"The marathon demands determination and courage. The event should not be taken lightly; it asks us to reach down and test our mettle; rise above our limits, to become more disciplined, and to make substantial sacrifices. The rewards are unique: a sense of achievement beyond the scope of words."
-Toby Tanser, The Essential Guide to Running the New York City Marathon
It is almost the beginning of the 6th week of my training, with 104 days remaining before the Big Day. Most of the participants in this year's edition of the NYC Marathon have just completed the first week of their 16-week program. The journey to the starting line at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows in Staten Island, New York has been months in the making, starting January 11th of this year. However, my 18-week training plan officially began the week of June 19th, and I completed just over 11 miles in 3 runs.
To prepare for the challenges past and upcoming, I had to move up the start of my training program. I completed the 3rd run of my first week while traveling to a conference in the Appalachians of the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Lately, I have been battling the extreme heat and humidity by running earlier, skipping over scheduled short runs, or postponing them altogether. My total mileage thus far, 60 miles over 14 runs, is far below what I would have accomplished if I could stick to the plan, but guess what? Life intervened. However, my biggest training challenge is still yet to come. In a week's time, I and a billion of my brothers and sisters in faith will be welcoming the holy month of Ramadhan, where we are not allowed to eat nor drink from before sunrise to after sunset. I do not intend to slack off in my training. Rather, I will curtail my run distances to a maximum of 7-8 miles (60-70 minutes of continuous running) and do them at night, about 2 hours after I open my fast in order to avoid cramping. Yes, this will mark the return of 10:30-midnight runs, stored in my memories since I last participated in them with Michael and Peter around the NTU campus in Singapore 6 years ago.
These challenges can and will be a little trying, but a little toughness will strengthen my resolve, boost my endurance, and make me yearn for perseverance during what could be the hardest and most unique 26.2 miles of my life, shared with 45,000 fellow runners and 2 million spectators. The physical fine-tuning is well underway, but it will all be a waste if my mind doesn't arrive with my body at the starting line on Sunday, November 6th, 2011. I expanded my summer reading list beyond scientific articles just for this purpose, with tomes such as Toby Tanser's The Essential Guide to Running the New York City Marathon and Liz Robbin's A Race Like No Other populating my bookshelf, side table, and dresser. I've only just started reading other runners' accounts of their experiences before and during past NYC Marathons, and I cannot help but be psyched. I just have to keep this runner's high for a 104 more days and then let my endorphins take over for the final hours of this journey. Over the next 15 weeks, I will be logging and detailing my highs and lows in this incredible journey, and hopefully entertaining you. With that, I leave you with a particularly poignant quote from Liz Robbin's A Race Like No Other:
To prepare for the challenges past and upcoming, I had to move up the start of my training program. I completed the 3rd run of my first week while traveling to a conference in the Appalachians of the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Lately, I have been battling the extreme heat and humidity by running earlier, skipping over scheduled short runs, or postponing them altogether. My total mileage thus far, 60 miles over 14 runs, is far below what I would have accomplished if I could stick to the plan, but guess what? Life intervened. However, my biggest training challenge is still yet to come. In a week's time, I and a billion of my brothers and sisters in faith will be welcoming the holy month of Ramadhan, where we are not allowed to eat nor drink from before sunrise to after sunset. I do not intend to slack off in my training. Rather, I will curtail my run distances to a maximum of 7-8 miles (60-70 minutes of continuous running) and do them at night, about 2 hours after I open my fast in order to avoid cramping. Yes, this will mark the return of 10:30-midnight runs, stored in my memories since I last participated in them with Michael and Peter around the NTU campus in Singapore 6 years ago.
These challenges can and will be a little trying, but a little toughness will strengthen my resolve, boost my endurance, and make me yearn for perseverance during what could be the hardest and most unique 26.2 miles of my life, shared with 45,000 fellow runners and 2 million spectators. The physical fine-tuning is well underway, but it will all be a waste if my mind doesn't arrive with my body at the starting line on Sunday, November 6th, 2011. I expanded my summer reading list beyond scientific articles just for this purpose, with tomes such as Toby Tanser's The Essential Guide to Running the New York City Marathon and Liz Robbin's A Race Like No Other populating my bookshelf, side table, and dresser. I've only just started reading other runners' accounts of their experiences before and during past NYC Marathons, and I cannot help but be psyched. I just have to keep this runner's high for a 104 more days and then let my endorphins take over for the final hours of this journey. Over the next 15 weeks, I will be logging and detailing my highs and lows in this incredible journey, and hopefully entertaining you. With that, I leave you with a particularly poignant quote from Liz Robbin's A Race Like No Other:
"Marathoners push themselves to the edge of insanity and exhaustion, because when they look back on those 26.2 miles, the view is profoundly satisfying. They see where they have been and what they have become."
Number of runs: 14
Total distance: 59.63 miles
Total time: 525.15 minutes (8 hours 45 minutes)
Fastest average pace: 7 m 55 sec per mile (3.99 mile run)
Fastest average speed: 7.56 mph
Random Statistics
Number of runs: 14
Total distance: 59.63 miles
Total time: 525.15 minutes (8 hours 45 minutes)
Fastest average pace: 7 m 55 sec per mile (3.99 mile run)
Fastest average speed: 7.56 mph
