Week #4 - POST SCMM

Writing about it, strikes me that almost a 10% of my training time for the 42km is over and things are taking shape slowly. I only got down to sitting with the coach (over some dahi-sev-puri) yesterday but I feel better having something concrete in place finally. The broad plan is to divide the next 38 weeks into

12 weeks of endurance building (very little mileage and focus on strengthening)

12 weeks of speed building (medium mileage and strength training to continue and at least one run of 30+km)

12 weeks of mileage and speed building (focus on increasing mileage and maintaining endurance – at least one 35K+ run)

The past week (post SCMM) the injuries have played a dominant role. The right hamstring, knee, calf and Achilles felt very stressed. A chat with Gladson (the Physio) went like this:

Me: I need to come over and see you

Gladson: Are you doing all the stretches I gave you?

Me: Ummm

Gladson: Don’t come and see me unless you have done what you are supposed to do.

So we were back to doing the 7-8 stretches he showed me combined with some nice massage with ‘The Stick’ that I picked up from the U.S (its fantastic – I highly recommend) – I gotta say that the aches and pains are reducing.

The mileage was as follows

Monday – In Mumbai (post SCMM so nothing done)

Tuesday – Travel back – nothing done.

Wed – 5 km run / walk and 11 km cycling

Thursday – 11 km cycling

Friday – 5.5 km running

Saturday – despite best efforts did nothing

Sunday – 10Km run walk (also got my daughters out for a 3k since they are registered for the Pinkathon 3 weeks away)

I have to add I have been ravenous after SCMM – hungry as a horse so eating less has really not been possible (especially since I eat because I am hungry and not because it is time to eat) but I was good in some ways. I found a way to substitute my chocolate cravings – I am hogging on peanut and til chikkis these days! I wish these were as easily available as Cadburys Dairy Milk!

Ah, and one more thing – I went on a spree to find myself a personal trainer, after my old trainer went back to his day job. So I met quite a few and hope to start with one from the 1 Feb onwards. Frankly I am quite appalled to see the quality of trainers out there – they understand nothing about sports, injuries and one was such a chatter-box that I wonder how much time he will actually spend training!!

This week, my focus will be no more than 2-3 runs in the 6km range and one long run. And weight loss attempt continues. This Friday will be my last day as a corporate slave. Looking forward to my newly found freedom and devoting the time to do whatever I please – in particular running training!

Week 3 – From here to there

So this update is already a day late and all for a good reason – the first Half Marathon of the year! But, before we get there let’s get an update on how the rest of the week went.

Monday – Jan 13: Travelled BLR BOM and struggled with 4 kms run on the hotel treadmill

Tuesday – Jan 14: Headache, earache and more from 5 am to 7 pm

Wednesday – Jan 15 – travelled back to Bangalore and did nothing as dull headache persisted. ENT Doctor #1 visit #3

Thursday – Jan 16^th – 6 Kms run-walk-run

Friday – Jan 17^th – 8 kms run walk. Headache again and finally went to ENT Doctor #2  

Saturday – had all the good intentions but did nothing. Travelled BLR BOM and good pasta carb loading dinner with my cousin who was also running (and clocked his first sub 2 hours on this race).

With Shashi who clocked a sub 2 hr HM

Sunday – ran the Mumbai Half in 2.58.58 – nothing remotely close to my PB of 2:22 but my goal was a sub 3 hours AND I really wanted to focus on bringing the joy back into running – something that has gone missing since I started shifted my focus on timing.

at the start line with Narayani Dixit

So, first let's discuss this head-ache, ear ache business as it is incredible how the littlest of things can impact your running plans. The ear-ache has been around for 2 months and I had been going to this quack of an ENT who couldn’t quite diaganose the cause for the pain but continued to treat me with pain killers and such stuff anyway. His guess was 'water blockage' and went on to making me do random things including a hearing test!!! Finally fed up after 3 visits, continuos ear-ache and head-aches now, I went to a new guy only to find out that root cause is my jaw (TMJ Syndrome) caused by something as stupid as not chewing food with equal pressure on both sides of the mouth.. and so runners please focus on not just stretches and strengthening, but also how you chew your damn food.

