I have never considered myself technically savvy when it comes to running mechanics.  But recently, the difference between slow and fast twitch muscles finally dawned on me.

I love running the Upper Rim Trail at Lafayette Reservoir for many soul-filling reasons as well as training purposes.  Tuesday I went for a mind-clearing, post-ultramarathon “shake-out run.”  I had just run 27 miles on Saturday in an event called Dirty (Half) Dozen in which runners go as many miles as they choose for six or twelve hours.  Any distance over 26.2 earns you the title of ultramarathoner.  My goal was to also earn bragging rights to my fourth lifetime 50K (31.06 miles); but as temperatures rose higher than forecasted and feet hurt more than expected, my goal was to just get into that ultra category…even if it was by a hair.

Funny that it would take six hours to run a distance slightly more than marathon distance when my marathon PR is 4:13.  My family made this comment a few years ago when I set out to do my first 50K.  The goal was to finish in under eight hours.

 “But it’s not like you’re running twice the distance?  It’s only five more miles.”  So they said.

But I get it; I wouldn’t have understood either if I had never run a course with over 8,000 feet of elevation change.

So, the strategy last Saturday was slow and steady.  I can hear my friend and running coach Sandie’s voice right now:  “Slow and steady wins the race!”  She herself has run Boston which means she’s not exactly slow and does know a thing or two about getting the job done when it comes to running.

As I have run with Sandie many times over the years on the trails and on the road, it has also allowed me the opportunity to meet runners of all walks (no pun intended) of life.  I’ve become Facebook friends with many of them, so I get to read posts weekly and daily about their events, training, and progress.

Can I just admit right now that I cringe at the sight of a track workout?

One look at that reddish-orange polyurethane, white-lined torture field sends me running the other direction.  When I see that my running friends are doing sprints and plyometrics, it’s as if I’m back in fourth grade again finishing almost dead last in P.E.

As I am eight days out from running my seventh San Francisco Marathon (and marathon #31), every run from now until race day has magnified purpose.  Saturday’s race was my long run.  This week I am trying to stay loose and focused on intensity versus distance.  I have read that hill training simulates speed work.  Great!  Any excuse to not hit the track or do actual speed work.  I do truly love trail running, so when I read that little training gem, I hit the trails with  even more of a vengeance.

However, this week I realized I have been doing it all wrong and not taking full advantage of those hills.

I started out saying that I love running the Upper Rim Trail.  I love it even more after Tuesday’s revelation.  As I started up the first big hill at a very conservative – okay slow – pace, I started to think that this might be a very long, painful run.  When it leveled off, I mentally geared up for the next hill by justifying walking it since I was still recovering from Saturday’s 27 miler.  I felt surprisingly good running a decent pace on the flats; so when the hill came, I maintained the effort level with high knees and shorter strides.  I remembered an article I had just read – okay scoffed at – on plyometric exercises.  Since I felt good, I decided to increase my intensity and went all out until reaching the peak of this hill.

Wait, did I just do plyometrics?!

I visualized the photos and diagrams from the article on runner form and repeats of specific exercises to engage more power and “quick, explosive” movements aka fast twitch muscles.  Once it leveled out again, I kept a steady pace then geared up for another hill and using those fast twitch muscles.

Many times before, I trudged aimlessly up these hills with the only goal being to not fall over or lose consciousness.  These same hills that have often been my nemesis were now my allies.  I actually felt really, really good!  But how can this be since I should still be in great pain from 27 long, slow miles just two days prior?  I wasn’t exactly running on fresh legs.  Or maybe just certain fresh muscle groups.  I realized I had predominantly used slow twitch muscles for 27 miles and hardly any fast twitch.  Those slow twitch muscles (long distance, endurance, oxygen happy muscles) have seen a lot of mileage this last year.

As I analyze my training and last few marathons, I have to be honest with myself about why they have not been anywhere close to my PR.  My disdain for speed work or repetitive drills has caught up to me.  I had even consoled myself in saying that it’s okay if I never reach my once passionate dream of Boston qualifying or even getting close to sub-4 hours.

Maybe I was just feeling my age – I am almost fifty. Maybe 4:13 was my peak.

God’s timing and coaching never ceases to amaze me.  Last week I received a special little package in the mail.  It was from a former kindergarten student of mine and one with whom I had the pleasure of running several 5Ks.

Anora is now a big sixth grader living in Houston after her mom’s job transfer.  We’ve kept in touch through Facebook which allowed me to see how she continued to win age group medals and excel in other events.  My little package from Anora was none other than a pair of lime green shoe wings.

Purely for fun and decor, these shWings made my day!  I couldn’t wait to put them on my new trail shoes that I just bought for Dirty Dozen.  I was so touched by Anora’s thoughtfulness and posted a picture of the shWings on Facebook.

My lime green running buddy in Indiana saw the post and reminded me of who else gives us wings:

“…those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.”  

Isaiah 40:31 and those lime green shoe wings saw me through a six hour endurance race last weekend.  But they also helped me better understand the relationship between slow and fast twitch muscles.  

I always wondered why in that verse God would say “RUN and not grow weary” followed by “WALK and not be faint.”  Why not just say RUN?  Wouldn’t that have made the same point?  

I believe God is illustrating the point that there are times I need to exercise slow twitch and fast twitch muscles to grow my faith in running His race.  The slow twitch muscles are necessary for enduring and persevering through some of life’s longer, protracted, can’t-see-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel seasons.  The fast twitch muscles are necessary for situations that require immediate action, quick decisions, and ASAP responses.  

I can see over the course of my adult life the many seasons and situations God has allowed – even orchestrated – to develop both of these muscle groups.  I see how He doesn’t want me to go into this next season unprepared.

The “course map” for this season shows some hills.  These hills have names like career change depression, empty nest anticipation, and my mom’s dementia-care frustration…just to name a few.

These seasons are like marathons, only I didn’t sign up for them.

Then there are the situations in which I don’t have time to research, seek counsel, cry myself to sleep over, and pray about for years…and years.  These situations usually start with someone saying “Mom, I need….”  Or “Irene, we should…”  Or “We need to…now.”  They even take the form of spur of the moment prayers like when I passed a horrible accident on the freeway yesterday; I said a quick prayer for the victims as I passed.  They needed immediate life-saving intervention.

God has equipped us to handle all of this.

To run marathons and sprint distances well requires different types of training – and lots of it.  I can’t ignore or pick and choose the ones I want any more than I can decide to ignore frustrating calls from my dad about my mom’s dementia.

I may never win any 5Ks or qualify for the Boston Marathon, but the results of proper, balanced training for both types of races will certainly yield a stronger and more content lifelong runner.  My most satisfying races have not been about finish times.

They were about how I got through those moments when I wanted to give up.  They were about renewed hope.  And eventually soaring.