Thursday, January 14, 2016

Kyoto Marathon 2016: Last 5 Weeks of Training

T-35 days aka 5 weeks more to go.

To date, I've hit 22km for my training with my mum on the first Sunday of the year. The longest pure running I've ever done for the sole purpose of training. I felt fine for the first 13km along the flat roads of Kuala Lumpur, having taken advantaged of the KL Car Free Day. We stopped every 5-7km for drinks and then when car-free session ended, we rerouted to the neighboring area to continue. It wasn't easy especially at the last 9km when my mum and I decided to tackle the Bukit Tunku route as the finishing distance under the blazing hot sun at 9am.

That probably wasn't a wise decision but then again, the alternative was running in the wee hours of the morning to beat the heat and that wasn't safe. With so many cases of snatch thief, kidnapping and assault happening, our roads are no longer safe to run on. Especially for ladies regardless even if we're in groups or not. So we picked the less of two evils and braved the sun.



Needless to say, my timing for 22km wasn't good. However, I was within the 3 hours cut off time I've set for myself so that gave me some confidence in my mental endurance to keep going. Not false confidence I hope.

During the week, I continued my training with a mix of bootcamp and running. Bootcamp in the morning and if weather willing, 7-10km runs in the evening at a comfortable 7:30 pace.


If I get a good starting block at the race, I could make the first two checkpoints without discarding my plan to go slow and steady. Yes, Kyoto marathon was one of those marathons with tight checkpoints to pass as they needed to open the roads again. The checkpoints within the first 21km are crazy. Bugger.

I've also been trying to watch my weight in an attempt to drop the upper body bulk but I find that the more I run, the more I eat. It's such a vicious circle. I fared much better last year when I was training for Spartan Race and was even able to drop 4kg.

I am beginning to suspect I am eating more because of the growing butterflies or bats in my stomach.

Going to be attempting a 30-32km LSD run soon. Wish me luck and pray that I don't die.

To know what running events and OCR races are available in Malaysia, check out my new Running and OCR guide.

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