Sydney Marathon - The build up

The preparations for my first ever marathon started around 3 months prior to the marathon – Around June 2009. I was totally aware of the task ahead (I thought so anyway). Based on my research on the net, the unofficial prerequisite for most first time marathoners was atleast one half-marathon (21kms) and/or a few long running events. When I decided to start training for the Sydney marathon, I had no half marathon experience. In fact, the most (and only) running event I did was the Brighton Beach ‘Fun Run’ – 10km.
I still decided to give it a go with the only aim for crossing the finish line and hoped my general fitness will get me there. My fitness level / events profile consisted of the following when I started my marathon training:

· BJC Muay Thai Black Singlet (obtained 28/06/09)
· North Bondi Classic Ocean swim (08/02/09) – 2KM swim – Official time 51:53
· Sydney Harbour Classic swim (01/03/09) – 2KM swim – Official time 36:34
· North Steyne Classic Ocean swim (02/05/09) – 2.8Km swim – Official time 1:06:06.73
· Brighton Beach Dash - 10KM fun run – Official time 00:52:51
· The most I’ve run was around 18KMs
· Around 5 hours of Muay thai training per week

All of the above was in the last year. I’ve been doing muay thai for about 2+ years. Prior to that, I wasn’t really into fitness except for the occasional gym visits and squash games (which usually ended at Oporto’s! :)

Jan 23rd - General Update and Training Schedule

OK.. January has been going quite well and has been relatively injury free (besides sore shins specially on my left leg from sparring).

Training:
Things have been going quite well in regards to training. My training routine has been as follows :
Mon 7-8pm : Boxing
Mon 8-9pm : Muay Thai

Tue 7-8pm : Muay Thai
Tue 8-9pm : Boxing

Wed 7-8pm : Muay Thai
Wed 8-9pm : Boxing

Thu 7-8pm : Muay Thai
Thu 8-9pm : Boxing

Fri 6-7pm : Sparring

Sat 11-12pm : Muay Thai
Followed by a Sauna session

I've been quite impressed that I've been able to doulbe up on my boxing/muay thai training. I also notice that I go quite hard almost throughout the 2 hours each day and not taking it easy cos I'm doing two hours of training.

Running :
Only downside is, I'm quite drained out and tired after training and struggle to get out of the bed to be on time at work (let alone doing a morning jog)..
I've currently cut down on my running for no apparent reason other than I don't have a lot of times. I aim is to try my best to start doing a jog in the morning. Hopefully I'll start doing it this week.

Diet :
I have been quite relaxed on my diet but still careful with what I eat. I'm trying my best to ensure that I'm not starving or feeling tired during training. Only way to do that is eating sufficiently and drinking water..


I'm also thinking of trying to extend my holiday to include another weekend. I really don't want to get to Rawai and be told that I can't fight cos I'm not prepared or need atleast another few days before fighting.


Sea Swim - The North Bondi Classic Sea Swim is still on the cards. It's held around the second week of Feb. I'm being a bit more realistic now and thinking of entering the 1k swim instead of the 2k. I'm really comfortable with swimming 2ks in a pool, but not really sure how hard(er) it will be in the sea. I'm hoping to go to the beach atleast twice this weekend and hope to figure out how hard it could be. I really want to do this .. It will be a brick wall that appeared from no where, but it will give me some good confidence if I can break it!

Head Fakes

I learnt the term 'head fake' from one of the best books I've ever read - The last lecture by Dr.Randy Pausch.
http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2008/summer/an-enduring-legacy.shtml

Hypothetically if you were dying, what would you say in your last lecture? For Randy Pausch, that isn't a hypothetical. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and the doctors only gave him a few more months to live.
If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend it no matter who you are and what you do.. You may want to check out his video first on youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

In his lecture Dr Randy explains head fakes as 'Indirect learnings'..

"And the other thing about football is we send our kids out to play football or
soccer or swimming or whatever it is, and it's the first example of what I'm
going to call a head fake, or indirect learning. We actually don't want our kids
to learn football. ... we send our kids out to learn much more important things.
Teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, et cetera, et cetera."

It's amazing to think how much the 'head fake' theory applies to us.. It is not the most obvious outcome of a certain activity that may benefit and define us, but the indirect learning from an sports or activity that ends up benefitting us a lot more..

This is mainly true with Muay Thai (or any martial arts). Your primary aim maybe to get fitter or to be able to defend yourself, but the number of indirect learnings can range from respect for each other, self-respect, time-management etc and ofcourse value of time - 3 minutes in the ring can be a very long time when you are getting beaten the crap out by someone!