Diligence and self-discipline can make the insufficient running talent tremble

刘敏

             On the road to running Marathon, my ten years of hard work has exhausted all my talent to barely reach the minimum level of the professional Marathon athletes.How to break through the bottleneck period and break through myself again with the aim of running into 2h34min in  the whole Marathon at the average speed of 3min40seconds is the biggest obstacle in front of me. Most of my surrounding closely runners have not reached this height, and there is not much experience to learn from. I often read the data, watching the professional athletes in the TikTok to learn some of experiences ,but I found that there are some words and plans,which are not very good to operate,it is easier said than done. Some runners even run to the sub-plateau for special training with the monthly running volume of 700~800km, but most of their goals are  to break within 2h20seconds. For an amateur who is  nearly 40 years old,  there is no need to do that . 

   After all, our running purposes are as follows : Firstly, in the pursuit of achievement, physical fitness is still in the first place. Secondly,being able to run into old age without injuries; At the same time, we are post-80s, we both have children and elderly parents to care for. Thirdly, we are running for fitness rather than making money (To be honest, running is too competitive, even if we complete the whole Marathon in 2h15minutes,we may not stand out).  

Body cores training from  2021 to 2024

            For this reason, I set the goal of 234, which is really difficult for me, who has no truly running talent and has been exploring the potential for 10 years. Actually, the regular training simply can not reach the average speed of 3minutes40seconds per kilometer.

 Occasionally, I brush Ticktock in order to improve my running ability,discovering that the core strength of the body is the key.Not only the leg strength, but also waist strength, abdominal strength and arm strength should be in coordinated development. This gave me a lot of inspiration, so I started a lot of body cores training in 2021, and launched a "Abby Tear"professional training. It has a total of 8 sets and each set of 30 times actions. In the early stage, I did up to 10 times leading to waist back painful, with sweat sheding all over the body , however I insist on doing it every day in the morning every day, constantly breaking through comfortable area with increasing times. After more than three years training, abdominal muscles in my case of hunger looks looming. More importantly,my belly appears more beautiful,at the same time training makes the core of the running stable again.

               While adhering to the body core muscles training, leg strength training and running ability training should not stop, and I have made a detailed weekly training plan for myself (which combines 10 years of running experience, personal preferences and practical running experiences of various online running masters). Sometimes it may be difficult to realize the plan due to hard work , but if I can achieve 60% to 70% of the plan,  I think it should be a great improvement.

     These three pictures shows my running volume in June 2024, July, and August in 2024  more than 500km (sometimes 10 times half Marathon a month, which lays a solid foundation for my aerobic endurance). Although the speed is not fast, it may rid of my anxiety about breaking down at the distance of  35km .

Tha plans for breaking 300 in full Marathon

Hengshui Lake Marathon

       In September, the air is crisp, but it is still not good weather for Marathon in the south. I specially chose the first stop of the National Marathon Championship on September 22. It is said that the track (the average altitude climbing about 10m) and the weather (the average temperature in September is 10~15 degrees) are very suitable, providing favorable time and favorable place for runners to achieve PB . In fact, I went alone. Due to personal work  reasons, I could not arrive in advance, so I went to Hengshui Lake according to the schedule to avoid mistakes on the road. Finally, I arrived at the booked hotel at about 10 o'clock in the evening before the start of Hengshui Lake Marathon. After washing simply, I fell asleep quickly until 5 o'clock in the morning.(Some friends can arrive at competitive places a few days in advance, which make yourself adapt to the local environmental pressure, when dreaming up of breaking up the record of your own.) 

     This picture is the traffic plan showing race to the scene of the Hengshui Lake , for the time is very tight, I almost gave up halfway.

       After the start of Hengshui Lake Marathon, the first half took 77 minutes and 26 seconds, barely reaching the speed of 3min40seconds per kilometre. As long as I can hold up, you should be able to break up the PB 2 hours 38 minutes 02 seconds created n Fuzhou Marathon in 2023.

            But on that day, the weather can be unpredictable, the temperature rises rapidly from 8 degrees to 14 degrees, I who is likely to sweat heavily, so I may suffer cramps or lose too large content leading to fatigue.Indeed after 30km, I surely come across the toughest period. So I had to slow down. Finally I difficultly completed the rest of 12km. This time, although I hadn’t achieved my PB, still 10 seconds later, it  gives me great confidence. Because I am 1 year older, I was still in peak.

