Ran out of legs. 16Km . Marathon Training

I had more than a breath left in me to have a normal conversation when i finished the 16km run. But my legs have never felt this fatigued before in training.So i ran out of legs.

The most important part of any training is to try out different combinations of work-outs and routines to see what fits you the best.This would be combinations of various elements of training like Rest, Run, Recovery and Replenishment(tried hard to make them all "R" :) ).....also pre race food.The last (pre race food)being what seems to have made the biggest difference in my fatigued run. While i did most things right, i realised that for my 14km evening run i had eaten a full meal around 3-4 hours prior and caught an hour of rest. Where as for the 16km morning run, the last meal i had was dinner which would be a good 8 hours prior.If its legs that i ran out of, there is a strong chance that it had got to do with food and energy levels.

However, the excitement of running across marine drive was still more than any fatigue. For a brief moment that i passed Pizzeria i got the best view of a perfect orange sun, an image that stayed strong in my head.

Another pleasant surprise was to see other runners, many of them.I did expect to see a few but this was more than that. They seem to belong to a running club, the sorts you get to hear of but never see (atleast in Mumbai) .They kept passing me by coming from the opposite direction.Slowly i realised they had some sort of a bib on them with number.I wondered if there was a race going on that i must have missed hearing about.Clearly it was a Nike running club thing because the bib said so.On my return from marine drive i came across a water station provided for these Nike running aspirants.Got to know that they had all enrolled for 2010 Mumbai Marathon training and would come every Sunday to Marine Drive to train. the coaching was free and the registrations were on at the Parsi Gymkhana nearby.I thought of enrolling myself but on second thoughts decided not to, used that enquiry halt to fill up some water in system and continue with my run.

The moment of this run was a short nod i received around my 5th Km from a fellow runner. As much as i spoke of the pride in rarity of not seeing too many runners around me, i must say is that nod of acknowledgement added another kilometer of energy to my run run if not less. So i guess it does help to have people sharing your passion...