EXCHANGING NOTES

I am no extra ordinary runner. I don’t think that my finish in the TBR Dream Marathon makes me any different or better than anyone. Not at all. I am just like other runners or marathoners who love running. I also don’t claim any expertise in training. I have no authority, not a bit to talk about, much more, give advise on how to train for a marathon. I am nothing of that sort. Not even close to that. This entry does not in anyway intend to give an advise. This is for a few friends who were asking about my training for the TBR Dream Marathon.

I am not saying that what I did was the best. Maybe some of the things I did was wrong. At the very least, I just hope to offer something to go on; a basis for further inquiry on whether this is how it should have been done or not and help. The only thing I’m sure was right was the training program given by Coach Jim Lafferty who’s had a vast experience in running marathons and training countless marathoners. I wasn't sure if the modifications I did to his program was right, I just took the risk. Maybe I had a better finish if I did not.

Again, this is just a statement of fact in response to questions from some friends. This is not an advise. If you discovered that some of the things I did were wrong, I’d appreciate a feedback. I'd also love to hear about your training.

When I joined the Condura Marathon, I did not follow any training program except maintaining my 3x a week run composed of speed work (faster than my race pace), race pace and long run. But as to how fast was fast or how many rounds I should do fartlek, I did not know. I also did not know how long should my long run be at what week, etc. I checked some websites and tried to follow some prescribed programs but they were many. So I just made sense out of a hodge podge of information from all over. That was it.

I asked other marathoners and each one gave me different programs. What I did was pick up the most common, like getting the average in statistics, which was the importance of long runs. It was still confusing. Some said I should do 32K two weeks before while others said I should taper that time. I just tried to analyze which one would work for me and because I was a first time marathoner, it was like a blind leading another.

Come marathon day, I finished. I was happy but I suffered from injuries. I dragged myself to the finish line and could hardly move after the race. So the TBR Dream Marathon was really a blessing. When I saw the kind of support being offered to the participants I even hesitated joining Condura so I could qualify as a first time marathoner when it was still exclusively for first timers. I was excited that there would be consistent and expert support, a detailed program and a series of discussions, things I was groping for when I planned to run my first marathon.

When TBR opened it for second timers, I rushed to register. I religiously followed the 16-week training program given by Coach Jim. I added 10-15 minutes to the prescribed weekly runs and 15-20 minutes to the long runs. I also inserted fartlek to one of the weekly runs. The reason for the modification was to push myself harder, nothing scientific, whatever. Maybe it was because of the desire to redeem myself from the not so good marathon experience.

Here was my typical training week like:

Monday: Rest day. In the morning, after light breakfast I do a routine at home: stretching, core strengthening exercises, planks, push ups, stretching, light weight.

Tuesday: Fartlek/ interval run. I go to a track and field oval and try to finish the 400m under 1 minute and then easy recovery run around the 400m oval under 3 minutes. I increased the number of rounds weeks closer to marathon day. From the minimum of five to maximum of twelve. There were days when I planned to do 7 or 8 but did less because of tiredness, etc. Some I did in the morning, others were in the evening after office.

Wednesday: Core strengthening routine. Swimming at least 45 minutes.

Thursday: Race pace. Morning/ evening. I run as fast and as comfortable as I could. It’s really my comfortable pace and then I push beyond my threshold every time until the faster pace becomes comfortable, and so on and so forth. When the program said I should run at least 45 minutes, I’d do an hour. It’s always plus 10-15 minutes. Six weeks before the marathon, I increased my minimum to 12K.

Friday: Core strengthening routine. Swimming at least 45 minutes.

Saturday: Short and easy run or swim. I don’t push myself too hard on Saturdays because that’s my only time to oversleep and recover from the week’s tasks .Also because it’s a day before the races and long runs.

Sunday: Long runs. As Coach Jim said, this is the lifeblood of running a marathon so I tried not to miss this one. I could miss one of my weekday runs but not my long run. Since it was summer and there were weekends when I was out of town and could not do a long run, I’d do short runs in the beach or where I was and then did my long runs the soonest I got back to Manila.

Running 21K in races also became my long runs. If there’s none, I’d still try to hit at least 21K with Runnex people in UP Diliman.

When the training program said I should do 28K, I pushed it to 34K. I did that a month before and did 32K three weeks before.

I did something crazy 2 weeks before the marathon when I should be tapering. I ran with a friend who was training for the Singapore Sundown Marathon at 11pm until 4am in the morning. We were alone inside the UP Campus. We both wanted to do a simulation of the marathons we were joining. Since the TBR Dream Marathon’s gunstart was 2am, I thought it was good to get a feel of how my body would perform without sleep around that time. We had a lot of walks especially me because I knew I should be in taper mode. We were able to complete 26K in UP. Since my friend was trying to complete 32K three weeks before the Sundown, she joined me in TBR last Bull Session in High Street at 5am. From UP, we quickly went home and changed, had breakfast on our way to The Fort and ran without sleep.

I knew it was a risk but I think it helped me during the race.

Given the demands of my work and my other responsibilities at home, it was hard to squeeze in training. It meant waking up really, really early so I could get to the office the earliest possible during weekdays and save up energy to be able to spend quality time with family and friends on weekends. It also meant giving up late night activities that I enjoy doing like reading and watching DVDs so I could get enough sleep.

What helped me was that strong determination to run the marathon strong and fast. I wanted it so badly that I enjoyed the necessary sacrifices.

The discipline required to run a marathon was tough and the only thing that sustained me was my passion and respect for running.

I hope this helps.