The tapering begins

Finally on 1^st January 2010, I did my longest run in the program. I did a 32kms @ 7:38. It was a huge burden on my mind which is now lifted. Like my physio friend tells me that its always a good feeling to know that you can now do a 30+ distance. Lets hope it works that way for me. I had also tried to run in the hot sun to get a taste of the conditions that will be prevalent at Mumbai during the SCMM.

After this run, the ITB was sore but the pain was considerably less and hence I could complete the distance. I believe this was mainly due to the support provided by the new set of tapes that I was wearing for this run. I am positively keeping them on for the main race as well. The muscles that were the most tired were the quadriceps and calves. Even the chin muscles were quite sore.

Through this run, I was able practice a bit of water and electral management. Lesson to be learnt was that I need to carry more than one packet of electral to survive throughout the distance. The positive sign was that throughout the four hours, there was no significant sign of cramping. Which was a big relief.

I followed it up with a strong 10k run yesterday, 3^rd January 2010 which most likely appears to be one of my last runs before I leave Bangalore for a vacation. I am growing increasingly happy with the recovery time that my legs are showing off late. Even after a draining run, I feel confident of another run in about 30 hours time. This ideally should come down to 24 I believe.

Anyways, this training and preparation is shaping up better than the last year. Visiting my physio tomorrow after which I will be more clear about the plan for the next two weeks.

Until then, keep training hard!