Hong Kong How I Miss You! Remembering SCHKM 2019...An Unexpected Journey

It’s one of most improbable of outcomes. But dreams, they say, are often made of these.

SCHKM has become a default event. For lack of choices?? (or too lazy to explore other options), this has become almost an annual pilgrimage. Shy of 2018, 2017 topped all my SCHKM experiences. Thoroughly enjoyed the run and managed to clock the event PB of 3:04:09.

That being the case, it would seem fair to deduct that SCHKM would realistically set you back your MT (marathon time) by a margin of ~5 minutes. The key factor being its sheer hilly terrain! This held assumption was based on the fact that a fortnight after SCHKM 2017, I finally clinched my first ever sub 3 hours at Himeji Castle Marathon.

In light of this, my latest PB of 2:55:25 in Osaka (Nov 2018) would seem untouchable. No measure of positive thinking could convince me to shift that paradigm. In order to break that 2:55 in HK, it would not only require a gigantic effort but also a vast improvement of an MT capability of 2:50 or below. That is why I said “improbable”.

Improbable, but not impossible.

Training has been a daily ritual of BD 10km and a weekly of no less than 100. Peak mileage reached 150 with some adjustment requiring BD 12km inputs. Otherwise, weekend LSDs would be 30km with the odd 21-25km when recovery or workloads supplanted it. And all this on a staple of “boring” slow runs. Boring to some perhaps but therapeutic to me. I have grown to enjoy slow runs. And this time, I do not exaggerate when I say SLOW. Some Ah Pek had been known to overtake me during one of those runs. So, 80% of that mundane stuff. And a month prior the race, speed works began. Still no intervals. Just tempos and LT runs mixed in with the occasional trial runs. I am just saying this as it was. No sugar coating. Though I would like to have done more core training, most days were just too packed to have room for much else. Besides, being a full-time Paediatrician with on-call commitments, work takes precedence over all else.

That said, I would prefer this method over any other (believe me, I have tried many!) simply because it is actually less taxing to the body. If you are a middle age like me, physiologically we just can’t keep up with fast and intense workouts. Not in the long run. Pun intended. It will wreck you up big time. But you say, these kinds of crazy mileage, how to manage la? Believe me, your body adapts. The hard part is to wean off the mileage during tapering weeks. I would know. You go into withdrawal. Cold turkey style. Anyway, stick with me and I will tell you WHY 80/20 matters.

So SCHKM, was like a dilemma finally unfolding …I was actually anxious. Fear and doubt gripped me because of the kind of demand the race was asking of me. I had to repeatedly ask myself…was it ego? Was it just the competitiveness in me? Was I trying to prove something? Was I trying to seek approval or gain acceptance? Why am I doing this? What does it matter even if I don’t run my best? PB or not, who really cares anyway? These hard questions forced a deeper introspection, and they were blairingly confronting and revealing!

I realized that if I didn’t settle this, there is no way I could run my best. Truth comes out one way or the other. Then it became clear that it wasn’t because I was setting myself up a goal too unattainable. It’s because I feared failure. I have failed too often in the past to reach sub3. Now, this is coming back to haunt me. Then there is the ego, competitiveness and acceptance issues which were dead on brutal and debilitating. So I dealt with it the best way I knew how. I prayed. Eventually, the only thing that remained the night before the race was this: Lord, ABIDE WITH ME. That is all I ever needed. Yes, my sufficiency. My all… Abide, and see how it pans out. Faith requires the courage of taking that one step at a time. In marathon terms, one km at a time. That will have to do.

The 6:10 Marathon Challenge started off with the usual maddening crowds like endless streams of gazelles. To break free, I chose the outer fringe to avoid being trampled by some overzealous runners. Despite that, the first km was a slow 4:28 pace which meant some catching up work ahead.

My pace quicken to compensate. But somehow, the humidity of 87% despite the temperature of 19°C already got me sweating 2 km into the race. This was just typical of HK. Always unpredictable. One has to be versatile and cope. A mental exercise during my long mileages training is to train the mind to be quick to assess, acknowledge, analyze and act. Thoughts may come and go, but whatever you entertain will make or break you.

