Honey, does this blog make me look fat?

Goal: SCSM 2009

2009-10-19T19:53:00.004+08:00

So, come December, I shall run (or walk or crawl) the Standard Chartered Marathon! This post has been an awful while coming. To cut a long story short, my knees aren't really in good shape to run a marathon. But I have signed up anyway. Yeah, cos I am crazy like that. Sorta like a now or never decision. After this I shall give up distance running and pick up something less stressful on the knees. Like painting. Kidding. So a coupla months back the decision (however stupid) was made, throwing caution to the winds and a coupla hundred bucks on a pair of new shoes was spent*(gulp!). At times I think the biggest motivation will come from the fact that I HAVE TO DO JUSTICE! for spending that much on a pair of shoes. No seriously, I'm kidding.

But yeah, the die has been cast and I shall not shrink away from the challenge. Training, you say? Well, there have been the long weekend runs (or run + walk) ranging from 40 mins to an hour, on and off over the last couple of months. I ran yesterday again after a really long break though. Did 8km in about 1 hr and 10 minutes. I ran as much as I could and took walking breaks in between. The best part though was that I felt really great at the end, my knees didn't hurt as much and I felt I could have gone on for some more time. It felt like a very easy run and I had fun. Was really kicked after that! :)

The plan is to hopefully bring my pace upto 8km or atleast 7.5km per hour and then try and finish in 5:30 or worst case, under 6 hours. It's hard to say if I'm being overtly optimistic here or practical - only time will tell.

I have 6 more weekends to go. I wanna try and fit in a run during the week once (while doing some cardio + yoga over the week to stay strong) and keep stretching the weekend run+walk by at least half an hour every time, so by the end I want to have tried being out there for roughly 5 hours. Or carry on for as long as I can, without putting too much pressure on the knees. The aim is to keep feeling good too.

Fingers crossed, let's see how that goes! :)

*Serves me right for judging people who splurge on designer shoes, and spend TWO HUNDRED bucks on SHOES! I shall be hiding in that corner, eating my pie humbly.

So!

2008-08-17T11:51:00.002+08:00

It's been over a month since I've updated here. Between then and now, the knee pain came back, bothered me, then I figured it was getting aggravated by the floaters I used to wear, gave up that, resumes training slowly again and have been running 3-4 days a week now! Phew!! :D Cautiously I'd say I'm slowly getting there. The safra half marathon's coming up next weekend. Since I've been unable to train properly for that, the plan is to run atleast 10k flat out and hopefully still be able to walk to the finish line. Or crawl if need be, but am determined to finish.

Ran about 9km today, with a bit of walking in between. And while eating breakfast at a food court afterwards, on TV, live was the finishing of the women's marathon. Symbolic, eh? Inspiring to say the least, and I'll make sure I give it my best at the Safra run next Sunday. Until then, happy running :)

2008-07-13T22:34:00.002+08:00

So far so good...after the first coupla runs with the new shoes the knees still hurt, but after running today it seems better, and not much pain in the knees. Taking it easy for now, doing 4km at a time. Also consciously trying not to land too hard on my feet which might be the cause for the knee pain.

About time I updated this one!

2008-07-10T00:07:00.002+08:00

So, last week the knee pain (ITB) came back and I figured it was time to change my shoes. Pulled out of the 9.4km citi milk-run over the weekend and decided to rest and just to CS and weights until I got a new pair. Got a footscan done over the weekend and figured I 'overpronate' while running and hence need motion control shoes. Which I finally went out and bought last evening - mizuo wave inspire 4w. Ran 4km and tried out the shoes today...felt quite alright. Will know how good it is if I wake up pain-free tomorrow morning. Also trying to consciously lift my heel further off the ground while running so I don't land too heavily on my foot. Plus I think it should help me improve pace too.
Plan to do the ITB stretches everyday without fail. That should help too.
Updates tomorrow.

2008-06-30T22:33:00.002+08:00

Started off wanting to run 8, but by 4km my back had begun to hurt a bit. So walked most of the way back, and ran a little bit in between. Took 30 mins for the first 4km, and about 40 for the next 4, what with the walking and all. Mut've run about 4.5-4.7km in all.
Came home and did core strength exercises. Weights if I'm upto it a little later.

Will run tomorrow as well. The Citi-Milk run is coming up on Sunday. 9.4km run. In the 3.30pm heat. I'm gonna DIE!

2008-06-29T23:59:00.002+08:00

Decided to go for a long walk in the lovely weather. Did 5.7km in about an hour and 5 minutes.
Did CS and extra crunches (I'll know how effective they were when they hurt tomorrow morning) and some weights. Running tomorrow.

2008-06-29T14:59:00.001+08:00

Nothing on 26th and 27th. Will run and do CS/weights today.

2008-06-26T23:55:00.001+08:00

Weights only, no running again. Tomorrow - not running. Some CS and weights maybe.

2008-06-25T23:23:00.001+08:00

Just managed to fit in some crunches at night. No run. Running looks unlikely till the weekend.

2008-06-24T23:26:00.004+08:00

Ran 5.1km in about 37 minutes. Didn't feel like running for a long period, so I tried to increase pace by a little. Can do better though. Maybe I should try and fit in one such run a week.
Did some crunches.

Tomorrow looks like a busy day, mostly CS and weights only I think.

2008-06-23T10:54:00.000+08:00

Long day at work. Didn't run. Weights only.

2008-06-22T23:18:00.000+08:00

Didn't run. Only CS.

