SunFeast World 10K

May 15th, 2008
As a part of my taper, I ran 5 laps of KNP in 16:46 and 16:33 on Monday and Tuesday, 6 laps in 19:33 on Wednesday and slept in today on Wednesday. Tomorrow, I plan to run 5K early morning and that should be it. I have my bib number, and all other details. I expect to be in Bangalore tomorrow (Friday), pick my bib and other stuff. The run is on Sunday May 18th at 9:00 AM.
May 18th, 2008
Having gotten my bib and goodie bag on Saturday, I was so looking forward to running the 10K. As I got ready, I had the TV on the channel broadcasting the race live, admiring the timings that the elite runners put in. My brother drove me to meet another friend who was also participating in his first ever run. We waited for some time, shooting the breeze, catching up, stretching as much as I could.
Getting to the Kanteerava stadium proved a bit onerous, but eventually I found myself in the chip holders section. A lot of people had turned out, some with event T shirts from the Bangalore Ultra held some time ago. The stadium atmosphere was uplifting.

At the appointed hour of 9:00 AM, we the hordes were let loose. I walked to the start line, albeit being pushed is a better way. One thing about the 10K distance is you tend to so underestimate it..:-). Each running blog/training manual/note/article cautions against getting caught up in the enthusiasm and starting out fast. Every race I enter, I remember this as I go out and... every race I start out fast :P. So much for adhering to gyaan.
The first 2k took 12:02; I didn't even realise I was going faster than my usual 7:30 min/KM pace. Admonishing myself mildly, I slowed down, looking at the other runners and looking at the people lining the course, running my 3rd KM in around 8 minutes. Overcompensating eh?
KM 4 went by in 27:05, almost a full minute ahead of a 7min/KM pace. So far, it was easy going. I slowed down dramatically in the fifth kilometer.. the heat got to me, and I finally crossed the 5K marker at 38:18, still pacing reasonably ok at 7:40 min/KM. This is what fast starts do to me.

By now, the sun beating down made running on Bangalore roads a chore. I have very little recollection of KM 6, except I decided to walk for exactly 1 minute. I stopped again in front of the Vidhan Souda to take pictures. Entering Cubbon Park, I had hoped for a shady avenue to ease some of the heat. No such luck. By now, at each water station, I was picking up two small water bottles, one opened and upended on the head immediately; the second for a few sips now and then before being poured on the capped bald pate again.

Left at the Cubbon Park gate, got me out to the last 1K/1.5K. This was quite pleasant. Could see the start point in the far horizon, enough motivation to run faster - not sprint really yet. A bit of a surprise then, that the finish line was inside and not on the street. Any way sprinted the last bit, weaving through the other finishers. Crossed the line at 73:26:58 by my clock.

Wandered around loosening up and cooling down, trying to find where to go next for certificates and other stuff. A kindly soul pointed me in the right direction, where I picked up my bottle of water and the post run snack. I was so thrilled that the snack had a bun... ye olde humble bun...laden with carbs. Chomping down on the well needed nutrition, I lined up to get the certificate.

Yet again, Procam could not get its act right, with their software glitches and what else. Handed in my chip, got into a long discussion/argument/rant with Anil Singh of Procam about how they do this all the time, etc. etc.

Anyway, my brother came to pick me up and after a really long shower, we headed off to Nandhini for lunch. To date, I had marvelled at how people can polish off the mounds of rice that this place serves. After my run, I did too and how it can be done is no longer a mystery.

I am quite pleased with my 73:26, though it is about 2:30 off my previous 10K; given the 9:00 AM start time and the heat, I won't complain. The official timing certificate reads 73:18... I will take the 8 seconds, if you please....

Running in Goa

On the May 1st weekend, the Most Wondrous and I went to Bogmalo beach in Goa for the day. This is a first for me; the MW had some work to take care of and I tagged along. She went off to her work place and I found the complimentary hotel drive to take me to Bogmalo Beach Resort.

That evening, I decided to catch up on my running. I had visions of Rocky (the movie), and strains of Vangelis' Chariots of Fire theme (go figure) going on in my mind, as I stepped on the beach a little after five in the evening. The strip of beach is secluded and does not have a huge horde of people like some of the other beaches in Goa.

At one end of the beach is a little fisherman's shrine in the shape of a cross which I walked towards for warmup. After the obligatory stretching, I ran back to the other end, dodging waves, feeling the spray and feeling good.

On the return leg, I was getting curious stares from the few folks on the beach and small growls from the stray mongrels among other things. I ran back and forth for about 20 minutes, till it got really boring. At each step, my foot would sink into the sand, and I ended up getting it into my shoes and socks (not a very pleasant feeling).

