i2runner

2nd straight 20miler (32Km) [(Marathon Training) program]

Last week I thought I had experienced the “second wind” and I couldn’t believe I’ve run a 20miler at a pace of 9:08/mile or 5:40/km, my target pace for the marathon. The “second wind” is an overused word in the world of sports with its mysticism due to its rarity. I thought if I could repeat another fast 20miler, then I haven’t really experienced the “second wind”. So this last weekend I prepared myself for another 20miler, had new shoes to break-in, but I had a bad case of diarrhea and mild fever that started last Friday. Anything I ate would end up in the toilet a few hours later. Bad news for carbo-loading. I knew my glycogen reserves were going to be depleted the next morning. To make things worse, I even skipped dinner.

The next day, Sunday, I drank some diatabs medicine to prevent doing #2 in public. Drank coffee too, and then drank 500ml of Gatorade. When I started running at 5AM, it was already raining. I felt great and strong so I started my run in a strong pace already. When I got to Lawton avenue, the rain got stronger but it didn’t have any noticeable effect on my pace. I got annoyed with my Garmin 405’s bezel getting activated all the time, so I activated the “auto-scroll” and locked the keys. My shoes, my socks, and my feet got wet but that’s all natural.

I wonder why some runners make a big deal of running or not in the rain. It’s a part of running life we have to face and learn to deal with. If you could run, good for you. If you couldn’t, try to do it the next day and don’t feel too bad about it.

When I got to the Fort area, it stopped raining. Then there was this race going on and I decided to join their route. Then some race Marshall shouted at me for not following the race route, he thought I was cheating. LOL! I wasn’t offended and I thought the Marshall was funny for not noticing I didn’t have any race bib#.

I had to stop at 7eleven near Shell Gas Station after 6miles to refill my hydration belt with Gatorade, and eat some…. Sugary Junk foods! Since the weather wasn’t hot nor humid, I wasn’t sweating much as I normally would. My body couldn’t absorb all the Gatorade I was drinking and I was missing its carbohydrates that I badly needed. So I thought eating sugary gummy bears was the solution and bought 2 small bags of “Trollii” that had about 200calories in each bag. When I ran at the planned marathon pace, I could eat those small yummy gummy bears slowly, chewing them without restricting my breathing too much. I was OK. So I continued to do this until I ran 12miles and had to repeat the pit-stop at 7eleven.

All the time, my pace was slightly below 9:00/mile until I got to mile 15. My knees started to hurt, quads became sore, that seems to have been caused by the new shoes that had firmer cushioning than the lunar trainers. Then the skies cleared and I could feel the heat of the sun again. I had to struggle from mile 15 to 20, but the presence of takbo.ph runners lifted my spirits. They even took a picture of me running. Thank you argonaut! Some of them have just finished the IE8 run, and some have finished the earth run. Doc Marvs finished both (amazingly crazy).

Getting leaner and stronger…

In the end, my overall pace for the 20miles was 3:00′27″, my overall pace was 9:01/mile or 5:36/km. If I could sustain this pace for another 6.2miles, I’ll have a 3:56 marathon (I wish) assuming I don’t hit the wall. In conclusion, I’ve improved my 20mile run in training without experiencing another “wind” or “runners’ high”. In fact, I should be struggling due to poor diet and nutrition for 2 days. So I haven’t really experienced that mythical “second wind” and now doubt its existence (well I do know a new running store named “second wind” though). What I really have experienced is the effect of my Marathon Training for the past 2.5 months. The training was not easy, and I often had to run near breathlessness during speed work and had to endure the feeling of burning muscles during long tempo runs. But seeing the improvement on my long runs makes these hard workouts even more addicting.

After my run I went straight to McDonald’s at NetOne. I ordered only a large coke, my stomach was so bloated I had no appetite to eat breakfast yet. When I got upstairs, I was shocked to be greeted by the huge crowd of takbo.ph. They were such a fun and crazy young crowd, I forgot how tired I was.

Photographers Doc Marvs and Luis “Gingerbread”

You see how young runners are in takbo.ph? The young Argonaut.