It's Official! It's Milkshake Mondays From Now On!

It's just a way of treating myself after a week's worth of training. Afterall, Monday is a scheduled rest day and Sam Adams isn't sold here. Yesterday's run was tough but very satisfying. It comes after knowing that a few cut short their training runs because of the bad weather and yet you stuck it out. It comes with the "toight" leg muscles and general tiredness. It comes with logging down the activities in your training log. However I'm getting a little tired of the training - all necessary, mind you - and are looking forward to the Active Tapering Phase in 2 weeks time. Until then there are still 4 long weeks to go. I should be doing my second longest run of 33K (20.6 miles) this Sunday (Mother's Day) before easing off to a 25K and taking it back up to a 35K and back down again to 25K (back to Penang for the weekend) before a final 35K on June 10th and taper off.

Some of my friends were suggesting certain expected finishing times for me but while they're all very encouraging, I don't think I'm able to achieve their lofty targets. The timings that they're suggesting calls for higher mileage, something which I'm unable to commit to presently. With an additional 20K a week, I believe it's possible (with all pieces falling into place and race day conditions ideal) but I'm already nearing the maximum threshold of available training resources (time mostly) and can't do much more than what I'm doing today. As it is, I'm already fusing my speedwork into my runs - there's simply no time on my part to embark on a speed session each week. So guys, thanks for your optimism and encouragement. A PR is already an excellent achievement for me come June 24th. 4 hours would be a bonus. 3:59 is out of this world. 3:45 and below calls for much much more work to be done over a longer period of base training.

Geraldine and I were chatting away all the way and one of the topics we spoke about was about how to get through the difficult stretches in a race. At which point I thought back to my previous marathons. I remembered cussing my way through the tough miles, disassociating (or trying to) myself from the discomfort and pain by enjoying the scenery - which mostly didn't work since I'm too familiar with the local settings. It would've worked better if I was running in an overseas race or where the event is better supported with thousands of supporters. Then there's the gung-ho approach where I tackle the negativity head-on usually by employing some mental mantra like "This is what I've trained for, so suck it up!" and "Keep moving, don't let your family down". I think all three methods work for me. And all come into play in a single race when I use any help I can get from these mental plays to get me through. Anything goes - improvise!

And yes! Manchester United are CHAMPIONS AGAIN! Even though we went out lamely in the 2nd leg of the Champions League semis, I'll still savour this one.