Run For Red Pandas 2020

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has read about the important work the Red Panda Network does: https://www.redpandanetwork.org/ and secondly, a big thank you to everyone who has sponsored me: https://go.rallyup.com/1d24a6/9fb528 Currently, alongside the raised awareness that was my primary aim, I have also raised $265 to help the RPN continue their brilliant work. That includes the money I promised myself I would donate upon successfully covering the distance. Although I don't feel good about the half marathon time, given the walking I did, I will not have the chance to go out and run another half marathon during the event window. I thought about doing a shorter run to make up for the miles walked, but I think it is more likely that any time I have for exercise I will use by going back to the gym, since my gym finally reopens next week and that will help me try to regain some of the weight I have lost. I feel like I learnt a lot and I expect to run a half marathon in the future (...

For the first half of the run, I felt fine. My pace was gradually slowing and there were a few aches in my legs, but both of those were to be expected. I didn't feel like I had a lot of energy, but I had settled into a rhythm and time felt like it was going quickly. I even had some lightning in the distance to appreciate as I ran. What happened here? It's clear on the pace graph that something happen at 9 miles into the run (68.7% of a half marathon, statistics fans) but what was the cause? Let's roll back a couple of miles. I said I felt good for the first half of the run, but after the seventh mile my pace starts to decrease more significantly, going from approximately 10:00 minute miles to 11:30. My stomach had ached a bit through the run, as it has done a bit with not really adjusting to the eating schedule demanded by fasting, but after the seventh mile I actually began to feel sick, combined with my legs gradually feeling heavier. However, at the 9 mile mark, it was m...

The total distance was covered,  but only through a lot of walking. Analysis to follow in the next post.

I currently live in the city of Pekanbaru, Sumatra in Indonesia. As with all locations, it poses its own challenges. The temperature usually reaches a daily maximum around 35 °C and overnight minimum temperatures are usually around 2 5 °C. There aren't such thing as pavements and the roads are often quite worn, which means large potholes are frequent. In planning my route, I considered these aspects but also one more point I feel is important: I tried to ensure I am running along larger roads, especially for the first segment where it will still be a little dark, so reduce the risk of an unseen pothole. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, I tried to pick a route I was relatively familiar with. I will try to record the run with my GPS watch, but given the screen is damaged I want to be confident in the route - if I were to take a route I was likely to not follow strictly I would be concerned that after the run I would find the distance wasn't correct. More importantly than tha...

With only deciding to run such a short time beforehand, one key question is how well prepared can I be for it? The first key thing to consder is that there is no substitute for training that is similar to the event. That will be the biggest challenge, as illustrated by my Strava activity chart: Only three runs since October, all of which were two to three miles at medium to slow pace. Whilst acknowledging my previous statement, this will hopefully be mitigated by the fact I haven't ever gone a long period with no aerobic activity during that time. Up until the current situation closed most exercise activities, I was going to the gym regularly and playing futsal every week. Running on the treadmill is not the same. At all. Generally, I used it as a warm-up and method for expending the last after my energy before and after anabolic workouts. Therefore, I was usually running faster, with less focus on stamina for distance. However, when I ran 10 km on the treadmill earlier this year I...

So when will this be? The event is organised to take place between International Day for Biological Diversity ( World Biodiversity Day ), on May 22nd, and World Environment Day,  on June 5th. These are two important days for red panda conservation. Red pandas are an endangered species, the only living species in the genus Ailurus. The primary necessity for their conservation is to protect their habitat - a beautiful environment in the Himalayas that I was fortunate enough to visit last year. The cloud forests of Eastern Nepal For the challenge, you are allowed to split the 13 miles 192½ yards over the two week period and walk or hike them if you prefer. However, I will attempt to run them all on the first day, Friday 22nd June . I will cover the location of the run in more depth in another post, but living inSumatra, the daily temperature is normally about 35 °C, so I will make my attempt in the early morning when the temperature will hopefully only be in the mid to high 20s. The c...

What is the purpose of your new blog? This is a short blog to document my Run For Red Pandas. Run For Red Pandas? Yes, it is a virtual half marathon to raise awareness and funds for the Red Panda Network. What's a virutal half marathon? Does it mean almost a half marathon? No, I plan to run the whole 13 miles and 192½ yards! It means that although there will be lots of people (hopefully) running, they will not all run in the same place or at the same time.  Hmmm, so when will you run it? Although you are allowed to seperate the distance and run the total between the 22nd May and the 5th June, I intend to run the whole half marathon on Friday 22nd May. Really? Are you going to manage that? I'll try! If I don't manage to complete it, I will review my options, but probably try to choose another date and attempt the whole distance again. You're going to ask me for money, aren't you? Not really! If you want to contribute to a brilliant charity th...