Berlin, here I come!

I registered for the Berlin Marathon this morning... 20th September 2009.
Am already excited about it! Target: 4 hrs.
More on this later.
Missed my runs on Monday and Tuesday - sleeping in, working late.... how does 3 AM sound? That's my excuse.
Ran 5km this morning in 26:40 - felt good. I just have to do this 8.5 times and bingo, Berlin's in my pocket. Would really like to crack 5km in 25 min and 10km in 55 min by the end of 2008. Stay tuned!

Back to Church

Well, that’s a take on what Shumit has on his email footer…
“The road is my Church
Sweat is my Prayer
Running is my Religion”

Am back on the road now, started with a 5.2 km run yesterday.

Recovery from the marathon was pretty quick, I was back at the office on Monday morning though I had initially planned the day off. My body was kind of aching, mostly in my legs. Especially after I sat for a while and tried to walk I would clam up. Once a few meters of walking was done, it was fine. By Tuesday most of the aches had gone, and Wednesday was pretty much normal. I was itching to run on Thursday but deliberately did not pack my running shoes for my trip to Kakinada to force some rest… apparently there are a lot of micro tears and injuries that happen during and the lead up to the marathon that one needs to refrain from running for at least a week. Or so the story goes.

Friday was a sleep in, and I had to get out yesterday. I planned an easy 5 km run, and my wife Nithya joined me. She has been running these days and is already running 5.5 km non stop, albeit at a gentle pace. I gave company for a couple of laps and did a couple of faster laps myself to finish 5k in 32 min.

Sunday is the day of the long run with my buddies at Chennai Runners. I rocked up at the starting point today with nothing more than a 7 to 8 km run in mind. I ended up finishing 10.2 km in the end. Beyond 5 km I can feel my legs a bit, but going past 8 km it seemed okay. I have slowed down a fair bit... 10k in 1:06. Need to get this down to <1 hr consistently at least for shorter runs.

There is a lot of noise about Auroville marathon (Feb 15th) among my running buddies and I must say the temptation is there to run the full again… but I have to forget marathon training for some time and get stuck into other priorities at work and life (like writing my Singapore Story!!). The plan now is that I will do “base level” training, running 4 to 5 days a week, min 5 km and weekend runs of about 15 km, with one run a month being half marathon distance. In fact one of these half marathons could be at Auroville, and Nithya is aiming to run the half there - her first - so I might give her company. I also need to go the gym and get some workouts done aimed at my core and leg stengthening. That should keep my system well lubricated to ramp up for the next marathon… Berlin, September 2009.

Staying happy!

Beaten, but still victorious...

I did not achieve what I first set out to do i.e. "conquer Singapore in <5 hrs" nor did I achieve what I estimated as my finish time would be (2 weeks before the race) i.e. 5:30 and I did not get to beat my performance of last year i.e. 6:04. So, I guess I was beaten, fair and square. But - I finished the race in 6:18, battling on after about 30km. The first 30km took me 3:25 and the last 12km took me 2:53!!! After hitting the wall at 38km, and a massive cramp attack at 39km, I was pretty much written off to be a "transport by ambulance" case. Lying on the pavement for a long time and talking my legs into taking me to the finish line, managed to get up and do it - a triumphant smile on my face as I crossed the finish. ...

I am really happy I finished, it was a fight, and I did not want to see a "DNF" against my name. That kept me going and I think this means more to me than a <5 hr finish. Victory, after all.

More on this and other related stories later.

Monsoon in full swing, training too!

