In the last 30 days, I participated.
Marine Drive Ultra Marathon (50 KM)
Dhaka Marathon (42 KM)
Rajkandi Hill 25K (25 KM)
UCR Half Marahon (21 KM)
And in-house practice 100 KM
As I am going through the recovery training, I wonder, did I push myself beyond my limits?
Marine Drive Ultra Marathon
It all started with the Marine Drive Ultra Marathon. Before this one, I never run a full marathon. Since it is one of the most prestigious events for runners and not easy to be selected for the program, I registered with no hope of getting a chance. To my surprise, I was selected for my previous month's consistency. I wrote them in detail, I participated in 7/8 half marathons in the past few months and I am capable of running this ultra distance.
After being selected, I started to run ~15 KM 3 days a week. My target was to increase my endurance so I could stay on track for over 8 hours. Usually, the cut-off time for 50 KM used to be 10 hours which was reduced this year to 8 hours. The week before the run, I stopped running and only did free training. It was one of these feelings, I practiced my best and there was nothing more I could do. No matter, if I can complete it or not, there will be no regret.
During the run day, I started slowly and on the track, I found a partner with the same pace. Or I should say, I found a mathematician. He opened the Strava app and calculated each KM with the time. We were together the entire 50 KM and his precious calculation helped me to complete the run in the cut-off time.
I went around 35 KM pretty much comfortably and after 35 KM I mixed both running and walking to the rest of the track. The amazing part was kids were standing by the side of the road and giving high-fives all the way.
I completed the run around 7 and a half hours duration. It was a mixed feeling when you saw lots of good runners who were not able to complete the run under the cut-off time for different challenges. Because this also glorifies the achievement.
Dhaka Marathon
In the immediate next week, there was the Dhaka Marathon. I was not quite confident about this run. Although my muscle memory now has a distance of 50 KM I have not completely recovered from the last Ultra distance run. In Bangladesh, a full marathon is not very frequent and I was desperate to put a full marathon in my resume.
Leaving all the confusion behind, I decided to participate in the event. For the first 21 KM, I run quite easily at a slow pace. This time the cut-off time was 6 hours. As I recall, I completed half of the distance in under 2 hours and 23 minutes. I kept the same pace till 30 KM. I had around 2 hours left for the last 10 KM. Since I run previous week a long distance and in the upcoming weeks I have a couple of running events, I did not push myself. I kept my heart calm by running and walking.
This time, I completed the full marathon in around five and a half hours. The consequence of two consecutive long-distance runs injured my left foot.
RajKandi Hill 25K
In Bangladesh, Rajkandi Hill 25K is the most beloved running event. Not only it is organized by the dedicated community runners, but also the track surprises the runners every 5 KM.
I was not fit to run this event due to the left foot injury. But hearing the stories from fellow runners about the track could not resist myself. This week, I did not practice and slept a lot. I was worried this time If I would be able to complete this hill track.
On the run day, surprisingly I was feeling very good. On the track, we started running in the rice field. Later, the track was going through the tea garden of the Dankan Brothers. The surprises start after the tea garden. There were rubber gardens on the hills and our tack was under these large rubber trees. Then comes the cascade all over the track. At the end of the run, I found a hill, that will be around 300 meters high.
All these beauties of the track and support from the locals made the run very easy and I completed the run in around three and a half hours.
We also visited few places in the Sylhet region after the run.
UCR Half Marathon (Edition 2)
Again, this is the event I should not participate in as I have not recovered yet. However, since I was in Dhaka I would retreat not participate in the event in terms of staying home idle during the weekend. So I decided to participate UCR Half Marahon before going into a long recovery training.
The best part was, I found the best pacer in BD with a close time to my target. I planned to complete the run in under 2 and a half hours. Since the pacer had a time of 3 hours, I decided to accompany him around 10-15 KM and then push myself. Since I was not completely fit this time, I started to struggle after 10 KM. After half of the distance, my leg, especially my injured left foot cramped a few times. This time, I could not walk because walking was causing more pain than running.
Along with the pain, I never left the pacer bus and after 15 KM pushed myself to my regular pace. This time, I met my personal best in half marathon distance, 2 hours and 27 minutes.
Back To The Answer
So, back to my early question, did I cross my limit? I thought and it appeared to me, we can never cross our limit because the term "LIMIT" does not exist in this context.
I am under recovery training and in the next month, I will be back on track. Till then, signed off.
To stay tuned, check out my running blog series Rising Beyond Miles.