My aptitude at dodging the incoming waves was not improving as I progressed and I got water into my socks. I laboured on, with grit in my feet and squishy socks for some time. I finally got bored of both and headed into the hotel for a welcome swim in their pool.

So much for running on the beach. Very over rated :-)

10K in Bengalaru (SunFeast 10K Bangalore)

I have been running slow 5 laps every day for the past three days. Timings went from 16:49 to 16:17 to 17:07 today. Hope fully, if I am not too lazy, I will go out for a long run on Sunday.

There is a new race in town (ok, not my town). ITC is sponsoring the SunFeast 10K in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May. I was quite happy to find out about this and promptly registered. And what do you know, I won one of the Early Bird prizes :-). I am quite jazzed up about this; there is a promise of a goodie bag and an event T shirt.

Flight tickets were at Rs 99/- (damn, taxes were 220 times that cost), but it is all under Rs 5000. My last 10K outing was during the Pune Marathon which I finished in 71 minutes. I am targetting to do better this time around.

Running Log

It's been a long time since I posted to my blog. That does not mean I have not been running. I have run regularly for six consecutive weeks; I took a week's break (unforced - pure laziness) and am back on the track this week.

Typically after the Mumbai Marathon, there are no events on the horizon. This time around, after my great experience at Mumbai, I went into a running hiatus tapering back very slowly and lazily. Till about two months ago.

Week One was no more than 5 laps of KNP each day, starting out slow and finishing. I ran a total of 15K that week. Here are my timings.

17:17
15:36
15:26
34:31 10 laps
16:00

Week Two target was 6 laps per day. The idea was to slowly build up mileage without exerting.
Here are my timings for that week
19:35
19:35
20:38
19:05
19:03

The target for Week Three was 7 laps each day. Staying with the idea of building up mileage, I also wanted to get out of my lazy funk. Here are my timings from the third week I was out on the track

23:15
22:52
23:10
23:01
23:43

I have not been running any long runs on the weekend. Some of it was still the laziness; some part of it also to do with the fact that temperatures are increasing. Week Four target was 8 laps a day. Here are my timings for 8 laps over the week.

28:57
27:15
27:15
26:59
16:14 Ran only 5 laps on Friday :-|

A month into this renewed burst of running, fatigue and boredom began to set in. I ran alternate days in Week Five, trying out for a target of 9 laps. Here are my timings. In fact week five was my lowest mileage since I had started.

Tuesday 30:43

Thursday can't remember the time.

Week Six started with the same alternate day routine. Here's what I did that week
Monday April 7th 2008 27:47 8 laps
Wednesday April 9th 33:43 10 laps
Friday April 11th can't remember the time. Ran 10 laps

After that Friday, I took about 10 days off, lazing around, sleeping in, having late nights and every thing else not conducive to an early morning run. I am back on the track this week, having dragged my sorry backside out of bed yesterday :-). Felt good to be running again.
I have run only 5 laps in the last two days, and hope to continue for all this week with the same mileage. Here are my timings so far

Monday 21st April 17:03 2.5K
Tuesday 22nd April 16:59 2.5K

The SunFeast 10K is around the corner. In fact, they have advanced the date to Sunday May 18th. Still not sure if I am going down to Bangalore for this, but will keep training.

Tapering back....

For more than a week after the Mumbai Half Marathon, I lazed around, not running at all. After a few days I began to feel antsy, jittery wanting to go out and run.

Finally two weeks ago, I got out and ran 7.5 K that week. The first 2.5K came at an easy pace completing in 16:40 minutes. I was glad to be back at KNP seeing the familiar faces and breathing the clean air :-). The next day, I ran 2.5K in a reasonably fast 15:39 minutes, better than the last day. I rounded off the week with another 5 laps in KNP this time taking 17:40 minutes - did not warm up, felt really lazy and I guess it shows in the timing :-)

This week I have run two days already, running 6 laps each day. The first outing was worth 19:32 minutes and today's outing cost me 19:22 minutes with an "It's My Life by Bon Jovi" fuelled first lap of 2:42 minutes

I am slowly tapering back. Right now, there is no event on the horizon which I have to start training for. The first event in any near future is the Ahmedabad Run for Life Marathon which is targetted for June 8th. The only information I have on this is via an Orkut group. Weather in Ahmedabad around early June is generally blistering hot (around 40 degrees) and I am concerned. I would like to run this, but we will see

Daastaan-e-Daud ...Personal Best

Mumbai 20th January 2008 - The day started very early.. my cell phone alarm going off at 4:00. I had a banana, some water, laced up, got my kit bag that I had packed the night before and trekked to Dadar station. Got myself a first class return ticket after telling the window clerk to keep the change. I was in high spirits and determined not to let minor squabbles over loose change bother me.

