Going the Distance
Marathoners set their paces at BU’s Athletic Enhancement Center
There are runners, and then there are runners. Catherine Cagle is definitely in the latter camp. The 46-year-old landscape architect from Waltham, Mass., says she runs about 30 races a year, including a couple of marathons. She’s been running since she was a teenager trying to stay in shape for her high school cross-country ski team, and it’s been an important part of her life since.
Over time, however, all that pavement pounding has started to take its toll. “I tend to overtrain,” she says, “and I found myself injured a lot.”
That’s what drew Cagle to the marathon training program at Sargent College’s Athletic Enhancement Center, led by the center’s head strength and conditioning coach, Noel Vigue. Beginning late in the fall, Vigue holds weekly one-hour workouts with established and aspiring marathoners at BU’s Track and Tennis Center to improve speed and endurance, to lessen the chance of injury, and to prepare mentally for 26.2 miles.
“What we try to do is mix it up a little bit: bring them in on the track, give them some ideas for injury prevention, and also give them some ideas for how to prepare for their run both physically and mentally,” says Vigue. “We want to work backwards from what their main goal is, either a certain time they want to meet or if they just want to finish.”
About a dozen marathoners are currently working with Vigue. Many of them will be lacing up for the 112th Boston Marathon next Monday, April 21, although Cagle is preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon in October. All that training has helped her with injury prevention, and with her race-day attitude too.
“A lot of times you can’t control what’s going to happen on race day,” she says. “You could have done everything right, and race day you just don’t have it, or maybe the weather’s bad, or some little injury comes up. So you have to enjoy the process.”
Edward A. Brown can be reached at ebrown@bu.edu. Chris Berdik can be reached at cberdik@bu.edu.
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