FEBRUARY 3 ― Recently during one of the several training clinics being held to prepare participants for the upcoming 2016 Malaysia Women’s Marathon (MWM), Race Director Karen Loh had this to say about running the full 42-kilometre distance:
“Many run a full marathon to get the medal, the T-shirt and bragging rights. Those who take running seriously, run because they want to improve themselves, push further, be better runners and to change their lives for the better. Which do you want to be?”
Looking at the determined and committed faces of the women (and a couple of men) who gather at the wee hours of the morning for each session, I can guess which answer they would have.
Race day, March 6, looks much closer on this sunny side of New Year’s Day. It’s slightly more than a month away. And everyone can feel the pressure. At this stage, most have identified their target finishing times for the different races. Everyone wants to do their best.
After all, if you are going to wake up at the crack of dawn and put your body and mind through the stress and sometimes turmoil and agony of a long distance race, it had better be worth it. Also nobody wants to be hauled off onto the sweeper bus.
I honestly believe that regardless of whatever your weight is or body size maybe, you can run. Whether it is running around Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, a 10k, half or even a full marathon, you can run.
Sure, it is intimidating to see the sinewy, muscular and occasionally whippet-thin runners who probably start their day by running 5k around their apartment block and repeat the distance later as the sun goes down.
But when a 64-year-old woman and a man who looks like he has an intimate relationship with the neighbourhood pub overtake you during your run around the tasik, while a kurus-macam-ikan-bilis guy can barely run 200 metres before giving up, you know that what really matters is that you have put in the time to train and regularly run to build stamina and endurance. Never mind how old you are or how much you weigh. Put in the time, be disciplined and train, and the results will show on race day.
That’s one of the key messages that I have been getting from attending the MWM running clinics.
The modern equivalent of oar-masters whipping the living daylights out of condemned galley slaves are Karsten Korbel and Sweeny Choong who act as coach and mentors for those participating in the training.
Karsten Korbel, a regular of many Malaysian running events is a certified Personal Trainer under the American Council on Exercise. His blog, Marathon Orange, is often referred to by beginners and seasoned runners alike for tips, insights and recommendations.
Looking at Sweeny, you wouldn’t guess that she only started running seriously a few years ago. An inspiring individual whose story I am going to feature one of these days, her guidance and mentoring serves to motivate and encourage many of those who have participated in the clinic thus far.
One of the most hated things for a runner is going up hills. It cuts your momentum. You are forced to exert more energy going upwards. You hilang steam and slow down. And muscles in your calves and butt burn. Oh, how they burn.
So a clinic session was held near the Jalan Duta income tax offices to ensure that everyone got several kilometres of going uphill and downhill. By the time we were done, calves burned, buttocks clenched to the tightness of models (temporarily), respect and hatreds for steep inclines and hills were rekindled and renewed.
A hill repeat is basically running up the hill or a 200-metre incline fast and then recovering by jogging or walking down. Beginners are encouraged to start with two to four repeats while others start at six and gradually building up to a maximum of 10 repeats. They are a great way to gradually strengthen, improve speed, and build mental confidence in hill running.
While many of us were huffing and puffing up and down the damn slope, Sweeny and Karen would glide effortlessly by shouting encouragement and the occasional threat, while Karsten made it look like he had nothing better to do than to grin mercilessly at the suffering we endured.
For those wanting to improve their overall endurance and performance for long-distance running, tempo interval training can be extremely valuable. Similar to fartlek (Swedish for “speed play”) and tempo runs, this workout breaks down a tempo run into several sections of short and intense efforts followed by equal or slightly longer recovery time (easy jogging or walking). The intervals are run at slightly higher than your target race pace. For me, it was 6:00.
For this particular clinic, because we had to be conscious of pace, we were fortunate to try out and play with some very cool running watches from Garmin. By the time we were done, we had covered almost 10 kilomeres worth of tempo interval runs.
Interestingly, tired out and dying of thirst, we found ourselves being able to push a bit more and for longer at the pace that we were targeting for. Some even wanted to do more runs and didn’t want to stop! It’s a great way to simulate a race because usually a race is not run at one constant pace and speed.
Speaking about speed, Karsten assures that running speed intervals will make you go faster. A person who always runs at a constant and steady pace will only ever be proficient at running steadily. This can improve endurance, contribute to weight loss and tone muscles. But apparently, you don’t get any faster.
So what a runner who wants to improve her speed needs to do, is to run at speeds faster that what she would race at. You can’t do this for long periods of time so what you do is to break up a distance into intervals or segments where you would push harder and faster, and then slow down.
There are a few more running clinics planned for those running in the March marathon. It’s not too late to sign up! If you are interested in participating, please refer to the Malaysia Women’s Marathon FB: https://www.facebook.com/MalaysiaWomenMarathon.
In the meantime, happy running!
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
