Skipping TCS World 10K
It has been over 3 months since the last post - the last one was the SCMM 2015 report. Normally at this time the post would have been a preview of the new running season's first big event, namely,TCS world 10K 2015 on 17th May 2015. However, after running the event every year (one of three events in which I had a streak going)since its inception in 2008, in its earlier avatar as Sunfeast World 10K, I am giving it a miss this year. It was not an easy decision - I went through the same dilemma last year. Short distance (5K,10K) racing has never been my forte and despite a complete break of 7 weeks when my niggles in the left leg continued even at slow paces I decided to skip the TCS 10K. I am not feeling too bad about it.
Replanning this season's events
Having done 3 weeks of 40-50 Kms mileage(albeit all moderate or slow paced runs) I am re-looking at the goals for this season. I will definitely run SCMM 2016 on 17th January the registrations for which open on 21st July. Most likely I will run either 50 or 75Km (most likely 50) at the Bangalore Ultra on 7th November though after last year my resolve to keep this streak going has reduced a bit. I was considering running the Spice coast marathon in Cochin on 15th November in which case I would have skipped the ultra. Now I am veering towards doing the full at the Bangalore marathon on 18th October. Which ever race I do I would like target a sub 3:50 and then if things go well target a sub 3:40 at SCMM 2016. Of course, this is assuming that things continue to improve specially after I re-start interval and tempo training in June after a break of 15 months!!
Less events/slow finishes
Since achieving a FM PB of 3:37:20 at SCMM in January 2013 I have struggled to finish close to 3:45. My timings subsequently are :
- 3:46:20 at Hyderabad in August 2013
- 3: 46:23 at SCMM in January 2014
- 3:50:57 at Boston in April 2014
- 3:57:14 at SCMM in January 2015
Have been bothered with issues in the left leg since December 2013 resulting in reduced participation in events. Earlier in 2011-2013 I had reduced my particiation n marathons in order to focus on gettign a BQ. In the 2014-15 season I did not race hard in any event and did just 2 long distance events - 50Km at the ultra and SCMM. This means my goal of completing 17 more mrathon/ultras to hit my goal of 60 marathons/ultras by the time I turn 60 in August 2018 is unlikely to happen!
Injury Woes
The worst part is not being able to figure out exactly what the injury is. Since February 2015, I have consulted two new sports physios(apart from Doc Gladson) and have started doing a bunch of additional stretches and strengthening exercises suggested by them. Both these physios surmised that my issue is mainly due to poor posture and running form and prescribed exercises to improve the same. Two other items I have added to my repotoire are sitting in the Indian/Hindu squat position for 2-3 minutes and standing for extended periods of time (instead of sitting). To help correct running form I have added a fourth easy weekly barefoot run. Over the last 5 weeks I have increased the barefoot run from 2Km to 6Km(40 minutes). Hopefully a combination of all this will help me get back to peak running form this season!!
