Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
According to world statistics, the number of fans of marathon running is growing every year. In 2010, there were approximately 500,000 marathon finishers in the United States (Running USA national report 2010). Amateur running is one of the most useful forms of physical culture, and no other sport can't boast such small monetary investment. To start jogging can afford almost any healthy people, even quite far from the sport. Often running is used as a dealing with a midlife crisis. A huge number of people around the world find in running not only fun but also a new goal, and even the meaning of life. Run a marathon for an ordinary people it's like Mount Everest for a climber. It's very interesting that one can experience, having been on top of the world. And these feelings can change you for the better. To get to marathon finish line without risk for health you must train hard. On average, training plans to prepare for a marathon designed for 16-18 weeks. Trainings are held 6 days a week.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Before start training, I decided to write day by day the training plan and stuck all this staff to the wall to motivate myself.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The first week, 85 km. Diary: The first week passed. It was hard. Legs feel extremely heavy. Will waiting for this heavy go away.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
During a long running you should drink water as your body loses large amounts of fluid. After training you get sweat strains on the clothes.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The second week, 89 km. Diary: My thoughts all the time revolving around the running. Now there is no such thing as hunger / satiation. I think about food as digested / not digested. What is digested more quickly, a banana or a meringue? Does my muscles have enough glycogen for long runnings?
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
During the long running one may get in trouble with friction made blisters which could appear on any part of the foot. To avoid these troubles, I stocked up sufficient plaster. Diary: All the time I have to control the running technique. Movements turn out a much more harmonious, efficient, strong and coordinated, if you scroll through them in the head.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: So, I ran my first 27 km in my life. I tried to concentrate solely on the process, falling into a kind of meditation. In this state, it was fairly easy to move, but had to constantly grope after this sense of automaticity. I think the primary source of this meditation is heart rate control. When I was starting to jump between puddles or worried about anything, I got increased heart rate immediately and lost control. But I can't say that it was pure automatism. I had a feeling that in my chest was a balloon, which had supported the ease in the body. I felt pain and fatigue after stopping the run. It was difficult to get to the home. All clothes are soaking wet. Lost about 2.5 kg of liquid. I’m very tired. I don’t want to eat or drink, just go to bed. Feeling like I'm about to get sick. Hight fever. The joints ache. Muscles ache. Spent 1.5 hours in bad in half delirious condition. Started to feel better after having eat a portion of borsch.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The third week, 89 km.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
At the beginning of the training process, the body can suffer from unexpected pain or swelling of the feet. Today I woke up with a puffy face. On the eve was a day off, and after a long 24-kilometer training hard all day, I drank much water. The result was on the face.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: All this story of the marathon is a journey inside the body and soul. After all, I feel every cell in my body from the inside. Is it possible to show these changes? Both the bad and good, both the progress and regression.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The fourth week, 79 km. During the four-month training has to strugglewith the strongest attacks of laziness. The body, weary of daily training, paralyzing the will power.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Today I felt some kind of lightness in my muscles. It was a nice and welcome lightness. I wanted to run one kilometer by kilometer.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The fifth week, 77 km. Diary: Why I want to run a marathon? During long training one could explore yourself from the completely new side. But the marathon can give you a revelation. Without a daily work on yourself the objective is unreachable. And then - the next level, new frontier, a new standard of understanding of yourself and things around you. While it is a mystery, but what is there, after "the wall"? Running is a pure energy. Running, I'm learning to manage it.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: It seems that I become more sentimental. Yesterday I started to cry suddenly when I imagined how I would run marathon.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Sixth week, 79 km.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Today, after 20 km, I’m in good mood and excellent physical condition. There was a moment, when I didn’t want to run, it was hard, the legs was very heavy. But I look at the situation as an adventure and in the end, I felt an incredible sweetness coming from the cells themselves, a sort of subtle vibrations, and the euphoria of each and every particle of the body.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The seventh week, 58 km. Diary: Happy days are gone and I entered into the long period of stagnation. When there is no strength to complete the training and the pain and discomfort in the legs pursue me, and I am constantly in search of the lost lightness in muscles.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: The main discovery I made is a complete absence of connection between the health before training and the ability to complete all planned work on the training. Fighting spirit, a desire to win can turn out to thought to finish workout after having done only 5-7 km. The body rebels and ignores all my morning ambitions, paralyzing the will...
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
... and vice versa, laziness, excuses and protests of the body before training evaporate in 2-3 km after the start. Through the body runs a wave of energy, warming the muscles from the inside, and it seems that, without the familiar heaviness of the legs, you will fly like an eagle.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Eight weeks, 72 km. Diary: What the heck! I chafed my navel after 18 km running... I had to put some plaster on it.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Today the last kilometer was very hard, I wanted to quit. Feet felt very heavy. Three hours passed and now I have a condition to go out and start to run. It´s a kind of euphoria. I want to save this this feeling. A feeling like I’m shining from inside, as if there is an energy ball. How long I will have this feeling? What the interesting thing – a running! It can dictate its own terms, to subordinate the whole your of existence, but it gives not less at least.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: When my strength is dwindling, I get more irritable. Kids on bikes, a stupid woman, riding bad on rollerblades, a slow family obstructing the way. People who are trying to prove to me that a lot of running is bad for health and with a gestures trying to show me that: well, well, how much you can run! You have enough already!