Jiangxi Longhu Mountain Half Marathon

      On October 7th, National Day, I took advantage of the vacation, and participated in Jiangxi Longhu Mountain Half Marathon (mountain Marathon). The track climbed about 200~250m, and I had run twice before, and the best result was about 77 minutes, and the temperature was low at that time. But this year's temperature is above 20 degrees, after running 3km I began to sweat a lot, feeling bad luck. However, I was surprised that I was able to make my best half-Marathon time with 75 minutes and 29 seconds with an average pace of 3 minutes and 35 seconds per kilometre . This half-Marathon achievement gives me much confidence in running full Marathon with 2hours and 35 minutes. It has been the fast time in nearly 10 years.

 The 5km race in the city

　　This picture was taken on the day before the Hangzhou Marathon in November. During the 5km race in the afternoon, with a time of 17minutes and 5 seconds.The temperature was about 25 degrees with hot weather .On behalf of my school, I shouldn't be careless. Thus, I had tried my best. Although winning the first place in the city, I had signs of strain.

the Hangzhou Marathon

        After the game, dragging the tired body, I continue to race to in the Hangzhou Marathon. Fortunately, with the help of my friend who took the racing bag for me. Finally at the night of 10:30, I arrived at the hotel in Hangzhou, after simply washing, thinking of tomorrow's game with the target 240 for me, who has raced 10 years , I still hard to sleep. Because the temperature of Hangzhou Marathon that day may reach more than 19 degrees, and there are nearly eight or nine bridges with relatively large slope, for me who is not resistant to heat and not good at climbing, it is not very friendly. However, thinking of my goal of 2hours and 34minutes, and coming thousands of miles away, no matter how the outcome is, I have to try my best. As it turned out, I failed again.

　　After the start of the competition, the average pace was 3miutes 50 seconds per kilometer, but the whole body began to sweat, according to running experiences for many years, , this time I will collapse, nevertheless, I am still accelerating, from the 4km at the average speed of 3minutes45 seconds per kilometer. As the proverb goes:” The angel will first make it crazy before it dies. Because I have no choice: either to achieve my goal or collapse on the road.

　　When the distance reached nearly 25km, because the temperature rose to nearly 24 degrees, I was exposed to the heat with sweat shed heavily, leading to the electrolyte is serious imbalance. The more I drank water and supplied the salt pills, the more I felt powerless. Finally I finished the last 15km, it was a nightmare in my running career, as we know, the most running scary matter is running in collapse for running after every step is very difficult, we have to withstand physical and psychological pressure, especially psychological pressure. Looking around hundreds of running athletes passing from the side, who were men and women, the old and the young, they run seemingly so easily, but me so messily on the track with the speed of 6 minutes per kilometers. The whole body is completely emptied and the body lost control, However, I know that winter comes, will spring be far away? When passing the tough period, I would be more relaxed, but I was wrong, I ended up running the rest of the distance hopeless and painfully with leg uncontrollable and the speed more slow, even reaching seven minutes per kilometer, I almost walked. I had never encountered this condition ( it may be due to excessive fatigue and lost a lot of important elements, even I ate energy glue, salt balls completely, I still felt exhausted ), I am really not good at running in high temperature. Knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, I prefer to go to the tiger mountain.Although this time I failed, I finished the rest of 15km with every effort, for it must be beneficial for my muscle endurance and resistance to high temperature , but the damage to the body was still relatively large.

 The Nanchang Marathon

　　Not admitting defeated, I challenged the target within 2hours 34minutes again in full Marathon and chose the provincial capital Nanchang Marathon to be held in Jiangxi province. In November 2023, I finished the race at the place of 15th in Jiangxi province, which was also the first time that I had broken 240. I had full confidence a few days before the race, and I believed that the track and the weather would bring me good fortune.

　　But it turned out that my nightmare has started again. The race time was two weeks after the Hangzhou Marathon , my body and state was not fully restored, what is worse, the temperature was still above 17 degree, and the weather of the second half was still too hot . Although in the race I needn’t rush and had enough time to rest before the game. But the day was the biggest influenced factor. Some friends comforted me before the race, saying that just let it go , don't run as in the Hangzhou Marathon, which really would be worse than death. But I recovered normal and forgot the pain, I secretly made up my mind, continuing to break up the record 2hour 34minutes. As I often said : if people are not crazy to desire the success, it is difficult to succeed .

