Converts to the Endurance Game

Today, I had a student in class (all subject leaders in schools) who runs ultramarathons. She teaches language, and ran the Sundown Marathon in about 10:45. I asked if she would be doing the 21km races this year, and she looked on in disbelief; apparently, anything less than a marathon was not a priority to her. She ran and completed the NF100 with a partner last year (which I qualified for, but did not intend to do).

Years ago, I held the welded belief that running more than 5km per session was crazy. When I ran my first 10km in training, I was a mental mess but it did me wonders to unfasten my resistance to longer distance – it was my paradigm shift. When you do not know how to pace yourself, and are vastly under-trained to meet the demands of longer races, you will experience a blowout. And I did, enough to walk ashamedly back home and deny myself any such humiliation in the future.

I was a middle-distance runner, thanks to my form-teacher Mr S K Cheong who encouraged me to run. I discovered my talent late, and won my first sports day medals for the 1,500m and 3,000m Steeplechase. I studied the works of Dr George Sheehan and devoured re-reads of Jim Fixx’s Complete Book of Running.

Tonight, I spoke to a taxi driver about health matters. Interestingly enough, I observed that her language patterns revolved around ‘benefits in the long run’, stress management, and jogging. Later this evening, I spoke to a friend about sports supplements that he could use for both running and strength building. He lost an amazing 21kg over the last few months. He has been running and aspires to run the Chiangmai Marathon. We discussed that when mixing aerobic and strength training, the muscular development is limited, as the body tends to be in ‘over-trained’ state.

Having iced my ankles and knees twice last night, I walk much better tonight. The prevailing Asian belief is that ice and cold may cause rheumatism in the long run. However, with the first aid approach called RICES for injury, ice therapy can spell wonders for relieving pain and reducing swelling in joints and muscles. RICES is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation and Support.

Here is an article on going long at Running Times.

Running an ultramarathon requires a different mindset. It goes beyond the standard 42.195km distance. Training for such a distance requires more mileage (upwards of the 70-100 miles required for a marathon). Most of these races take place in off-road terrain (water, sand dunes, hills), or in extreme conditions such as heat (in canyons and deserts). Local races with such enduring challenges are the NorthFace 100, MR25 Ultramarathon and the adidas Sundown Marathon.