After the Bengaluru Marathon on 17th Jan’2021, it has been hard two and half months, with lot of non-running things taking a lot of my time and little of running.
I was nervous restarting, so i started slow and shorter run durations. The legs were holding fine for first 3-4 days then i did a 15km run with lot of breaks. This gave a good confidence for a slightly longer and faster run.
This Saturday, did a good 18km run. It was very satisfying specially because i felt i was able to hold up without too much extra effort. Next week target to do a Half marathon.
Along with the runs, I am also doing couple of small challenges.
31 days minimum 31 push ups. So far 7 days have been able to successfully continue.
30 days, 30 dumb-bells lifts.
though these are mini challenges, it is helping me stay focused and stay on track for the next season. Looking forward to some speed runs soon.
My dad left for the heavenly abode two weeks back. This write up is a small tribute to him.
He was an extreme example of an independent man. Even when he was getting on the ambulance which turned out to be his last ride, he insisted and walked and climbed up himself rather than being taken in a stretcher.
Being a primary school teacher at a govt school doesn’t leave you with a lot of money, but his money management and personal finance skills enabled him to be much better than most of his peers despite a bigger family.
We even saw times when managing two square meals was also a challenge. We lived through it and it only made him stronger.
Much before the personal finance books started teaching, he understood the importance of having a secondary source of income.
He did a second or even a third job in for the secondary income. Examples being at an ice cream factory, driving.
By the time his eldest kid was 15, he was setting up him own business. While dad used to be at school for his day job, his eldest kid started helping him on his venture.
Business kicked off well enough to be lesser dependent on his salary and he was able to send the remaining 3 kids into better schools. Before that we were all in govt school which was free.
While the eldest one continued to help in the business, he also completed his education. Though he continued on the dad’s venture.
Other 3 kids were making progress in their studies and dad was supporting each of them basis what he felt each were capable of.
Dad retired in Aug 2009, his son, in the same month, cracked a job at Amazon and with a starting salary of much higher than what dad got in his last month as a working teacher. Within months another son, cracked a job at a public sector bank. The fourth son, another computer science graduate, is now a grade one officer for the govt of India.
After his retirement he traveled peacefully across the country for multiple month long trips.
Once he was back from his trips he continued his daily schedule religiously. Waking up before sunrise, taking care of cow’s food, and noting down all his expenses in his diaries. And then during the day overseeing the construction of our house. And go to bed by 8.30pm.
In last two weeks during the rituals, came to know lot of examples from his friends and family where he ran around to help them selflessly. These help mostly to get some clerical work in govt offices. He was able to do them because he understood the art of networking before management schools started teaching them.
He remained disease free for most of his 73 years. He left us with really big shoes to fill in.
His greatest assets being his 4 kids. All of them are proud of their dad’s deeds and achievements.
17th Jan’2021, First official race in almost an year. Though I wasn’t fully prepared for the marathon distance race training. But given this was the first opportunity in a race in an year, I wasn’t going to miss it for anything. As I had shared in my last post the plan for the run, the plan was to keep at 40min per loop. I was on target for Goal A till 35km just then the cramps started to appear which slowed me down and by the 39th Km it forced me to actually stop for a few minutes. From then On, the Goal B was the next target, which was finishing the run in sub 3’30”
Overall a very satisfying run. The best of Bengaluru marathoners were all there and the ambience was just about perfect. The weather Gods were very kind as it remained pleasant throughout. As a runner you couldn’t have asked for a better setup.
This is how the race went: First 10k – 47’45”, HM at 1’39”, 36.8km at 3hr mark. Last 5.3km in 29min. Finished at 3’29”. During the race was depending on the gels, one every 8th Km.
As they say real marathon starts after the 30th kilometer, and this race for me was no different. Though i had not run a single 20+ distance in last 50 days, the 4 FM practice runs in Aug-Oct 2020, helped fight the mental aspect of the run. Those full Marathon practice runs, helped fight the fear of an FM. The physical aspect that slowed me down around 35km, could probably been avoided, if the mileage had been higher in the build up the race.
Learnings:
I need to ramp up the mileage clocked much higher to have sustained race-pace. My longest run in 50 days before the race was 18km. You need couple of 30+ km distance runs.
Fix the shoe/socks issues to avoid the blisters. After race, my legs were all bruised up. This also led me to slow down(or atleast made to stop pushing harder to avoid skin pill offs.).
Pre-race needs improvement.
I still need to work on the strides. Maybe i need to practice atleast one speed work outs every week.
