Attempting the Final 32km Training Run

Note by KC: Here is a training report from MMR – a maiden marathon runner – who will be running the first full marathon in Singapore International Marathon (“SIM”) on 2 December 2007. A committed and disciplined runner, MMR has been dutifully following the training schedule – normal run, short run, tempo run, long run, etc. And finally, the third and final 32km training runs on the weekend of 28 October 2007.

Here is wishing MMR a successful run in your first full marathon in Singapore. With all your training, you will sure cross the finishing line.

The report below refers to the two cloudy and rainy days and finally one sunny day spanning from 22 to 27 October 2007 where MMR had not seen the sun for long time as it rained thrice in a day.

Written by MMR

Thursday

Yesterday there was a much needed short respite from the rain from about 5.30pm onwards. You should have seen the speed I changed into my running gear and dashed out of my office. All my colleagues saw was a whoosh into the bathroom and off I drove swiftly to the gardens for my much needed run.

The gardens were lovely. After such heavy rainfall, the grass was greener and all the leaves seem to be smiling at me, beckoning me with all their droplets of rain still resting on the leaves, tree barks and grass. The green was never greener and with so many shades of green to admire. Even the monkeys were happy with the slight break in rain and were all out sunning themselves (not much sun though) and were all spread out sitting on the grassy slopes trying to dry themselves.

The flowers were smiling at me too. The air was clean and crisp and the flowers, grass, leaves and trees were literally so happy (with the short break in the rain showers) that they smiled. What a wonderful feeling!

There were not many people in the gardens because of the rain, save for the die-hards like yours truly. It was very pleasant to run, nice and cool and I finished about 12km, 8 km of which was a tempo run *. There was a group of Indian guys (I have not seen them before) playing football and when they ended (quite dark at around 7.20pm) they saw me going for my final loop and they said, "Don't go, so dark already!" Obviously, they were concerned for my safety and thankfully I returned safely from my run, one can never be too careful nowadays. It was a good run yesterday, I was glad that that none of my legs were hurting. Exhaustion and tiredness are normal but so far, no aching parts yet.
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* Tempo run: Despite being a little tired, I managed to “con” myself into running about 11 km (just short of the 11.6 km required) as it was now getting dark very early in the evening. The gentlemen at the park asked me as I was doing my loop. "My friend says how come you do not sweat? You must run more loops." I am hardly ever soaked like other runners. Either I am very fit where my body cooling system is very efficient OR my sweat pores are all clogged up!

Friday

Right now there seems to be a break in the rain showers again. Today, it stopped raining so it is nice to see blue skies for a bit. I have decided to rest today and tomorrow for the 32km on Saturday – the final 32km. From next week onwards I will start to taper a little, week by week.
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Saturday

The cool mornings from the evening and night showers caused me to oversleep this morning but still, better late than never. Chomping down my peanut butter and nutella sandwich, my thoughts went to attempting the 32 km run, a formidable task to my mind and body.

The gardens was abuzz this morning with activities as a school was holding its cross annual country race. Kids ranging from 6 years to 17 years with their parents all looked ready to GO! I picked up on their energy and off I went...

I broke my run into 3 manageable segments of which a break was scheduled in each segment with tempting treats of chocolate and isotonic drinks. The monotony of the long run was punctuated by the excited screams of parents and kids of the cross country race. Learning how to manoeuvre around hordes of runners was good practice for the upcoming SIM where some 40,000 runners were registered.

As the sun slowly fired up (finally I see the sun after soooo many days of rain), the category of the cross country races changed from kindergarten to juniors to teens. And soon enough I had passed my 20 km mark and was still feeling good. I am feeling good running long nowadays and actually look forward to it! It is now the “highlight” of my running week since I am able to take my time and not “rush” – we rush so much nowadays in everything we do, everything has to be done in the push of a button/an instant that it is nice to slot in 3 – 4 hours of just your “own” time, reconnecting with myself and just be at peace and quiet with oneself.
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I am reaching the 30km mark and I am still feeling good and strong. Sometimes there are still doubts playing in my mind that I must have been MAD signing up for such a gruelling race and I hope to exorcise these demons from my head soon.

I feel much more confident now and I should be ready for my maiden marathon in a month’s time for SIM.

Good luck to all the fellow marathoners attempting their first OR numerous marathon! See you at the FINISH LINE!

Written by MMR