Inspiration or delusion?

With my search for a running partner mirroring my search for a girlfriend, I have to continue soldiering on solo in my runs. And like a broken record, I will continue to reiterate the hardships of such a solo quest. There is a real danger of a wire or two short-circuiting upstairs. Boundaries tend to get blurred and impossible things seem possible. Heck this might even get mistaken as runners' high by a lot of those hippie jogger types. After all euphoria and agony are easily confused for each other even in normal circumstances, what more by a semi-catatonic runner on his 10th loop of a boring course.

Anyway, I have a secret weapon when the going gets tough. As cheesy as it sounds, I always draw up those pseudo morale lifting songs from sports movies, more specifically the songs from the Rocky series. Going uphill, hearing the theme to the movie really helps. The song 'Eye of the tiger' also comes up every so often, especially when I am left to do some catch up with the frontrunners. I imagine myself as a tiger bearing down on them.

So after all that, I will leave it up to you whether running is all about inspiration or hapless delusion.

Level up

This past week I have been attempting to lengthen my runs. I felt that endurance was one of the key areas that I could really improve on, but then again that wouldn't be a problem in the first place if I could just run long at the snap of my fingers.

The thing is that distance running is veeeeeery boring if done alone. So boring, in fact, that I have taken to counting footsteps, counting down time, trying to calculate the times I need to hit, among other things to keep myself occupied. It's not so much the body but the mind that gets tired after a while.

Then there's the body, like it or not, running long is going to hurt, one way or another. There might be some minor niggles or maybe the socks didn't fit right or the shoelaces are too tight, either way they will all throw a king-sized spanner into the works. External factors aside, the legs or lungs might not feel right, and when things don't go right, it's easy to get demoralised. With your motivation gone, it's only a matter of time before you fall to the temptation of quitting your run.

With all of that in mind, I had already had about 2 or 3 aborted 1 hour runs. Due to a combination of the above reasons, they have all been scaled back to about 40 minute runs. Considering my previous runs though, they have been an improvement, heck they might even have passed for my long runs in the bad old days. Still, I got a target to hit, and that target requires a new kind of bullet, the long range kind.

One of the stumbling blocks to me running long is my refusal to slow down to a shuffle. At the very least, I must have some semblance of being a runner not a jogger. Besides that, I have taken the words of my ex-coach to heart. He told me that when you are falling way short of your target times in a workout, it's often better to not struggle on and do it just for the sake of it. So yeah, I am a picky runner.

Ok enough of the rambling and back to today. I was on the verge of setting a new record for my weekly mileage until my aversion to running long did me in. Still, the situation was still salvageable if I really stuck to my Sunday plan for a long run. In my kiasu-ness, I even did a morning run at the gym too. This was a modestly paced 7.3k, since my projected long run was in the back of my mind. In a way, this run decreased some of the pressure, as running it allowed me to hit my regular mileage of 50km.

I went out for my long run with the late afternoon run still searing overhead, as if daring me to come challenge it's wilting powers. I refused to be cowed though, even if I had been defeated by it in the past. My plan was to do a 10k, not really a long run, but I decided to see how things felt before proceeding further. My itinerary this time was simple, run to Botanical Gardens, then do loops inside until I feel dizzy or pass out.

The run there was uneventful, an aside from some residual lower leg tightness, relatively pain free. I kept my rhythm constant and tried to keep relaxed. After doing some mental calculations (another way to stave boredom), I determined that I had to do another 9 laps on top of my run there. That number scared me a bit though, so I tried not to dwell on that. After shaking off my soreness, I actually felt great and was able to enjoy my loops. I was quite pleased to find that I could just relax and enjoy the ride, this is what I really signed up for, too bad it's few and very far between (pun unintended). Whenever boredom threatened to creep in, I tried to calculate the splits for each loop, and how far I had run. I found that I was still going strong even as I was approaching my targeted distance, so I decided to try to tack on a few more loops and hit the hour mark.

The hour mark came and went, and I decided to go for another couple of loops. In the end, I managed 14 laps in addition to my run there. Hell the great feeling was just unreal, I felt that I really made a breakthrough. I could even remember my split times. To top it off, I blew right past my previous weekly mileage and did 65km in total. Just amazing.

P.s. I still need running partners. Boredom will be back for double payback after today.

Perspective

Emerging from the typical Chinese New Year binge, I reckon that my fitness survived quite well, and I was able to resume my training. Speaking about my training, I have always felt that I am progressing quite well. That is, until I got a sense of perspective a couple of days ago.

I met up with an ex-teammate of mine, Jia Hao. He's also a runner, albeit a sprinter. Like me, he also decided not to hang up his spikes after hightailing it out of Chung Ling. Of course being a sprinter his goals deviate a bit from mine, as there are no road races for him to shine in. Instead, he's aiming for the Malaysia Games later in the year.

Being a runner and eternally curious about personal bests, I inevitably shifted the topic to what his current best for the 100 is for. 10.9 seconds was his answer. Though it didn't surprise me, I was still a bit taken aback. Here I was, thinking I was the shit every time I finished a tough workout, and I couldn't be further away from the truth. While it is strange to draw comparison with a sprinter, the truth is that he is relatively further along in his training, and I have to really work harder to be on a similar level statistically.

As for getting the hurt on, I already started on it since the afternoon right after that meeting. I just went and did a 40 minute run on the field. Of course, I would have to neglect the fact that I projected a 1 hour run instead. Sigh, life is tough for a distance runner.

Long(ish) run

In my quest to be at least a decent runner, I am ever willing to try out new training plans. However, there is more or less a constant in my training, my Friday runs.

After a week of mostly treadmill or field runs, Friday will be the day I step down to the roads, weather and mood permitting. Friday runs are also my longest runs, which doesn't happen for the sake of it. The real reason behind this is that I will be running with the group I represent, the O2 Hiking Team. I am not the type that likes to plod along for hours at a snails pace, I get bored, plain and simple. So after a week of training by my lonesome self, I use the opportunity of training with my teammates to push myself to longer distances. Nevertheless, my so called long runs are still only about 10 or 11 km, which is still waaaaaay too short. Anyhow, one step at a time.

Today's weather looked a bit dreary and I could feel the damp air. Needless to say, the gloomy weather did nothing to help lift my already unmotivated spirits. However a quick reminder to my inner self that sunny, uplifting weather will only result in mid-run thirst and suffering soon rectified matters.

While the O2 gang usually start at the Botanical Gardens, I usually increased my run distance by running to the gardens and then continuing on. On my way there, I saw that a few of them were already well on their way. I stuck to my plan though, as I really need to do more mileage. The plan called for a round of the uphill sections inside the gardens in addition to the usual small round. Running that uphill part was bound to be hard, even for someone with fresh legs and I braced myself for the torrent of negative thoughts that will flow through my mind. Surprisingly, the bombardment never came, and I just flowed through that climb with surprising lack of pain. Of course, the cool weather might have something to do with that. Still, my confidence was boosted, and I increased my effort.

The next stretch out of the gardens, was all flat, at least until the Youth Park. Even so, the hardest hill part was behind me. The hills facing me next were not so much one big difficult climb as they were a multitude of small climbs, annoying ones. I managed to keep my rhythm, which was important in managing the hills. Pretty soon, I strode through my run, such was the apparent ease. So much so that on my return trip, I felt good enough and motivated enough to push hard. This was completely different to most of my previous runs, where my last minute pushes were more of forced efforts.

After finishing the run, I did 5 hill charges with one of the faster guys on the team. Overall, a very solid training day.