This sums it best, “Thanks for every thing you do.”
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It Will Never Be Perfect
I was reading this book about running. I hardly have any time nowadays to read, so when I do get the time, I want to make sure it has something to do with what I am currently interested in.
The author mentioned that there will never be a perfect time to run. There will always be something that prevents from having a perfect run, be it the weather, a muscle ache etc, but what runners do is to just take everything in their stride, and run. It is this ‘can do’ approach to running which runners should also apply it to their life.
It’s true. After running for more than a year and half, there is always something that gets in the way of a perfect run. If it is not hot, then perhaps there is rain. If there is no rain, then perhaps I have not recover sufficiently from the run yesterday, or if I did, then perhaps the calf muscles are still aching. If I was to find an excuse not to run, I will have the whole book as thick as the dictionary to choose from.
It is the same with life. There will never be a good or perfect time to do anything. If I am forever waiting for the perfect moment to do something, I will most probably end up doing nothing. I will just have to know what is lacking, what is bad, find workarounds and just go ahead and do it.
Learning life lessons from running. Another benefits of running.
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Running Plan
I started running again after 2 weeks. I was down with flu, which took more than a week to recover. And I gave myself a few extra days to recover fully. Just in case.
During this down time, I went about reading up on a training plan. I never had one, I thought all I have to do was to run, and run, and as long as I am running further, running faster and running more, then everything will just work out.
However I have been noticing I am not improving. My run times have stagnant, and I could not increase my mileage. Perhaps I need a structured training plan.
I did read up previously on a training plan, but as with all other information from the Internet, everyone has their own training plan, their own thinking of what a training plan should be like. It was really confusing so I gave up.
During this down time, I went reading all the training plans on the Internet and in books again, picking up the similarities. I concluded a training plan should consist of the following:
1) At least 1 tempo run per week
2) 1 hill/track/interval run per week
3) 1 long run per week
4) Fill up the rest of the week (depending on how many days I am running per week) with base/easy runs
So a typical week should look something like this (assuming 6 days of running):
Monday – Tempo Run
Tuesday – Base/Easy Run
Wednesday –Hill/Track/Interval Run
Thursday – Base/Easy Run
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Long Run
Sunday – Cross Training/Trail Run
For the rest day, it is either I rest completely, or I should do something call ‘Active Rest’, where I basically should be doing core strengthening exercises. On the subject of core strengthening exercises, I should be doing this least 2 to 3 days a week. For Sunday, I should be doing some kind of cross training, like cycling, swimming, yoga or running trails, any exercise that does not involve the same group of muscles as road running.
As for total mileage per week, there are quite a lot of conflicting information on this one, but it seems almost everyone agrees it is beneficial to run more, though for people like me with time constraint, I should be training wisely, and try to gain as much as possible from each run. Also, a rough guide is the total mileage should be at least twice of the distance that I plan to race, so since I will be doing 21km this year, I should have a weekly total mileage of at least 42km. A running week will therefore look something like this:
Monday – Tempo Run 7km
Tuesday – Base/Easy Run 7km
Wednesday – Hill/Track/Interval Run 8km
Thursday – Base/Easy Run 7km
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Long Run 15km
Sunday – Cross Training/Trail Run
To prevent injuries, the total weekly mileage should increase gradually, with the fourth week total mileage reduced to the same as the first week, to prevent injuries by giving the body some rest. I am still trying to find out what the mileage should be for the fifth week though. So the total weekly mileage should look something like this :
Week 1 : 30km
Week 2 : 35km
Week 3 : 40km
Week 4 : 30km
Week 5 : 37km
Week 6 : 42km
Week 7 : 30km
I am still trying to verify if my assumption on the total weekly mileage for week 5 onwards is correct.
I shall not go into detail what are the various types of runs listed here. Googling the various types of runs will bring lots information on them. There are also a lot of other types of runs which I have not put into this plan, for e.g. Fartlek run, as I want to keep my initial training plan simple. I want to see the results of this training plan I am putting together before I decide on whether to tweak it further.
That is the beauty of running, I tweak a bit here and there, and I can feel the results eventually. Always cause and effect.
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From Another Angle
Today is one of those days that when I viewed it from another angle, I realised things that I was stressed out about were actually irrelevant. There is absolutely no need for me to be helpful as it was not my problem. I just need to voice what I think and not offer any solution because it is not my problem.
Sometimes life is so much easier when viewing it from another angle.
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Sick
I fell sick.
I was going for my usual long run during the weekend. As it was my first long run after the physically exhausting Sundown Marathon, I decided to just run 10km and go home. The moment I started running, I knew something was wrong. I was feeling really tired, could not find any energy, and was perspiring more than usual. In the end, I stopped after 5km, went home, showered, and slept almost the whole day.
Two days later, feeling slightly better, I decided to go for another run after work. Again, I felt terrible after my run, my throat was itchy and painful. Next day when I woke up, I knew I was sick.
The first thought came into my mind was that I will not be able to run. I think it says a lot about how much running is becoming such a major part of my life.
There is nothing that I can do in the meantime except to rest more so I can quickly recover and go back to my running. The next race is end of August, there is not much time left to train for it.
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Tulipmania 2014
Dropped by Gardens by the Bay for the Tulipmania 2014. It was just too crowded to get any good shots. It will be nice to fly to Holland to see the fields of tulips there.
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Bali 17 April–20 April 2014
Took advantage of the long weekend to sneak in a short gateway to Bali. Stayed at the Ayana Resort, and watched the famous sunset at the Rock Bar. It was overall a relaxing short holiday, though the extremely humid weather means it was mostly indoors.
Will definitely go back again!
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Melbourne 2nd March–7th March 2014
This was my third trip to Melbourne, though it was my first working trip to Melbourne. I had assumed I had seen everything that Melbourne has to offer, but I was still surprised to discover new sights, especially after stumbling upon Melbourne’s laneways and arcades. I also managed to put in two runs, getting lost during my first run and ending up in South Yarra. I did my second run around the Botanic Gardens, or Tan for short.
Melbourne is also one of the few cities in the world where you can walk into any café and get good coffee, unlike the pretentious hipster cafes we have in Singapore. Daily trips to Cafenatics to get their coffee after lunch became a ritual. All in all, I was feeling a bit sad when I left.
Lately our lives have been revolving around the airport for work. I did not mind a bit when I had to travel to Melbourne.
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Four Doors of the Mind
Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.
First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon and taint. This is the mind’s way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.
Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying ‘time heals all wounds’ is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.
Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.
Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.
~Patrick Rothfuss – The Name of the Wind ~ -
Growth
“There can be no growth without discontent.”
