I Did It

Today would have to be the most significant day of my year. I competed in my first marathon, the Auckland Marathon, and finished it in a time of 4 hours 17 minutes. I was planning to do it within 4 hours but I was not too hopeful.

Woke up at 2:30 am to have a breakfast, and get some stuff in order. Around 5:00 am I took the ferry over to Devonport where I waited for over an hour for the race to start.

Finally the race was off. It took around two minutes for me to actually get over the start line, but once I crossed it I took things very slowly. The pack went through Devonport, Takapuna and Northcote along undulating roads. By 10 km I had a time of 64 minutes.

Definitely the highlight of the race was getting to cross the Harbour Bridge. The climb was tough. It wasn't too steep, but it was very long. It was around the 2nd quarter of the race that I started to pick up the pace as I increased my pace on the hills. Around the 20 km mark, I was running just under 2 hours.

Then the pack got smaller and smaller. The third quarter of the course took the runners all the way along the waterfront to St Heliers. The windy conditions along the waterfront made the running very tough and it was around this point that I started to slow down a little. My legs seemed to get heavier and I felt like running through a thick mud. Finally I reached the 31.5 km turnaround point in just over 3 hours.

The final leg back to the city was the toughest. I was definitely hitting the wall and my legs were starting to cramp up. It was here that I had to run intelligently. I was forced to run slower but I tried not to walk, and I was conscious about landing on my feet so that I didn't cramp my legs accidently. I remembered thinking that each step is just one metre closer to the finish line. The distance markers kept coming along, 33, 34, 35, 36 and so on. I gritted my teeth, ignored the pain in my legs and kept on moving. It was the most horrible feeling to be in, but at the same time it was rewarding.

Eventually I got to the 39 km mark at just under 4 hours. I remember picking up the pace. Crowds were willing the runners to go on. There was only 2 km to go! Eventually I reached the 42 km mark, turned the corner with the finish line in sight. I made a final sprint, took out two runners who were obviously in agony, and crossed the finish line with my arms in the air. I felt like a champion.

After the race, I had to participate in a dehydration study. It was obvious that I was dehydrated as I couldn't produce enough spit. When they took my weight, I was actually heavier than when they took my weight the first time. I attribute that to too much eating in the days before the race, and it probably slowed me down a touch.

And I had difficulty walking afterwards as my legs started tightening up. It's a bit better now, but it will take some time to recover from this huge effort.

The feeling of completing the marathon is unlike any other feeling experienced. Only a tiny fraction have completed this and it puts you into that special category of people. I highly recommend it to everyone and I can't wait to start getting back into training for the next one.

Every finishing line becomes the starting line for the next goal. Impossible is nothing.

The Final 24 Hours

The final 24 hours before the marathon seem to be the most trying period of training. It seems difficult to do anything right with thoughts constantly on the race.

I slept in this morning, something I try not to do on Saturdays. But just letting myself sleep in felt really good, and made me think that with all those early Saturday morning long runs that I've been doing for the last four months, I can spoil myself to a couple more hours in bed.

Had a big, high-carbohydrate breakfast, and I will need to have the same on race day. I didn't really do much at home, other than sort out my racing gear for the big day and the energy supplements I will consume whilst on the run.

Throughout the afternoon I surveyed the course, to appreciate how long it really is and how much of a challenge I am going to undertake. The first part of the course is described as "rolling", with many uphills and downhills. The second part is very flat along the waterfront. Somewhere in the middle I get to cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which should be very exciting. How many times does anyone get to do that? And no, not in a car!

For lunch, another high-carbohydrate meal of Wendy's, and mucked around in Borders just having a peek at some books. After that I decided to head home and rest.

At home I helped myself to three small-ish servings of pasta (and still counting while writing this), rather than one big meal. This is all part of the carbo-loading exercise that I am implementing during these last days. The premise is that the body is only able to convert glucose to glycogen at a certain rate. If the body is bombarded with glucose, it converts a given amount to glycogen and store the rest as fat. Obviously the more glycogen I can store, the better chance of not hitting the wall.

With all the excitement of tomorrow, I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight. The amount of sleep I get, or don't get, won't make me a faster runner on the day.

