Finishing the Job

Regular readers know Dan Fogel and his long bouts with injury. Comebacks start, comebacks fizzle, whole seasons disappear in the blink of an eye and yet he keeps trying to do it again and again. It almost seems laughable to ask why, but here we are doing it.

ThingsFogel: People are hearing you say you will run the Green Bay (WI) Marathon on May 17 of this year. [editor: Since changed to the inagural Wisconsin Marathon in Kenosha, WI on May 2.]

Dan Fogel: Yeah, I have been shooting my mouth off about that a bit more lately. I came up with the idea in September, but couldn't really do much about it then.

TF: When did you start training?

DF: Pick a date. Last May, maybe when I ran for 5 minutes and it didn't hurt? In August on the beach in San Diego when I realized I couldn't cycle and run well at the same time, or maybe January 1 when I said I was 18 weeks away from my next marathon. Any of those, maybe something else.

TF: Have you actually registered for the race?

DF: No. I am pretty happy with the way things are going with my training, but I am not ready to put my money where my mouth is - yet. [editor: And yet, Fogel is now registered for the Wisconsin Marathon]

TF: The story is that your training is different now than in the past, more strength training and intervals. Are you really doing speedwork?

DF: First things first, I have been doing some kind of strength or core work for nearly a year. When my foot was in a boot, it was all I could really do. It was part of the lecture from the doctor about my osteoporosis too. As a runner, I had eschewed all forms of weight training forever, but times change.

TF: So you like it now?

DF: I will be 45 in two weeks [ed: Fogel turned 45 in February 2009], my body still works, I woke up to a 44 bpm heart rate the other day, so I know I am getting fit, but I have had lots of back problems. I spent nearly two months in physical therapy for my back last fall. My PT got me back on the roads running again. And like it? Well, I do like doing push-ups. The fatigue in the arms feels as good as the legs do after a run.

TF: Has your running changed?

DF: Great question. It has. I used to fear speed work, I didn't want to break down. I would run myself into shape and then use races to sharpen. I am not waiting for that this time. I have been doing one quality speed session per week. On the treadmill for now, it's damn cold and slippery in Chicago in January [ed: and February and March], but I will go to the track. And hills, I love to run hills. I have workouts planned for outside when things warm up and the footing improves.

TF: Are you finding it hard to recover from the hard efforts?

DF: Only in the early parts of the day of the run. I just need to make sure I drink enough after. Makes a difference. I used to drink coffee in the middle of the morning after a hard run, I love the coffee, but I don't think that is what my body wanted.

TF: What is your actual plan with the training?

DF: No marathoner can have solely one goal. I want to be realistic about what I can accomplish. In a perfect world, I cross the finish line of a marathon in under 3 hours. But that's just talk right now.

TF: When did you run your last marathon?

DF: There are two answers to that question. The last marathon I ran was Chicago in 2004. I ran it as a pacer for the 3:20 group. That was great day, but it wasn't a race. The last time I raced a marathon was in 2003 when I ran 3:01.