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training update two oceans marathon
hi friends, i just finished my last long run for the two oceans and my training is DONE. RACE DAY Is 22nd MArch
I woke up today, saturday at 3:15 am and was in the car with my wife at 4:00 am. We drove until 5:20 am and then started a run 5 k on a flat road. then we reached the base of a mountain called "matheran". Matheran is a hill station near Bombay which the British used as a quick get-away from bombay. It a lovely small carfree zone. The run up matheran is 7 kms over a 600 meter elevation. I ran up the hill then down and then up again and then down for a morning total run of 33 kms. And now I am done with training.
I have had an incredible journey these last 7 weeks. I dont run much during the week , but i manage to put in one gym session of about 2 hours and then between 2 - 3 runs to total about 35 kms. But i have worked very hard every weekend over the last 7 weeks.
22nd Jan : 42.2 kms Mumbai Marathon in 4:41
26th Jan : 21 kms
3 rd Feb : 42 kms in Lonavalla ( another hill station with continuous rolling hills)
9th Feb : 27kms (matheran 600 meter elevation)
16th Feb : 49 kms (lonavalla rolling hills in 7:21)
22nd Feb: 33 kms (twice up and down matheran)
1st March: 55 kms (lonavalla rolling hills in 7:45)
8th MaRCH :33 KMS (twice up and down matheran)
Now I know for a fact that I can finish the 56 km distance of Two oceans, what I dont know if i can do it under 7 hrs.
Sweder advised and i totally agree that I need to reach the half way 28 kms in 3:00 to 3:10. on the 55 k run I reached 28 in about 3:20.
but the run was on continuous rolling hills and although each hill was not more than 10 meters , it is continuous up and down. with just two hills of 160 meter elevation.
but what i learnt through all this training is this. I used to train for three months for a marathon. 42.2 was like an ultimate challange. needed 3 months of training to run the distance once. but now when i set myself a tougher goal, 42.2 has become easy. Perhaps we need to set all our life-goals on a "stretch- target".
So now I am ready, and although I understand that I might not finish in under seven hours, i am for now, going to disregard that possibility and I hope that God Grants me that Magic Race day when everything breaks right, the sun does not fry my scalp, the wind is on my back, and God gently pushes my butt-up Chapmans peak and Constantia Nek. I want that medal, for my kids, for my wife but let me be honest, I want it most, for myself. I have never undertaken any physical activity until I was 39, i was a total couch potatoe but now in the last three years i have run 4 marathons and when I get the medal I think I feel the same joy as my 6 year old kid experiences when he gets a new toy. SO I WANT THAT MEDAL.
So Carpe Diem and Carpe Viam or simply put, Africa, HERE I COME !!!!
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