Bonking

The pacing of the the 4:50 group for the SIM08 went
pretty well, with two (Samantha and Fatt) stayed
with me and successfully crossed the finished line
in 4:53. A three minute missed is more than
acceptable for the two, considering the hot
weather and not so perfect training
(I considered myself doing a
great pacer job. Now, it is time to run my
own race...)


Fatt had asked me a few times the reason for
some who have all the ability and potential to
run sub five or even much faster, only to
end up crossing the finishing line in 7 hours
plus; how some runner reached the 30K mark in 2:30
and only crossed the finishing line in 4:45.
(A 2:30 30K is VDOT 43.5 and the equivalent
performance for a 3:34 marathon, in another word,
the above mentioned runner reached the finishing line
more than 1:10 later than his true
potential for the day).

The answer is simply INCORRECT PACING STRATEGY!!!

In Sam case, she had not trained well for the season
due to injury, but through smart pacing
( thanks to me ) was able to maximize her
potential and set a PR even in a hot weather condition,
though I had to admit that that her sheer will power
and my constant "pushing" does help a bit.

But can sheer will power overcome your body limit
when you really BONK?

I doubt so!

Back to the runners mentioned above, I noticed that
they bonked not once, but a few times
over the years. (Now, there might be some
reasons for the saying of
"some marathoners never learn...").

I think the reasons behind was three fold.

Firstly, their pacing strategy is
totally incorrect--they started out too fast.
Noticed some of these runner actually practised up to
40K for their longest long run just to make sure
that they won't bonk in the race.

But they DID!!!

Simply because they raced at a
much faster pace than their training.
It is like they set a 10K PR
in the marathon race, how could you expect
that they would not bonk later.


Secondly, when you bonked a few times,
the effect is just like training, the body
has been conditioned, the mind has been
programmed TO BONK.
I bet the above mentioned runners always bonk
at almost the same distance marker.
It is like you mind is wired
to shut down just reaching that point...

So the more you bonked before, the harder to break this,
and the more likely it will bonk again, a vicious cycle!


Last but not least, the psychological aspect.
I had bonked once (yes, it happened to me too,
and my PW is 6:45 which I hope I would
never ever set another record).

I remembered how I feared the marathon distance
especially SIM where I set the PW, and it took a
few good marathon racing to overcome that fear.
And you know what fear can do to you if
you unable to overcome

it--WHATEVER YOU FEAR WILL HAPPEN!



To break this vicious bonking cycle,
the more you have bonked before,
the slower you should race the first half.
This strategy will most likely does NOT
maximize your racing potential for the day,
but it will make sure that you DON'T bonk.

Here is what "BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY" really make sense.


And finally, I include the video of the
IronMan Hawaii Triathlon of 1997,
where Sian Welch and Wendy Ingram “race” over
the final few hundred meters for
fourth and fifth place (YES, FOURTH AND FIFTH).

You can see what it look like when someone bonk and
totally spent--fatigue, muscle cramp, hypoglycemia
(disoriented, difficulties to balance
and stay co-ordinated).

Welch was ahead of Wendy when the video start,
obviously she bonked quite hard and suffer
severe muscle cramp and hypoglycemia(she was
disoriented and fell a few times)

Wendy Ingram was cramping quite severely and
modified her running style into a spider like
running style towards the finishing line.

Now, I realized that there were more than
one ways of finishing:

(1)You finished strongly and looking good,
smiling and high-fiving like some of
the men in the video did.

(2)Modified your running style,
like Wendy did, adopted a
spider-like gait if it is what it takes.

(3)Do whatever it take to cross that
damn line--Crawl if you have to.







P/S: I broke into tears the first time
I watch this and totally
respect human's racing spirit (for FORTH and FIFTH).


Merry Christmas and Crank on.

Quit Smoking

I was a very heavy smoker once, and an alcoholic too.

And you know what drinking and smoking can do to you

(I was once unable to run/walk a 1 kilometer).


God knows how many times I tried quiting smoking, and

it was best put by Mark Twain's character Tom Sawyer,

"Quiting smoking is easy, I have done it a thousand times..."

