Strive for........

I have been a runner since the last 13 years, I have also run a lot of marathons (20 marathons), and countless half marathons, have also run 3 Ultra marathons. Though I know what are the dos and donts of running, I know what to do in training and what not to do in eating when training. I have never really stuck to this kind of advice. I have always used running as a healthy activity. An activity which would allow me to eat and drink whatever I feel like. Yeah, you know what I am getting at....

Yes, I am getting old and looking for achievements and accomplishments on the track and field / marathon course. I suppose I need to tell you all a little story behind the above statement and where it originated. So, the story goes like this: 4 years back when I was training with D (my coach), we used to go to Kanteerava indoor stadium for speed (interval) workouts, a lot of other runner friends also used to turn up. The reason I was so hooked onto this day, was there is infectious energy floating on the tracks and there is no better feeling than training with state level and national level athletes. So, one of my runner friends, lets call him P, he is 55 years old and an awesomely fast guy. I was talking to him after the workout on what is the mantra how do runners tend to get faster after 35 years of age, his response was very interesting and humorous. He said, when a guy grows old, basically he starts losing respect everywhere, at his home his kids grow up and the kids are embarrassed to go out with him, most of the time he gets it back from his wife on what all work he hasnt done in his life and how much pain he has given her in life. At work, he grows in the chain of things and people, atleast some of the people who report to him start hating him as a boss. So, he looks for respect on track and field. This is the reason that he devotes more time to training and starts tracking the progress more closely.

Well, that was a very humorous and insightful thought, but not fully true. My take:

As said earlier I have been training, and had decent goals as well. Every training has been an amazing journey which I enjoyed more than the destination. But, I cannot ignore the destination for long. I have finished the distances that I wanted to, I have not been addressing the elephant in the room since a very long time. Yes, you guessed it, I havent been addressing the pace at all. I have grown faster, because I grew lighter, and I had become slower, because I gained weight. Basically, I didnt make any efforts to get myself faster. Getting faster is a mix of a lot of things

- Speed training

- Tempo

-  Leaving alcohol

- Eating right

- Sleeping on time

- Weight training

- Stretching

- Strength training

While above things are expected to be done by a long distance runner, but I am guilty, I havent been doing all of those things. So, with the onset of 2017 I was very determined to get things moving on this bit. And I am happy that I have been able to maintain the discipline till now,  goal 1 would be to lose weight, as I dont want to get bummed by getting injured if I overtrain with this additional weight. I have been happily able to nullify alcohol from my life, well, I have felt that is a big factor. I have found the motivation to make time for the gym sessions and the runs.

I was looking at the training patterns at movescount.com and found this data. This is the data for all those people who have run a sub 1:50 half marathon. Remember what I said earlier, I have run a lot of distance, but pace and being amazingly fast is something that I have never strived for. Well... it seems now is the time to do that. Have a look at this data, its pretty intense!

Ahem ahem! This gives me multiple new goals, the fastest 5K I have ever run is 22min 48 sec. This is a minute faster than that!!!

Read somewhere: "if your dreams dont scare you, they are not big enough". So, now my dreams in running do scare me!! But I am motivated. Will keep posting my training journey here and the insights I draw out if it.

Restarting some old cheeky stuff that I used to do 9 years back:

Song in the car: Ye Ishq hai (Rangoon, 2017)

Shoe used in last run: New balance 890V3

Average Heart rate for the last run: 175 bpm

Feeling after the run: sore!