　　The average speed of the first 3km of Nanchang Marathon is 3minutes 50seconds per kilometer, but there is a lot of sweat. The sweat on the neck and face has been soaked with the number bib on the chest. I knew this was a bad luck. Arriving at the distance of 10km, I began to run like suicide with the average speed of 3minutes 45 seconds per kilometer without the target of 2hour 34 seconds in full Marathon, but the lowest still want to break through 2h40mins, when I ran nearly 26km, my body, because of sweating too much began to slow down to 4minutes per kilometer. Hangzhou nightmare began, thus I told myself that as long as I didn’t walk, breaking up 3hours was still possible. Familiar runners around me, seeing me run slowly and running posture deformation said with caring words: Do you run collapse again? You need to slow down, don't worry” .I could only pretend to be calm, in fact, my heart collapsed in a complete mess. After the game, I did not succeed, I was so awkward. Last year, the provincial rank was 15th but 207th this year, The retreat was beyond my imagination, thus I can not help doubting myself:” Holiday, every day I got up so early and slept so lat dusk, running on a road withstanding the high temperature more than 30 degrees with a running volume more than 500 kilometers per month, was it not useful? Why every time arriving at 30km I can not get through, thinking of this, I can not help but think of my favorite song whose theme is "Journey to the West" "Dare to ask where the road is".

　　This picture showed that at the distance of 37km, my right leg cramped, because of being exposed to the sun leading to the heavy sweat. The whole body was sweating with the numb body and embarrassed appearance. What impressed me most was that there was a 60-year-old man running past me. For a man who had experienced a lot of Marathons and once more than 40 times broke 3hours in full Marathon, the spirit to bear how much pain, it is how painful understanding: It was that the reverse was death. Why is the reasonable distribution of physical strength to achieve the goal within 3hours? But I just want to launch a general attack to 2hours 40minutes, it was your fault without complaining to others?

　　I also know that only the perfect combination of body and spirit can reach my commanding heights, and this Marathon is perfect. But my idea is: how can you see the rainbow without the rain? Do not struggle once, where can know their limit where?

Although I completed the Nanchang Marathon within 248, I was satisfied. Because in this temperature, I had never finished within 2h50mins,comforting myself from another aspect, which constantly enhanced my confidence,”:Never lost heart “

the Wuyuan Half Marathon

     Two weeks after Nanchang Marathon, I took part in the Wuyuan Half Marathon, which was also the fourth time that I had attended the competition in the second half of 2024. In fact, it was a mountainous Marathon. The temperature before the race was very suitable, about 8 degrees. But the track had a frightening shadow in my heart. Before the race, my goal was  to surpass the time of 75 minutes and 29 seconds, which meant I had to run at the average pace of 3minutes 30seconds per kilometer; Meanwhile,  because I had registered to participate in the team competition, hoping to get a good result.

　　Before the race, I was crowded in the front of the half team. In front of me, nearly hundreds of meters, thousands of full-Marathon players were ready to run, I really admired them, after all, this track is more difficult to complete.

　　After signing to start to run, I began to run at the highest speed which may lead to collapse. The average speed of the first 5KM was 3minutes 27seconds per kilometer. At this temperature, I did not feel particularly uncomfortable, nor a lot of sweating. Breathing was not particularly rapid, except for more up and downhill slopes, sometimes disrupted running rhythm. When arriving at 8.1km was a sharp downhill, it suddenly happened the biggest disaster in my running career, that was,my right leg was strained, I quickly stopped with my right hand hard holding right leg to stop beating the muscles, jumping to the edge of road for help. They did not know what happened, just looking at me sitting on the side of road. I looked behind, noticing the runners like flood dashing to me, I already withdrew in the middle of the race. What was more, I worried the acute strain of my right leg, which may be difficult for me to run in the following the competition. Think of it, I had to secretly limped on the bus, it was the first time that I had taken the bus during the ten years running career. I sweared to myself that I will never take this kind of bus, if the accident occurred, I would take the bike which would be more convenient no matter what happened.