I will be running a real marathon(Not a virtual one) after an year on 17th Jan’2021. Feeling a bit nervous, but more excited as I am getting to take part in non-virtual run. After 2020, this feels like a luxury. Running in solo has its advantages but you start getting fatigue or the monotony just starts getting inside you. So i am eagerly looking forward to the run.
What’s my target/goal for this marathon? Well a very diplomatic answer to this is “Going to simply enjoy the run”. That would be a half truth though. Of course I am intending to cherish the run, but I would be lying if I say i am not looking for some running goals. I am going with the intent to run this within 3’30”. My goal A is 3’20”. 3’30” also will make me super happy. I will be satisfied if I am able to do anything under 3’40”(Goal C). Will start with goal A, and see how this progresses. I don’t exactly recollect which book I got this idea to have multiple goals for any run, but it is empowering. Always go with a best case in mind as goal A and keep pushing for it. But as we know running is a hard game and things do change dramatically during the long run, so having a Plan B or a C helps you still push hard if for any reason Plan A doesn’t work out.
How is my prep for the marathon? I did my last HM+ distance almost a month back. So long run perspective, I do realize, I am little short of practice. But I am feeling confident about my stride and endurance in whatever runs I have managed. The last FM i did was on 25-Oct for New York Marathon(3’45”) and I didn’t push too hard there and it was a solo self supported run. Here the run is an organized event as part of Bengaluru Marathon so the support and motivation wise, this is going to be an advantage.
I will write my next post on how the FM went by after Jan 17th.
2020 has been an exceptional year in more than one ways. It has been a year of reflections, slowing down, getting back to basics, finding what is truly worth it, understanding what’s dispensable and valuing relationships.
Life isn’t always about making choices to select things, but a lot of times it is about making smarter choices to remove/ignore things. 2020 made us realize, why eating out is not a necessity(but a luxury) and working out for a better health is not a luxury but necessity. We tend to forget things that we get more free or little work and only realize its importance when it is lost. Health is top of that list. No one cares about it until it is lost. The best part of 2020 is that it has made people firmly believe and understand that this can’t be taken for granted.
Dec 25’2020, I was running my first TCSWorld10K run(though a virtual event) after a gap of 5 years. Last time I did the TCSWorld10K in 2015, my timing was painfully at 1hr 14min. That time it was with no training, and a last minute registration to do a 10k.
This time, I was much better prepared both physiologically and psychologically. As I mentioned in my previous post about the story of first sub50 which was around a year back. This time I was targeting somewhere in between 42-43min.
Last 9 days before the race day, I had just one run of 5km where I ended up with bleeding blisters in my toes. I was worried about making it worse during the run, so was not trying to take a risk by over stretching the injury.
Race Day: Started the run at a pace of 4min per Km, and i was pleasantly surprised that I was able to maintain an average pace of 4’03” till 5km. In that process I got to my 5k PB as well with a timing of 20’16”. Probably the fresh legs helped. After 5th km, I was feeling the pain and also pumping heart rate. I was speaking to myself “even if i maintain 4’30” pace from here, i will still end up with a PB. So don’t push too hard, just ensure that each km is not more than 4’30”.”
This worked till 8km mark, because after crossing 8km mark, I got a puckish feeling. And within 100m, i was puking. total 3 times in next 40sec, and I was not even moving. For few seconds I thought, may be today’s not the day of a PB. Still lets try to complete it. Started again and I was back to pace of 4′ in no time. Actually within few seconds I was able to completely forget about the puke and concentrate on the run again. Finished the Last Km in 3’52”. Overall at 42’04” for the 10km. (The TCS app says 41’36”, but I trust Strava more, which says 42’04”). A PB by 100seconds.
After run feeling was amazing. Though it was a solo run and no one around to talk to, I was just trying to let that sink in and smiling. May be its not so hard. Or may be the continuous training is paying off. Thanked the almighty for the blessings and started back for Home.
After finishing the chapter on “Pain” in the book “Endure”, I was inspired for trying something new. This was my first run where I went beyond 42.2. First 30km were usual juggernaut, where you keep grinding and also ensuring you have enough gas to last the distance you are planning. Real fun begins only after the 30km. At 34-35km, I was feeling some discomfort in the calves and that reminded me the learnings of pain. How pain is a limiter and also at the same time how it helps to push beyond what you thought was your limit. Instead of fighting the pain, accept it, embrace it.
There’s no fun in running if pain was not part of it.
Slowed down just a little bit and kept listening to the pain, the pace slowness ensured I was not increasing the pain. After a km, the pain subsided at least I didn’t feel it. And started the grinding again. Till 42.2 after that was a continuous grinding and more mental than physical. Beyond 42.2 was a mental block, though I walked for a bit after that to enjoy the marathon completion and also to regain some energy to push further. Last 7km were a combination of walks and runs. Overall a very joyful run with a lot of learnings.
