Monday I went shopping in Godrej Nature Basket. Picked up Sofit – Soymilk the plain version ( not adulterated with sugar – which is hard to get ), Tofu and Gooseberry.
Went for runs according to plan on Wednesday,Thursday and Saturday and did the knee exercises.
Sunday morning I was delayed – partly because of the rain and partly because I was lazy. I started the run at 8am.
Set 29kms as target.
My legs felt tired right from the go. I checked out the park but it was fully soggy and unrunnable. Came back to the concrete parking lot + the inside asphalt road. It is going to be a boring 29 loop run. Was debating whether next time I will go to Aarey colony road – but the slopes will kill my confidence.
Crossed 10.5k and took a recharge break. I now switched on the audio book – Wizard of Earthsea. The headphone’s right side had stopped working. This keeps getting better.
Ged gets good advise from his master. He starts chasing the shadow. The hunted becomes the hunter. They meet one more time and this time Ged tries to clutch the shadow with his hands but the shadow escapes. However now the shadow has taken the shape of Ged ( but there is no shadow when it walks ) – and is on the run. Ged follows it till he comes to a town where his old friend Welch stays. Welch joins him in the quest to put an end to the shadow.
I continue to run gently and after 17kms, I start doing my run-walk-run routine. Run till the nike App says – you have x kms to go, your current pace is y.. then I will walk for sometime – will keep telling – ok I will walk to the lamppost and then run – and I will cross the lamppost and then will tell myself – ok the next lamppost but no cheating alright – and so on.
During my research during the week I read something very interesting.
“Learn to differentiate between pain and discomfort”
I could feel some pain come on the foot or ankle or my knees – but I told myself – this is just discomfort and it will go away after sometime. I was getting more and more tired.
Around 20.5kms I took a recharge break. Still 8.5kms to go.
Around 24km – suddenly my senses became super alert. The last time I felt something close to this was during my 4 day Art of Silence course. I could see the road very clearly – each and every micro pot hole was visible. This stayed with me throughout the day.
Reached 29km finally. Was hungry as hell. Have run 4 Hours 18 minutes. Longest ever.
Both my hands were hurting near the joint. Will have to research and increase my upper body workouts a bit. Currently I do 10 push ups and 10 dumbbell lifts. My legs were aching but thankfully none of the fancy pains were there.
Now – the doubt of completing marathon has reduced, but a new one has started increasing – you are one greedy mind – Will I be able to complete within 6 hours – else I will not get a medal. Also the aid stations will all be shut down by then – what if I badly need water or something to eat – I will be damn hungry.
If this was the D-Day I would still have to go 13 more kms. The last km I did in 8.50 minutes. This will only get worse towards the end. If I assumed 9 minute pace – I will need another 2 hours to complete the marathon.
That will make it 6 hours and 18 minutes. Gotto shave off 30 minutes – so I will have some buffer.
Next Week Torture plan – same as this week, but with 32Kms target for long run.
