I was training yesterday with my running buddies Lam and BP. We planned to run 28km, our longest run to date.
We started at Bukit Aman car park at 5:30am. We were joined by another running buddy, Ravin. This was the first time he trained with us. I got my new GPS to pair with my Suunto t3c (heart rate monitor). Now I can tell my running distance and speed/pace more accurately.
Our training route here.
We started by making a loop around the Bird Park and the Memorial, then we proceed to Jalan Dato Onn, the road besides the Bank Negara train station. A small climb here. We proceed to Bukit Tunku and eventually reach the turning to Kompleks Kerajaan in Jalan Duta. This was our 10km point.
Our next stop target was Hartamas. Before pit-stop at Petronas Petrol Station, we did another big loop around the housing area there. The distance covered at pit-stop was our 19km point. We quickly got our drinks and headed back to Bukit Aman via Kompleks Kerajaan and Bukit Tunku. When we came near to Kompleks Kerajaan, we were going into an "unknown zone". We never did anything beyond 22km and we weren't sure what to expect from that point onwards.
At 26km point, near Bukit Tunku, my calf muscles and feet were getting stiff. They felt heavy and stiff. It was not cramp, I have not experienced this feeling before. It was getting more painful to continue. After that point, I decided to slow down and eventually walk. The muscles were like not working anymore. I was not short of breath, I wanted to continue but I don't want to risk injury. So I decided to walk the remaining 2km back to the car park. BP was also at walking pace, but Lam was able to continue his slow run for the last 1km. Finally I made it back to the car park in 3 hours 26 minutes, covered a total distance of 28.8km.
My tendons around my knees were very sore after the run besides the stiffness of the muscles. I drank lots of water to recover. But the soreness around the knees took more time to recover and I have to skip the BHP Orange Run (11km) this morning.
It was a new experience for us. All of us wanted to train for the full marathon and this was only a small but significant step for us. I was contemplating to enroll for the full marathon. The timing was either for the KL International Marathon in June or Penang Bridge International Marathon in November. After this training, I'm still undecided. But one thing for sure, the training continues.
Alien—Something From Nothing
2 months ago
3 comments:
Sounds like you are progressing very well in your training, my friend!
I ought to start getting serious in my training again soon. I haven't been running long distance over the past months because I was nursing an injured ankle. I've doing mere 6-8 kms during weekdays; and 10km runs over the weekends. But I've signed up for the full course in the Borneo International Marathon in October. So I need to start building up on my distance again.
I'm not really an expert when it comes to marathon training, but from the little that I know, I don't think it's such a good idea to jump from 22km to 28km. I find the recommended increment of 10% is a very good guide. Which means, if your last long run was 22km, you should be aiming to increase your distance to 24-25km? Increasing too much and too fast can lead to injuries... and may take a long time to recover.
Cornelius,
Yeah, I know you have made up your mind on the BIM in Oct. I wish you all the best.
Not sure you have training buddies with you. But I know with some buddies to run with you makes a lot of difference, especially if they are also pacing close to your speed.
I agree that the jump from 22km to 28km is a big one. There is a risk of injury there. That's why eventually I have to walk the remaining 2km. The rule of 10% is a good guide. There is also a rule of no going more than half of your weekly average. E.g. If you run 40km weekly, your longest run should not be more than 20km. That's why it is important to build up distance via more frequent running and increase it slowly. So, I will try to follow this guide from now on (after the weekend "challenge"). The other rule to prevent injury is that if you feel pain more than 3 (on a scale of 0-10), then you should stop. That's what I did last Saturday.
It's always in my mind that, I must run with the aim that I can run again and again with joy and passion and the reward is not about the material prize.
ya, very important to keep running. so must training smartly..
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