Before Oct 30th

Realizing that chronicling my experiences could potentially be taking too much of my resources, I've decided to keep things in check by covering the aspects of my training and racing very broadly to just 2 or 3 "episodes". The first of which is the title of this post, and that would be generally my training and preparations up to the day I boarded the Cathay Pacific flight to NYC.

I eased into the marathon training mindset sometime end May and as usual plotted a 4.5 to 5-month training program. In retrospect it was a long program, and something which I know that I'll never be able to realize given my many commitments. My future marathons will most likely be based on a 3-month training window. A 5-month window allows too much distractions to creep in be it from work or health perspective.

My training was supported by the generous gestures of Nike and Powerbar and I logged all my workouts into the Buckeyeoutdoor.com training log.

The later stages of my training leaned heavily towards quality long runs, many of which were done back to back to simulate the stresses of marathon running and midweek shorter runs of up to 10K. I didn't do any interval training, and relied on tempos and effort based long runs to get my fitness level up. Once again I was blessed with no injuries when my training volume went up, at one stage 114K in 7 days, 160K in 9. Prior to the self-labelled Hell Week, my weekly mileage fluctuated between 45 and 65K. Hell Week was a milestone in my running life. Never have I run so much in my 20 years of running. I kept the runs mostly between an easy to steady pace, and the goal was to get the miles in. I figured that if I can survive the stress, I should be able to run at my targeted 5:42 marathon pace. There is really no point in running fast when the body isn't conditioned to take the stress of pounding. By "body" I mean the whole works - from the neuro-muscular to mental toughness. That's why longevity in the sport of running requires patience, lots of hard work and months if not years of base building - something Arthur Lydiard preached, not that I'm a disciple 100% (it's quite impossible to log that kind of mileage for one) but his doctrine is what I believe in. In the last 2 months of training especially, what I did mirrored what he prescribed. There's not much ground to be made nor continuous improvement realized if one jumps directly into speedwork. Speed is addictive and races can detract a runner from his or her ultimate goals whatever they may be. I've seen many fledglings succumbing to injuries within the same running season in the hasty pursuit of fast times. Or plateauing or burning out. But these lessons are not heeded and the mistakes continue to be committed.

After the final long run

Throughout the rollercoaster regimen, a consistent feature has been Geraldine whom I could count on as a fellow long run junkie. She would be the only rose among the thorns. As the months wore on, I had Frank and during the critical later stages, Luc, along for the ride. Lawrence and Loke were also regulars with 1 month to race day. Most of our long runs started at 5am, just so that we could return to our non-running commitments, which in my case included a session with the Beginners Group and a trip to the wet market for my weekly shopping.

Running the same route were boring after the umpteenth time, and in searching for new routes to charter, the Solaris route was established. Even hillier than the traditional Bukit Aman-Hartamas way, running the Solaris way build strength, something which came in beneficial when tackling a challenging course such as New York's. The extra distance also meant that we needed to do less looping around the Petronas station. Tapering was somewhat an anticlimax and I couldn't get in as many short runs as I wanted to due to inclement weather. However I'd purchased a spinning bike which I'd been hopping on a few times a week which helped maintain some aerobic fitness and leg strength. I credit my newly acquired strength to these workouts as I didn't increase my core workouts by much. So it had to be due to the spinning and the hilly runs.

I've been preparing for New York a year ago ever since of the bungled offer of the previous "sponsor". I'd researched about the place, the event and participated in the RW NYCM forums and read up past year reports in the many blogs. I'd even kept the Empire State Building ticket I bought online, which was a good thing, since it was still valid. Nevertheless having not travelled to a colder climate before meant that I'd to invest in a couple of suitable apparels. Some thought had to go into the packing since I'd be staying for a week. Race packing was equally complicated since the NYC course is a point to point. There would be many throwaway clothing due to the cold start and I didn't have any idea on what I should be wearing for top - Long sleeve or short? Any base layer? Will conditions be too cold? Will I overheat? I've the hard data on the predicted weather but how does 10C really feel like? In the end I packed both long and short technical shirts and the Nike Pro base layer. The choice for the bottoms was easier as with the shoes.

All packed!

The other thing was I had plans to head upstate New York to experience Halloween in the suburbs and had to consider bringing a change of clothes. What's a visit to a foreign land without experiencing some American culture right? So I hopped on the chance as it was presented to me, thanks to Geraldine.

Other than the confirmation of race entry, the NYRR was supposed to send us our registration card with which we could pick up our race bibs and goodie bags among other things. Both Geraldine and I were checking our mailboxes like maniacs the week before we left and having seen no signs of it, we emailed NYRR and received our electronic confirmation the very same day. At this point I should compliment the NYRR for doing an excellent job from day 1 when I applied via the lottery to the acceptance of my entry and to how much I'm welcome to the city. They even went so far as to say that it's their honour to sacrifice their time just so that we runners have the ultimate running experience. We would be lavished similar attention through many of our interactions there be it the volunteers or officials. More on that later.

Finally all the waiting was over and it was time to head on to KLIA. Both Geraldine and I arrived within 5 minutes of each other and since we've checked-in online we needn't rush. Our ride to Hong Kong was on the 777-300 which is a large plane and I looked enviously at the First and Business Class seats as I headed towards the Economy seats. The 4-hour flight was uneventful, which was good, during which I watched Get Smart and The Hulk on the monitor.

The HKG - JFK flight. Check out the new clam shell seats

The Hong Kong Airport was stupendous. Very well maintained and a hive of activity. We had 3 hours of layover and we leisurely covered the shops, did some product sampling and had lunch. It had to be pasta you see. I'd gained 1 kilo over my 2 week tapering period but it's normal and I wasn't concerned about it. In fact I was glad to finally hit 60 kgs!

Lunch in HKG Airport

Before long it was time to hit the second leg of our journey - a 15-hour flight over the edges of the Arctic Circle en route to New York. On board I switched over to the EST time zone which NYC is on and tried to catch some sleep which I failed miserably. My travel partner on the right had no problems. She tucked in her legs and was happily shipped away to dreamland with nary a sound. Me with the long legs were shifting around like crazy. Furthermore, the Singaporean on the left kept her reading lights on! To make a long story short, I got all of 40 minutes sleep on the 15-hour flight. Crazy! How was I to stay on my feet at the expo and Halloween night and to race?!