　　This picture shows that I got off the bus at the distance of about 800m from the end of the half Marathon and limped towards the finishing line. I also received the race bag and accidentally took a photo as a souvenir. Once again, thank Wuyuan Marathon organizing committee for his considerate arrangement. The summary: excessively overestimate my ability, and the ramp ups and downs is bigger problem, I usually practiced the ramp less, so it was easy to strain, fortunately not injured. Later, I went to the hospital to find my friends for treatment. The years of adhesion of muscle tissue and nerve became much better through treatment, but the mind is still uneasy. Because the next four or five days my still limped for climbing the stair were still laborious.More importantly, I had a big expectations another game —— Changzhou Marathon

 the Changzhou Marathon

　　The seventh day after being injured in Wuyuan Marathon, which was also the day of the Changzhou Marathon. A friend asked me if there was any race, but I generally refused: No! In fact, I still did not give up in the silent savings of energy and in the continuous evaluation of the injury. On day and Saturday before the race, I also had three groups of interval running with the speed 3 minutes 20seconds per kilometre in order to test whether I could finish the race safely rather than this time safely, and not to withdraw from the race again. Fortunately, I could still stick to it, but the sweat was more serious, so it can be inferred that I had not fully recovered. Fortunately, I had two days off on the weekend. I started at 8 o'clock on Saturday and arrived at Changzhou city at about 7 PM. I felt that I was too tired and did not know how many kilometers I would break down again. A lot of things I no longer thought about, also didn’t care. This time I did not want to break up the record 2hours and 38 minutes. I hoped to run to 2hours 40 minutes.

　　In Changzhou city, due to the temperature was about 3 degrees and the altitude of the track floating up and down not more than 4m. Right place as well as right time for me have reached has the perfect. I expect most friends are likely to get PB, I want to PB, otherwise, they won't run to the wild place without audience. Actually, I would not come any more due to the traffic inconvenience. After the gun, my pace was 3minutes 50seconds per kilometre. Within 3km, I must not make my heart rate and pace too fast, otherwise I would collapse in a moment. The extremely high heart rate may make myself unpredictable in the second half. Fortunately, the first 3km was stabilized, and the I began to cruise at 3minutes 45seconds per kilometer. After finishing the first the half Marathon, the time was about 79 minutes and 33 seconds. At this time, my state was very good, not flowing too much sweat, which laid a solid foundation for running into 2hours 40seconds.

　　After getting experiences and lessons from Hangzhou Marathon and Nanchang Marathon where PB had failed, so we have to adapt to the natural reaction of the body rather than battled against ourselves. Do not conquer ourselves or we may suffer bad consequences.

　　Body and mind are two different things, one is spiritual, the other is material, only when the spirit and material achieve perfect integration, can man and nature be balance, otherwise we will be hurt.

This time the whole Marathon can be finished at the second fast speed of 3minutes 43 seconds.To summarize the reasons:

Three days before the race, you should consume 4 to 5 bowl of beef soup every day, which can not only replenish water, but also promote protein. Meanwhile, you should drink 2 bottles of screaming drinks and 4 to 5 bottles of mineral water every day.

How to rest before the game:

1. Thanks to the two-day school leave, I went to the competition field one day in advance, so that I basically did not walk, lying in bed for 10-15 hours a day on average, instead of collecting any free sports equipment.

How to adjust your mentality before the game:

1. There was no any psychological pressure before the competition, and friends did not know where I went.

2. The day before the race, I went to sleep 2 hours earlier than usual. No distractions, not to think about how will I run tomorrow? Only hope to finish the race, at the same time with a lowest goal. As long as the lowest goal was not too far from the highest goal, hope lies in the front

How to adjust your mentality during the race:

1. In this game, because of the right leg strain, I ran basically with limping. Having the fear of the Marathon, every step was trembling with caution. Being afraid of directly pulling muscle or even cramps next second. But because of the perfect weather and the flat track (when the wind was blowing at the speed of 2meter per second. I often hid behind the tall runner). Luckily these disasters never happened in advance.

2. I learned a lesson from the last competitions.The first 3km must be 5 seconds slower than the target pace.

3. When closing to 39km, many cramps had reminded me of exhaustion, but I felt the physical strength was still relatively abundant. At this time, I also ate a salt pill in order to suppress electrolyte disorder. At this time, mentality was very important, do not panic, not looking at the watch and trying to reduce the pace will be able to overcome the difficulties.