(For some of you who don't get it, you only need to quit it once

if it is really working, and quiting a thoudsand times means a

thoudsand times of failure).


Well, I think the word "knowledge is power" is really important in

the endeavor of quiting smoking bussiness. There were so many products

in the market out there, each claiming that it will help smoker quit

smoking easier but in fact does nothing more that just prolonging

the withdrawal syndrome of quiting smoking, and thus making quiting

even more torturing. I have trid the nicotine patch,

nicotine chewing gums, chinese herbs, etc. Trust me, they just

DON'T WORK!!! Save your money and time if anyone tried to sell

you these.


Let me tell you, the BEST WAY of quiting is just QUIT COLD TURKEY.

I strongly recommend that you read all the articles in Joel's Library

in http://whyquit.com/ . These articles are very infomative and

will equip you well in quiting.


I once held a Quit Smoking presentation in the company that I work,

and I include the slides that I prepared click here .


It was more than 4 year ago since I smoke the last stick of cigarette,

and ever since from then, I had ran 10 marathons. I have successfully

transformed myself from a smoker to a marathoner.



Each day that I run now, I thanks the me 4 years ago that was kind

enough, strong enough and lucky enough to quit. I now totally

reaped the benefits of what I did 4 years ago.

However, I fully understand that an ex-smoker is not a never smoker,

I have to abide to the law of addiction and never take another puff...


For those of you who are trying to quit smoking and couldn't, please

read and re-read Joel's article cited above.


I strongly think that quiting smoking is the best thing that I have done

to myself and hopefully, you will do the same.


Crank on.

Tapering

Phase I --Reduced exercise induced Withdrawal Syndrome


The first few days after the starting the tapering process, are

the hardest and most uncomfortable days.


The body is so used to the daily "adreneline fix" that withdrawal

syndrome is triggered when running is stopped or cut down drastically.


It is wise to reduced running gradually if withdrawal syndrome is to

be avoided.

At this pahse, you will tend to have a very strong urge to run strongly

everyday.

HOLD YOURSELF BACK!

You really need to stick to the tapering.

Remember that you need the discipline to do the right thing,

not do thing right.

Depending on your total tapering duration, this phase of tapering

can take days or close to two weeks where your main goal is to reduce

the running gradually to minimize the effect of withdrawal.




Phase II--Soreness all over and Fatique Creep in

After a few days of no running or much reduced running intensity and volume,

you will notice soreness all over the body.

At the same time, fatique creep in silently eventhough sleeping

hours is increased.


I suspect this is due to the fact that the body releases

cartisoids(steroid, which is a very strong stabilizer) reacting to the running

stress in everyday's training (particularly the most intense

phase III of a marathon training program where there are lot of VO2Max,

fast tempo and long run workouts).

Though muscle damage, inflammation, etc. occurred during normal days' training, the

syndrome is actually masked off by the cartisoids.

Then, the cartisoids level in the body is dropped significantly during the tapering

when physical activity is very much reduced, and as a result, inflammation occurred

everywhere.

Noticed that inflammation is a natural way of speeding up the heeling process

the body, which at the same time, will gives a sensation of soreness or mild pain.


Don't worry about all those tingling pain or tireness, this actually tell you

that your body is actively recovering and rebuilding itself.


Remember, during these phase, you will run poorly.

What seemed to be a piece of cake before the tapering might feel like a demanding

workout.

DON'T TOUGH IT OUT!!!

If you feel weary, by all means skip or cut short the run.

At this stage, it is better doing too little than doing too much.


This phase of tapering normally take days to a week where you actually

don't feel like running too much or at all.



Phase III -Ready for the race

Finally all those sorenes and tingling pain are gone and as race day closing, you

become more and more restless.


KEEP YOUR SANITY TILL THE D DAY!!!


Now, you are ready to the BIG day.



Good luck!


Crank on.

Being a Runner(2) 42.2

Only a runner will care about the .2 after the 42.