The Sunday Run - 21.1 km – was my longest since I got on this journey. Frankly, even though I have run many half marathons I had some doubt on whether I would be able to run this distance on Jan 19. My last Half marathon, a pretty sad one,  was in Hyderabad – more than 4 months ago. Between then and now I have not done anything over 14 km (that was in fact done on my birthday, on 4th Jan) and I have generally not been running due to various reasons (that I may refer to on another post).

with my pacemaker group - coach next to me

My idea was to not run the Mumbai Marathon as I had not trained and it would be lousy timing - I was sure that my coach would be disappointed. The Pacemakers are mostly a group of ultra achiever runners who keep breaking records, achieving PB (personal bests) and finishing on podiums and in that sense, I am quite the anomaly in the group, as you may notice. Despite that, they are extremely supportive and my training group of Pacemakers chided me to chug along and take the challenge. 

with my loves - BB and BD

Yet, I continued to sit on the fence. That was when I wrote to Venky (please refer to Support Team) who put things in perspective by saying the following (I am posting verbatim as MORE people need to read this):

You have two choices: run a bad race (possible...probablity %age 50-70%) or abandon the race (confirm in your own mind 100% that you have had a bad race). Perception is reality.. and in the second instance you have confirmed the reality in your own mind by your own self admission. In the fight or flee response..you have chosen to flee in the second choice. While the more honourable way to acquit yourself would be to show the fight you have in you...

He was stating the obvious – I was quitting without a fight and he reminded me that I was not a quitter. So, I moved my ass to Mumbai and got to the start line of the Mumbai Half marathon.

I treated the Mumbai Marathon as a part of my training run for the 42@42in42 and also to test what fitness level my body is at right now. The first 5 km was tough and I did think for a moment that I may not complete but decided that I would quit only when I was at a point when I couldn't go any further. But once you cross the sealink and the sea of people – of mumbaikars cheering you become part of the scenery – YOU CAN’T QUIT!! This is why I run and LOVE the SCMM.

In action

En-route, I stopped to change a band-aid, to shake hands with a very very cute little girl, to chat up some random runners I had never met before including someone who very graciously caught up with me to tell me about how much my book Wise Enough tobe Foolish had inspired her, I stopped to stretch, to cheer my city’s running warriors (so proud to see so many PBs and podium finishes from Bangalore), to enjoy the music (way to go Navy Band), to thank the crowds for coming out to push us and even a two mins break at 17Km mark to help a runner from the Thomas Cook corporate team to stretch and overcome his ITB pain. Maybe I lost 10 minutes (if not more) in the bargain, but I don’t care (I really don’t) because I had the most amazing time and a very fun run.

I want to add here – last year my timing was much better but I was UNHAPPY as I had not hit my timing goal. This time I say I AM HAPPY even though I know I could have done a much better timing. I think I just found the way to put joy back in my running! And oh yes my certificate reads I’M A FINISHER and not I’M A QUITTER!

My favourite BLR girls - 2 are podium finishers

My voice is hoarse after all the cheering and shouting out but my heart is light and like Brijesh said, we now have a HM basis to move forward with rest of the training for 42@42in42

This week, I was good with my eating, a little better with my stretching and clocked up some decent mileage as a base for the FM and still have a few aches and pains including Achilles. Enjoy the rest of the week fellas… till next week!

Week 2 - Travel and Office Farewell Dos...

So this was a busy week as I get closer to the end of my 8.5 year tenure with the Globus family of Brands. After an intense day of work on Monday, I pretty much spent the rest of the week in Mumbai -  meetings, farewell parties and such… Oh how I will miss the luxury of good gyms that come with hotels like the ITC Grand Central. I will miss that more than the food I guess because I can't deny that I would much rather eat vada-pao when I am in Mumbai!

Any way, this was not the week that I could squeeze in a long run during but had at least two days of 'getting out there'! Considering that the SCMM (Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon) is just 6.75 days away - the lack of long runs may as well have been part of the plan, though I get this faint feeling that I will be adding a longish run tomorrow morning!

The goals for SCMM are - have fun, run-walk-run and end at a sub 3 hours (apparently they will not be open to anyone who can't finish in 3 hours from 2015 onwards!)

Here's what was good this week - the weight is down to 71.1 kilos.. Muscles still feel quite tight - especially the right leg ones - right from the gluteus to the feet and I need to slot in (a lot) more stretching exercises.

