About the author:
Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.
Some strong rain pounded the Queens area Saturday morning, but the runners still continued to carry on during the 39th day. Andrea Marcato the Italian champion moved within 315.9 miles away from winning the 3100 Mile Race for a fourth time. Second place overall, and first lady in the Race ran within 69.1 miles. Tsai Wen-Ya continued her race with another 69.1 mile effort, She is about two days and a quarter behind Andrea Marcato. The third place overall runner is still putting down a tremendous list with 11 straight days of running over 70 miles each day. Wei-Ming Lo did another total of 79.5 miles today. Some of his laps were 5:00 minutes for a lap, or even a few of the laps were in the four minute and 40 second range. He has now moved within 14 miles of Tsai Wen-Ya. Just a few weeks ago Wei-Ming Lo had been nearly 75 miles behind the awesome Taiwanese first timer in the 3100 Mile Race.
Lo Wei-Ming seems to be getting stronger as his race enters the final third, For the last eleven days, from day 29 through to day 39, he has run the highest daily mileage of all the runners. He has hit over 70 miles a day through that streak. After a couple of days hovering in the low to mid-70s, he threw in a couple of 77-mile days before yesterday, hitting 79.5 miles, the highest total for anyone since the first few days of the race. In the history of the race, several runners have run negative splits, which translated, means running the second half faster than the first. The idea of running negative splits in a half or full marathon is something many runners aspire to, and often try to execute by careful pacing in the early stages. The idea that it is possible in a race of this magnitude to run negative splits, seems to defy conventional thinking. Surely, the cumulative strain of the daily mileage must induce long-term fatigue, resulting in a gradual slowing down as the race progresses.
Many things about this event defy convention though, as seemingly impossible boundaries are pushed back daily by all the runners. Some runners naturally grow into the race, and with careful pacing, nutrition and rest, can indeed get stronger as the race progresses. Endurance coaches talk of adaptation in a marathon training phase, where the body adapts to a higher workload as the training progresses. Physically, it seems logical that the human body, over a few weeks, can indeed adapt to the rigours of the 3100-mile race. Wei Ming is an exceptionally experienced multi-day runner, but over and above that, he has a very childlike demeanour. It is a quality that is very useful in a long multi-day event. While some of the runners appear to retreat inside themselves at times, concentrating on dealing with the apparent rigours of the race, he seems to be like a little kid going out to play each day, with endless spontaneous energy, just being in the moment and finding joy and inspiration in all around him. While many find the concept of running around a city block for a few weeks daunting, Wei-Ming is embracing it, and finding the energy from somewhere inside himself to keep pushing his boundaries in the process.
(Reports by Sahishnu and Tarit)
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