VT Station was abuzz with people, all fellow runners: older folks in their yellow 'Harmony' Tees, guys and gals picking up their last drink of water or their first cuppa. I walked around Azad Maidan to get to the commoner's entrance, handed in my kit bag and looked around - runners in all shapes and sizes, dressed in all hues and shoes (some spanking new, marking out the running virgins), some stretching, some running, a few just lolling about. I checked into the Chipholder's section and started a slow warm-up.

As 6:45 came closer, more people crowded the enclosure making it a tad tightly packed. No more stretching or running to loosen up, I was just observing the folks coming in, mentally psyching myself. A few minutes before we were let loose, the crowds milled towards the exit and this is what it looked like - dark skies, the lights sparkling around us, last minute good luck waves and hand shakes, folks taking pix on their mobile phone cameras...quite a jamboree.

At 6:46, they let us out on to the course. I walked towards the start line dutifully ignoring the enthusiasts running past me." You have got to start when you have to start and you will end when you do", I thought to myself.

I started running about a minute before the official start line, synching my stopwatch at the same time and I was off. The first few meters were terribly congested as usual and expected, I slowly made my way through the crowds on D.N. Road, past Flora Fountain where the volunteers and khaki policemen directed human traffic into the turnoff. I have a vague recollection of the next few kilometers - a pastiche of images - some one stopping to retie shoelaces, an attractive face, folks overtaking me and falling back, the crowds on Marine Drive cheering you on. At the 4k marker, I took my first bottle of water and checked the time - 29 minutes, 1 minute longer than my target time of 28 minutes.

Running down the rest of Marine Drive, near Banganga, the eventual winners of the race passed by on the other side. Part of me marveled at those well oiled human machines who had completed almost 18K and were just 3K short of completion... a small part of me was terribly jealous. Up Kemp's Corner bridge was the first trial - I put my head down, shortened my step and didn't want to think about how much was left. Soon I was at the top of Peddar Road heading downwards, looking at more athletes passing us by on the reverse.
I met a familiar face on Peddar Road and we ran together for a couple of minutes exchanging notes and cheering each other on. On the downslope I was doing pretty well, though holding myself back, fearful of a sprain or a cramp.

At Haji Ali, I gave virtual thanks to the Haji whose dargah overlooks the course and ran on. Reaching the turnoff point at the Mela Restaurant was a joy. So far, my pace was 7:37 minutes per KM. I had lost time from my original target, but I was not hurting or anything like last year. At 11.4 KM, I had clocked 1:27:01.

As I approached Haji Ali once again on the back side of my run, I was filled with a little trepidation. The Peddar Road climb awaited me. In fact, the road starts climbing all the way from NAB. I reminded myself that I had done enough hill training - bridges and the like and I would be OK. Once again, head down, short step and one foot in front of the other. I looked up again near Jaslok Hospital and went back to my climbing. Slowly, steadily I made it to the top where the most angelic children stood by the side of the road with Parle Glucose biscuits on a tray and water (they always look angelic after that climb and I always look forward to passing the folks from PRRA - Peddar Road Residents Association). I grabbed a couple of biscuits and a glass of water, thanked the kids and ran further towards the dhols and drums that PRRA puts out.

The 15K marker has always been special to me - there it is, right at the centre of the Kemps Corner Bridge...to me, it signifies that the arduous climb of the Mumbai Half Marathon is behind me and everything is down-hill from here. I cheered a fellow runner, reminded him that only 5K remained and both of us ran together towards Banganga. 16K came and went and as I passed Wilson College, I stopped running for a minute, walked...my hips and calves beginning to pain and cramp up. I tried to shake them off, but didn't quite succeed. I picked myself up and started running again.

Every once in a while, you see a person that shakes you to the core and motivates you to dig deep within yourself to do tremendous things. On this race, I was fortunate to experience this not once, but twice.

The first time was after I started running again. Head down, short steps, one foot in front of the other - that was the way I had started running when I heard loud applause. The applause was uplifting, but it was not for me. There was a handicapped person who was competing and in what glorious style. Head held high, hands on his crutches and a determined look on his face. I ran backwards for a minute or so, caught his eye and saluted him, and his indomitable spirit. I don't know who he was or do not remember his bib number, but he was my first hero of Mumbai this year.

Kilometers flew by and at the Kishco Cutlery turnoff, I got a morale booster, when a bystander shouted "Come on, 5257, you can do it" :-).

I passed the 20K marker and then experienced my second "Mumbai moment". I had the fortunate experience of seeing Angad Dev Singh Dugal on the track. Much has been written about the "never say die" attitude that this young fellow brings to each Mumbai marathon. Angad is differently enabled and his achievements each year serve as a reminder to me of all that is possible. Here is an article on his exploits written recently - http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/You-dont-fall-unless-you-stop-pedalling/263667/
I have Angad's picture cut out from a Sunday newspaper stuck on my mirror so I can see it every morning. It was great to see one of my motivators in action - Angad is my second Mumbai hero this year.

