A Journey to My First Marathon Part 15

This reminds me of my LSDs on Sunday morning

Yes ! I finished my 32km. One km shorter than I planned but it is enough for my longest run. Technically, I would say I am ready. Following my training plan, the next two weeks should be tapering weeks then the full marathon on the 3rd week. However, I have changed the plan due to my overseas trip this weekend and the whole of next week. Should have done my longest run later but just have to alter the plan to suit my schedule.

Probably will squeeze another 30km on the weekend back from holidays if my body can hold up to run such a long distance after the holiday. Keeping my fingers crossed.  Hope to do some shorter distances during the trip just to throw in some mileage. But it is good to give the body a rest since it is my first marathon. These two long runs, 30km and 32 km, is really tough. Different parts of my body and legs start to feel the pain. And I have to virtually run through the pain to complete the distance. And you will definitely limp after the run. I feel completely wasted after the run. These 30km and above runs are really brutal !

For the 32km, the weather has been kind to me. It was raining the day before and weather was much cooler running on a Sunday morning at 4.50am. Again, it is late considering having to run 4 hours or more. At least got my prayers answered as I have a kind weather on Sunday. The run took 4 hours 30 mins and not including two longer walk breaks. One is walking back to the car to get my water bottle and taking a gel after running for about 22km. The second walk break is after 27km where I have to walk to the Petronas petrol station for a pee break, Milo break and also a bottle of 100plus.

I put on my kick butt music for the last 5km and finished the 32 km. The strange part is I run the final 5km the strongest of the last 20km run. This make me realise that my body can actually hold up to it even after 32km. But after the running 32km, the stretching part is important. This is to ease the pain on the legs. I usually take a glass of low fat chocolate milk after long runs. This recovery part is also very critical. And I did what I didn't do after my 30km the last time, I iced my feet. Just put ice into a bucket of water and put both feet in. This is reduce to the soreness or inflammations and it definitely help. The limping is mainly due to the ankle pain. It is like you have sprain your ankle. And I have knee pain which I never had before. I also felt lower back pain after running 23km during the training.

For all runners, I think one of our biggest fears are injuries. No matter how much training you do and if you are injured, you can say bye bye to the race. Like everybody used to say "Always to listen to our body". So definitely, no running for me in the next two days. Will do a bit of swimming which I know is ideal to heal my ankle injury and weight training.

After I have taken my late breakfast, I just lie down on the settee put both of my feet up and just laze around and watch TV and take short naps for the rest of the morning. I recovered after about 2 to 3 hours rest and back to my energetic self for the rest of the day although I am still limping after that. And  by 10pm, the tiredness started again since I have wake up at 4am and ran for 4 and a half hours. So bedtime by 11pm and I am preparing to oversleep on the Monday morning for recovery. Thank God I have more flexible work hours.

“I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.”  ― Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

Will have to miss a blog post next week due to my holidays......but the Marathon Journey still continues...

A Journey to My First Marathon Part 10

Training for a first marathon is hard....The long runs..The hill runs...the interval runs...the tempo runs. Especially when the long runs going above 3 hours. But you need to long runs for endurance. If not you will never have the confidence and physical capability to complete the race.

Most of the training programs will also include cross training days. I have two cross training days in my weekly schedule. I used to be doing weight training for 4 days before I get back into running. And I have been doing weight training for a long time. Currently, I break up my two cross training days into chest, shoulders and abs. The other day being back, legs and abs. I throw in biceps and triceps whenever I have time available. I do not like to have complete lean upper body with no muscles. But keeping some of the muscles makes my body heavier and it slows down my running speed. It is a compromise I have to choose. I have still lost a bit of muscles when I start reducing my weight training. I actually get more athletic looking body than a more bulky type.

I sometimes squeeze a bit of swimming mostly on Saturday. It helps to elevate some body injuries and   to avoid boredom and I really like the sun and the swim. It is a terrific combination!  Honestly, I don't really like swimming without the sun. Possibly some of parts of my body run on solar energy. Makes me think of Ultraman...

These are the two pictures of sunset I took when I was at St Kilda in Melbourne facing the Antartica. The sunset is just magnificent !

The cross training helps to build the core strength and avoid injuries. The hill runs, tempo runs and interval runs are those that help to improve your speed.

The next thing...to improve the long runs ....and outdoor runs...To be continued...

A Journey to My First Marathon Part 7

When I was running my Half Marathon I didn't consider about any fueling. I just ran on an empty stomach for 3 hrs and 10 mins. I should have fainted in the first place. But I may have too much body fat or muscles that complement the lack of glycogen after it has depleted. I have never really run more than one and a half hour during training. You can imagine running a 3 hours race without fueling just plain water and sports drinks.

