GCAM is now 2 weeks away. And i havent managed to get a half decent long run in since running the Sundown Half Marathon more than 2 weeks ago. There have been 2 abortive attempts that lasted 5km and 11.5kms respectively, and to put it rather mildly, they have dented my hopes of running a solid effort at GC. Therefore i have now switched focus from hard training to hard praying. For a miracle. :)
I am wondering whether i should race in my NB RT769s or the Boston Ekiden. Think i will go with the NBs as need more time in Boston to make the shoe expand a bit and fit neatly for my feet.
Salvage operations will get underway this weekend, at OUTR i suspect. Followed by intense dialogues with the almighty.
Progress report will come through later.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sundown Half Marathon Race Review
On Saturday, the Sundown Half Marathon was to prove to be an experience that i am likely to cherish for quite some time to come. My fundamental objective for the race was to run below 2hrs and my stretch target was to run 1:53 (for 2 reasons - 1:53 converts to a Mcmillan sub 4 marathon, and also i wanted to go below 2hr by as much as my current PR was above it 2:06:xx). As it turned out, i ran a 1:55:59. And i am pleased as punch by it !!
I had carboloaded reasonably well having had pasta for dinner on Friday and again as lunch on Saturday. Knowing the traffic snarl that was likely in getting to the race site, i left home at around 4.30pm and after an inordinate amount of time crawling through the Aviation Park Road, i parked my car at 5.30pm. Saw the 10km kick off and then found some of my HM friends who had also reached the venue by then. (The three friends who i met ran 1:30, 1:33 and 1:45 respectively !!!)
My first lesson of the day came from here - i should remember to carry something to munch if i felt the need just before a race. At the start line i was actually quite hungry as i hadnt had anything to eat for more than 3 hours. Other than that, I was feeling quite positive and was excited at the prospect of actually "racing" i.e. putting a solid effort out on the road. My plan was to run the first 2-3kms at at 5:45 pace (advice from Roonz) and then pick it up to about 5:20 and hold it there for as long as i could. About 20 minutes from the start of the race, there was a call for sub 2 runners to move to the front and i sheepishly made my way up there, not knowing if i was deserving of rubbing shoulders with other runners who could stake a legit claim to be there.
The race started right on time at 8pm, and because of the speedy gonzales' around me, i ran a 5:34 for the 1st km, and in fact managed an average pace of 5:30ish for the next few kms. On one hand i was ruing going out too fast and on the other, since i had already warmed up by then, i figured i would keep the pace there and keep going. The first 11km went relatively smoothly, coming in exactly at 1 hour. My scheduled gel break was for the 13km water point and it was from there on that my walk breaks at the water points became progressively longer. I knew i was slipping off my pace target, yet when i wasnt walking, i was running pretty well. ECP can get pretty desolate and i found myself running alone for most of the race, either being overtaken or passing others by but not many running at the same pace as i was. I was steadily going out of gas, but since it had been my plan to push it all the way, i tried to run as fast as i could despite my side stitch at the 17th and 19th km as well as a bit of abdominal ache. Probably if i had to pick the worst point in the race for me, it had to be the 21st km, where with less than 700m to go i was reduced to a walk for a brief 100 metres or so due to the stitch. Sprinted the remaining distance and was super ecstatic to see the clock read 1:56:02 (later found out that my time was 1:55:59, position 186 overall, 153 amongst men).
It was a splendid race for me - i set a target which i thought was a tough but realistic one, and managed to hit it (for most part atleast). I also know that if i can keep my training consistent and not get injured, i will be able to run faster and longer. Which is the whole point of my running anyway. :)
So thats 4 races this year, 4 different distances and a PR in all of them. Will i ever be able to do this again?
I had carboloaded reasonably well having had pasta for dinner on Friday and again as lunch on Saturday. Knowing the traffic snarl that was likely in getting to the race site, i left home at around 4.30pm and after an inordinate amount of time crawling through the Aviation Park Road, i parked my car at 5.30pm. Saw the 10km kick off and then found some of my HM friends who had also reached the venue by then. (The three friends who i met ran 1:30, 1:33 and 1:45 respectively !!!)
My first lesson of the day came from here - i should remember to carry something to munch if i felt the need just before a race. At the start line i was actually quite hungry as i hadnt had anything to eat for more than 3 hours. Other than that, I was feeling quite positive and was excited at the prospect of actually "racing" i.e. putting a solid effort out on the road. My plan was to run the first 2-3kms at at 5:45 pace (advice from Roonz) and then pick it up to about 5:20 and hold it there for as long as i could. About 20 minutes from the start of the race, there was a call for sub 2 runners to move to the front and i sheepishly made my way up there, not knowing if i was deserving of rubbing shoulders with other runners who could stake a legit claim to be there.