All the hard work that I've put in over the last four to five months has finally come down to this. I had a single goal: to complete the marathon, and hopefully finish within 4 hours. I received an excellent training programme. I stuck to the programme as best as I could, though there have been times where I have missed a few training runs. I kept in touch with my "coach" and entered a couple of races to a get a feel for the real thing.

And come tomorrow, the entire journey, starting from the moment I set that single goal to the time I cross the finish line, will all be over, and the hard work and the self-sacrifice will have paid off. This is something which I can be truly satisfied with. Only a small fraction of the world's population have participated in marathons. I am just one of them.

Now a Sun Certified Web Component Developer

I finally sat the Sun Certified Web Component Developer exam today and PASSED!

After buying the textbook over a year ago, not studying for a long period of time, getting a voucher from my company, then resolving to myself twice to sit the exam earlier in the year, only to delay it even further until the voucher was about to expire.... I finally got around to sitting the exam.

And the timing of the exam couldn't have been more unfortunate as the marathon is two days away. However that was purely my fault as I procrastinated too much. Sacrificing some of my late nights, weekends and a bit of my running (though the reduced frequency of my training jogs was fortuitous because of the crap weather lately), I bit the bullet and studied for the exam for two weeks. After scoring a so-so mark in the mock exam I was slightly confident of a pass.

It was a difficult exam. But I passed with 75%. Could have done better, but hey, a pass is a pass and that's all you need to get certified!

The textbook that I had purchased (over a year ago!) was tailored to help candidates pass the exam. Though it was a great textbook, it doesn't fully prepare you for the exam and you will have to do a little more outside reading on certain subjects. There were a couple of questions that appeared to fall outside the scope of the book. But if you just want to pass the exam without caring how good you did, then the textbook is all you ever need.

Finally, the ghosts have been laid to rest! And a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. In a few days when the marathon is over, I'll evaluate whether I am able to do another certification.

Reaching Boiling Point

This week was all about emotions and the degree in how they can reach boiling point.

The last week of the marathon proved to be a up and down feeling for me. It's my first marathon, and so far it's the hardest thing I have ever done. Every moment of the day is consumed by thoughts of the race, and it seems difficult to do anything right. I feel that I want to get it over and done with so I can get on with my life, then another feeling of being not ready as I think I haven't done enough running.

Also I am scheduled to sit the Sun Certified Web Component Developer exam tomorrow, and I haven't had the best exam preparation, partly because of its proximity to the marathon. Nevertheless I gathered all my available time this week to study for it, even studying during working hours! Though I'm not confident of doing well, I'm striving first and foremost to pass the exam. The fear of failure once again rears it's head.

To finish it off, it was a hard week at work. How can you work with people who are sarcastic and condescending?

Home Straight

Marathon training is a long and difficult journey. How do I know? Because I've just been through it.

Even though I have trained for four months, it feels like I have trained forever. And during those four months, I wasn't doing anything else apart from pounding the pavements. It takes a hell of a lot out of you! I haven't been to the gym for a month. I gave up alot of my free time, which I could have used to do other things. And when I'm not running I'm usually resting my feet, body and mind, not able to do anything else.

But the pain, the countless miles, the sacrifice and the self-denial did pay off! Otherwise I've just wasted four months of my life having gone no closer to achieving my original goal. I'm now prepared to run the marathon, I've run a half-marathon in a good time and I feel fitter and healthier. And funnily enough I enjoyed every mile of the long journey.

The title Home Straight means that I'm at the last part of a long and difficult journey. The last week before the marathon is going to be a roller-coaster of emotions as I wind up my preparation. For now I'll do a series of shorter and more intense runs, try to stay injury and illness free, and work on my nutrition. All things considered, I think I have what it takes to get to the finish line, ultimately marking the end of a long and difficult journey.

And frankly I cannot wait for it to be over. It means that I can get into activities that I want to do, without needing to think about training, or feeling guilty when I skip a training session. Already I've thought of a list of things that I want to do post marathon. Such as getting back into dancing, reading more, doing another Java certificate, taking up another sport, getting in contact with a few friends, expanding the social circle, etc. These things I couldn't do whilst training for a marathon.