2008-06-21T23:39:00.003+08:00

Half an hour swim, weights.
Plan for tomorrow - run at gym (6km if I get to use the treadmill for that long) and core strengthening.
After last night's run, the knees didn't hurt when I woke up this morning, like they usually do. No ITB pain, all the stretches helped. Touchwood :)

2008-06-20T23:05:00.001+08:00

Ran 7km, but at a slower pace cos this route was a bit uphill in places. 1 hour and 7 minutes, in all. Story of creepy guy that followed me all through will appear on the regular blog.
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/singapore/singapore/130616144596"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;bukit batok to ulu pandan depot&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/singapore/singapore"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Did core strengthening after running. Is tougher to do after running!
Swimming and weights tomorrow, else shorter run and weights.

2008-06-19T23:39:00.000+08:00

Didn't run today. Decided to give the knees some rest cos the right one was a bit sore after yesterday's run. Did weights and CS.

Will probably run the same route as yesterday and do the 7km.

2008-06-18T21:55:00.000+08:00

Did core strength exercises in the morn as planned.
And ran about 6.5km (4 miles) in around 51 minutes. Walked the rest to make it 7km.(The first 3km in 23 minutes and the rest in 28) Tired, but felt really good. Stretched well before and after. Mapmyrun.com is a really cool website. And it has maps of all major cities in the world I guess. Damn neat!

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/singapore/singapore/465858122917"&amp;gt;Bukit Batok road 7km (4 miles)&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/singapore/singapore"&amp;gt;Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Hoping to run about 4km in the gym tomorrow evening if the limbs co-operate. CS and weights in the morning if possible.

2008-06-17T11:12:00.000+08:00

Off day. Ended up going out for dinner after work, and hence no run, no exercises. Plan to make up by doing CS first thing in the morning tomorrow, and a run in the evening. About 6km.

2008-06-16T22:10:00.000+08:00

Swam for half an hour. Did weights. Run and CS tomorrow.
Swimming is fun, even if the way I do it isn't really how it should be done :D Ooooh that rhymed!

2008-06-15T21:35:00.000+08:00

Did the 3 miles/4.86km. First km in 7:20. Then stretched. Next two in 14:30. Then walked a bit in between and finished the 1.86 in about 17 minutes.
Total : About 36:20 for 4.86km.
Walked an additional 1.2km x 2 to and fro the gym.

Plan for tomorrow : run if I feel upto it, else go for a swim. Weights and CS.

Leap of faith...

2008-06-14T23:21:00.000+08:00

Have finally made up my mind and signed up for my first half marathon (13.1 miles/21km) in August. I have roughly 10 weeks to go. This will be my plan to follow.
And my Core strengthening routine will be based on this.
Simple strength training based on the ones here.

Today: Didn't run, but did CS and weights.
Plan is to run tomorrow, about 3 miles (4.82km). Argh, the number looks so much tinier and do-able in miles! :-/ I mean, look at 13 miles vs 21km!!

Accountability will be extra motivation. Putting it up on the blog here and roping in a few friends will ensure I stick to the plan more religiously.

Lessons from the passion run 15k - looking back, looking forward...

2008-06-09T16:29:00.000+08:00

The backache's finally gone and the one thing I'm always gonna remember from the race is the calm sense of satisfaction that washed over me when I hit the finish line. It wasn't a euphoric feeling, more like simply being thankful for having made it that far. And the same feeling hit me earlier this evening when I took a walk and realised all the aches were gone, and that my back was back to normal, and that I didn't have to worry about having done serious damage to it. (Since it seemed to have gotten worse the next morning and scared the bejeezus out of me!)
On Monday morning when I woke up in even more pain, I felt frustrated and angry that I didn't do well, that I'd ended up walking a fair bit of the 15km and that I didn't exactly "earn the pain" and was in tears too. Finishing in under 2 hours would've atleast justified it, I thought. Silly, but true. Four and a half pages later, after pouring my thoughts out onto my notebook I felt better and at peace and happy. Which again underlines my belief that nothing cheers me up and clears my head as writing does for me. Except running. Or shopping. Heh :P
On some levels I'm glad that I am disappointed and not just happy with merely finishing the race. At other times I try not to obsess too much over the timing and be glad I finished it. And that I finished it without more serious damage to my back. Around the 9-10km mark, when it hurt to run and hurt even more to walk, I was debating what to do, and a rational voice told me to take it easy and ensure I don't damage it further. Which is what I did. Couldn't resist sprinting like a mad hare when I neared the finish line though :)
The knees didn't hurt at all! Both during and after the run. Touchwood! All those exercises to strengthen my ITB in the last couple weeks must've paid off! Oh joy! :D
The warning bells for my back though, have sounded loud and clear. I can no longer simply run 4-5 times a week and sit tight. I havetohavetohaveto focus on strengthening my core and also do those darn crunches as much as I hate them. I've been way too casual about it and paid the price quite dearly.
And cross-training and strength training. Swim atleast once a week and weights.
Get back to running long stretches without any mini walking breaks or any walking which I've been guilty of in the last few months. Never used to do that earlier.
Need to seriously focus on improving my pace. Now that I've joined a gym as well, I hope I can get used to running faster and consistently shave off atleast a whole minute per km for my next run coming up. Right now I'm just super delighted that my backache's gone and that I can get back to running soon. As mentioned earlier, it freaked the hell out of me during the run and when I woke up the next day. Thankfully, it's okay now :) Have signed up for a 9.4km run in July (about 4 weeks from now) and I'm hoping to run enter the race much stronger and finish quicker.
And like a couple of friends have been quick to remind me - there will always be plenty more races to look forward to. The important thing is to keep looking forward :-)