The tussle in mind went on for a long time after the Energizer Night Race and finally I took the plunge and register myself in the Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011 for a full 42km event! I'm excited but also nervous wondering on my irrational decision. Anyway the registration is done and I will just have to cope with my life schedule and plan up to train my body to endure the pain to reach there. It's not a choice anymore.
10km is a good start for the mass public, it's not too short but long enough to push your body out of your comfort zone but it's achievable at the same time. With a normal jog at the park is good enough to ensure you to complete the run, not a problem. Most recommended for recreational runner to keep themselves healthy and be part of the running group. Qualifying time is 1 hour 30 minutes
21km is long distance run, punishing every aspect of your body. You will reach the limit of your body threshold after breaking the 10km distance and you will feel the pain throughout your whole body upon 15km. You will struggle to even lift your legs and you will force to stop if you don't plan your running strategy properly. It's one of the extreme event you can join to punish your body to extreme and have difficulty walking on the next day if you are not prepare. I personally think 21km is even more challenging than conquering the KK mountain. Qualifying time is 3 hours 30 minutes.
42km is the ultimate marathon event that it's said to be only achievable by extreme sport person. Actual distance is 42.195km and there are less than 1% of the world population that has completed a full marathon. It's so extreme that it's said to challenge the human threshold from total collapse if you are not prepare. It's explained that there is "the wall" of human threshold, determine by the glycogen that's hold by the body for immediate burning to produce power for muscle and movement. The estimated storage is meant for 30km of running and once a runner body hit "the wall", human body will collapse and hit dramatic fatigue. When that happened, you will need to take a long rest for the glycogen to replenish itself before you can move again. I've not done it before, so I'm not sure how it works. Qualifying time of a full marathon is 7 hours and I'm aiming to complete it within 6 hours.
The life achievement of a full marathon is so tempting to me so that I can join the 1% elite of the world. It meant so much for me as it's also my dedication to my new born to bring him up in the best way I can.
An overview of the route that I'm going to run. There is no clear indication but you can guess the distanceMy Training
I'm 82 days away from the full marathon event and I'm still training. My philosophy that as long as you can run non-stop for 1/3 of the marathon distance, you should be alright to join the event. 10km meant 3km non-stop. 21km meant 7km non-stop. It has been serving me quite well so far. 42km meant 14km non-stop. I'm not able to run 10km non-stop and I'm pushing myself to achieve the 14km mark. In addition to that, I'm also drawing up a plan for myself as following:
1. to be able to run minimum 14km non-stop
2. to achieve minimum 42km in a week combined running distance
3. to be able to run 10km in less than an hour
With the above, I believe it's the minimum that I must achieve by October 2011 or else I will withdraw from the event. Hope all to support me and give me the strength to achieve my life dream.
For those that's going, find the download link here for the guide book on the event. In contained lots of essential information such as event information, routing, pacer colour, water station, and etc. However, latest copy is on 2010, not sure if it's the same for 2011. I will check again and update when it's available.
