COACH DAVID SHUM

Running the 42nd Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon sums up the exhilaration of running a race again after a hiatus of nearly 3-years due to the global pandemic that had created mayhem till today. Virtual races had sprung up during those years and physical races mirrored the total sweetness and satisfaction as participants embrace this physical race tightly as borders reopen for local and international participants.

The race categories included were the Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon, CPL Wheelchair Marathon, ASICS Half Marathon, Southern Cross University 10km Run, CPL Wheelchair 10km, Gold Coast Airport 5km Fun Run, Health and Wellbeing Queensland 4km Junior Dash and Health and Wellbeing Queensland 2km Junior Dash.  When the starter’s gun fired on Saturday and Sunday, 2 and 3 July, besides the competitive edge one can sense the relieve, happiness and joy that a race just happened before them. 

The Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon has never lost its glitters and attract participants of all ages and abilities from around the world. One can relate to the build-up from filling up the online registration to collecting bibs and getting to the race area. It was much more profound for international participants when curating a run-cation seemingly thrilling on its own, seeing and experiencing the entire process makes up a memorable trip.

The race was organised with an eye to the details from bib collection at the convention hall to the race area bag drop, mobile toilets, water aid stations as well as to the race pacers ensuring a great racing experience. A resounding YES!!! to be back again.

This year’s half marathon running condition is mildly challenging with rain and windy condition as compared to the previous edition with low humidity, minimal wind and mild temperatures. Mother nature was on everyone’s sides, the rain stops as the race progresses and the marathoners had a better running condition ending the race with a sunny day.

Known to be one of the most prestigious marathons in the world, the flat, fast and scenic course offers 60% to 70% chance of hitting a personal best. Every finisher has a story to tell when they cross the finishing line whether to run the first race, getting a personal best, fundraising or just run for fun. Let this story telling fester and create a sprouting effect for more race experience. Can’t wait for GCM2023, bring it on!!!

Running shoes are the critical piece of for the entire package of running gears for athletes doing track workout, road or trail. Whether we are a novice, an intermediate or elite level athlete, running shoes provide the support and cushioning for us to endure the sort of training that we are expected to perform. There are heaps of different kinds of running shoes on the market and is so ever confusing and information overload. 

Let’s start with an end in mind. “Looks first”. I would always try to convince my athletes to firstly focus on feel by doing light jumping motion to get the landing impact. Secondly, to do the fitting making sure the front toe box and the end heel collar allow for comfort and lastly, function over fashion. We have to get the right fit and it is a big bonus if it is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Not every time.

Then, “Training needs”. Loads of running shoes with different built-in state-of-the-art technology are flooding the market with high stacked carbon-plated shoes as compare to the regular lightweight shoes where ‘energy return’ is the order of the day. When we are considering one, it is crucial to have in mind what kind of training and races that we will be doing such as interval, tempo, mid to long distances.

"What to look for". We may not be aware but the slightest differences will give us a running experience that we will never forget. Good or bad. Let’s dive into the external and upper side of the shoes, make sure that the mesh is expandable to a certain extend to allow for foot expansion when we are running. Make sure that the heel is firmly lockdown and is not moving up and down or front and back. Most of the running shoes are padded at the heel to provide comfort and eliminate chaffing. Ask the sales assistant to measure your feet with a shoe caliper to get the right fit especially the width of our feet and the corresponding toe-box. Pay closer attention to the toe-box width especially so for some of us who has bunions. A wider toe box will be needed for this case. 

A tight fitting will get us blisters at the sides. At the same time, do step on the insole and making sure it is a thumb width from the end of the longest toe to the tip of the soles. This is to cater for feet expansion when out running. When trying out the running shoes, make sure it is a running socks and not office or woolly socks. After tying up the shoes, stick a finger behind the heel pocket and make sure it just feels snug. If your finger come off easily, then the shoes if a bit too big. 

The difference between slipping and having a bad fall to getting sufficient traction on the run lies on the outsoles. The grove and area of coverage determine the durability of the shoes and comfort when we land and toe off. On the other hand, we also would like to look at the firmness, softness and the bounce during impact. The foam material between the outsole and the upper is call the midsole is designed and produced to cushion us from impact forces and guide the landing through each stride. On the downside, we will be dealing with added weight or appear to be chunky when the stacks are high. 

As we are on the stack height, the heel-to-toe drop will play a part in distributing the stresses and the impact as we plant our foot on the floor. By changing the drop, it will alter our running gait, strides and cadence.

