Tempo run

After a very long time I revived the tempo run today. Boy! it was tough, didn't feel good while doing it, but I am optimistic that I will get there. Slight pain in the calf (left) after the run, but I guess that should get better with some stretching and an easy run tomorrow. This takes the number of days I have ran in this week to 4. Now have to run on all the 3 days of the week, with some time to be spent in the gym as well.

Good news! my weight has started going southwards. Now need to lose some more weight before my coach can start training me again!

My training today, not very amazing figures, but I guess we can bookmark this page and compare after a month

Song in car today: Seene main jalan (Gaman 1978)
Average heart rate today during run: 176 bpm
Shoe used for the run: Adidas takumi Sen 

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!

Strive

Was watching this Strava video yet again in office. What do you feel after watching it? I feel freedom! "I would rather be running"

I am delighted to tell you all that my training has been going on great. Though the gym and weight training is not going so great, having said that, I have been doing my scheduled runs. Today I graduated to 4 x 1000 mts repeats. Well, it was easier to die than to run those 4 intervals. But like a wise man once said, nobody has regretted a good workout.

In other news, my latest possession is Suunto Ambit 3 Sport GPS watch. Training is so much fun with this gadget, and moreover I absolutely love the Suunto movescount eco system for analysis and logging, its so easy and so intuitive.

First 10 days of commitment

So, this was the first 10 days of commitment to myself on somethings which I decided. Well, it went good I would say.

- Finished all my runs in the last 10 days
- Joined a Gym for weight training and strengthening and been religious with that
- No refined sugar consumed (not even in candies and cakes)
- No alcohol (skipped some social gatherings only to avoid alcohol)

Yeah, the point 2 is correct. I finally joined a Gym, the reason for the same

1. Have nothing better to do apart from work with A and C not being here
2. Have to start working on my upper body strength so that I can carry the pace for a longer duration

Point 1 in the decisions above is also an achievement with the temperatures in this part of the country dropping to 5 degrees at 6 am. I would say that I am doing decently well

Now, the biggest challenge would be staying injury free. Will keep updating here

Oh Yes! All my dear running buddies, have an awesome time running the SCMM this weekend! Go out there and kick some fine dust!!

First interval training for the year

So, yesterday I was supposed to do 5 x 1000mts repeats. The last time I used to do some kick ass 1000 mts repeats, my pace used to hover around 4:50 min /km. I was able to manage each of the intervals yesterday at an average pace of 5:15-5:19 min/km. It is a humbling feeling, how soon you need to start all over again!!!

Woke up late today and hence wasn't able to do the core exercises. I guess it is in the evening now, core exercises and Netflix!

Anyways, my pace today reminded me of this old advertisement starring Paula Radcliffe :)

Hello 2017!

Its been quite sometime since I blogged here. Yeah, I am also aware that lately all my posts get started with the same rant. 2016 was a very eventful year for me, staying away from my family, shuffling between Bangalore and Delhi has made me realize a lot of new things. Some things as trivial as the airports flaws, and some things more deep, but lets not talk about them here

Like always most of my post might hover around running. 2016 has been a pathetic year for running for me. I have started thinking of myself as "Once a runner", this was mostly because of the fact that work took most of my time. Whatever time I got apart from work, I used it as a luxury to spend time with my wife A and the sunlight of my life C (my daughter). Whatever experiments I have been trying with my life lately, wouldn't have been possible without the sacrifices of A and C.

Gained some weight as well in the last one year, to be specific I gained around 2.5 Kgs. This is mostly due to irregular lifestyle, irregular sleeping habits. Food was mostly sane. Having said that, I am all the more determined to change that starting today, its a new beginning.  I need to burn the same fire inside me which was there in 2010, when I trained really hard and ended up running ~2800 KM in training that year. Not that running a lot of distance is any proof of good pace, but at least it is a proof of the commitment and discipline

I am also thankful that I am surrounded by some very good friends here in Gurgaon, who keep my mind busy in a lot of things, that way I miss A and C a bit less on some days. These guys are my family in Gurgaon. Thanks A, D, T, M. Love you guys a lot! However there hasn't been a single day in Gurgaon when I haven't missed A and C

I have signed up with a coach in November and has been trying to get back to serious training. So far things have worked out ok, but I do end up missing 1-2 runs every week. This is the part that needs to get changed now. I have revived the desire to run Comrades, when will I do that, that needs to be decided. There is plenty of time for that. But this is the year that I want to utilize in making a comeback as a runner, as an amateur athlete that I once was.

Also, would keep this page more live with updates from my end. Be it running or non running