But I did enjoy the journey. And when I undertook this long journey it became clear to me that I enjoyed running immensely. I've found something that I enjoy doing, and something that I will continue to do many times in my life. No matter what place I get in next week's marathon, in the bigger scheme of things I'm already a winner.

Tapering

Just two more weeks till the Auckland Marathon, and I have just finished my last long run, a slow, but still gruelling, 32 km run. I say last because now is the time for decreased training, called tapering, before the big event.

There are no workouts I can do in the last two weeks that will improve race performance. But there are lots of workouts that will hurt my race. In other words, there's very little benefit to the training done in the final days and a very steep downside.

My tapering period will involve decreasing the mileage from previous weeks. Two weeks before a marathon, the mileage will be reduced by 50 percent and then by 50 percent again in the week before the race. For example my total mileage this week was around 80 km. Next week, the total mileage will be 40 km, and the final week's mileage will be 20 km.

So now that I've managed to complete all the long runs up till now, I'm in the frame of mind that I am now sufficiently prepared to run the Auckland Marathon. I've had over four months to prepare, I have done countless long runs over that time, and generally I feel like I've trained forever for this event.

This tapering period will allow me to focus on studying for my exam as well. It's a pity that I have to sit the exam two days before the marathon, so hopefully I can handle training and exam study, like a fleet footed tight-rope walker during her delicate balancing act.

The Half Marathon

This morning I competed in the Waitakere Half Marathon. And I managed to complete it in a time of 1 hour 55 mins (approxiamately). I had hoped to do it comfortably in two hours so I'm pleased with the result, especially competing in a half marathon for the first time.

I enjoyed the event immensely, and will definitely take part in this event in the future. I was very happy with the way I ran; it was an excellent run and today's performance should hold me in good stead for the ultimate test on October 29th.

The best moment was definitely entering the stadium where the finish line was. The feeling of accomplishment surged through me as I did a final sprint around the stadium track. It was great to see the supporters cheering the runners on no matter how fast or slow they were, and hearing the loud music blaring away.

I did start pretty slowly, and saw many people pass in front of me from the outset. Once I got onto Lincoln Rd I started to pick up the pace a little. In the latter stages of the run, once I hit my straps and got into a good rhythm I managed to pass A LOT of runners. This was definitely a good feeling as I know that I won't be last to finish!

Also I was pleased with the way that I attacked the hills. A lot of runners struggle on the uphills, but for some reason I feel that I'm reasonably fast up the hills. I definitely have some sort of running style that helps me negotiate the hills comfortably. Equally so with downhill running; I tend to increase my stride and shuffle quitely down the hill for extra speed without my legs tiring. Most of the time passing other runners was on the hills.

If there was one thing I'm concerned about, it would be my start. I think I started a little too quickly, and probably picked up the pace too early in the run. This will NOT work on Marathon day, so I'll have to come up with a strategy to avoid this from happening again. I felt like I still had gas in the tank after the run, that is, if I didn't do a mad sprint for the finish. Let's see if that is enough to carry me through 42.195 km, come October 29th.

Overall I enjoyed every second of it, and will definitely continue to compete in events like these. The feeling of accomplishment that you experience once you cross the finish line cannot be described.

Final phases

I've been very quite on the blog front these days. I have been mostly busy with marathon training and trying to study for an exam.

The final phases of marathon training have been quite promising. Yesterday I did a 27 km run in 160 mins. Although I was a bit tired and sore afterwards I thought that was an encouraging run. I will follow this up with another long run a fortnight prior to the marathon.

Next week I will compete in the Waitakere Half Marathon. This is purely for simulating the race conditions that I will get on October 29th. I still think I can comfortably do it in 2 hours. Any faster would be great, but I don't think it's a good idea to chase personal bests on this event. As I have a 100% week after the half marathon, I still need a lot of energy to get through that 100% week without feeling burned out.

Another thing that I have to prepare for is my Java exam. Unfortunately I have procrastinated too much on this and must sit this by the end of the month, which is, surprise surprise, marathon time. Because of training demands and other commitments, I'm finding it quite difficult to set aside some quality time for study. I guess I have to take the hit and do whatever I can to prepare for this exam.