No Rest For The Weary

The local running scene at end of the year is always quiet. Physical exertions are put on hold for these couple of months as the Muslims go into their fasting month, although some adrenaline/endorphin addicts will still be at it. Many racers are tired from their back to back races for the greater part of the year and are winding down their training, catching up on rest or simply nursing their injuries. However other parts of the world continue to see plenty of action. The Chicago Marathon is happening this Saturday the 8th, while the Phuket and Hatyai Marathons follow suit. In December, there's the Singapore Marathon and the Singapore Ultra. Naturally those who will be travelling to these overseas races are entering their most critical phase of training.

The KLCC Park, my usual haunt will see less people from today onwards, today being the 1st day of fasting for the Muslims. This will make it easier to run around the circuit. Travelling to and back from work should be breezier as well and this will also allow me to run longer at night should I skip KLCC right after work. It's been great so far but it's been challenging. More than ever, I've had to exercise extreme flexibility in my workout programs due to work and family commitments. Because of that I've  found myself training alone most of the times, unlike pre-KLIM '05 days when I had The Lonerunner for company on weekends and Live2RockZouk on weekdays. I have to dig deep for motivation and that comes from my running books, mags as well as my training log. Believe me, entering your daily workouts into the log will give you that extra 50% motivation as you see your mileage climbs.

 

Ending this posting, I urge you to check out the updated Food Pyramid the USDA has released. The new structure is aimed at keeping up with the times as well as clear some misconception on dietary intakes. Finally a guide that takes into account a person's level of physical activity rather than making sweeping generalization regardless of a person's needs. By the way, I got this heads-up from last monh's RW mag.