The game plan is to maintain a relatively even pace throughout so that one doesn’t have to work too hard to make up for the lost time. It’s just a matter of mathematical efficiency. But you can’t expect the pace to remain stable ALL the time especially with HK – with all the elevations and drops. So, this is when effort running matters most. If you fail to train on this and just rely on the GPS to guide you, you are setting yourself up for trouble.

So, though I aim to keep it even, I would actually slow down if I find myself working too hard. The elevation drop usually will aid with the time lost. But at various points when the effort, condition, and breathing is well aligned, I would just go for it.

One thing I have realized throughout Osaka and now HK is that the feel is more important than actually being too conservative with pace. We worry too much. And in the past, I would hesitate to speed up and kept holding myself back for fear of bonking. If I exceeded the 4:10 pace, I would back off and try to follow my pace to the tee. I know this is counter-intuitive… but now, I think that is really just unrealistic. The fact remains that we will always fluctuate with our pace. One has to learn to read his body like the back of his hand; and adjust the pace whenever necessary.

This is the secret ingredient I suppose. The letting go. Effort running. And let the GPS be just an aid. Not the rudder. Check your GPS if you must but don’t be overly concerned by it.

I kept my focus to ward off the disruptive thoughts. And there were many. Doubts will flood on in when the body is stressed to this level. It’s never the absence of fear or doubt but the courage to face it head-on. The mental trick is to maintain a center that you always fall back on. Whatever that is for you. It could be a cause or a person that you are running for. For me, it was just as I have said. Abide. And let the rest of the intrusions slip away.

I met my target at the 10km, 21km and 30km intervals. Those were good checkpoints to actually gauge my progress. And I was on course for sub3. But how good of a sub3 I wouldn’t know just yet. And this is not the time to be too cocky either. I knew that the real race begins at 30km. So, at the back of my mind, I was shouting: Conserve! Conserve! Because old habits die hard. But I knew in my heart that I would be doing myself disfavor if I did just that.

So I went with it. Picked one group of a runner at a time, I targeted each one to chase them down. Slowly I was overtaking several clusters of runners. You see all shapes and sizes. But many were flying with their VF4. Pun. I came close to a pack of 4 who eventually tried to tailgate me. One of them almost managed to trip me up TWICE as he was drafting behind me.

So, I cleared 37km at 2:32 and was doing ok until 38km when the fuel efficiency was finally tested. The pace dropped and the damn elevations just kept on coming! So, looking at the watch and did some mental calculation, realized that I was potentially heading towards a sub 2:55. But when you are running low on fuel and the body is screaming out in protest, the last 4 km might as well be another 20km.

I thought at this point: Look. It’s make or break. You can do all the hard work and throw it all away at this very moment. OR, you can tough out the last few km and see what you are made of. You have nothing to lose.

Elevations came and went. I stormed through them whether I felt like it or not. Careful to keep my pace to the best of my ability. Overtook quite a few who were already at their wit’s end. Picked up the pace again as I cleared 40km. Peeped at the watch and saw a good margin of 10min to sub2:55. Hey, almost there. Don’t you stop and smell the roses now! Die die also finish this strong because you may never do this again.

Went for it and fought to stay at 4:10 pace. And finally, nearing the finish, a few runners who came from behind gave me more impetus to break out with a semi-sprint to cap off a hard-earned race.

2:53:52 …Net time.

Pleasantly surprised to be handed the 3rd place for Masters 2. It was a bonus of all bonuses. I would be happy with just the PB.

So, it was surreal. Did I just…?!?! Took a while to let the facts sink in. I did the improbable. And it was such a powerful lesson to savor that I am still going through the analysis even now. But one thing that still consistently stands out is the 80/20 and high mileage. You are welcome to ignore or dismiss it. But I can say you should at least give it a go. 80/20 isn’t just about a methodology. It trains all aspects of a person too because running isn’t just about a PB. But character and grit.

Sometimes we go away defeated, in order to become stronger. Sometimes, we learn to let go in order to fly. I have just taken my first flight!