powergel bars, nipple tapes and tights.

I completed my first full marathon on the 6th dec 2009.

My training regime? It all started out by doing frequent 5-8km runs around my neighborhood to build up the necessary stamina and basic muscle endurance. I had to make sure that my knees are properly conditioned over time to withstand the long distances ahead. I did this from late August( that was the time i signed up for the run ) to late September. On a few occasions, i joined my colleagues to do trail runs in Macritchie reservoir to spice up the training.

Outcome: Knees didnt hurt as much...By the last run of this regime my knees went back to its former glory in Army days!

I had to move away from my comfort zone of 8km runs. By early October i did about 4-5 times of 10km runs. All these while, i still joined my wife to run short distances of 3-6km around the neighborhood. Only towards the last week of October i started stretching my distances to about 12km. Did this twice before the end of October. It was also during this phase of my training that i realised how big my thighs were.. i had abrasions on my inner thighs and bled quite badly from nipple abrasions.

And so it was time for me to shop for nipple tapes and tights. I got myself this 3M adhesive transparent band aid that is water resistant. Very good and never failed me since then. Slipped onto my new Reebok black tights one morning and found no more abrasions on my groin area after the run. Shiok.

November came so sudden; i had to run at least beyond 15km to test out my knees and ankles. I spent some time to read up about replenishing electrolytes and body salt/ fluids. Bought a few packs of energy gel bars and slipped it into my tights' rear pockets / arm pouch for consumption during training. Because these gels had to be ingested with water, i had to carry my own 750ml Adidas bottle every time i ran. I remembered getting used to the 12-15km transition by first week of November and decided that it was time to push on the distance to a half marathon. That meant more power gel bars and mixing 100 plus with water to my Adidas bottle to increase electrolytes content.

By the end of November, i clocked 3 half marathons and roughly figured out my thresholds for joint pains. All these while i never had cramps.


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Night before the run :3 sticks of bananas and lots of food that's sweet and high in carbo. Turned in around 11pm( i should have slept earlier !!!)

On the day itself : Woke up around 330am ... forced an energy bar( akin to a muesli bar ) and a mug of cereal into my stomach and drank lots of water before heading to take the coach from woodlands mrt to Esplanade. Plan was to release all my pee just before the run commences. I got myself a can of 100plus, with the intention of popping the can and dump its contents into my mouth JUST BEFORE the flag off. What WASN'T in the plan was the load of shit that i had to clear off my bowels just before the run.


First 10km
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Didnt feel the need to hydrate. Kept running ... felt that time inched by the minutes. I thought i needed less than 1 hour to clock 10km but at the 10km mark i realised that i took 1hr and 10min. OK, time to stop for a power gel makan and hydration. My ankles started to feel pain as expected, and i began pushing on to the next 11km.


11km-21km
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Every 2km mark came unusually long for me. Though i still don't feel the lethargy and fatigue, i somewhat lost my time sense. It all didnt seem right as compared to the distance-timing feel that i acquired during my 2mth plus of training. I was afraid that i couldnt do it smoothly since i was rather thrown off by my actual feel during the run itself. This 11km stretch started from Fort road all the way till somewhere beyond the Changi Sea sport area. It felt very very long and dreadful(i mean, at the end of this stretch i would only be at the half way mark ). I kept finding a few distinctive ladies as my pacers( it was easier to pace myself with girls because there werent much relative to the number of guys at the pace i was running ). By the time i saw the 21st Km mark, i didnt feel good at all. I thought my legs were almost reaching its threshold and i thought its finally time to stop and walk for awhile. I stopped by the side, drank like a mad horse and started doing more intensive stretching to my limbs... Took out my socks to massage my toes and started rotating my ankles.
After eating my 2nd packet of energy gel(one packet per 10km for me)i began to feel so much better , to the extent that my confidence slowly slipped back into me. I bumped into David from my reservist unit and we chatted about how dreadful the run was.
It was less than a minute that David decided to stop for some stretching because he was quite fearful of cramps along the way....I picked up my pace and left him behind, reminding myself not to push my muscles too hard. I never experienced cramps during my training( after all i didn't hit anything beyond 23km back then ) and had almost forgotten how deadly it could be if i should over strain my muscles


21km-30km
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Pain finally set in... This leg of the run saw me stopping the most for drinks and lots of stretching to the calves and thighs. Kept reminding myself not to fall pray of extreme contractions and slowed my pace even more to endure the whole thing. Soon i started talking myself into enduring the pain and persevere to Ford Road...I was longing to see that 30km mark banner at the end of it.
The only distasteful encounter during this journey was the energy gel collection. Everyone could only have ONE packet of gel!!!!Cheapskate! I was actually hoping to eat 2 more packets on the 30th and 36th Km mark to replenish my body. Come to think of it, i should have taken one packet, slip it into my tights' rear pocket and run back for another one back then. Tmd.

30km-40km
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It must have been the trick of the mind. I felt this boost in my pace after clearing the 30th km banner. It was 3hrs and 45min on my Timex wrist watch and i thought i could clear this whole shit below 5 hours... I bumped into my ATC colleague and told him that i need to 'finish my last 10km in burst mode'... HOW WRONG I WAS!!!!! In fact, this was the longest 10km i've ever ran in my life. I started to stop at EVERY DRINK STATION and never fail to walk for about 1-2min before pushing off.. somewhat it became a trend that i kept running till i see the next drink station. At least i didn't walk unnecessarily. When i reached the 37th Km mark banner near the old kallang gas work junction, i busted 4hours and 30min. Reality set in and i knew i couldn't finish it below 5. I muttered to myself that it was never my intention to put timing as part of my first marathon experience. With that i trudged on...

Final 1km
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All of a sudden i was in 2.4km running mode. I was in large strides along the Padang all the way till the finishing line. My timex wrist watch said 5hrs and 21min. Damn that's like close to an hour to finish that 37th to 42nd km distance!!!!

Finally, my cramps came subtly, and was gone by the time i rested on the grass patch by the war memorial.

At that point in time,I looked at my finisher shirt and marvelled for one fact: I had no knee pains and almost did this run with zero cramps!

It was my very first marathon, and i knew it wont be the last. I enjoyed this whole process of discovering how the mind is indeed stronger than the body.