I'm A Sea Monkey

A peek into the weather forecast shows that it's going to be wet in the days leading to the race. Lows of 23C with 60% chance of rain. Indeed the weather has been gloomy in the evenings the past 3 weeks. At this juncture I won't take any risks running the rain but if there's going to be a downpour on race day, I'll say "BRING IT ON!" Just like sea monkeys, I come alive when I come into contact with rainwater during a race - Heh heh! Bad analogy.

Though there are obvious challenges when running in the rain - from chafing to soggy socks and shoes to impaired vision - I personally find that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Look at it this way - you can manage chafing by lubing, and vision impediment by wearing a cap. All those variables you can control, but not the weather and soggy shoes. So instead of fearing it, why not embrace it? It's not like you can turn the tap off or something like that. That's my take. Then consider this: you sweat less in the rain, obviously! Sweating is a cooling mechanism of the body and when the air and body are kept cooled by the rain, your body's core temperature doesn't jump off the charts. If you're not overly bothered or distracted by the soggy shoes, you may actually find that it takes less effort to run compared to when it's warm.

I predict with almost certainty that it will be a wet 29th especially in the early evenings. How cool race morning is depends on how long the rain persists the night before. Chances are it will be a dry but cool race morning. The past 4 Sundays saw varied weather conditions after 8am - from cool and cloudy to very sunny and warm. That means those aiming for a finishing time of 3:30 or longer may expect a bit of a challenge in the form of the sun, more so with a tough 35K - 41K section.

Today's workout was the Yasso 800s. (read about it here | here). Since this was the first time I was doing this - have previously done a couple of 1K repeats - I decided to go with 6 reps targeting 4:00 per 800m with 1:15 recovery in between. The 1:15 recovery in hindsight is too little as the prescribed recovery time is the same as the target set time. So I had much much lesser rest than recommended! The workout started after a short 800m warmup and the pre-programmed 205 took over.

Rep 1 - 5:11 (6:30 pace) = too slow

Rec 1 - 1:15

Rep 2 - 3:46 (4:44 pace) = "What the...?"

Rec 2 - 1:15

Rep 3 - 3:48 (4:45 pace) = hmmm pretty consistent

Rec 3 - 1:15

Rep 4 - 3:42 (4:38 pace) = Thinking, "Can I last the workout???"

Rec 4 - 1:15

Rep 5 - 3:39 (4:35 pace) = Thinking, "Am I running too fast?"

Rec 5 - 1:15

Rep 6 - 3:42 (4:38 pace) = Still relatively consistent

Rec 6 - 2K warmdown

Total distance = approx 8K including warmup, recovery walk/jog and warmdown.

Sloshing Run

If I had a spade or shovel next to me, I could then possibly...possibly...pry myself out of bed this morning. Not getting up meant only an additional hour of snooze but an hour of much needed rest. So I stayed in bed, underneath the covers yet couldn't get back to sleep. That's my problem - if I wake up early I won't be able to fall back to sleep. By the time I procrastinated, it's too late to change and put in my scheduled miles.



That meant that I've to run after work in pouring rain. The skies opened up at about 4pm and by the time I suited up at 6:20pm, it had slowed to a heavy drizzle. Having my jacket on made a difference - with the cap they kept me comfortably warm. As a result of not running this morning I felt very fresh and took off in tempo pace right from the start. All my laps were sub 6min pace and the splits close to each other. I stopped only as I ran out of time. When I ran my final lap, it was already 7:10pm and I didn't want to keep my wife waiting even if we were going to be stuck in the jam.



Some smart alec decided to close the SMART Tunnel for 2 days which exacerbated the massive jam which we were caught in for 2 hours. A big detour took us to Duta, Kerinchi Link, Old Klang Road before linking with KESAS and LDP. That 2 hours could've been more productive, like another 15K and change?? Heh heh.



Since we're on the subject of wet weather running, consider some tips offered by Shelly Glover, the co-writer of the popular Competitive Runners Handbook. For the brainiacs out there, check Nick Allen's article "Do you get less wet if you run in the rain?" out.







Post run in the car park