Running in Ramadan

Ok, one of the first things that worried me when I started the programme was how I was going to cope with all that running during the month of Ramadan. I toyed with running just before the break of fast, running before the morning meals but settled on running after tarawih prayers.

I was lucky because the initial weeks were relatively shorter, manageable distances and it wasn't very taxing. Except that I ended up finishing quite late and sleeping later, which meant it was harder to get up in the morning. Alot of times, I was sleeping almost all the way whilst driving to work. To keep awake, I slaped myself, shouted etc, etc. Not sure if this had anything to do with the running because I recall being just as sleepy last year.

The third week was when my training programme picked up. All this time, I never conciously took in more water or carbs in preparations for the runs and it didn't affect me. For the third week, when the running times picked up to about 80 mins, I got worried because I figured the cumulative effect of fasting would start to have an effect on my running. I "srecovered" with Accelerade, and though I didn't feel any better, neither did I feel overly taxed. So running during the fasting month was OK I guess. Bearing in mind, I also had classes until 9.30pm three nights a week, it was taxing.

The only peeve, because of work, my masters, the coming Aidil Fitri, I couldn't run in the final week of Ramadan. I have just completed a 90 min run the day after Hari Raya. My Nike+ record is uploaded. Still slow...