Should I run the Milo Marathon or not?
Start of the year I already have an answer. Yes, I should! By July I should have lost a lot of weight, my quadriceps and hamstrings would have been so taut from all the half-iron prep biking, and I should be in fighting form. The ambitious dream was I would not train specifically for a marathon but with my improved fitness from half-ironman training, I would do better than my milo debut (5h:16m).
It's June now and I am still around 180lbs. I have lost enough weight and lots of fat to clinch third place for BLC 2, but I am still far from my target weight of 165 lbs. I can feel my quads and hammies are a lot stronger with the regular long rides I've done, but all those rides robbed me of the time and energy to run long. At best, those stronger muscles developed by biking allowed to me run better at short intervals of 800m. Would these qualify as Yasso 800s and training for a marathon?
Triathlete friends tell me that running a marathon will take away weeks from my training. They are right. I simply cannot do a long run and a long ride within a space of 3 days. I need time to recover. From experience, I need at least two weeks of no running to recover from a marathon. Two precious weeks!
I also treat the marathon distance as sacred. In my book, one should not run it just for the heck of it. The marathon has a purpose, and its walls disappear only to those who respect it enough to prepare well for it.
But I am running the Milo marathon just the same. By doing so I hope to achieve the following:
2. To remind myself of what is important. Discipline, selflessness, helping others, community spirit, friendship, mastery of oneself. I hope to get back to those values that make me do and love all these sports activities in the first place.
3. To keep a promise to friends. I told friend Noelle months ago that a marathon is a great way to celebrate a birthday. I still believe that. I may not run the marathon as fast as my friend, but I will be there on the road to celebrate that milestone. Months ago I told Milo training buddy EO that I will do the Milo marathon and do my best to legitimize my Milo marathon completion. I cannot guarantee my finish time my friend, but I will be there on the road running and cheering you on, just like the way it should have been last year.
I have barely a month to extend my new found short run form to a long run of a marathon. I have about two weeks to re-acquaint myself with the mind- and body-numbing very long run I espouse for a marathon.
Am I a fool to go for the full? On the familiar roads of Milo I will soon know.
14 comments:
goo luck rico!
jonel
Wow. Getting poetic my friend.
Goodluck on Milo. It will definitely be a good race for all of us!
Enrico, good luck at Milo. No question that you made a good decision. Milo is one of the top events in the country.
Take care my friend. Hope to see you and everyone this November!
Listen to you body man...I assume you are already at a fitness level that is far from the baseline so you don't have to really start from scratch...rather, build on what you've already got...and yes, respect the distance! by sheer will you will make it! all the best then!
See you at the starting line, my friend! Best of luck and Godspeed to us all!
Goodluck on the full marathon in milo :D
marky_mark
Thanks Jonel. I need all the "goo" I can find. Haha. See you on the road.
Hey Gerard. Waxing poetic? Hmmn, must be the training. Haha. See you in Milo
Thanks Wayne. Milo is still our Boston, especially now with age-group based qualifying times. Hope to see you on Philippine shores again.
Thanks fellow runner in Science. I've always listened to my body, long before I realized it was Polar's tagline. Haha. I am running this Milo edition powered by sport science. Wish me luck!
Hey Julius. Yeah, Godspeed to us all.
Thanks Marky...Hope to see you there too.
I have so much respect with marathon runners. I've been going in the gym for months now and I can barely get 800m in the treadmill without bursting my lungs. Good luck on your run!
we were then wide-eyed marathon virgins discussing theories because we've never run a full mary. who can forget iBY's famous excel file which never got implemented come race day? one of my most vivid memory of last year's milo was us chatting by the finish line and someone excitedly remarked, "si rico ba 'yung dumadating? bakit ang bilis niya?" they say never underestimate the marathon distance. i say never underestimate SheerWill. see you at the starting line for the reunion of the milo training buddies. this marathon will celebrate discipline and determination but more importantly, pay homage to friendships forged and sustained through running. cheers!
eo
ps. it was great seeing you and noelle on the road earlier today.
Its gonna be tough bro. Good luck! I just hope you dont lose much time for your half IM training. Mag bike ka na din after milo until you end up with an 8hour total time to test your body for camsur. Ingat lang sa burnout.
Rico -- guess a sub-5 is within your reach! Go for it, bro!:-)
EO, wow, meron palang ganong kuwento sa finish line =) You are right - the marathon is a homage. All I can say is thanks, thanks and thanks. See you on the Milo road soon.
Thanks BZ, balang araw maabot ko rin yang Condura race time mo. Haha.
Rene, sub-5? (Gulp!). We'll see. Really, all I want is to finish strong within cut-off time.
good luck bro! i really want to do this to force myself to do a long run.. been really off running lately... better get myself a milo foil pack soon.. :-)
Good luck, do well, and finish strong! See you at the starting line!
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