educe

2010 Singapore Marathon

I ran the marathon on Sunday (5th Dec) and quit after completing 35 KMs in over 6 hrs. Although I am terribly disappointed that I could not muster the will power to complete the balance 7 KMs, I am glad that I pushed myself for the first 35 KMs.

It is a bit surreal when you experience pain at a level that you’ve never experienced before. The pain can be so extreme, that the focus shifts from the pain itself and your mind starts to think about things which you normally will not. I know it sounds abstract but it is quite hard to explain something that is extreme in its nature.

I completed the 21 KMs mark in about 3 Hrs and 12 minutes, more than my previous best effort. There has been few learnings out of this experience - better training, good diet and lots of rest. I did a little of everything but not enough to get me through to the finish mark.

All in all, a great experience once again and looking forward to the next year’s run.

11th week into the training plan

This is the 11th week since the day of ‘revelation’. Although I am happy I’ve made some progress in improving my fitness, I feel there was quite a bit of lost opportunity in the middle section of the 10 week period prior to this. I still struggle running beyond 6 KMs at a stretch. There are some highlights for sure. I pushed my running speed to 11.5 Kmph during this period, completed a 4.3 KMs run at an average pace of 5 minutes and 30 seconds, more than 2 weeks where I ran at least 5 times in a week. Overall a good 10 weeks and all the more motivated to make the next 10 weeks even better.

My 3rd marathon participation is coming up in 2 weeks time. I abandoned 2 marathons prior to this and I am hoping that I will complete this one. No time targets, just finish the marathon.

The 11th week started strongly with a 7 KM run around the apartment with an average speed of 6 minutes and 19 seconds. My pace has surely improved in the last 10 weeks now the focus will be to maintain this pace and run longer distances.

Ran 4.32 KMs in 26 minutes with a top speed of 11.5 KMs/hr. I intended to run at that speed for about 3 minutes but couldn’t sustain it and had to drop back to 11 Kmph after a minute or so. Overall a good week and the what I’m happy about is that I am recovering quite fast after the runs.

Weekly stats:

Distance: 19.69 KMs
No. of runs: 5
Total time: 1:58:15
Average pace: 6:00 / KM