I measured my RHR this morning and found that I’m now at 54 bpm (beats per minute). According to the RHR chart, I’ve just entered the ‘Athlete’ zone. It feels great to achieve this as I’m coming from years of being obese background and just started to enjoy the new finess level, a gift from my running hobby.

When should you measure your RHR?
Best time to measure your RHR is 2-5 minutes after you wake up from a long sleep. Stay on your bed after you wake up and measure your heart rate while lying in bed.

Chart Source

Not running is not an option for me. As I’m now 10 days into the fasting month, I’ve figured out a schedule that is working good for me. It goes like this:

3:00 AM: I wake up and get ready for my run.
3:15 AM: I start my run, generally I plan to run for 30-40 minutes on my treadmill.
3:55 AM: I’m done with my run, take a cold shower and go for my seheri (breakfast).
4:15 AM: Done my seheri, and the fasting starts.
4:15 AM to 8:00 AM: Some days I catch more sleep, some days I start my daily work
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM: My regular work day at office where fasting ends at around 6:30 PM
8:30 PM: Some days, I go out with my running buddies just to do some fun loops outdoors
10:30 PM: Go to sleep

So far, this schedule is working good for me, and I’m glad that I’m able to continue my runs even during this fasting month. If you want to continue a similar running schedule during the month of Ramadan, make sure you don’t get dehydrated. Dehydration may cause you unwanted injuries which will set you back if you are not careful enough. It is best to consider your runs are on a ‘maintenance mode’ than considering them as agressive training as you are fasting. Hope this helps another fellow runner.

Edit: If you plan to continue running through out the Ramadan month, consider hydrating between your splits. What I generally do is, I run for 8 minutes (I’m targeting 8 min miles) and take a 90 seconds break where I rehydrate. I continue 5 repetitions of 8 minutes laps and get a full workout. Make sure you warm up for 10 minutes by running at a jogging pace and also give 5 minutes to cool down after your run by either walking/jogging.

I feel like smoking when I feel bad, when I feel good, when I feel sad without any obvious reason, when I feel successful, when something great happens to me, when I’m in a very strenuous situation, when it is raining outside, when it is sunny outside, when there is a storm going on, when it is a dull day, when it is a windy day, when I feel bored, when I have too much task to handle, when I feel burnt with my work, when I don’t feel like working, when I’ve eaten too much, when I’m hungry, etc…

Now the interesting part is, it all applies to me when you replace ‘smoking’ with ‘running’.

I can now officially call myself a running addict. :P May be it is the runner’s high that I seek each time I hit the road.

1. Makes me feel alive.
2. Early morning run helps me to tune my mind and body each day before I hit the road.
3. Gives me a solo time with myself to ponder on different stuffs.
4. Gives a time to do my ‘running meditation’.
5. Helps me to keep my weight down.
6. Works as a stress reliever.
7. Works as an anti depressant when I feel low, and heals me quick.
8. Helps me to get away from the virtual world of my day job to the physical world outside.
9. Helps me to connect with nature and enjoy the differences in different seasons even in my urban life.
10. Is a low maintenance workout that I can do anywhere I go.
11. Gives me opportunity to enjoy natural beauty of different parks around Dhaka.
12. Helps me to meet like minded positive people in the morning who also enjoy a morning exercise in the park.
13. Helps me to get my resting heart rate down.
14. Allows me to occasionally indulge with an unhealthy meal and not feel guilty about it.
15. Encourages me to travel to different locality and get known to the place by charting my run along nearby places.
16. Allows me to enjoy the morning mint freshness of the local parks in the city.
17. Helps me to leave everything behind, and just be with the nature outside.
18. Makes me eat less on the days I do my morning run.
19. Helps me to test my will power when I run in the rain, or other adverse weather.
20. Helps me to get a sound sleep at night if I run in the morning.
21. Allows me to start my day with a success and spill over this feeling to the rest of my works that day.

The 53 Runner’s Commandments
by Joe Kelly

1. Don’t be a whiner. Nobody likes a whiner, not even other whiners.
2. Walking out the door is often the toughest part of a run.
3. Don’t make running your life. Make it part of your life.
4. During group training runs, don’t let anyone run alone.
5. Keep promises, especially ones made to yourself.
6. When doing group runs, start on time no matter who’s missing.
7. The faster you are the less you should talk about your times.
8. Keep a quarter in your pocket. One day you’ll need to call for a ride.
9. Don’t compare yourself to other runners.
10. All runners are equal, some are just faster than others.
11. Keep in mind that the later in the day it gets, the more likely it is that you won’t run.
12. For a change of pace, get driven out and then run back.
13. If it was easy, everybody would be a runner.
14. When standing in starting lines, remind yourself how fortunate you are to be there.
15. Getting out of shape is much easier than getting into shape.
16. A bad day of running still beats a good day at work.
17. Talk like a runner. ‘Singlets’ are worn on warm days. ‘Tank tops’ are worn to the beach.
18. Don’t talk about your running injuries. People don’t want to hear about your sore knee or black toe.
19. Don’t always run alone.
20. Don’t always run with people.
21. Approach running as if the quality of your life depended on it.
22. No matter how slow you run it is still faster than someone sitting on a couch.
23. Keep in mind that the harder you run during training, the luckier you’ll get during racing.
24. Races aren’t just for those who can run fast.
25. There are no shortcuts to running excellence.
26. The best runs sometimes come on days when you didn’t feel like running.
27. Be modest after a race, especially if you have reason to brag.
28. If you say, ‘Let’s run this race together,’ then you must stay with that person no matter how slow.
29. Think twice before agreeing to run with someone during a race.
30. There is nothing boring about running. There are, however, boring people who run.
31. Look at hills as opportunities to pass people.
32. Distance running is like cod liver oil. At first it makes you feel awful, then it makes you feel better.
33. Never throw away the instructions to your running watch.
34. Don’t try to outrun dogs.
35. Don’t trust runners who show up at races claiming to be tired, out of share, or not feeling well.
36. Don’t wait for perfect weather. If you do, you won’t run very often.
37. When tempted to stop being a runner, make a list of the reasons you started.
38. Never run alongside very old or very young racers. They get all of the applause.
39. Without goals, training has no purpose.
40. During training runs, let the slowest runner in the group set the pace.
41. The first year in a new age group offers the best opportunity for trophies.
42. Go for broke, but be prepared to be broken.
43. Spend more time running on the roads than sitting on the couch.
44. Make progress in your training, but progress at your own rate.
45. ‘Winning’ means different things to different people.
46. Unless you make your living as a runner, don’t take running too seriously.
47. Runners who never fail are runners who never try anything great.
48. Never tell a runner that he or she doesn’t look good in tights.
49. Never confuse the Ben-Gay tube with the toothpaste tube.
50. Never apologize for doing the best you can.
51. Preventing running injuries is easier than curing them.
52. Running is simple. Don’t make it complicated.
53. Running is always enjoyable. Sometimes, though, the joy doesn’t come until the end of the run.

As you are enjoying your run out there, check on your stop watch to beat your previous record in that same route, the last thing you want to happen is to find a loose lace stopping you and disrupting your rhythm. Being a runner I always tried to find the perfect way to tie my shoe laces so that it doesn’t come off during my long runs. Sometimes I tried to double knot the loops, sometimes I tried to tuck in the leads under the stripes… till I found Ian’s Secure Knot. Since I have been using this knot, I do not have any occurrences of loose laces anymore.

Try it yourself! It really works.

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm