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Training for the Boston Marathon 2005
April 15, 2005 Written By Margaret Whiteside Training for the Boston Marathon is a monumental task even for those in good health. The twenty six miles between Hopkinton and the finish line at Boylston Street are rife with slopes and hills, the most famous being Newton's seven Heartbreak Hills, which have felled many an exhausted runner. Training for the Marathon takes months of sweat, pain and determination - and for some, the determination to cross the finish line is coupled with the determination to overcome a life-threatening illness. For those Marathon hopefuls struggling with cancer, crossing the finish line is a victory in two battles: the punishing course terrain, and their fight against their illness. While at first it sounds like a recipe for disaster - cancer treatment is physically debilitating as it is, and then to add twenty six miles of hills and slope to it sounds like torture - for patients attempting to train, it gives them a goal to work for, and a purpose, which is one of the biggest parts of recovery. "You have to have a vision of the future," Kenneth Ditzian, the director of Exerciseworks of Boston, a specialized mind and body rehabilitation center in Newbury Street's Body Evolver, says. Ditzian, himself a survivor of leukemia, also works as a volunteer coach for cancer patients hoping to run the race on the 20th. 'There are two things you want to deal with," he says of his philosophy, "the body and the mind." Ditzian trains according to the complementary medicine technique - what used to be referred to as holistic medicine - working together with more traditional methods to help the athletes gain stamina and endurance as well as deal with physical limitations and obstacles. Some of the athletes are running the Marathon in order to raise for Team In Training, which raises money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's research into leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma treatment. The training program incorporates an exercise regimen of stretches, cardiovascular exercise and weight training, along with medical and nutritional observation, just like anyone in training. The athletes supplement the exercise with more mind- over-body measures like yoga and acupuncture, which helps combat the main physical foes of joint pain and muscle cramping, which are especially severe for athletes undergoing chemotherapy. The name of the game here is not to become the next Ibrahim Hussain or Svetlana Zakhova. Athletes are encouraged to keep their pace moderate, utilizing the walk! run method as opposed to making a mad dash and using up their energy. "We keep it in the aerobic training zone," Ditzian explains, keeping the heart rate down and helping to maintain stamina. Push any harder, and the athlete runs the risk of overloading and going into the anaerobic training zone, where lactic acid forms in the muscles and causes what is referred to in layman's terms as pain. The goal is not to have the fastest time, or a world record - it is to finish. Running a marathon is, in the end, a deeply solitary experience, even the Boston Marathon with its thousands of participants converging into town every Patriots Day. Despite the people surrounding the runner, all attempting to meet the challenge of Heartbreak Hill, the real battle is between the runner, the road and the runner's expectations. The challenge is to surpass the expectations. And if the challenge is met, even if the runner is also battling a serious illness, the psychological benefits are worth more than any laurel wreath. Copyright © Holden Landmark Corporation [BackBay Station], 2005. Services
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