Turning off on D.N.Road, I had one constant refrain in my head - I want to finish before the full marathoners coming in. I ran D.N.Road increasing my pace, racing other finishers.

As I neared the finish line, I pumped my fists in the air (and got a good Marathon-Photos picture out of it as well). I finished in 2:39:55:80, my best time on a half marathon so far.. Net net, I ran a 7.53 minute per KM pace which was lower than my target pace. I was faster on the return leg from Mela back to VT, which was a bit of surprise considering the Peddar Road hill. I am quite gratified I was able to run a faster pace on "old legs". I guess this is the race I would have run in Delhi had I not bonked at the 17K mark there.

The certificate fiasco continued in Mumbai as well.. so the less said about it, the better. Barring that, the organization in Mumbai was impeccable - a warm heartfelt thanks to
- all the volunteers who make the runners' lives easier, whether managing registrations or certificates
- the Mumbai police, the ambulance and hospital staff
- Kingfisher for watering us every km or so
- The food folks at the end of the race - I really needed that banana and bottle of water
- the cheering squad consisting of Mumbai citizenry, especially the PRRA folks - The Parle Glucose biscuits are greatly appreciated

My friends in Mumbai who allowed me to impose on their hospitality - food, bananas, and making do with my waking the whole household up at 4:00 AM, that too on a Sunday - thank you for everything. This personal best is as much yours as it is mine.

Finally, I want to signoff this post with a quote from Angad - "Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you plan to stop pedalling. So I am pedalling with you wonderful people who are like my training wheels." More inspirational words, I have heard none.
(Quote from www.expressindia.com)

चलो मुम्बई

Sunday January 13th.
6:00 AM - The alarm went off - shrill and loud, I tried to linger in bed, but the pull of the road was just too much. After my ritual cup of tea, and skimming through the Sunday newsies, I stepped out. Mom asked "आज पण दोन तास का?"
"नाही, आज जास्तच, तीन तास??"

After warming up, I walked to Good Luck Chowk, stretched a bit and hit the road at 7:33 AM. The stopwatch started, I ran towards Jungli Maharaj chowk, passing Kamat's in about 3 minutes just like last Sunday. It was slightly cold, not too nippy.. just the perfect start. I passed all the engineering company folks waiting for their buses to transport them to far flung reaches of the city to their locations, getting bemused smiles. I reached the far end of Jungli Maharaj Road in 12:28, again pretty much like the last time.

Dodging a National Travels bus near COEP hostels, I went to towards Simla Office. The temperature read 16.9 deg C which I thought was a bit warm for January. I came upon the first bridge near Hardikar's hospital at 16:40 and took around 3 minutes to reach the other end near the Mhasoba temple. One bridge down, one to go.....

I started climbing Ganeshkhind Road in right earnest, flagging a bit, dodging motorbikes and cycles going the wrong way. Starting up on the second bridge, I was doing well and mentally calculating whether I wanted to go to Baner and circle up on Aundh Road (which is a steep climb) or keep on my route from last week. At 33:00 minutes, I passed the Senapati Bapat Road intersection choosing to head down my route from last week towards Aundh fire station. At 35:31, I was just past Raj Bhavan, striding down easily. I met up with a guy who was dribbling a football and just past Pichola, we started passing the football back and forth, till the fire station. Made for a nice break in an otherwise solitary run. I had to sprint hard to keep up with the fast moving ball - it was fun. I turned towards Dass, thanking the guy at 52:18, approximately 7.5 K into my run.

Hour one went past in front of Ozone, and I kept at my pace last week hitting the Baner Road turnoff at 66 minutes. This distance is about 9.5 KM, so at this point, I was doing around 8k/min pace. Going into Baner Road, I noticed that most of the road had been completed and was uncluttered - no concrete mixers, or pickaxes or people hanging around. Near Sakal Nagar, I was forced off the small road surface due to traffic. Navigating my way back through the small clear patches of concrete, I reached Yashada in about 78 minutes, approximately 10.5 KM later.

Climbing up the small incline from Yashada to the University Chowk was not as taxing as the last weekend. I turned off into Senapati Bapat Road, traveling on the wrong side of the road - running against traffic so I could at least see the vehicles coming :-). I thought this was a smart idea and I only discovered how "wrong side" it was till I passed the Chaturshringi temple. The road has been dug up till ICC for some road construction work. There is a small narrow lane, permitting only one vehicle to pass at one time. I was off the road again, hopping over small rocks and chunks of road, as I made my way slowly past this hurdle.

