The Forgotten (but Most Satisfying) Race
It has been more than six months since my last entry and I should have shared my experience at the much delayed Phuket Laguna Marathon — which took place in 2022 but was still branded as a 2021 race, most likely because all publicity materials were printed before it was called-off (twice). Yet similar to the delayed race, my reflection has been delayed to stand still. Until now, when I am due for another race in a few hours’ time.
So better to clean up the outstanding laundry before we have new ones!
Bothered by the persistent injuries for years, I have had long given up hope to have proper training to strive for PB anymore. With over a dozen marathon races experience, I assume myself to be experience enough to survive a race. To avoid myself getting into “must-terminate” pains or further injuries during the race, I did three things —
(1) take painkiller in advance (my MD friend years ago advised me to take Voltaren so I am taking it religiously thereafter);
(2) submerse my feet into ice-bath or press them onto ice cubes for 15 minutes every hour for 2–3 times the day before the race (yeah, there are two schools of thought, hot water bath or ice bath. Each is quite vigorous against the other as heresy. I just opted for the easy way out (ice — more readily obtainable) and it has always been working quite well for me.)
(3) do significant amount of stretching — being extremely stiff physically, I blamed all my running injuries and efficiency problems with the tightness of my physical components. I have been putting a blind eye to this because all readily available resources are way too advance for me (and my wife argues if it is not killing, it won’t be effective). Since Q1 2022, I finally discovered an online library (requiring nominal subscription) which suits sub-amateur people like myself. Since then, whenever I don’t feel like running, I stretch according to the programme.
So with these preparation and a weather forecast that it would be raining throughout the race, I was confident that I will have an enjoyable race.
Indeed, it was enjoyable, largely.
I managed to keep my pace at 7 min / km for the first 35 km and I had two coconuts provided by the organizers at 25 and 33 km stations. I stopped a few minutes to stretch further at 35km before resuming running (jogging to most runners).
My arch nemesis returned though. The sun came up after the 4th hour. No rain whatsoever. Therefore every thing heat up. Worse, the morning sun was too low that I can barely see the way (where was my running glasses??). I tried to persist but at 40km, I stopped. It really dismayed me to run under the unforgiving tropical sun. I protested by walking leisurely back.
My parents were waiting for me at the finishing point and they had been monitoring me online. They thought I could make it sub-5 (if I insisted 7min/km throughout). Of course I didn’t make it. I ended with 5:11.
Returning to hotel for the next three hours, I did 20-min stretching every hour, inter-wined with ice-bath to feet as my cool down process. The result was miraculous. Never had I experience almost zero aftermath pain after a full marathon. The preparation and subsequent cool down combo worked very well to me. At least for that particular race.
Seven months later, I am at another race in Buriram — claimed to be the best organized race in Thailand. It is particularly special because it is held at the evening. So for slow marathoners such as myself, it will be almost midnight by the time I finish. Coupled with the continental climate, it will be cooling down every hour, hopefully will make many exhausted runners to last longer than expected. Of course, the best of it is, the sun would be down already when we start.
I am doing similar preparation as in the last time and hopefully it will again be an enjoyable experience. I am going back to stretching now. Hopefully my next sharing won’t be too many months away.
