Thursday, November 29, 2007

Two good runs

A 30 minute tempo run was on the training plan yesterday. A tempo run is continuous with a fast middle. I divided the 30 minutes into 3 parts - the first 10 minutes or so to be easy, the middle 10 minutes when I would start building up pace and the last 10 minutes to be easy again.

I was quite excited about this run - my first. I went to KNP at 7:30 and warmed up. I planned to run the first 5 laps easy, accelerate in the 6th and 7th laps and run the 8th lap hard, slowing up in lap 9 and 10. My first lap was a decent 3:19, and I went on to lap 5 in around 17 minutes. Lap 6 was around 3:30, lap 7 was 3:10 and lap 8 was 2:49. I was huffing/puffing during laps 9 and 10, but eventually managed to complete in 33:59:30, my best time for this distance ever. I was quite happy since typically I will start out strong and slow down towards the end running 3:50 - 4:00 laps. I was happy that I was able to accelerate right bang in the middle of my distance.
I did change my plan, but as Hal Higdon maintains - "Improvisation is the heart of doing a Tempo Run correctly" :-) . I dropped off my kid to school and took the other kid to Vaishali for a well earned upma and sada dosa.

Today's run started out differently. I went off to KNP and after my walking lap, I decided to head back home to help with the kid. I eventually ended up dropping her off to her school across Chittaranjan Vatika. I headed over to the Vatika and warmed up. I planned to run 10 laps here, each lap is approximately 600m, so a total of around 6K.
My first lap was a blistering 3:49 which was great. I have done this lap in around 4 minutes before, this is the first sub 4. Each subsequent lap added some seconds :( and I finished lap 6 in 25:15. I continued running till lap 8 which I finished in around 34 minutes. I stopped to take a breather, and continued to finish the next 2 laps. My overall time was 42:40 minutes. This is the first time I have run 10 laps in the Vatika.

The Pune International Marathon is this Sunday. I am running in the 10K. I got my complimentary red T shirt (Vodafone colours) and my sachet of Quaker Oats. My running number is 3789.

The route is the usual.
It starts at Lakdi Pul, goes up Laxmi Road, turns off towards Seven Loves Chowk, up the Shankarseth Road bridge, turns onto M.G Road at Golibar Maidan, down M.G. Road, towards the Police Commissioner's office, turn at Blue Nile, up and down the bridge near Wadia College and ends on Bund Garden Road at Sun-n-Sand. There is one water station marked out at 7.5K at the end of M.G. Road. Hopefully they will have water when one plodder gets there :-)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

A week's worth of running

While I have been shoe shopping, I have also been in training using my New Balance shoes. Rahul Verghese of Running and Living sent me an encouraging email after Delhi, confident that he could help me shave off more time from my Delhi run time of 3 hours 2 mins 47 seconds.

Rahul pointed me to Hal Higdon's website for a treasure trove of information on training plans. I am following the intermediate training plan. So in reverse order, here is my running log for the last week

Today, I went to KNP. After my usual warmup, I ran 10 laps in 35:18. I had my new shoes on and did not want to run hard or try something new. So this was an easy run with my first lap averaging 3:28 and the second lap was done in 6:59 mins.

Yesterday I ran a leisurely 5 laps for a time of 17:32

On Friday last, I ran the same distance in 34:31. My first lap was a super 3:05, the second completed in 6:28 and I had completed 5 laps in 16:54. This time was good considering that I have taken up to 19 - 20 minutes for 5 laps.

Last Wednesday called for 5x400m, at 5 K pace. I went to PYC which has a track of about 300 m. I ran 1.5 laps for an approximate distance of 400 m. My first run was 2:47 mins. After, I walked the same distance to catch my breath. The second iteration was completed at 5:44 mins for an iteration time of 2:57. Iteration three took me 2:54, four 3:02 and the final 400 m took 3:10. This is the first time I have run short distances. I took about 50 minutes to complete this workout.

Tuesday last was 10 laps of KNP again. My first lap was 3:29 and second completed in 6:54. I completed 10 laps in 34:54

On Monday last, I started the Hal Higdon Intermediate program. It spans over 12 weeks and puts me right in line for Mumbai on January 20th, 2008. I ran 7 laps of KNP in 23:46, my first lap in 3:19 and my second lap in 6:28.