For a fast runner, the .2 take 30 seconds to complete,

while for a slow runner it might be more than 1 minute.

30 seconds for an elite runner is vast enough

for a difference of a few positions in placing.

And a minute can make or break a shining

PR for runners like the rest of us.


xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Now, who is that fella who just said that marathon

is 42K?



Crank on.

Fartlek--A Speed Play on the Lake Track

When I reached the lake track car park, I had

leaded legs. I stretched a bit lazily and pondering

whether I should run or take a stroll and smell the rose.


Then Tai saw me and directed me to run clockwise to meet those

"buddies". Surely a man does not has too many options, does

he?

I followed Tai's "command" and 800 meters later, I

saw the "buddies". Among the group are Fatt, Loh, Pak, and Connie.



After the usual greating, some asked for some spices on the run.

I quickly suggested doing a "fartlek". I suggested that everyone take

turn being the leader and the leader controls the recovery time as welll as

dictates how far and how fast the workbout is.

One condition is that the leader has to announce the distance marker ahead of

time for the workbout so that evryone one had a feel of what to expect.


The neat thing about taking turn of being the leader is that for the

slower runner, he or she can really make use of his or her turn to recover

from the "abuse" of the faster runners.


After deciding the ordering (I being first, then Fatt, follow by Loh,Pak and

Connie), the games rolls...

"Charge to the toilet in front" I yelled, and the "buddies" charged along.


After reaching the toilet, Fatt take over the leadership and jogged about two

hundred meters for recovery. Suddenly, he shouted "charge to the starting point"

and he leads the "buddies" to the starting point with a 5:00m/k pace.


At this point, we could see that Connie, who just picked up running again after a

long layoff bearing and giving birth to her second child, was really struggling.

So, when Loh suggested a long charge, a few of us begged for a shorter one on

her behalf. After Pak's leadership, finally came to Connie's. Now, she

really had to make use of that for the recovery...


The leadership and charging rolled on, but after a while, Connie dropped out.


Now, everyone else knew that now the game was really on...


"Charge to the toilet"

"Charge to the foot messaging stone"

"Charge to the stating point"

"Charge to the u-turn junction point"

"Charge...."


And the pace was getting more and more relentless.


There was once when I took over the leadership, I decided to be really

nasty. While evryone was puffing and panting, I ordered a fast

charge again. Everyone else grumbled by still follow suit.

The game rolled on...

Finally, Pak took command and lead the pack to the starting/finishing point

with a 3:50m/k pace.

After the run, the "buddies" walked together for a cool down lap. While

everyone was cursing at each other on being so mean and merciless, everyone was

truly satisfied with the run.

There was enough fun, commanderie, adrenaline rush, spices, etc.

Everyone was smiling and very much revived.


It trully was a speed play on the lake track...


Crank on.

Discipline

I really have difficulties holding myself back after going through

the intense Phase III of the marathon training program and

officially entering into the tapering phase. Fitness peaked

and the body begs for some more pounding...


After the longest long run on Sunday, the planned rest day was not so

successful.

I had two consequitive "fast" run days instead of the "rest".

Everyday I woke up, I decided and reminded myself that "today is my

rest day, no runnning today". But, somehow, my legs dragged

me to the lake track where the "running buddies" hang around.

And I know who to blame for the "fast run". Well, not exactly...



Some people said in distance running, the three important factors for success
are discipline, determination, and opportunity.

The discipline is placed first not without reason.


In this case, discipline not only means dragging

oneself out of the door for a fix of adrenaline rush,

but also holding oneself back and

not going for a run when a rest is very much needed and planned.


One common mistake in training is that:


The easy day is too hard while the Hard day is too easy.

So, discipline s about doing the right thing.


Let the easy day be easy and realy whip your butt on the hard day.


Crank on.

My 2 Cents on Tapering, Pre Marathon and During Race Routine

This coming SIM08, I would be pacing my wife again for the second time

for the full distance. The first one went pretty well and set a 4:57

in KLIM08. A few friends also interested in tagging along and they asked

about pre marathon routine. Well, here it is what I normally

practised, developed and fine tuned from my previous nine marathons experiences.