The race started right on time at 8pm, and because of the speedy gonzales' around me, i ran a 5:34 for the 1st km, and in fact managed an average pace of 5:30ish for the next few kms. On one hand i was ruing going out too fast and on the other, since i had already warmed up by then, i figured i would keep the pace there and keep going. The first 11km went relatively smoothly, coming in exactly at 1 hour. My scheduled gel break was for the 13km water point and it was from there on that my walk breaks at the water points became progressively longer. I knew i was slipping off my pace target, yet when i wasnt walking, i was running pretty well. ECP can get pretty desolate and i found myself running alone for most of the race, either being overtaken or passing others by but not many running at the same pace as i was. I was steadily going out of gas, but since it had been my plan to push it all the way, i tried to run as fast as i could despite my side stitch at the 17th and 19th km as well as a bit of abdominal ache. Probably if i had to pick the worst point in the race for me, it had to be the 21st km, where with less than 700m to go i was reduced to a walk for a brief 100 metres or so due to the stitch. Sprinted the remaining distance and was super ecstatic to see the clock read 1:56:02 (later found out that my time was 1:55:59, position 186 overall, 153 amongst men).
It was a splendid race for me - i set a target which i thought was a tough but realistic one, and managed to hit it (for most part atleast). I also know that if i can keep my training consistent and not get injured, i will be able to run faster and longer. Which is the whole point of my running anyway. :)
So thats 4 races this year, 4 different distances and a PR in all of them. Will i ever be able to do this again?
Passion Run 25km Race Review
I am just leaving a placeholder here for the moment - will update this soon enough.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Pondering in perpetuity ..
My April running calendar looked like i had hung up my shoes for good. I ran 55kms in the last week alone compared to the 45kms i had run in the 3 weeks prior to that. Obviously this does not bode well for my sub-4hr marathon ambitions at Gold Coast. Since i am trying to make the best of what remaining training time i have, i have stopped looking at my excel training plan for about a month now and decided to just run a mix of tempos, LSDs and general aerobic runs while maintaining a weekly mileage of 50kms atleast. I am kinda hoping/praying that this will atleast get me to a 4:15 finish if not a sub-4 finish at Gold Coast.
I have absolutely loved the last couple of weeks where i have run with my newly acquired garmin 310xt. Its a fantastic watch to have for geeky runners. :) I also did my first run with Team Fatbird as part of Operation Kookaburra, a training program for the GCM. It was a night run of 25kms. I did ok the first 17 and then stopped short of falling flat on my face several times in the remaining 8 kms.
I am at an interesting stage of training - i am wondering whether i should cut my losses and not aim for a sub-4 and just go there and have an enjoyable race outing or if i should go for broke and just go hell for leather. I dont think i will know the answer until i get to the start line. The other thought thats daunting me is that i need to run a 1:53 HM if i want to do a 4hr full .. and i am running a HM in just about 4 weeks time. Find it hard to believe at this point in time that a 5:21pace for 21kms is going to be realistic .. but then again, i didnt expect to run a 4:26 at Tokyo so i will still play my cards.
Note to self - Update this blog more frequently.
I have absolutely loved the last couple of weeks where i have run with my newly acquired garmin 310xt. Its a fantastic watch to have for geeky runners. :) I also did my first run with Team Fatbird as part of Operation Kookaburra, a training program for the GCM. It was a night run of 25kms. I did ok the first 17 and then stopped short of falling flat on my face several times in the remaining 8 kms.
I am at an interesting stage of training - i am wondering whether i should cut my losses and not aim for a sub-4 and just go there and have an enjoyable race outing or if i should go for broke and just go hell for leather. I dont think i will know the answer until i get to the start line. The other thought thats daunting me is that i need to run a 1:53 HM if i want to do a 4hr full .. and i am running a HM in just about 4 weeks time. Find it hard to believe at this point in time that a 5:21pace for 21kms is going to be realistic .. but then again, i didnt expect to run a 4:26 at Tokyo so i will still play my cards.
Note to self - Update this blog more frequently.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The Tokyo Marathon experience
Actually i started writing the below very shortly after the Tokyo marathon, and then subsequently never got around to completing it .. i hope to though.
It’s only been 3 days since I ran the Tokyo marathon. Yet the euphoria of the experience is yet to diminish although the severe cold cough that i contracted during/after the race is trying to do just that. Nevertheless i wanted to write this race report while the experience was still fresh in my mind and i can recall most of my fluctuating emotions as i journeyed through the 42.2kms (and a bit more).
Going into the race, i was feeling nervously excited about what was to ensue. This was my first marathon where i was coming to the start line in a half decent physical shape. Yet i had slacked for 2 full months (Nov/Dec 2008) before putting in 2 very decent months of training in Jan and Feb this year. Therefore I saw this race as a fairly decent baseline of my performance at this point in time. My target was to clock between 4:30 and 4:40, both of which I saw as re....
It’s only been 3 days since I ran the Tokyo marathon. Yet the euphoria of the experience is yet to diminish although the severe cold cough that i contracted during/after the race is trying to do just that. Nevertheless i wanted to write this race report while the experience was still fresh in my mind and i can recall most of my fluctuating emotions as i journeyed through the 42.2kms (and a bit more).
Going into the race, i was feeling nervously excited about what was to ensue. This was my first marathon where i was coming to the start line in a half decent physical shape. Yet i had slacked for 2 full months (Nov/Dec 2008) before putting in 2 very decent months of training in Jan and Feb this year. Therefore I saw this race as a fairly decent baseline of my performance at this point in time. My target was to clock between 4:30 and 4:40, both of which I saw as re....
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