Downhill from ICC, I figured I was running behind my target time of 7 minutes to the kilometer. I passed the 14K mark at the NCC grounds, and went past my turn off last week. I hit the 15K mark in front of the Film Institute in 1:50 minutes about 3 minutes or so behind my 15 K time of last week. I turned off Law College Road onto the Canal Road, passing Dashbhuja Ganapati temple and the 16K mark in 1:57:45. Had to literally find my way through the amassed cars, motorbikes and cycles, so I walked for about a minute. Picked up again and as I passed Jog Hospital, I was 2 minutes past 2 hours into my run.

At the Reliance Fresh store turnoff, (the 17K mark), I was timing 2 hours 8 minutes, the last kilometer a general blur and tiresome. The road looked appealing with its canopy of trees and dense branches - that made the running pleasant. An older gent asked me for directions as I turned off towards Bal Shikshan Mandir and I just nodded... only realizing much later where he wanted to go. I am sure he thought I was an idiot :-). I turned off on Karve Road at 2:15 minutes, having covered 18K thus far.

KM 19 was fairly easy except the navigation through dug up roads and traffic snafus - not made easier, by all the folks going the wrong side. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I passed the Dashbhuja Ganapati mandir again, having gotten past the last climb on my route. I ran past Nal Stop, the traffic cops at the intersection looking quizzically at me, past Aditya Hotel and the petrol pump, past Chinese Room and then I stopped. 20 KM on the dot and 2:30:44:90 later, I stopped.

Phew, what a relief. I headed over to a grocery store, got myself a bottle of water and a packet of Parle Glucose biscuits (the breakfast of Champions), stretched to work the kinks out of my legs. I got into a rickshaw and headed on home.

Here's the map

I am quite happy with my run, though it took me 10 minutes more than what I had targeted. (7 mins/km was my target, 7.5 mins/km was my pace when I completed). I am ready for Mumbai now. This week will be my taper - one tempo run and two small runs till Thursday and that's it.
I am a bit worried about Mumbai temperatures - they tend to be higher than Pune for sure, even in January. Hopefully, the 6:45 AM start should help compensate for this.

चलो मुम्बई!!

Mind Games

Over the last two days, I have run a total of 20 laps of KNP (approximately 10K) in 35 minutes each approximately. I am hoping to run another 10K over the next two days before my last long run on Sunday.

What has all this got to do with mind games? Every runner probably talks to himself/herself - it's a way of prodding your body to do what you/your mind wants

Today, I had decided to do an easy 5 laps - I was bored and at 8:15 AM, there was no motivation at KNP :-). I warmed up looking at the last set of regulars complete their final rounds.

While I typically run with music booming loud in my ears, today I wound up my earphone cords and stowed the player - this in itself is a departure from my rituals .. I wanted to see if I could run without music so that if and when my MP3 player conks off, I can still go on without the beat to pace to.

I started out with a slow lap of 3:35, having tried to motivate a PYT to run (she gave up about 200 m later). My next lap was sort of the same timing. Mentally I was still targeting 5 laps. Lap 5 came around at 17:30; so my average time was still 3:30 per lap. Here is some of my mental conversation from Lap 5 to Lap 10:

Me: You know you can't just run 5 laps, that's just the entry fee to the track
Lazy Me: Granted, no issues... but one lap only, OK? 6 laps and we are done... no शेंडी OK?
Me: We'll see, let's go past lap 6

I was almost completing Lap 6.
Me: Wouldn't it be cool if you could run a sub 30 10 laps?
Lazy Me: No way that's happening man, 9 minutes left ... get out.
Me: OK, let's see what time it is (I switched to the clock - 8:53 AM). Why don't we run till 9:00 AM sharp and we'll end up where we do
Lazy Me: Only 7 minutes to go... yeah, I think we can do that...
Me: Let's a run a rocking lap - - sub 3?
Lazy Me: What will that achieve?
Me: कर के तो देख!
So I ran a sub 3 lap 8 (2:45 or so)
Me: You rock
Lazy Me: yeah yeah woteva, enough चमचागिरी

Another 5 minutes or so later, my watch chimed...
Lazy Me: It's 9 o'clock. We are done
Me: Think man, you are on lap 9.
Lazy Me: so?
Me: One more lap and it'll be 10 laps
Lazy Me: So?
Me: Wouldn't it be cool to run 10 laps today as well
Lazy Me: SO?
Me: Oh, come on, let's go for it
Lazy Me: no
Me: Just the one
Lazy Me: No
Me: Look there's an interesting person
Lazy Me: Where? Who?
Me: Look, you have already started Lap 10
Lazy Me: Let's stop
Me: There's that interesting person again.
Lazy Me: I am not falling for that one again.
Me: Look you are pacing well and maybe we'll do better than yesterday
Lazy Me: You know what........... we are almost at the end of the lap
Me: Hey superb, देखा, बातों बातों में मेरा स्टेशन कब आया पता ही नही चला
Lazy Me: चुप साले, फिल्मी डायलाग मारता है

Today 10 laps were done in 34:18. Yesterday's 10 laps were done in 34:45:39. Net net, I did do better.