Running a marathon requires a lot of mental toughness. Some claimed it is as much as 50%. The physical and mental challenge is what draw people to run a marathon. Most of the time during my training runs, the first 4 km is tough. Your body is still not warm up and you find it a  strain to run. After the warm up and you really start to sweat, the endorphin is released. And you experience a runner's high.

Having listen to a number of podcasts from Marathon Training Academy, I have decided to follow some of the advice give in the podcasts. Those 10km or less run which I can normally finished in less 80 mins run, I will just run on an empty stomach. If I run in the morning I will probably just drink some water and go for a run. But if I run in the evening on a treadmill, it is usually a banana will do. I can mostly run the first 60 mins to 70 mins without water. (I still have a camel in me).

But during the Sunday long runs (or LSD) which goes to 16km or more, you will not be able to have a good run without any fueling. I have started to look for energy gels and they are mostly sold in GNC. There are quite a few varieties of energy gels with different pricing. I have tried most of them during my long runs to test which of them are suited to my taste. Currently, I have find out that I can either take one or two bananas before the run in the morning or one energy gel before the run. And I am also a coffee lover so I have normally need the caffeine booster from the early morning coffee before my run. The energy gels also come with caffeine or without caffeine.

I have chosen GU energy gels after trying a few others.

The morning coffee on Sunday is mainly because you have to wake awfully early to run. It gets earlier and earlier as your runs get longer and longer. Those non-runners will consider runners as "siao-lang"(crazy people in Hokkien). People don't wake up before 12noon on Sunday and for me is normally from 5.30am to 6.30am depending on the length of the run. To runners, if you tell them you wake up at 5.30am that is late to them. They usually wake up at 4am in the morning.

My fueling strategy during the run is that I will normally take an energy gel after every hour of run. So far, I have only taken one during the run even for run as long as almost 3 hours. The energy gels are pretty expensive so I have been taking less than required. You have to try out your fueling strategy during your long runs especially what you want to eat before the run. It has been recommended you have to take your food, 3 hours before the run. This is a bit illogical if you are going for a morning run. Meaning you don't have to sleep then.

But how do you get through the boredom of the long runs especially treadmill running ?

To be continued....

A Journey to My First Marathon Part 4

How do I start preparing for a marathon? The obvious answer is from the internet of course. At the beginning of March 2012, I started to look for information on marathon training. I have been an iTunes user since the IPod nano days and I have always got a lot of information from podcasts at the iTunes store. The good part of it, it is FREE !!! So I started typing in the word "Marathon" at the iTunes store looking under Podcasts. The first one I noticed was "Marathon Training Academy". And it was rated four and half stars then. (I think now it is rated five stars).

I downloaded a few episodes of the podcasts which was hosted by Angie and Trevor, basically a husband and wife team. They provide information mainly to newbie marathoners like me. Very informative, motivational and entertaining too. Angie is more an experienced runner and Trevor is new to running. It has been my best buddy and information for marathon training for the past few months.  They have a website at www.marathontrainingacademy.com with training programs for half and full marathons. They also have a couch to 5K programs. Their podcasts is very structured and the first part is the shout out from listeners which has improved their lives or running through the Marathon Training Academy. These shout outs are the most inspiring part of the podcasts with people telling about their personal experiences. One of the most inspiring podcast is "Marathon Success Stories". Their tag line is "Empowering you to run a marathon and change your life". A very fitting one.

iTunes link for the podcasts of The Marathon Training Academy

I also downloaded their beginners and intermediate training plans for marathon. It was free then. Unfortunately they are charging a fee now to keep the podcasts going. Their training plans has a 3 running days and two cross-training days with a long run on the weekend. The cross-training days are avoid to injuries. The middle of the week training will be for tempo run or hill run alternating. Their training plans are all in miles so I have to convert them into kilometers. So I started following the first week of the training plan on 6 March 2012. I have decided to follow the first two days of the easy and tempo run/hill run on a treadmill so that I can monitor the distance. I started with a 6.5km of easy run on Tuesday and a hill run of 8km on Thursday. The hill run was definitely torturing. You have start to run on a incline of a treadmill for about 6km. After the run, your body will be completely covered with sweat!! Just like you have just taken a shower. But my running speed then was still very slow at a pace about 8.4min/km.

The next problem arose...how I am going to track the long run when I have to run 9km on the road. The long run is crucial as it puts the tiger in the cat.

To be continued.....