The term stability and control often reverberate around when runners get into shoe conversation. We are born with different foot structures and throughout our growth, we tend to learn a fair deal of motion such as over-pronation or rolling inward. Control and stability shoes appear to help us maintain our movement path. 

“When to get". Our feet swell or expand between mid-morning to afternoon when we are usually on our feet. Do test out the shoes on the treadmill provided at the shoe shop or run around the shop to feel it. On personal level, if I can help it, I will want to purchase it at a physical shop rather than getting it online although it may save me some dollars. 

We all seen them in running stores, expos, bib collection centres as well as hydration stations along the race route. We're talking about power gels and recovery gels. Athletes from various sports discipline seek them out to aid their performance and recovery especially in endurance event such as triathlons, marathons and ultramarathons.

Generally, power gel is consumed 15 to 30 minutes before the race and 30 to 45 minutes after it had started. These gel packets come in single high dosage of carbohydrate range from 30 grams to 60 grams of various flavors that gets easily absorbed into the system to act fast. The ingredients deserve a mention as power gels contains multiple concentrated chemicals and molecules that matches those in our body system that allows for quicker absorption into the blood stream.

Recovery gels helps athletes to recover and refuel. They contain a generous amount of protein to boost daily intake and are found to be vital for growing and maintaining functional muscle. BCAAs amino acids are also added into the solution together with vitamin B complex that essentially builds muscle, decrease muscle fatigue and tiredness as well as alleviate muscle soreness. These will allow athletes to bounce back in advance.

Generally, manufacturers for both gels have athletes in mind when designing and manufacturing these single-serve plastic packets. Most of the power gels sachet consists of a narrow neck that can be easily peel off at the top and reveal an opening through which the gel can be consumed. On the other hand, the recovery gel (180gram) that I had come across do have a screw top that allows for an extended consumption for multiple pauses in between. Overall, there are various considerations that lingers on athlete’s mind when purchasing these products such as costs, texture, taste, size and weight of the packaging per sachets.  

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has put to a stop on all domestic and international races. Virtual races have since sprouting up everywhere and executed within one's own space, time and performance.

Some virtual races require a nominal registration fees in return for a finisher medal and event T-shirt upon completion and submission of run time or an upload from a running app. On the other hand, free registration races will award participants with digital finishes medals.  Virtual runs for charity are also a common sight and allow one to make a donation with registration.

Recently, I begun participating in a locally organised virtual race and managed to convince my training buddies to form a relay team of 4 to complete a combined distance of a full marathon. It's flexible and allows participants to complete the race within 14 days window period. For once, we felt there is something to look forward to and brought back the meaning of training for a race. Despite the massive changes, we managed to form 3 teams and execute our core workout following the new normal safe-distancing policy such as reporting our temperature, maintaining a minimum 2M apart from one another and 3M between two groups. Individually, we run separately base on our work-from-home and other office bound work schedules. We planned to race as a team and that helps build excitement, thrill and team bonding.

Therefore, main activities associated with a race are deep rooted such as pre-race preparation which calls for preparation of pre-run meals, the appropriate shoes and apparels as well as shades if we are on a noon run. Of course, we are missing the euphoria of cheering crowd, loud voices from the race emcees, bright lights and the sight of runners warming up at the sides are now in our distant memory.

On the positive note, we are very own race organisers: planning the route, appointing pacers and water pointa allocation as well as pit-stop for our potty needs. It’s hassle-less and stress free as this allows for rescheduling due to last minute work commitment and bad weather conditions.

Life can get busy and unfamiliar. We may find ourselves unable to have a consistent proper workout regime. Globally, in this recent strange times, we find ourselves fighting an invincible threat that may compromise our health. As much as we know that we need to stay fit and healthy, it is seemingly critical now to boost our immune system and fight against respiratory viral infection ‘Covid-19’.  In light of the current public health issues, all private fitness chains and gyms have announced the closure of its outlets in accordance with the circuit breaker measures.

Home workout is the way to go for us to continue our fitness and exercise regime and thus, staying away from this airborne disease. Generally, there are several platforms such as online coaching services, YouTube guided and customized workouts, smartphones workout apps, Instagram workout routines as well as Facebook live streaming from trainers and coaches.

Most of the online workouts may require us to have several basic equipment which will not take much space at home such as exercise mat, weighted medicine ball, dumbbells and resistance bands with varying difficulty level.  On the other hand, we may choose to do without equipment by using our own body weight and resistance such as push-ups, planks, crunches, bridging, mountain climber, calf and leg raises and so forth.

