BANDUNG, env.itb.ac.id – BNI-ITB Ultra Marathon 200K 2019 welcoming back the marathon lover to show their strength. This year, thousands of participants join the festive on Friday-Sunday (11-13/10/19). Without any doubt, the representation of IATL, Firman Gunawan (TL’ 99) with his best buddies Chaidir Akbar (TL’ 99), joined as a team for Relay 2 category.
Since 2010, Firgun, as he used to be called, work and live in Kabupaten Berau, East Kalimantan. In 2015, Firgun determines to be more disciplined at working out. Until now, he did succeed in becoming the community head starter of “Berau Runners”. The goals are to spread the virus of doing sport, especially running.
Intensive Preparation
To make sure he always trained, Firgun targeted to participate in two marathon every single year. At lease, the intensive preparation is needed 4 months in advance before a full marathon. “If not joining some competition, we don’t have any target, and it became something that makes us lazy to train,” he said.
Since early July, Firgun always discipline to train in the gym every early week to run in a treadmill and train his muscles. At the weekend he runs around 21 km – 61 km a day. In the peak of exercise, Firgun could run for 60km on Saturday and Sunday he could run up to 42km.
Firgun has principle on how to stimulate the training as much as the race and didn’t do things that aren’t prepared when training. How to cope mentality of training like you’re competing and compete as you trained.
‘It’s better to suffocate when training but felt happy in the race, the opposite, we’re lazy when exercise but when compete we’re suffocating, all our body ache, until collapse,” said the man who used to love to play football.
Firgun inserts the low-carb diet in his daily routine with including more fat and protein to his diet. These thing has been done because for the long period of sport such as Ultra Marathon, the source of energy that will be used are fat.
Not only that, but the sleep time was also important so he always tried to sleep for a minimum of seven hours a day so his body would heal faster and more efficient from exhaustion. To recover from sore muscle, Firgun relaxes his muscle with roller every two weeks and also do massage.
The preparation that is also important for Firgun to face the Ultra Marathon is to complete the gear. From the shoes, hydro bag, soft flask bottle, water bladder, arm cooler, to the gear of comfortable, light and soft material clothes.
Relay 2 Category 200KM run
Starting from Friday (11/10/19), all the participants from the different categories started from 10.00 PM WIB at BNI center in Sudirman. Jakarta. Chaidir as the first runner started running with a distance of 94km until ±12.00 WIB with the position at Puncak, and for Firgun he had to go through a distance of 206 km. The placement of the distance was based on the elevation gain or the total of a climb that must be through.
On the way, Firgun confesses that the field of the marathon that has to be through is the hill with their ups and down route. According to him, the condition of the downhill route could be a misleading thing because it wasn’t that easy. Even though the pace of running is already set from the very beginning, the route condition could change all of those things. Firgun explains, “In the beginning, we tend to over-speed. It’s hard to break or stop because naturally, we’re rolling down. We were overworked the muscle to control it, so it made us tired a bit faster,”
Armed with nutrients that have been dissolved in water and stored in a water bladder, Firgun remains powered all the way. “Run for 15 hours. There is no feeling of sleepiness. Hunger didn’t exist. I don’t feel bored. Nutrition can be fulfilled, more easily digested and consumed, “he explained.
At the end of the trip, Firgun’s desire to move forward was still there but his ability was decreasing. “Breathing is still okay. The heart rate is still okay. My thighs, knees, and soles are burning,” he said. Nevertheless, Firgun still managed to complete its steps until it arrived at the ITB Ganesha campus around dawn, ± 3.5 hours left to the cut-off time.
The Essence of Running
For Firgun, running is not only physical training to be stronger and fitter. More than that, running teaches him to always think positively, to focus on targets, to plan and make a good strategy, and always be disciplined and committed to plans.
“Don’t think about losing your weight but you investing in your health. Don’t be busy making a living now, but when you are older you’re busy with therapy, treatment. For now, enjoy some regular exercise, eat anything you want, don’t worry too much.” He said. Firgun also never considered running as competition to compete with others. “Running is not about defeating others, but about defeating yourself. Our laziness, our ego.” Firgun finished.
One of the reasons why Firgun joined the BNI-ITB Ultra Marathon was a sense of togetherness. “ITB Ultra is interesting because it’s not only a sport but more elements of togetherness. We can get closer to other classes and majors. It can be a reunion with our department or class. “
Running Tips and Tricks
Finally, Firgun conveys some tips and tricks related to running that can be applied, including:
1. Purpose. Make sure you have a clear goal. Run not just targeted to lose weight. Targets must be specific, measurable, and realistic.