How to replenish the track:

Supplement is also very important. I prepared 5 glues, eating one glue in 30 minutes before the race and 10km for one , 20km for one, 30km for one, 35km, 4 acid light tablets (20km for two,,32km for two), three salt pills (18km for one, 25km for one) because sweating will be less, so it should not eat  excessive salt, otherwise it will also cause muscle spasm.

  the  FuZhou Marathon

Pursuit of the victory is unstoppable

In Changzhou, I ran out of the second fast in life with old injuries, which really greatly doubled my confidence. Seven days later, I participated in the last game of 2024. This time my goal is very clear, achieving the goal of 2 hours 34 seconds in full Marathon. One night before the FuZhou Marathon , I had to drive 154km first due to work, but I still missed the high-speed train. At that time, I almost used 100 meters sprint to catch the train to get the race bag safely. Later, with the help of my friends Zhong Dawen, he drove nearly 5km and helped me get the competition bag around 8 PM, which solved my worry. Otherwise, I might have gone back home or become a spectator. It was already more than 10 o'clock at night when arriving in Fuzhou. Actually, I get used to this schedule to arrive at the competition city and enter the hotel in a hurry.

　　FuZhou Marathon was perfect with perfect weather and track. The previous competitions were the best scores in the whole year.The first time was 2 hours 49 minutes in December 2020 and the second time was in 2023, December with the score 2 hours 38 minutes 02 seconds. This was the third time, I hoped it could continue to bring me good luck; Although my right leg was still tight because some old injuries. But since I didn't want anything, even if the collapse did not happen. I would fight against next year. But the first half must be controlled within the target range. The temperature on the day of the competition was about 8 degrees. I learned some lessons and tried to stand in front within only about 2m from the finish arch. If I rushed out, I needn’t spend too much physical strength. Gunfire sounded, the first 1km was still controlled at 3minutes 49 seconds per kilometer, the 2km was 350, the 3km was 347, smoothly through the most dangerous the first 3km stage with safe control of the speed and heart rate of 140-150. In the 4km distance, I started to run at the speed of 3minuts 40 seconds per kilometer, which was also the lowest pace to achieve my goal. Body feeling and breathing were more comfortable and only worried about the recurrence of old injuries, but ten years of running experience told me: I have no retreat, only to run forward, every step was trembling as treading on thin ice. I hoped that luck would patronize me, rather than run cramply, and then suffered the pain from the body.

　　Now I had adopted the strategy of following. As long as I could find like-minded runners. I tried my best to follow them without the previous impulse. Thinking about a stable pace was overwhelming. Half way had passed with the time78 minutes and 33 seconds compared to 76 minutes 43 seconds I slowed nearly 2 minutes, but I felt I had tried my best, if in the second half I still sped up, I might collapse again. so I set the target in this year with PB a few seconds. After following a excellent runner who can finish the full Marathon in 2hours 36minutes, his running ability was much obviously better, at this time, I found a beacon of hope. We did not secretly fight, sometimes he slowed down a little, I would appropriately remind him to run faster from 24 km to about 41km, but at the distance of 42km, he accelerated. However, because of my leg right old injury finally relapse, I had to slow down, nevertheless, I had been very satisfied because the injury had not break out in my most difficult time, otherwise I would have failed again . Thank him for his support and company all the way.

　　This video showed how it felt when I came across the national Marathon runner Bai Li (Marathon PB 226, the representative of the Olympic women's Marathon event) running on the same track and surpassing her?

　　The first idea that I might have been in the shelter car again today, but in fact I did not, and again with the old injury I finished with the fastest pace with 3minutes 40seconds per kilometer. Back to back I ran out of the full Marathon with the PB 2 hours, 37 minutes and 14 seconds. What did I rely on : never forget, there will be echoes; Thought the road will be resistant and long, the finishing line will come.

　　Although my goal of 2hours 34 seconds has not been achieved, I really enjoy the feeling of fighting for this, because with the goal we has motivation, in turn, motivation will continue to break through the goal, I always believe that a famous saying: No human is limited.

The road ahead will long, but I will continue to search and explore.

This article is shared with the Marathon runners who are fighting for their goals.