Overall, we may choose the workout and setting weekly goals taking into consideration the current fitness status, duration, intensity, volume and rest. By charting our weekly progress, we are able to see our progression and performance as well as our appearance. It is always prudent to seek initial medical check-ups and advice from medical practitioner before we embark on our solo-journey on self-help exercise.

Check out these workout videos for ideas:

Core Strengthening

Plank, Pushups, Bodysaw

Leg Exercises

Sports Therapy or also known as sports massage usually refers to intervention to prevent an injury setting in after a strenuous workout. It is also used as rehabilitation for athletes to get back to fitness and operate at an optimum level ranging from training to competition or work.  A sports therapist would help an athlete to recover and have the task to determine when they can return to active training or competition without re-aggravating any injuries. Generally, there is a huge risk of repetitive stress injury for sports that require throwing and twisting.

Lately, with technological advancement, a handheld massage gun comes in handy to restore fitness similar to a visit to a therapist. This invention allows an athlete to use it on regular basis for pre-workout warmup and post-workout recovery or cool down. It does give a level of convenience when it can be done at home or at a sporting arena. It works similar to finger pressure where tight spots and muscle soreness can be relieved.

Should a massage gun be used appropriately, it may help with sleep, relaxation and stress. The user will just have to be careful when an individual is having injuries. The entire set will come with various head attachments for working out muscle knots, neck and back as well as other major group muscles.

A word of caution, not everyone is accustomed to massage guns as the sheer power may deliver more than needed force on the muscles that are tender. This is especially so when the user has a relatively low pain tolerance. On the other hand, it will definitely hit deeper layers of soft tissue.

Both sports therapist finger pressure and massage do provide certain relief to muscles, release fascia, getting rid of lactic acid, provide deep tissue massage and facilitate muscle recovery and rehabilitation. Athletes are not at a loss after all, help is always around.

At every road race, you’ll see a group of similarly attired runners that are part of the official pace team. The pacers’ work scope are to help as many runners as possible achieve their targeted finish times.

In order to be a successful pacer, one has to sacrifice the chase for a personal best finish and not really compete in the race. This group of runners typically have vast race experiences to guide, motivate and ensure accompanying participants finish their race according to their expected finishing time.

The best example of this is at the recent concluded INEOS1:59/Breaking2 project, with a rotating seven-man team of pacers for Eluid Kipchoge to achieve the sub-2hr marathon finish.

The sole responsibility of a pacer is to maintain and set a desired running pace throughout the race. For example, if a pacer is targeting to finish a half-marathon in 2 hours and 30 minutes, he or she will cross the finish at this time, give or take a minute either way.

Following runners would have kept up with the pacer for the whole race, on the promise that as long as they keep up they will achieve the same target time.

Like all participants, the pacers will also face multiple challenges such as terrain and road conditions as well as keeping themselves hydrated while adhering to the scheduled pacing plan. Race organisers will usually plan for multiple groups of pacers with different speeds for runners of all abilities.

Generally, pacer balloons and bibs will be affixed to each pacer. Runners would be able to spot and identify them from afar. Optional items that pacers usually carry include a whistle, and head lights or light stick for night or predawn races.

Behind the scenes, months of training on the race route would be needed to know and understand the corners, bends, gradients and hydration station spacing. Pacers will train and coordinate their pacing strategy, taking into the consideration the slower starting pace due to crowds on race day. There will usually be a steady buildup to a quicker pace during the race to compensate for the slower start.

Recently I had an ingrown toenail and it occurred at the corner of my big toe. It impinges and irritates the soft tissue of the toe which causes discomfort at every step. Looking back, two days before a 21km race, I might have worn a pair of shoes that were ill-fitting or perhaps ran with untrimmed nails.

I completed the race safely but it was a valuable lesson learnt. The pain level went up to 6/10 and each step was unbearable. From now, a ‘toenail check’ will be one of many activities to be included in my ‘to-do-list’ prior to race day.

Well, there are various ways to get it sorted out, such as application of topical medication which can be obtained over the counter, or perhaps soaking the feet in warm water. Both will soften the skin or nail.

It would be best to seek professional medical care if the situation does not improve and impairs training. Importantly, do not ignore anything that does not feel right! So, the bottom-line is to wear working or running shoes that fit with sufficient space in the toe box and avoid putting on socks that overly constrict the toes.