Chennai copped some serious amount of rain with tropical cyclone Nisha. Luckily, I escaped the brunt of it – went off to Kakinada on Wednesday afternoon – it really started hammering from Tuesday night. Here are my runs since my last update:
Wednesday, 26th Nov: 6 km on treadmill at Dimensions
Thursday, 27th Nov: 6.1 km at Kakinada
Friday, 28th Nov: 12.3 km at Kakinada
Today (Sun, 30th Nov): 21.2 km at Chennai

I was cruising during the week and the runs were quite good, “flowing”. Was back in Chennai yesterday afternoon, and saw a bit of the aftermath of cyclone Nisha. Still wanted to get out this morning – started at 4:40 AM with Senthil, got about 5 km out of the way then met up with couple of other running buddies from Chennai Runners – Hurry and Anu. Well, that’s not his real name – but that’s how he runs. Hari finished 35 km the last two weekends in 3:30 and is well set for a sub 4 in Singapore next Sunday. We did about 16 km+ together at a lazy pace, I just wanted the miles behind me. Finished 21.2 km in about 2:33. Satisfied! Now that is my last long run before Singapore. I have survived the training… only two more runs on my agenda – a 5 or 6 km on Tuesday and another 5 km on Thursday. I then leave for Singapore on Thursday night. No running there till the marathon.

Was flipping through my training logs and noticed a few things that has given me added confidence….


*till date. Another 10-12 km likely next week
**till date. Another 2 runs planned
*** shorter period – equivalent will be 11.5 for Singapore 2007 and 12.1 for Singapore 2008!

Gazing hard through these numbers, despite my anxieties, discomfort, tentativeness, I seem to be better prepared now than I was for the past two marathons!!
By this time next week the Singapore Story 2008 would have been scripted. Watch this space!!!

Another 25 km out of the way

Started the Sunday run (yesterday) at 4:20 AM with a number of my running buddies from Chennai Runners. It was pouring overnight, but by the time I stepped out of the house, the rain had eased off. I had not warmed up and stretched and was really slow at the start, easing into the run. By the time I did an hour’s worth of running, I realised I had just covered some 8.8 km - too slow to my liking. I wanted to finish half marathon distance in 2:15, so picked up my pace. I was running comfortably and thought I was running faster than the first hour, but by the end of 2 hours I had just touched 18 km. I ramped up my pace but managed to cover half marathon distance in 2:24 – same as last week!! I had made 2 stops for water / Gatorade and one walking break for about 200 meters. The roads were flooded in a number of places and that kind of slowed me down too. It drizzled / rained along the way in part. I kept thinking about the long day ahead of me – I had to fly to Kolkata in the afternoon after attending a wedding / lunch. So no sleep therefore after my run. Kept going till Elliots Beach when I hit 24 kms in about 2:42 – stopped for a drink there and ended up hanging around a little while trying to make sure the water stop was organised properly for other runners too – this, was a big mistake. I got influenced by a fellow runner to truncate the route to 30 km and once I yielded to that temptation, and started off again, I was stiff all over and could barely walk. Tried to revive myself and slow jog but I was rapidly losing interest and finally, after 25 km I stopped and walked for a little while before catching a rick to the finishing point. A bit of a cop out really! So, the last longish run before Singapore is now done. Recovery has been pretty good – none of those issues like last week, I feel fine and ready for at least 6 km tomorrow, 12 km on Thursday, 8km on Friday and perhaps a half marathon on Sunday…. After that, it will be the home stretch the next week. I am really looking forward to getting Singapore out of the way.

The New Mantra: “Constant Correct & Redirect”

I seem to have fallen in love with this mantra! Lets start with last Sunday’s run. Yes, its behind me – 33 km in 4:15. Finished half marathon distance in 2:24 (plan was 2:20), was running well up to 28 km, which I touched in 3:18 then took a walk break for about 750m and then started running only to start cramping. It was slight at first then became troublesome enough to force me to stop. My toes were cramping – that’s a new one! This time the cramps were in my lower left leg mostly. Could barely walk for some time. Then slowly, after some Gatorade, Shahid’s energy drink, bananas, etc started a walk-run sequence that took me to 33. the last 5 km took me nearly an hour! Am glad that I got this distance out of the way – it was very important for me to cross this, mentally I am more confident of finishing and getting another finishers tee in Singapore.