Overall I ran about 15K last week having skipped my long run on Sunday. This week I plan to run 10K in the Pune International Marathon.
The Pune Marathon was granted National Status and one hopes for a better experience than the previous runs I have had here. So far, the organization, promotion and logistics are sorely lacking. If there is enough water on the course, I am willing to forgive and forget.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Shoes

In the recent Delhi half marathon, my usual running shoe - the Nike Shox that has been with me for 3 years finally gave up its soul (sole :-)). The sole cracked near the arch making it really painful to run continuously. After much deliberation, I finally figured this was the reason for the pain after my Delhi half.

I have a New Balance which I run in as well. I needed to get another shoe so I could have two when I run. Running theory indicates one must swap shoes every run (especially if you run every day) to allow the shoe to decompress. Given my weight, I agree.

Thus began the search for the new shoe. I wanted to make sure I found the right shoe. I have had wrong shoes before - shoes that pinch at the toes, hurt at the arch or heel. I did my research on Runner's World, Running and Living, orkut, etc. Rahul Verghese of Running and Living was helpful in suggesting what I should look for in a shoe. Sneakerologist on Orkut had more specific recommendations

This was the final list of shoes from Sneakerologist
1) Nike Air Max Moto 5
2) Nike Air Pegasus 2007
3) Adidas Supernova Cushion 6 (CSH6)
4) Adidas Adistar Cushion 6
5) Adidas Megabounce+

I spent Saturday afternoon trying out shoes at Adidas and Nike. Nike had a great deal on their Air Max 360, but only on one colour combination. The staff at Nike tried to convince me that I should go in for an outmoded shoe.

The service at Adidas was much better. I tried both the Adistar and the Supernova. Eventually I ended up buying the Supernova Cushion 6. I have had it since Sunday and been wearing it constantly to break it in.

(pix credit: yatego.com)

The buying experience especially for running shoes is not good at all. The staff is inexperienced and does not even know the features of their own shoes, let alone having any context of running. Add to this, the fact that the stores are franchises and there seems to no coordination with any sort of a central brand theme - whether it is Nike or Adidas.
I also experienced post purchase dissonance when I discovered that a friend had bought a shoe at Pune Central where they had a buy one get one free deal on purchases above a certain price. In the final analysis, it comes down to "buyer beware"

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Delhi Half Marathon Pictures

This being my first ever Delhi event, I had ordered pictures from the official event photographers. When running along Rajpath, I had noticed photographers huddled near the lane dividers merrily clicking away. I also remembered to smile :-) Well, after a longish wait, my pictures and video are here. I am dissappointed with the video since I was expecting it to be personalized (shots of me plodding away) rather than a generic sort of newsclip. I know I will not order the video again.

Here are the video and my snaps. Looking at them again refreshed memories of Delhi. I am happy they turned out alright.




















I also want to thank the people who made this happen. This was my first time in Delhi and you folks opened your houses/guest bedrooms/bars :-, your cars, without a moment's hesitation, and more importantly your heart and hearth. You changed your previously laid plans, went out of your way.... even getting directions to destinations on the fly.

Vipul, Leena, Binku and Samira
Thank you very much for everything, indulging my every whim - food, drink, ICE :-) , driving me everywhere across town to Ansal Plaza, RK Puram and wherever else took my fancy, changing your Sunday schedule and making me so welcome. Binku, I loved the long drive to your school and the school itself. I was terribly impressed you have APP's Eye in the Sky on your iPod.

Arjun, Sulochana, Puri Aunty
Thank you for giving me a place to gather my thoughts before my big event, for including me in your plans on Saturday. Puri Aunty, we love your pickles. Arjun, thank you so much for hooking me up with Sandeep to help me get to Nehru Park

Sandeep,
Thank you for ferrying me too and fro, waiting up for me even though I took an hour to finish after you did and another hour to get my timing certificate. Thanks for the ride home to RK Puram.

Finally this is what I ran for and this medal is all on account of you.


A heart felt warm thank you!!!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

SMS voting

With the plethora of reality shows catering to every possible variant of the Indian daily life(dance, singing, regional variants, who loses the most weight, ...I wouldn't be surprised if there is one on who has the highest/lowest blood alcohol level when driving an SUV soon), winners are now no longer decided by who is really good, but by the amount of SMS (text messages) they are able to generate.