I must say that I bear no expertise in any medical, physical education

qualifications or things like that, and I advised you to take what I said

with a grain of salt. These are just my two cents...




(1)Sleep well and Enough
During the taper phase, I would slowly increase the
number of sleeping hours I am getting. I would first goto bed half an hour

earlier than before for a few days, then an hour earlier,etc.
I slowly train myself and build the habit that I am able to sleep at about 9

o'clock, which is what I need to do the night before the marathon.


When you travel for a marathon, Friday is is the most important day for

getting the quality sleep in. I personally call it the Zzz(read triple z) loading day. Take a day off if it is affordable and sleep in on Friday, as Saturday will usually be fully occupied by the hassle of traveling, bib
collection, hotel checking in, etc.

If it is a home run, then the Zzz loading day should be on Saturday.

(2)Eat Right
A few days after the Longest Long Run, I would go into the tapering phase
of a marathon program. During this phase, I would eat LESS than normal.

The reason behind is I don't want to risk gaining extra few pounds
while mileage is being scale down significantly.

But eating less does not mean eating badly. I would pay more attention on the

nutricient and quality of the food that I am taking in. More vege, more

fruilt, more high quality protein(lean beef,fish), etc. Just make sure that

the TOTAL INTAKE CALORIE IS LESS THAN MY EXPENDITURE so that I don't gain

weight.

(I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY IF I ABLE TO SHAVE OFF a few pounds).

But two days (Friday and Saturday) before the big race, I would shift my diet
to more carbo oriented, it means I eat more rice, cut down heavily on high
fiber food like vege, fruit, etc. The reason behind is that the high fiber
food will make your feces soft and you would tend to have unneeded

irritating bowel movement during the race (it took about two days for the
feces formation and thus the two days of avoiding fiber food).

(3)PRE RACE MEAL
I usually take some solid food like rice THREE HOURS before the race. I

would also take some(little bit) of lean white meat like chicken breast.

The reason behind this is not to top off your muscle glycogen, but your
liver's.

I would hold a bottle of 100+ or Gastorade going to the race staring point
and empty it just 5 minutes before the race start( Too early and you end up

line up fot the loo). Then, I would normally
skip the first and second water station (5km,7.5km). I would then drink
on every water station afterward (this year, I would try to drink every
5K and it means every alternating water station).


(4)UP THE TRAINING INTENSITY AND DOWN THE MILEAGE

I normally taper only with two weeks. I found that three weeks is too long,
and when I am really fit after the intense phase III of the marathon training
program, I would have a very hard time holding myself back in the tapering
phase, and that three week seems lije eternity...


To balance things out while I scale down the mileage, I normally have more
shorter quality runs like fast tempo, short intervals, striders, etc.

I would not do any all out quality run so that I would not be spent, picking

up or aggravate any injury.


(5)NURSE YOUR INJURY DURING TAPER
After the Longest long run, your primary goal is to get yourself into a
state most suitable for undertaking the 42.2K feat.

Do all the neccasary icing, messaging, NSAIDing, etc., to nurse any nagging
injury. Avoid anything that will aggravate any existing injury that you have.

If you have to rest, then by all means go ahead skipping those tempo runs,
interval runs, or anything that stand a chance complicating the heeling

process.


(6)Potassium Loading
I personally believe in potassium loading before the race to prevent
muscle cramp from happeing. I normall potassium load two days earlier
before the race and then take one tablet just before the race.

I potassium load with a potassium tablet obtained from pharmacy which is
a slow release version. During the two days of potassium loading, I
took two tablets per day after meal.


(7)NSAID(Non Steroidal Anti Inffalamtion Drugs)
I am well aware that NSAID will cause less blood flowing to the kidney, that
is why I would not recommend NSAID too easily.

I recommend that one tablet to be taken just before the race and may be

another one at 15K/20K if needed.

Don't take NSAID on any race distance shorter than marathon or during training

unless you already have some injuries and you would want to keep inflamation

at bay.


