Pressure, Stress and Everything Else...

By Frank

After my lack luster run yesterday night and while waiting for my hair to dry before going to bed, I was chatting with Chee Kong. And we chatted of course about our upcoming Comrades Marathon.

He told me that I was putting too much stress to myself before the big day as I have been running for almost every night now after work. Well... I do not deny that as I'm putting all extra effort in now even if I have to run late at night upon returning late from work. Even with a new "challenge" currently where a family member needs each and everyone of us to be around, I still took time to run, the reason behind very late night runs. To me, it's that every small little thing that I do now that will make a difference and I do hope its for the positive.

I was careful though to make sure I won't injure myself or even over do it. Recovery is absolutely important and I paid extra effort in making sure recovery supplements are pumped into my body within 30 minutes after my workout to speed up recovery. Weekday runs after work is mainly about 5KM or a little bit more around my neighbourhood. These runs are mainly done at faster pace.

On weekends, a long run is in the menu normally ran at my intended Comrades Marathon race pace which is about 6:45 minute per kilometer. However, the sad thing is that since weekend runs are always around 5.30am in the morning, I have failed numerous times already in dragging myself out of bed. It's not easy to leave work late and with minimal sleep, running in the early hours is pretty tough for me.

So, with 25 days to go till the Comrades Marathon, am I stressing out myself too much? The hype is certainly building up all over and I sometimes hope that the run is actually tomorrow. The pressure and stress is building day after day as the run approaches. "One step at a time. Time is still available. Just make good use of it, the smart way and The Ultimate Human Race will be my playground". And this I kept reminding myself.