Ramadhan Running

Ah, Ramadhan . The holy month of fasting.
 The month of tarawikh, tadarus, tazkirah dan pahala yang bertimpa-timpa.
The month of testing one's strength: body and soul.

Unfortunately for  some people, it is the month when all physical activities comes to a halt. It becomes something of an excuse to be sedentary.

Suddenly, all kinds of ridiculousness comes to surface.
" Tak boleh angkat kotak sebab tak cukup tenaga"
" Cannot go to that course because it's puasa month"
"I can't give that talk because nanti haus"
" Saya tak boleh hantar ubat kat orang sebelah sebab nanti saya lapar" ( okay, that was my son)
 Cihhh....

Let's face it, physically, fasting is basically just not eating lunch. Sahur is our super early breakfast and iftar is our dinner. Just how many calories are we depriving ourselves, really ?
Not that much.
And there's the looming question of dehydration.
Takdelah.
Ever heard of 8 glasses a day ?
Tak boleh minum ke waktu iftar and sahur?
( ok, maybe you' ll have to visit the toilet numerous times during the day but that's a normal process)

So it shouldn't be such a big deal. To carry on with your normal exercise routine is very doable.
Some people would say Ramadhan is a very busy month. What's with iftar and tarawikh and tadarus and work taking up the day time. I truly think God gives us 24 hours because He knows it's just enough time. Kita je selalu cakap tak cukup masa bagai.
Just make time. And find the balance.

Tapi aku dok prong prang prong prang ni, who am I kidding ?
Tadi aku pun terbabas.
I was parched since morning. Yesterday I had a bad case of sniffles so for sahur, along with some other food I took an antihistamine to control the symptoms. As an adverse effect, my mouth got super dry throughout the day and I grew very tired.
When I got home, I was in a daze, mencapai bantal and woke up in the late evening.
And since I prefer running before berbuka, I only finished 3 Ks.
I thought of continuing after tarawikh, but yeah right, because here I am writing this.

But pushing my pathetic story aside, my advice for fasting runners would be : Find the time that suits you best.
With a lot of races scheduled after Raya, it'll be a shame to start over after all that work.
Some people like to train after iftar and tarawikh.  Some people like to train in the mornings, a few hours after sahur.
And some parents like me like to run before iftar so we can get the most of the rest of the night for our ibadah, children's homework and studies, a bit of 3rd Rock reruns and 7 hours of sleep.

Choose any time that's convenient to you, your work, your family and your fitness level.

But taking consideration of the depleted energy levels during fasting, I think sometimes there should be a compromise. For example, I cut my speed training to half and my pace is really easy for my daily runs so I don't feel too fatigued for my run the day after. My LSD, the furthest this month will not go beyond 12K (also because my next race will just be a 10K..ngehngeh).

It's all doable, brothers and sisters.
The only thing that's holding you back during this holy month is yourself.
Fast, pray, recite, work, run and everything in between.
Find that balance.

Dengan keberkatan Ramadhan, InsyaAllah cukupppp.. ( angkat kening dan sengih-sengih  ala Ustad Don)