Ramadan Running
23 days out of 30, 233 km. Not a bad haul.
Most habits in life are a function of momentum; the longer a habit has been in force, the more unlikely it is to break out of it. I had a 10-odd month running streak going on and I didn’t want to break it — I have usually found it tougher to start again after breaking my habits. But if it were down to a choice between fasting and running, it was a no-brainer; the spiritual over the physical all day, every day.
Thankfully, I think that most things in life are not binary. I’m not a good person, nor a bad one. On the continuum of good to bad, I shift good-wards every time I extend a hand of kindness to people, or tell the truth when I have no incentive to do so, while I shift the other way a little every time I am mean to other people, or act very selfishly, or lie to protect myself.
So it is that this Ramadan, I set out to test the Deen vs Fitness binary, changing my view of it to a continuum that I could slide on to either side of, and getting the good (maybe not the best) of both worlds.
Run, then Recover
Long-distance running training is a careful balance of hard training and recovery. Hard training gives your body instructions, to run faster for longer, to conserve energy better, to make muscles and tendons stronger. Unlike what most lay people think, all runs are not made equal. Different kinds of runs give different instructions to the body, and a good training plan covers the types required to get better at long-distance running. The three basic run types I engage in are:
- Long runs: Long distances (20km+) at moderate speeds. The goal of these runs is to teach my body to keep running for long, period. These runs teach my feet and my core to lift my body, step after step for the marathon distance.
- Tempo runs: These are shorter runs at speeds just above moderate, but below maximum effort. They teach my body to get comfortable running in that magic zone above comfortable but below sprinting — the marathon zone.
- Interval runs: These are short, repeated cycles of hard runs followed by slower jogs. They help to improve aerobic capacity and running power.
There are many other twists on the above types but a good training plan covers at least these three basic runs each week. As important as these runs however, is recovery. After the stimulus from each training run, muscles are tight and sore, glycogen levels are down, and body hydration levels are much below normal. Common recovery strategies include:
- Eating well: Paying attention to consume the relevant macro-nutrients (carbs, protein, overall calories) and micro-nutrients (mostly iron) to bring the body back to optimal levels and support muscle recovery.
- Hydration: This is important because usually, we lose water faster when running than the body can absorb so a long run runs up a water deficit that needs to be quickly fixed afterwards.
- Rest/Easy days: In between hard training runs, throw in easy runs or even entire rest days — hard workers need vacation days. This is difficult to do if you like running; I have to be intentional about running at a slow pace, and I feel the itch to run on rest days.
As I have run more, I have learnt to pay more attention to recovery because better recovery leads to higher quality training runs, which in turn makes me stronger and faster.
Timing
First question — when do I run? Morning? Evening? Post-iftaar (breaking of the fast)?
I could run in the morning like I used to before Ramadan, before the sun brings the heat into the day. I decided against this because it would impact my post-fajr sleep (sweetest ever) and I’d have to wait too long to correct my hydration level if things go awry.
I could wait until after iftaar, after taraweeh prayers. I’d have replenished my nutrients, and will be able to take a bottle of water with me. Downside was that this was going to be very late — 10:20 PM at the very earliest. I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was going to be running that late at night.
Third option: just before iftaar. I figured this was going to be the worst time performance-wise, because I’ll be lowest in energy and hydration levels at this time. The upside was that with perfect timing, I could down some water and food immediately after the run.
I tossed out option one early on, and decided to try out option two on day one. I met an unforeseen roadblock; my iftaar hadn’t digested well enough so I was very uncomfortable throughout. I switched to option three and it wasn’t so bad; pre-iftaar it was then.
Water no get enemy
Choosing option three meant one thing; no more long runs. In the month leading up to Ramadan, I completed 8 runs of half-marathon distance (13.1mi, 21.1km) or longer. These runs took me more than two hours each time, longer than I could hope to go without drinking water or popping something edible in my mouth. To this end, my longest distance in Ramadan was a 10-miler (16.1km) and even then, it was on the best of days; rain meant that I didn’t need to sweat as much to cool my body.
The other adjustment I have made has been to eat a lot, more than I would in Ramadan. On a typical Ramadan day, I eat twice — suhoor and iftaar. This doesn’t account for 800 calories spent running each day. So I squeeze an extra meal in there; late at night before going to bed. This hasn’t stopped me dropping a couple pounds, but I think it could have been worse.
Verdict
It’s not Deen vs Fitness so much as attempting to train within the constraints of fasting. I have had to make trade-offs, the biggest one being dropping long runs. This means I have taken a hit to my ability to hold my aerobic pace for long distances. But it’s a hit I’m willing to take, I have eleven other months to go long.
The goal is to keep moving and don’t stop, in whatever form that takes.
Eid Mubarak, folks.
