Lesson Learnt

I learnt a very hard and tough lesson today and I thought it would be worth sharing. :-)

Went for a usual ECP run this morning after missing the previous week due to the dreaded FLU bug and it was really a nightmare.

Things started off well and being ambitious and trying to stick closely to my training programme, I decided to ignore the fact that I had only done 1 run in the past 13 days and that being a short 7.5km abeit at a respectable 6:20/km pace.

My schedule had stated that I needed to do a 23km run today. Fair enough, I said to myself. Coaxing myself to sleep early and not get carried away by old movie replays on TV, I drove down to ECP the in the usual routine with my schedule stop at the petrol kiosk to buy my post-run hydration. (Shell, 7-11, can you stop changing the promotional items? I was getting used to buying 2 100plus at $2.20 and now you have forced me to switch to H2O cos it is 2 for $2.60 and the 100plus cost q for $2.20 now)

Started off well, I thought, knowing htat it will be a stretch run as the turn-around point would be 11.5km, I forced myself to stick to a 6:50 instead on galloping to the usual comfortable sub 6:30, in a naive attempt to save some energy just in case.

Well well, it was fine when i hit the turnaround point, still felt good and respectable at 73mins at 11.5km, in fact faster than i wanted to run. THEN. the heat struck.... I have forgotten totally about the stupid heat that comes on at about close to 730 and it just continued to get hotter.
Coupled with the fact that though my respiratory systems were now fully recovered, my legs were definately not conditioned to got for such a run after such a lull.

15km, It all struck. a little pop went behind my left knee, and every single left leg action resulted in a straining pulll on the muscle/ligament (I still have no idea what it is) This, my friends, is a result of over straining yourself when your body is not conditioned sufficiently. It was just a reactive overstride that resulted in this niggling pain. 2.5km on, I stoppped and had the opportunity to relive the memories of walking along ECP with the old uncle and auntie overtaking me... The longest 40mins walk I had to do since the marathon last year. Just to walk another 5+km to my car.

So now, Voltaren is my best friend. I feel dehydrated and slightly dizzy till now when I am typing this due to the heat.

So points to remember my friends.

1. If you have missed training for some time, (1 week, 2 weeks whatever) Please revert to the training programme 1 week prior to you had the break (Which would have been a 17km run)
2. Do not forget that in a country like Singapore, temperatures rise rather quickly and based on my estimations, when it was 830am, it felt like 32-33C already.
3. Remind me to buy a hydration belt. Water bottle carrier, whatever....
4. I just remembered that the last times I ran >20km, I started to use energy gels. Maybe it is about time to incorporate the gels into my weekend long runs to get used to the caffeine kick and also to replenish some carbohydrates. It is not joke, based on my Nike+, I had burnt 1700 calories just in that 2hours run not including the 40mins walk.
5. Breaking in shoes. Wore my newer (Not brand new) Elite 4 for the run today and just like the last time I wore it for a 10km run, it gave me a gentle blister on my right arch. Apparently I have not wore it in sufficiently enough to use it for such runs... Just for background checks, I have wore it for 4 short runs and it seems that i would need to wear it for another 4 at least before it starts molding to the shape of my feet.

So long, I have an uphill task now of increasing the mileage to hit my 32-34 long run by end Oct, early Nov as I am beginning to see that it may be quite impossible to increase my mileage sufficiently. Mathematically, I have 3/4 weekends to do it. I would have to do a 21 next week, 26 the week after, 30 and finally a 34 to meet my "training requirements". That is a nightmare just to think about it.

As a parting message to some of you who I hope that it was due to my little journal and FB updates that you have started to run again. You will soon realise that it is not the marathon that is the hurdle. It is the discipline, drive and finding a continuous source of motivation to make you meet ur training and wake up early to run etc that is the toughest part of running a marathon.

As what Adam Sandler may have said in "Click". It is the process that matters, not the destination.

Jeff out.