What I Think About When I am Running

What I Think About When I am Running

The title of this article is an allusion to the book written by Haruki Murakami: “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”. Good read. He is definitely an avid runner.

As the Singapore Marathon happened last week-end, I wanted to reflect back on my run. I signed up for the semi-marathon. I tried to implement the teachings from the book “The inner game of Tennis” and how to reach peak performance.

First of all, I am not big on running, especially long distances – more than 5km as always been excruciating. But I do like challenges. And… I never managed to finish a 21km thout some knee pain (ITB !). So here I am for another try. Maybe the last.

The Start

Like in the book of Timothy Gallway, I try to feel rather judge. my running form, speed, etc. I also visualise how a good run would be and how it would feel to reach this goal.

So I got rid of a few things: no music or earplugs, No heart monitor nor a phone. I want to focus on my surrounding, the scenery, the sun setting and the whole marathon experience.

Since I had knee pain previously, I spent some time focusing on my running technique. In brief, it relies on landing on the foot of the ball, pushing the legs rather than lifting the knees – this worked great at increasing my speed without elevating my cardio - and make sure my knee does not cave in, pull and irritate my ITB. I also look at running on flat surface as much as possible. Concave roads are great to expel the torrential rains of Singapore but are far from optimum for weak joints.

5 Km

I practiced all the above for the last few months, so I just needed to check on it once in a while.

Finally I focused on keeping my own rhythm, not someone else. I love to run with hundreds/thousands of people but it kind of pushes you to run faster than you should. I just kept an eye on my watch to see if my body was as fast/slow as I was feeling it. And I waved through the slower runners seamlessly.

10 Km

Suddenly I don’t think much and I catch myself running faster again. By not thinking.

I divided my race in 4 blocks of 5k (with a short rest of 30 seconds). From my interval training, I realised a short break was good for me to achieve an optimum performance. It also helped me to minimise the time I was looking at my watch and have small – more achievable – goals along the way.

15 Km

I am not hitting the wall, but it is the first time, I pass the 15k without injury near my right knee. So this is all new territory to me. It was my best time on a 15 Km so I thought I could achieve my timing objective today and without knee pain. Yihaaaa!

Then the thinking stops. The brain works at a minimal pace. Dizziness is catching me. The main function of the brain is to keep my balance. That is all I need. Around 17-18 Km, I feel like taking an extra short break. I take it. Then I fought and kept going. “Why shall I stop? Yes, I am slower now, the legs hurt, the heat is killing me, but I have to finish it. And my knee don’t hurt ??

Pain is a feeling in your head. To tell your body to stop.You cannot stop the pain but you can stop feeling it. So it is your choice. And I kept going.

20 Km

I take a last break, 30 seconds of brisk walking, enjoy the scenery before the last dash to the finish line. 1Km more. It’s nothing. A piece of cake. For once, I am happy to cross the line and feel ready for another one soon.

21 Km

Special thoughts to The Green Nudge https://greennudge.sg/ whose volunteers relentlessly asked us to BIN our waste, pledge for greener marathons (less goodies and goodie bags), the Tyre Lady https://tyrelady.wordpress.com/ for tirelessly pulling her tyre, Darth Vader, and all the costumed runners.

PS: I never felt fresher the next day. I did another 10k 2 days after. Once you raise your standards, it does not come down. Next 42km or Sub-2 hours 21km, I will keep this for next year.

PPS : If you have ITB issue, I am happy to share my workouts and drills in a personal message as well as my physio contacts.