Mo’ath Alkhawaldeh: Training for the London Marathon during Ramadan
It’s 3:00am on a Sunday. The biting March air slaps Mo’ath Alkhawaldeh in the face as he steps out his front door in Washington DC. His body creaks as he attempts to loosen the stiffness from yesterday’s ten by 1-mile intervals. Swinging his legs frantically, he grips the lamppost to balance himself. There’s not a soul in sight, except a lonely plastic bag that tumbles down the street in the cool morning breeze.
He’s in a race against the sun. Later, he’ll be heading to the local Mosque that looms over the Georgetown University Track where he trains. At the Mosque, as a part of Ramadan he takes part in charity work, collecting clothes for those in need.
“Ramadan isn’t just the practice of fasting,” smiles Alkhawaldeh, “It’s about giving back to the community that welcomes us with open arms.”
March is the busiest time of year for the Jordanian Olympian. Alkhawaldeh is deep into his London Marathon training block, he is fasting for Ramadan, giving up his free time on the weekends to help the local community whilst working a full-time job as a project manager at Princeton University.
He only has a short window to squeeze in his two hour long run before dawn. When the sunrises over the city, he will no longer be able to eat and drink until the sunsets. He checks his watch. Time is running out. He takes his first strides; his pulse rises whilst his warm breath reacts with the cool morning air, steam dances through the air in a flurry of clouds as he ticks off each mile on his 20-mile run.
The benefits of Ramadan
For Alkhawaldeh, Ramadan is more than a religious practice, he finds it helps him in many ways when training for the marathon.
“When I’m training for the marathon during Ramadan, I gain a lot of strength. Since I started running, I’ve practiced Ramadan. I love doing it not just for religious reasons but because it builds my character and strength.
“Training for a marathon throughout Ramadan is all about consistency. When I head out on a 20-mile run in the early hours of the morning I’m not pushing myself to my limit. I am listening to my body, if I was to run too hard my body would backfire on me, and I won’t be able to recover.”
The challenge of training for a marathon during Ramadan is a mean feat. Alkhawaldeh meticulously plans his runs around Ramadan to get the most out of the training he does whilst avoiding burn out.
“It’s all about consistency and being committed to focus on maintaining your overall fitness.”
Adapting training to fast during Ramadan
“Speed workouts or intervals are very different. I will do my workouts after I’ve broken my fast, otherwise I won’t be able to perform well without having any water. I always make sure to do my hard sessions in the evening.”
Setting his sights on the London Marathon on April 27th, Alkhawaldeh has no time to waste when it comes to training. So, he makes sure to take each run as it comes to optimise his performance when it comes to racing.
“After breaking my fast, I usually leave three hours to allow my food to digest properly, you can’t eat heavy food. You need to try and eat light to make sure your training isn’t impacted.
“I also make sure to minimise my warmups and cooldowns of my hard sessions. Instead of a 2 mile (3.2k) warm up, I’ll switch it out for a 2k warmup instead. This is all to make sure that I get the quality of the session in whilst avoiding getting too exhausted.”
Running during Ramadan is all about maintaining fitness
As Alkhawaldeh runs through the streets of Washington DC he looks down at his running watch. Unlike his normal runs he has no alerts on his watch, just the time of day and the lonely streets . If a run is going slower and he needs to cut it short to ensure he can recover.
“Just be gentle,” he says to himself “You need to be as gentle as you can for yourself. During Ramadan you don’t have to run every day.
“We have to remember that three to four weeks is going to disappear quickly and if you focus in on quality over quantity you won’t lose fitness. Running whilst fasting is all about maintaining fitness.
“If you can train for 30 days whilst fasting, you’ll be able to run 26.2miles as fast as you can because it improves your mental toughness.”
As day breaks over Washington DC, Alkhawaldeh is already home tucking into his last meal to recover before his fast begins again.