(8)BCAA(Branch Chain Amino Acid)
There are some researches telling that BCAA does the delay onset of fatique

during race. I personally have tried it and have recommended to a few, with

all quite positive results.

I take some BCAA tablets just before the race and somes at half way mark.
I never take BCAA except for the marathon, so I have no prior experience on

the effect of BCAA on shorter race.


(9)Power Gel
I normally take 2 packs with me and count on the fact that I would get

another during the race. But I personally have ran a few marathon just

taking 2 gels.

Contary to most believe, I think the value of the Gels is not on its
Glucose content(I could have gotten those from the ISO drink and it is more
ready assorbable then the Gels'), but rahter on its electrolytes delivered
(which is more so since they came up the 4X version).

JUST make sure that you drink WATER with the GEL. Don't drink ISO drink
with the GEL as it will make the drink too thick and interfere with
stomach assorbtion.

On all others water station, drink ISO drink only.



(10)DON'T EXPECT MIRACLE
If you have not done the correct training, no gel, NSAID, potassium, etc in
the world will get you the miracle.

The proper routine only helps in BRINGING OUT THE BEST OF WHAT YOU"VE GOT,
it WON't GIVE YOU ANY EXTRA, so be practical.

And this lead to proper pace planning, race execution like pace the first,
race the second, etc. But these are out of the scope of today's topic.





Hope it helps.



Crank on.

Stride Length and Cadence

While discussing with friends about running gait,

I mentioned that my stride length is at least 3 feet in normal running.

They seemed to be very surprised and thought that it

should be much smaller (I guess they look at my

running gait and it just doesn't seem to be greater

than 2 feet).


Well, let's do some calculation. I know for sure my

running cadence is 180/min or more (I count it many times).

Let's say I run 1km in 6 minutes,

which give 6X180=1080step/min.

And the stride length per step is 1000m/1080=0.926m

0.926mX3.25ft/m=3 ft.

So, it I run at 6:00min/km pace with 180 step/min , my stride lenth is exactly

3 ft.


It will be more than that if I run faster, say I run a 5:00min/Km

pace, my stride length is 3'7''.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Now, in contemplating the relationship between stride length

and stride cadence(pitch), I noticed the following:


For a slow runner, both their pitch and and stride legth are much lower,

with the pitch being a more influential and dorminant factor.


Let's take an example of a slow runner I know, who happen to run

8:00min/km pace with a pitch of 160,

his stride length in ft is 1000m/(160*8) X 3.25ft/m =2.5ft.

(Can you imagine very step he takes is half a foot shorter,

plus he also takes 20 steps less than that of a 180 pitch 6:00min/km guy).


Sometimes, we see runners who look very much like walking rather than

running, and in fact they are.

Their pich might be as low as 150step/min and their stride length

about 2ft, which explain why their paces are slower than 10:00min/km.

Should they run at a higher pitch, they would be much faster.

I think increasing the pitch for slow runner will automatically

increase their stride length as that would introduce a fly

off time (I really suspect the slow 10:00min/km pace is walking

raher than running, which lack the fly off phase in the "running" cycle).

So, besides gaining on the additional steps per minute for a higher

cadence, the stride length is increased to result into a faster

running.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

For faster runner, their pitch are normallly 180 or higher and there

are not much more room for improvement on the cadence side.

Faster running always result from greater stride length in this case,

and that's why hill training, speed work, etc. is important, which

eventually train the legs to be more powerful and

"fly off" longer through a greater "push off".



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, the take home lesson from all this calculations is that,

(1)For slow runner, always concentrate on reaching a 180 stride/min.
You can do this by counting how many times you right foot touches
the ground in a minute. Try to make it to be 90 or more.


(2)For fast runner, the way to run faster is always leg strength
training, like hill, speed work, etc.


BUT AS ALWAYS, THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN HOW TO RUN FAST IS TO RUN FAST.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Crank on.

Penang Bridge Internation Marathon 2008

By courtesy of Loh Wing Keen.