Running the Marathon for Plodders Part 1

Nowadays with so much information on the net, everybody seems or claim to be an expert in all sort of things dishing out free advice even if it was not asked for. Like in the forum. And of course this Uncle here is no exception.

So let see. What advice shall I dole out today? Okay this being the final run up to the biggest race in this year race schedule, let's talk about the full marathon. Or more precisely, how to complete the full marathon. Wah damn like real lidat. Like I machiam expert... Ha ha but do read the following with a pinch of salt (you will need it for the marathon by the way... I mean the salt)

First of all, some basic terminology in lay man terms:

Pace - this mean how fast you run. It is often mentioned in relation to how many minutes per kilometre as is 6min/km i.e a runner takes 6 mins to run 1 km. So when someone said he ran a 5 mins pace, he is saying he run the race at an average of 5 minutes every 1 km.

Negative Split - That refers to running the second half of a race faster than the first half. Actually if you know this, you shouldn't be reading this crap but then curiosity......

Of course, the opposite of negative split is the positive split where the first half of the race is ran faster than the 2nd half. This is very normal for most people. You know, somebody actually asked me once why he ran slower and slower as he ran further and further. That - my boy - is a positive split and it's because, tired lah so naturally the further you go, the slower you become. And if you don't understand this simple logic, you are likely not ready for the full marathon.

Last but not least, we got the even split. That simply means running a constant pace throughout the whole race. Like Uncle here during the FM in 2007.

Okay, so we got pace, we got splits so how does that helps you to run the FM?

Oh by the way, if you are capable of doing 4:30 (that is for the uninitiated, 4 hours 30 minutes for the FM), this article is not for you. Please go and read some other people's advice on how to achieve sub 4 or better.

Oh yeah sub means below (like submarine) so if someone says sub 4, he or she means running below 4 hours. Usually refer to a few minutes below the hour and not say 15 - 30 mins below like 3:30 or 3:15.

Here ends Part 1. In Part 2, I will talk about 'sure can' strategy to do the FM. Can wait or not?