This is still my longest run. Both in terms of Time and distance.
If you do a poll for the question what is the biggest luxury in life? People may respond with different answers depending on their stage of life: for example
owning a big mansion,
having a chartered plane or a big boat,
no work, no schedule, just sleeping, or travelling.
Or any such fancy imagination depending on their state of mind that time they may answer any of these.
Now take a minute and think about a time when you were sick, unwell, deep injury, or going through a tough medication. And recollect what would you have said if the same question was asked to you “what is the biggest luxury of life?” I am 100% sure there will be just one answer getting back to fitness would be a unanimous answer.
So what do we learn from this? This, this time when you are physically and mentally fit is a luxury and do whatever you need to do to stay that way. If it means dropping a bad addiction or starting to remain physically active do that. Now is the time to take that action to retain the biggest luxury of life.
For enjoying all other goodness of life first you need yourself to be in a physical and mental state to enjoy it.
So what can we do?
Small steps:
Start with 2 days in a week to walk for an hour.
Do some weights exercises if that excites you
Take frequent breaks from a continuous sitting or sleeping.
Best option of them all: RUN. even if for just 5 minutes in a day for 2 days in a week.
Reduce refined sugar.
This may sound a lot of preaching, but having a strong body, strong immunity and a healthy mind are the least we can do for the greatest asset we truly own: OUR BODY.
Half Marathons are NOT marathons, but it provides just the right sweet spot to push a bit harder and a bit longer to get your runner’s High. This Saturday(28/11/2020) I did the time trials for HM with a goal to beat the 100min barrier which I have been trying for quite some time now.
And I went with the plan that I mentioned in the previous post to start with 4’20”-25″ per km pace and see how it goes.
The first 5 were a breeze, next 5 again just went with the flow, and reached 10km mark at ~45′ min. Next 5km were a bit harder, not because I was struggling, but because when you do time trials without any competition, there is a factor of mental fatigue that plays in and can easily slow you down. I had to keep reminding myself it was all in the brain, just maintain the 4’30”-35″ as long as possible and we will see what happens after that.
The blisters in the run
And I kept going, around 17km mark felt some pain in my toes, I could feel the blisters in there, but stopping was NOT an option. Kept moving. After 2 more km, there was no pain in toes, only the glory which I kept visualizing to see myself at 1hr 35 min at the finish line. It was almost a dream a year back. And in last 2km I could see myself there, even before reaching the finish line.
Pushed the last km faster, and made it to the finish line at 1h35m(95min). This was what I was internally targeting though anything less than 100min would have been equally happier.
After reaching the finish line, the first thought that came to mind was, an ultimate satisfaction. Not because of the new Personal Best. Or my previous best by almost 5min. But the real reason of joy was the consistent pace that I was able to maintain. Slowest km was at 4’40” while my average was 4’31”. The second reason being able to maintain a strong form throughout the run. In the long term, form becomes very very crucial to keep raising the bar of performance.
Learnings from the run:
Cadence during the run was very much there with 185. The stride length is something, I think I can improve further. Will read about it and also talk with my running buddies to understand this better.
Going at 5-10sec faster than target pace during the 3-8km range helps in HM distance run.
13-17km is mentally the toughest part. If you can maintain your target pace during this, you will eventually finish at your target timing.
Need to find better compatible socks as blisters continue to bother during the speed runs.
The sub 100min half marathon timing is something I have been trying for a long time. And officially in a half marathon, the closest I have reached is 101’9”min. That was in the Delhi Half Marathon in October’2019. After that in a 25km run I crossed HM at 100’01”. Within 1 sec of my target timing. That was in December 2019.
Image from ADHM
After that, I haven’t run any HM races as there haven’t been any. This Saturday, Nov 28, 2020, I am going to give it a shot again. This will be part of Virtual Delhi Half Marathon. To emulate Delhi flat track I will be running on a flat route as well. This time I feel I am better trained, better prepared than I was last year. So I am quite hopeful to break the 100min barrier. The challenge this time because it is virtual would be to ensure a good support for hydration and some snacks. Let’s see how that goes. The second bigger challenge is emulating a race scenario. In an actual race it is much easier to get inspired by the race ambience, the crowd, and the competition itself makes you push harder.
This is going to be the plan, let’s see how well I am able to execute.
1. Start with 4.25-30 pace, maintain for 5-6km and feel how the body takes it.
2. 10-16km, just stick to a pace that is maintained for the distance. Preferably 4’30”
3. 17-21 if I can, then push a bit harder to get a better timing.
I will write another post on Saturday how this goes.