We have all seen this with the first Indian Idol which Abhijit Sawant won handily thanks to all the sms' he got to the most recent version of the same show where Prashant Tamang won because of his geographic origin

What was unacknowledged so far has now become blatant - competitors openly appealing to their regional cohorts to vote for them since they are Punjabi or Marathi or Gujrati on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa.

Talent as differentiator is G O N E and in its place is the sheer volume of text messages that a contestant can generate whether through regionalistic pandering or emotional blackmail

I got this sms today on the same topic (copyright ascribed to unknown person :P)

एकदा हत्ती आणि माकडाची Boxing Match सुरु असते. हत्ती माकडाला खूप मारतो. त्याचे दात पाडतो, नाक फोडतो, पाय मोडतो.

But still the monkey wins! How?

त्याला जास्त sms मिळतात.


Loosely translated: an elephant and a monkey have a boxing match; The elephant hammers the monkey, breaks his nose, his teeth and his legs. But yet the monkey wins! How? since he got the largest number of SMS'

The mobile companies and the TV channels are making a lot of money in this process. How much money? In the last 9 days of the recent Indian Idol, 70 million SMS were received -- that translates to a whopping 210 Million rupees (USD 5.25M). See Nikhil Pahwa's post and the comments on this topic. Kamla Bhatt has an interesting post on the same topic.

दर्शकांचे मात्र माकड़ होत आहे

So when do we start voting on who should be on the Indian Cricket team?

Running again

After the Delhi Half Marathon, I was nursing a sprained foot for a while. The outside edge of my right foot just ahead of the arch and on the arch itself hurt majorly. In keeping with good practice though, I did go out and run an easy 5 laps of KNP to get the kinks out. Post that, I was still in pain and decided it definitely was not worth busting my foot..so I stopped.

For about two weeks after, I was not running with the intent of resting my foot, working out the possible ligament sprain... of course Diwali, vacations in Tarkarli also intervened.

This week, I started running again...nothing much .. easy runs... On Tuesday, I went to the newly laid running track at PYC. It is unmarked right now, but appears to be around 320m or so. I ran on track after a long time and while it muddied my shoes hajaar, it was softer on my feet. I ran for around 20 minutes or so, around 7 laps

On Wednesday, I returned back to KNP starting out at 8:00 AM. After warmup, I ran 6 laps in 20:56 minutes for an easy pace of around 3:30 a lap.
Today, I ran 7 laps in 23:48 starting out with an easy lap of 3:34, and maintaining the same pace.

I have signed up for the Stanchart Mumbai Marathon. I will be running the same distance - the half marathon on January 20th

It feels good to be back :-)

Monday, November 12, 2007

कोकणी दिवाळी

This year, we spent the first two days of Diwali in my ancestral village in the Konkan.

Diwali in the Konkan is quite unencumbered with some of the usual mundane urban customs of overspending and ostentatiousness, but it does have its own special rituals. This was my second Diwali in my village - the first being many many years ago.

Narak Chaturdashi is locally called Chav Divas (चाव दिवस) - the idea being you chav (bite down) on poha (puffed rice). Rice being the only major crop in this area, pohe represents a varition on the usual rice preparations, I suppose.

The other interesting custom which we follow even at home in Pune has to do with a small bitter melon/gourd. Apparently Krishna/Satyabhama killed Narakasura by crushing him with the thumb of the left foot. After a ritualistic bath with Uthana, we went out and crushed this small gourd till it split open. You then taste the seed which is extremely bitter to remind you that life is sweet and not so sweet sometimes (my interpretation)

On our way from Malvan to my village, I came across colorful effigies about 6 feet tall, made of straw, and other combustible material. These represent Narakasura. From my limited view, these are started many days in advance, being built as and when time permits (when the village boys find time from their other farming activities). These effigies are filled with fire crackers and set alight in the village commons amidst general din and noise.











Final image from the Kokani Diwali was the State Transport bus (Laal Khatara, as it is fondly known) with a small poster on its window wishing everyone a Happy Diwali. Nice touch.