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Ninth Week, 7 km. Diary: The disease. Hight fever. Weakness. Pain in the throat. All training goes down the drain.
Tenth Week, 42 km. Diary: the disease has calmed me, restrained my ardor to perform frantically all that stuff written in the plan. After all, that's a bit beyond me. Clearly see, the plan is designed for much robust fellows.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: the first serious failure occurred three weeks ago when I couldn´t terminate 32 kilometers because of complete lack of power. I was devastated, crushed morale. I wanted to cry, it was so sad. The next day I decided to take revenge, but again I couldn’t make it. Physically, once again it was very hard, but mentally felt better. All the same, is not a matter of life and death, right? Passing the period of illness in the bad I counted hours wanting to turn to the training process as soon as possible. But finally I calmed down so much and decided to finally break out of the schedule for the week and go to vacation.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Eleventh Week, 0 km. Diary: Snow, snowboard, swollen knees. Didn’t have energy for running.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Twelfth Week, 35 km. A week of snowboarding terribly hurt my knees. I had to put tons of spicy-hot ointment to reduce that pain. Weakness throughout the body pursued me to the end of the week.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The thirteenth week, 61 km away. Diary: I'm back. Passivity and apathy are going away. At the end of training I fell into a prostration and it scared me so mach. I Felt some unsupportable lightness, weightlessness. With difficulty I could control steps, but didn’t feel tired.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Fourteenth Week, 65 km. Running a long workout (28 km), managed to get rid of the fear of long distances, that I have had after several unsuccessful attempts to overcome 30-km way.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Fifteenth Week, 61 km. Diary: Sometimes, when a feel it particularly hard for me and start thinking about what I am doing and why. I understand that I will not quit and I spare myself terminating the turnout undone a little bit. But I don’t feel bad about it because I know that I have done all I could.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Sixteenth Week, 57 km. Diary: I can't believe it that the marathon is so soon. Preparation took so long that the training process eventually turns into a routine and it seemed that the trainings would never end and the purpose is so far away that it is better not to remember and it seems that it is not real.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
The seventeenth week, 55 km.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Why to run? What makes it so special, so attracting? For me it is an indisputable basis for any kind of sports, the foundation and construction materials at the same time. Running is like a white color, lack of visual information. But the white color at the same time and most complex of all colors, is a synthesis of all colors. And running, is endless, boring, repetitive movements millions of times, develops all sides of my personality, the muscles, joints, heart and circulatory system, thinking, attitude, character, patience and willpower. And most importantly is a meditation, in which I’m sometimes lucky enough to enter. This is something new and airy, another thing.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Mood follows a physical condition which presents with unpleasant surprises. Unhealthiness take turn with attack of wild energy. In general, I´m in good spirits, waiting great strides. I can’t keep emotions in front of majesty of the moment. Yes, I'm waiting for some revelation from my body. At the end of a long and difficult journey I want to find the treasure. And I'm afraid of not withstand, to break. I will fight until the end, but if the legs gave way? What then?
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Eighteenth Week, 73 km (including the marathon). Total 1084 km. Result in the marathon 3 hours 49 minutes 4 seconds. In the morning due to strong prelaunch excitement I forgot to put plaster on my foot. The result “in all beauty” can be seen in the photo.
Diary: On the 21 km mark, I was pretty fresh. I just enjoyed the ease, power, control of running. After 31 km there was a small fear of the unknown, but nothing much happened. By that time I was leaving behind bunches of people. It was very satisfactory to leave behind pumped-up guys and understand that I´m stronger, that I still have loads of strength and can even accelerate. It just inspiring! I had enough power for a nice finishing sprint. Finish! I'm flying! The incredible lightness and weakness in the body. This condition lasted for 20 seconds, until I stopped the motion. Muscles got sick immediately, as soon as I stopped. The view of bloody heel was killing me finally.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: At the finish, and after a while there was no emotion, only slight sadness that this was it. A dream come true. And come true as you could only dream of. But there are no joy and pacification. Merely calm.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Nothing extraordinary passed with me. I have not hit the wall, did not struggle with torture and pain. I saw on the faces of some marathoners the price of their struggle. I ran my first marathon with pleasure from first to last meters. My result was six minutes better than planned. Incredibly nice to write the word "marathon" in direct relation to me. I ran a marathon. Damn good!
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
And now, by good old tradition, one can cut a hair.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: Why I chose the marathon? I don´t have any sensible explanation. I think it's a marathon chose me. All my life I had ran a sprint distances, and if desired, I would succeed in this area. But I only had a strong desire to run a marathon. This great distance, its inaccessibility has captivated my attention from childhood, and I am happy that the dream has come true at last.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
Diary: After the finish, revived a little bit, I trailed back home along the marathon route. Some marathoners were struggling their last kilometers with the huge pain on their faces! Others were unable to run, but continued to advance somehow. There were corpulent and elderly people, sick to the shins, knees, hips. There were just strange people, who, it would seem, are out of place in the marathon. And they are inexorably had moved toward the finish line. Nothing was forcing them to do it, and almost all supporters has gone their home, but they continued, spending the remnants of forces, approaching to the finish line of the great distance. I am sure that for most of them it was the first marathon. And they have managed to rouse their bones and try a new, wonderful life. I am convinced that a huge number of newly marathoners were updated internally. After the finish line may be not revelation, but at least one fact that they were able to run 42 kilometers make them better.