Some more travel coming up next week connecting me back to Mumbai and then all the way to Kolkatta - plan to hit those chinese joints on Park Street.

Good luck to anyone else running the SCMM as I move into week 3 of 42 at 42 in 42… much love..

Week 1 – D day and count down to 19 Oct '14 begins…

04.01.2014 -  So it was a fabulous birthday, I saw the run rise and I was up till way after it set. Started with a 4.40 am wake up (in spirit with the 42 weeks I had set the alarm for 4.20 but it kept going into snooze mode till finally I got out at 4.40) and headed to GKVK with Anoop (Packemaker and rescue man for the transfers!)

With Brijesh - the other birthday baby! 

I wasn’t sure how much I would be able to run after all this time but I managed to clock a 11 km run and then just added a 3 km walk for the heck of it (since I was too hung-over on Jan 1 to do the 20-14 celebration run). I didn’t put any pressure on myself over the pace of the run. 

It's not all great – the knees seem to have become a bit rusty and surprisingly – both and not just the weak knee seemed to hurt – better not be a knotty at forty (plus) syndrome or such crap! For now I have decided to do nothing about it (as in pop pills etc.) - we'll see how it goes the next few days.. but let's not have the knee take away from the fact that I did do a 14 km – run-walk on the first day! The breathing was good and that’s something to be positive about – I also didn’t feel dehydrated during the run and could do without too much water. As always, carried a GU Gel that I didn’t use…. One day, I hope to..

Post run - pre breakfast with the PaceMakers

Dosa Time - only one half view of the team

The Pacemakers turn out for this long run (the last one before the Mumbai Marathon on 19^th Jan) was fabulous – we were 38 runners in all. After the boys and gals had finished their run a bunch of dirty, sweaty and scruffy runners made their way to New Shanthi Sagar restaurant for a birthday party co-hosted by Brijesh and yours truly. We were joined by two of our other pacemaker friends. I am not kidding - we ate over a hundred dosas that day – literally taking over the restaurant! And.. I have never had 40 adults sing Happy Birthday to me so loudly.. was awesome.

with coach Pani and Brojen - one of my oldest running buddies

Those pictures finally show what the +7 kilos have done to me.  I think they will make for great before and after pictures when I am done running the 42 on 19^th October. But it didn’t stop me from pigging out on biryani at the dinner party and hogging on cake.. I danced to equalize the calories (which added to the knee pain).

A day later the hamstrings, gluteus and calves also hurt. Did some stretching. The plan ahead is to cycle a little bit to cross train and squeeze in a couple of medium runs before next Saturday!  

Have a good week folks.. J

Stock Checking - 2 Jan

Here’s where we stand two days before we start the count down for 42 @ 42 in 42

• Weight – 71.99 (a lot for 165 cms. Total gain in 4 months – 6 kilos)
• BMI – lets not talk about that!!!
• Diet includes – frequent chocolate breaks, inadequate fruits and salads. I am not one of those who can go on a diet and I often eat as many as 6 meals a day but tremendous scope to replace the food I am currently eating with what I SHOULD be eating! Reasonable proteins intake (I love my meats).
• Supplements – none including protein mix and energy drinks
• Sleep – average of 8 hours a day and more when I am lucky!
• Last run – 02 Jan 2014 - 3.5 kms in 39 minute (yea not just a run but still)… 
• Last HM – June 21 2013 – a bit over 3 hours
• Personal best HM – 2 hours and 22 mins in 2012 April
• Injuries – Right leg Hamstring, calf and something that feels like the onset of Achilles. Was diagnosed with hip bursitis towards end 2012 / early 2013.. physio really helped.. Three herniated discs that don’t bother me since I took up running.  
• Training schedule – random – once or twice of running every week. Cycling 11kms commute to work and back 5 times a week. Swimming - during the summers (what's that?)

This is how I looked at my school reunion on 28 Dec 2013

And at the New Year Party on 31 Dec 2013

The plan so far, as discussed with Brijesh this morning, is to break the 42 weeks into 20 weeks focussed on weight loss and strength building with a few long runs, gym work outs and of course reducing chocolates.. Then spend the next 24 weeks on building the 42 km race plan!!