CNY Long Run

I had planned with Tey (pm22) to do a 30k long run from Bukit Aman, using the PACM practice route. It was set for the 3rd day of CNY which was Tuesday. I arrived at the car park just before 5am and managed to spot Tey after awhile. SL (pm41's sister) and her boss were also there.

The first 10k to the Petronas at Hartamas saw me running at quite a brisk pace. I reached the Petronas in about 59m which was much faster than my normal LSD pace. The others were just about 100m or so behind me. Tey was kind enough to carry 100plus and plum water for me. I drank some of the 100plus at the Petronas before continuing.

The second 10k saw us running back to the Income Tax office at Jln Duta and making a loop before returning to Hartamas again. We maintained a 6min pace and reached the Petronas in appx 2h02m. We took a much longer than expected break here of about 6mins before starting the return journey.

On the way back, we met Shine who was doing a 20k run. I think we maintained close to a 6 min pace until we crossed Jln Duta. It was from there onwards my mind started telling me that I was tired and needed to rest. My legs and breathing were fine, but as experienced in my past runs it was my upper back, shoulders and neck that was aching. I think this might be due to my posture and the fact that I sway my head when I get tired.

So anyway I ended up taking a few walk breaks over the last 4k inspite of Tey's dismay... haha and we managed to reach Bukit Aman in just under 3h20m. Tey was ahead of me towards the end as I walked back to the car park once reaching the Bukit Aman traffic lights.

On a positive note, I know that my legs are able to handle the distance and perhaps it could be another 5k or so (hopefully) before I hit the wall. I am more confident now that I will complete the distance come March 5th.

I am a little confused about my pacing however. I know I have the tendency to slow in the later stages of a long run. This is partly due to my shoes and socks which would be soaked by the time I reach the 15k mark. Both Jamie and Tey can vouch for that. So what I feel is that in order to make up some time, I need to push in the first 20k instead of holding back.

This is what I did in this training run and did not suffer any visible consequences besides having a better time. I know that there is going to be a higher chance of me clocking a much poorer time if I run the first 20k too slowly, as regardless of my leg condition I will slow down quite a bit due to the discomfort of my soaked shoes and overall body fatigue. Perhaps some of you more experienced marathon runners can advice me here.