Recovery was bad. It took me nearly 3 days. On Tuesday my calf muscle was sore and I had to abandon hopes of running on Wednesday morning too. The problem I had with the boils has gone away, hopefully for good. I have completed the course of antibiotics.

The next run was Thursday morning – a good, refreshing, charged up run – 6 km in 36 min. No sign of any pain or discomfort.

Friday’s run was an LSD… 15 km in 1:45. Good, easy run at a very comfortable pace (read as waddle). I had not had much sleep the last two nights and I was feeling the lack of it towards the end of the day on Friday.

So, the last two weeks have been a classic case of constant correct and redirect approach. I have stopped stressing about Singapore now, and am seemingly very casual about it. That’s a bloody good sign, after all the mental gymnastics I went through the last few weeks!

Now, as I type this up, I am pretty refreshed after a 9 hour sleep. Am keen to run 35 km tomorrow – one last longish run before Singapore. It was raining heavily this morning, with plenty of thunder and lightning. I hope that is not the case tomorrow. I will run tomorrow regardless of the rain, but if there is a thunderstorm, I will be forced to chant the mantra again!!

Another sub 4:00!!

Well, that was my start time this morning – 3:55 AM and I covered 11.7 kms via the flyovers on TTK Rd and RK Salai up to Gandhi Statue on the Marina Beach and back. This is the first time I have ventured on to this route before 5:30 AM. I quite enjoyed the route and the run was good. I ran for 1 hr 16 min. The roads were wide open and most of the time I had them to myself. There is something highly mood elevating about this – the early hours of the morning, the freshness of the air, the quiet streets, music, myself and the run thrown in. It’s amazing how nature seems to press an auto reset button after the end of each day, takes all the polluted air out somewhere and fills in cleaner, fresher dose of air. It’s a pity we ruin it through the day. Anyway. Rushed back home after the run, hardly stretched and was on my way to the airport in half hour.

I had to do this run today, ungodly the hour may seem! I missed yesterday’s 16 k run – was at 4, contemplated stepping out… then went back to sleep, got up at 5 again and was still tentative. Reason: the boils were just starting to heal and no new eruptions – finally the antibiotics seemed to take over. So I decided to give the run a miss, and make up this morning – without any idea that I would have to catch an early flight. Never mind – I am actually more happier now, and more confident.

Today’s run was good. I wanted to up my pace a bit and see if I can pack close to 10k in an hour. But managed only 9. The second half was good though. In the end I averaged 9.2 kmph. Prior to the start I was feeling a bit of heartburn but popped a couple of Hajmolas and that seemed to do the trick soon enough. But I felt my dinner in my throat most of the way, was wondering why and then it hit me – it had hardly been 4 hrs since my dinner – which I had at about 11:30 PM!!! There is a lesson here.

The outlook for Sunday’s 35k run: I am pretty sure that I will do 21k comfortably. My “correct and redirect” strategy now is to run at least 30k of the 35k run on Sunday. Then, do a 8-16-8-30 the following week. Tight, but I think I need I would need one more 30k run to make up for all the lost miles and time. It does not matter if I don’t do a 35k run before Singapore – would be nice but I can run 42 k anyway. Looks like my pace is going to be in the region of 9 kmph – so, the prediction for Singapore now: 5 hrs 30 min.

There is no let up at work. In fact the demands are increasing by the day. The monkeys were out this morning trying to get me to think about doing something next year with more time and training possibilities. It did not last for long. There is something within that is helping me stay committed to run this race at Singapore this year. I keep talking about it to my family, friends and colleagues, its an affirmation of sorts to myself by setting expectations and putting pressure on myself to maintain credibility! That reminds me of a quote: ”Integrity is: Doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it, and how you said you would do it” (Byrd Bagget, The Pocket Power Book of Integrity)

By the way, I am off alcohol till I finish Singapore. Have not had a drop for a week now!
Am still ON folks.