मैं और मेरी तनहाई अक्सर ये बातें करते है
२:३० lap दौडे तो ऐसा होगा, sub 30 10K दौडे तो वैसा होगा
मैं और मेरी तनहाई अक्सर ये बातें करते है

Long Run Sunday ...........YaYYYYYY!!!!

I read somewhere that the longest distance for a runner is from the bed to the floor. I completely agree. I have been whinging on about how I had not done a long run since the Pune 10K, to the point where I was getting bored of it.
Sunday was my target day for getting in the first of two long runs before the Mumbai marathon on January 20th.

I set the alarm to go off at 5:30 AM. It went off, loud and cacophonous. I turned it off, digging deep into my blanket, promising myself to be out of bed in the next 10 minutes. At around 6 o'clock, I wrapped it even closer, already thinking of running in the afternoon. I finally made it out of bed at 6:45 AM and faced my kit already laid out the night before. Oh, I need to eat something.... so I had a cup of tea, browsed the Sunday newspapers and generally dawdled. At 7:30, having run out of excuses, I laced up. Once I was out of home, it was OK. I warmed up; my warm up routine of stretches was getting to be boring, but I laboured on. My target was 15K.

I walked to Good Luck Chowk and started off at 8:00 AM, running towards Jungli Maharaj Road. 3:16 minutes later, I had passed Kamat's on a cold nippy morning with the sun beginning to peek out over the tops of the Sambhaji Park trees. I ran an even pace, getting green lights through the first two traffic signals, coming into Sancheti Hospital chowk in 12:30 minutes. The road has a slight climb and I was comfortable and breathing well.

Going up University Road from Sancheti was an interesting experience. The first major traffic light was amber as I ran through it, almost dodging an earnest oncoming State Transport bus. The road climbs continuously till University Chowk. Past Hardikar Hospital, I went up the first of the two big bridges on this route, (doing some hill training on the side), taking approximately 3 minutes to cover 400 m. Onward past the new Pune Central and ESquare, I decided to go over the new bridge which goes to Aundh and Baner. This is a longer climb till the intersection of Senapati Bapat Road and a bit beyond. I could see the intersection below as I clocked 33 minutes.

Down the bridge is a steady downslope till the Aundh firestation. It was a crisp morning and the sun though above the horizon now, was not hot. As I passed Raj Bhavan, I looked at the winking sun and smiled. I felt good. I turned off towards Parihar Chowk and the road was empty.. nary a soul, not even the obligatory rickshaw or doodhwala. I turned again at Parihar Chowk heading towards Baner Road. I clocked one hour just past the FabIndia store. I was panting a bit, but overall still had a good stride and was feeling OK. As I turned onto Baner Road, I clocked 1:06.

Going up towards University Chowk was a bit of a drag. The road seems to be in constant state of repair with half the road blocked. Anyway, I dodged oncoming traffic to get to Sakal Nagar. From Sakal Nagar to University Chowk is a steady climb on concrete roads, hard on the knees and just tiring. I managed to get to University Chowk without too much harm, heading off to Senapati Bapat Road

On Senapati Bapat Road, the downslope truly worked in my favour and I was doing well. I even smiled at a cop at one of the traffic lights who waved me through. Going up the climb towards Symbiosis, I looked at my stopwatch. I had been running for more than 90 minutes. I was running a little ragged and heaved a sigh of relief when I crested the hill.

At the bottom of the hill going on to Law College Road, I knew I was headed for a PB. Bhandarkar Road is downhill from this point and that worked well for my tired legs. I passed Spencer's Daily (the grocery chain) and applauded myself.....literally clapping as I drove towards Good Luck Chowk. It felt glorious. I ran into the chowk and stopped my watch - 1 hour, 48 minutes, 33 seconds later I knew I had completed a PB on 15K

Later when I checked my online odometer, the actual distance I ran came to 15.35KM for a superb pace of 7.04 minutes/KM. Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

These were my stats
Distance 15.35 km.
Reps 1
kcal 1478
Pace (min/avg/max) - / 07:03 / -
Speed - km/hr (min/avg/max) - / 8.48 / -
Duration (HH:MM:SS) 1:48:33

Here is my run map

We are back after a brief interlude....

I went running today after an interlude of almost 5 days.

It is exactly 18 days to the Stanchart Mumbai Marathon. I am under prepared and haven't had a long run since the Pune 10K. These thoughts have been playing through my head for a few days now. I need to do at least one long run of 15K and another of 20K before I head off to Mumbai.

