Wednesday, December 24, 2008

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.

Monday, December 22, 2008

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.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

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.

Monday, December 1, 2008

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.
 
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