I thought about it, but ultimately opted not to for "not fucking myself up any worse than I already have" reasons.
Most of my body is fine but my left ankle is still screaming at me. Unsurprising, on balance pretty good.
I can commiserate. Last week I ran my first marathon (just a pussy normal one) and it took me a day and a bit to walk like a normal human being again.
I saw this as a another riff on a marathon I want to try some time. Would be fun to do with friends.
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Thanks for the reminder that, despite making so much progress on my fitness journey, there is still a hell of a way to go. The closest I've come to something like this is an hour-long Orange Theory workout followed by a 30-mile bike ride.
There's something unbelievably satisfying about a whole-day workout like your Athenian race. What did your pace end up looking like?
Dogshit, the best I can say is I finished. I completed the whole thing at around a 5mph speed, which was a mix of running and walking for me. I could probably run more, fitness wise, if I actually trained for the pace I wanted to hit, instead of just getting it into my head to go do it one day like a moron; in this case primarily because I wanted to spend more quality time on the island and my wife needed to leave early, so waking up early and wandering around the whole island seemed like a good way to cram more in.
All day workouts are fun. One of the reasons I love the kettlebell.
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Beautiful
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