Today I dropped the kid off to school (yes, school reopened today), got the second kid dressed and ready for school, heading out only at 8:00 AM to KNP. Warmed up and ran the first lap in 3:08 reasonably easily. Went on to complete 10 laps in 33:16.

I wanted to go past the 7 lap mark today.. 7 laps has become sort of my comfort zone and in the past month, I was running 6/7 laps before stopping. So far, a good start to 2008 :-)

December running

I have been lazy in posting to this blog and so on the last day of 2007, it is time to list my running exploits in December.

It's been an "on again, off again" kind of month - the temperatures swaying from 9 deg C to 13 deg C in the mornings - proportional to which my ability to get my sorry backside out of bed and lace up have swung too. I have not run a lot in December overall; and that worries me especially considering the Mumbai half is round the corner.

On 19th December, I ran 6 laps in Chittaranjan Vatika (CV) in 23:48 minutes, doing a sub-4 lap on average. On 20th, I broke the 30 minute barrier on 10 laps in Kamala Nehru Park (KNP) clocking 29:59 mins. 21st was an iffy 18:40 on 6 laps in KNP.

On the 22nd, I went running in the evening at 5:00 PM. The crowd in KNP was mostly nannies with young kids and young college kids monopolizing the benches. I ran an even 6 laps in 20 minutes, the heat sapping away any pace.

Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day gave me the perfect excuse not to run. I finally got out on Boxing Day to KNP for 7 laps in 23:11 mins. My final run of December was on the 28th, when I ran the same 7 laps in 22:36 minutes, at a tempo pace starting out with a 3:04 lap, followed by 3:11 lap, slowing down and putting in a 2:56 lap 5.

Had great hopes of running today - the last day of the year, but cooked breakfast for the Most Wondrous instead to thank her for being supportive of my running (yeah, right - another excuse :P)

Running into 2008

(Pix Credit: The Simpsons Show, Fox Network?)
Every year magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs tend to reflect on the year that has been and wax eloquent on the happenings, non-events and generate completely irrelevant lists of things. Today it's my turn to reflect.

2007 was a great year for me running wise (and other wise too). It started with the Stanchart Mumbai Marathon in January where I completed a half marathon. Having done this distance twice before, my ONLY imperative was to RUN the distance, not walk not crawl, but to do this with feet off the ground. I completed 21.097K in Mumbai in 3:40 something. While the timing was not as good, I was still very much thrilled to have done better than the previous Mumbai outing.

As is typical with me, I took a lot of time off after Mumbai and did not start running again till June/July. One morning in June/July after dropping the kid, I went to KNP and ran some laps. If I remember correctly, my average time was around 4:00 minutes per lap. Around August, I had been running regularly enough to venture onto the blogspace and start recording my exploits :-). The Delhi Half Marathon in October was a super high in my short running career with me getting rid of almost 40 minutes off my Mumbai time.

I ran 10K in Pune in 71 minutes. For once, it appeared that a 140 minute half marathon was not just an elusive figment of my imagination but a distinct possibility if I trained hard enough.

2007 is the year I ran 3 races and I am quite pleased with being able to find the time, and keep the enthusiasm going.

In 2008, I hope to run the half marathon in Mumbai, Delhi, maybe Hyderabad, perhaps the Ultra in Bangalore and if I can swing it - Singapore

Some totally random metrics from 2007.

1. Number of Laps of Kamala Nehru Park (KNP): 360
2. Number of Laps of Chittaranjan Vatika (CV): 47
3. On Road Kilometres Run: 104.97
4. KM flown to & from race venues: 2368 KM
5. KM by road to race venues: 240 KM
6. New running stuff: 1 Nike Water Bottle, 2 Nike drip dry shirts, 1 Adidas running shorts, 1 pair Adidas SuperNova shoes, 1 Sony NW something MP3 player.
   
7. Best Lap time: 2:48 (KNP), 3:08 (CV)
8. Entry fees: INR 500.
   
9. Celebratory biryanis and kababs: Lost count :-)
10. Weight loss: I would rather live in ignorant bliss than know the reality.

Happy New Year!!!

Runner's Log

After my 10K run on December 2nd, I took it a little easy missing my long run for the week. Not a good sign.

Here's what I have been doing over the past week.
On Tuesday 4th December, I ran in Chittaranjan Vatika after dropping the kid off to school. This was an easy run of 7 laps. I took 29:36 minutes, averaging around 4 mins per lap.

On Wednesday 5th December I went to KNP. I ran 12 laps there in 43:38

On Thursday 6th December, I went back to Chittaranjan Vatika, running 6 laps in 25:52 minutes.

As I said before, I skipped my long run, not getting back on the saddle till this Monday. On Monday 10th December, I ran 10 laps in KNP in 35:19 minutes. Today's run was 11 laps in KNP again; I took 40:23 minutes.

Tomorrow, I hope to run 8x400 intervals.

10K

हाय, Pune Marathon - what a yo-yo -- the highs came in the running part, the lows in all the organization and logistics. True to form, the 22nd edition was no better organized than its predecessors - water, the usual problem was not present till 8K, the race started with about 30K people trying to squeeze past the podium onto Lakdi Pul all at once, traffic was not at all stopped well or held back...... but let me start at the beginning.

Woke up early at 5:15 AM, had my ritual cup of tea, half a banana and a couple of biscuits. I was still undecided about whether I was running in my New Balance or my new Adidas. After mentally hemming and hawing for about 15 minutes, I decided on the new Adidas. 10K seemed like a good distance to try them out over a longer length. I laced up and sms'd my running buddies - Ravi who was running his first event in a long while and Rajesh for whom this was a 2nd showing at Pune.

We all walked to Good Luck Chowk at around 6:40 AM where a set of desks were laid out haphazardly.. apparently the assembly point for some Group 5. We walked ahead towards an extremely crowded Garware bridge - everyone just wandering here and there trying to figure out what the procedure was. We were lucky to find a wayward official who stamped our bibs with a rubber stamp indicating 10K and took our entry cards (go figure). As we waited, I started my usual warm up routine waiting for the flagoff. In the background, there were speeches.. most of which I did not pay any attention to. It was a lot of fun to be among some practiced runners - I saw some familar faces, a lot of NDA/Army Cadets - most all the regiments had a contingent there

They flagged off all the runners at once - barring the "elite" runners who started about 15 minutes earlier (I think). All - the general 10K crowd, under 17, under 19, full marathon, boys, men, women, charity run .. what have you. One would think they could have at the very least staggered these start times by 15 minutes. Most of the first minute was spent passing the podium where people whipped out their mobiles and took pictures of the celebrities - Sunil Gavaskar, Salman Khan, Sagarika Ghatge, Vidya Malavade, (the last two of Chak De India fame) and some starlet who was unidentifiable to me.

Anyway I started my stopwatch and managed to make it out of Lakdi Pul without being trampled upon. Ravi and I got a good pace going running within myself, not yet huffing and puffing terribly. I did not check my time till before Modern Bakery Chowk, where I was clocking around 18 minutes. Not bad, I said to myself. After I turned off Laxmi Road, I started looking for the KM markers. Did not find one till the 4K mark. I clocked 27:46 here...at this point it did not register that I was doing 7 min/KM

At the bottom of the Seven Loves/Shankarsheth Road bridge, as I headed onto the climb towards Golibar Maidan, I had 35:26 on my stopwatch. I turned the corner onto Main Street at 37:26. I had heard this was a downhill run, but this was my first time on it. I paced very well on Main Street, sort of competing with this one other guy till the 7K marker at Budhani Wafers. I was showing 48:26 at this point and it finally registered ... I was running at 7 min/KM mark. This was a great boost as I reached the 8K marker going towards the Police Commissioner's office. As I passed Blue Nile, I saw a diminutive lady in a uniform - she was a an ambulance officer and I realized that the few others I had seen in the same uniform were also keepers of our good health.

I went past INOX at 1 hour and at the 9K mark, I clocked 61:26. A small hill near Wadia and I was home free was what I was telling myself. By now, I was grinning at other runners as I passed them, exhorting them ...it's almost over. I was certain I was going to clock around 68 minutes. I think the course calliberation was off, and perhaps the 10K finish line was set about 500 m beyond the actual 10K mark. Anyways, I kept runnning till I crossed the finish line. My stopwatch showed 71:14:55

I stretched a little, finished my Electral fortified water and set off in search of Rajesh and Ravi. Ravi's timing was 64 minutes and Rajesh's was 61 minutes. At the finish line, there was a chaotic scene as officials tried to write down our bib numbers etc. After we collected Rajesh's brother, we walked down Bund Garden Road in search of a rickshaw, ended up in Madhuban for an upma and coffee.

If only the Pune Marathon organizers think of the runners and general organization, perhaps it could have been truly be a memorable event for all the participants. First, water every KM or even 1.5KM would not hurt, traffic management with roads being shut at least for 4 hours if not more, simplified registration processes (in this day and age, I am surprised this event does nothing to leverage the Internet), staggered start times and distances, ... I could go on.

I am quite happy with my run. 10K in 71 minutes at a consistent pace of 7 minutes a kilometer, that is a personal best for me. Today is a rest day and tomorrow I start chasing the dream of a 140 minute half marathon in Mumbai

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 :-)

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.

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"

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!!!

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 :-)