With less than a week of 2015 left and the last long run for the year done here is a look back at what has been a second consecutive 'below par' year running wise. At this time last year, due to continued injury woes, I was unsure as to what events I would run in 2015. And it turned out to be a low in terms of number of races in a calendar year - for the first time in last 10 years(since 2005) I completed just one FM in a year. That is, I have not any marathon in 2015 after my slowish SCMM in January !!
Here's a summary of the year:
- Struggled to squeak through with a sub 4 at SCMM in January 2015
- Skipped the TCS 10K in May due to injury - thereby ending my 7 year streak - having run it from 2008 to 2014
- Ran KTM after a long time and managed a decent HM time
- Enjoyed 2nd consecutive year of pacing experience ( 2:15 HM ) at SPBM 2015
- DNF at Bangalore Ultra - again ending a 8 year streak - having completed a 50KM+ in every edition since the 1st one 2007
Having ended the year with a total of just 43 marathons/ultras it is going to be impossible to meet my goal of completing 60 marathons/ultras by 2018, that is, another 17 in less than 3 years. Which means I am reassessing my long term goals. Comrades is postponed from 2015 to 2017 and now considering a 100K(60 miler+) in 2018. Would ideally like to get a BQ again in 2017 and run Boston and Big Sur in 2018. Of course, all these are too far away. I need to , for now, take ione year and even one event at a time. I have not given much thought to the goals for 2016. Having ended a couple of my streaks my thought is to explore a couple of new marathon races and try and get my timing back to close to 3:40 by SCMM 2017. So the 3 FM races I am looking at are:
- SCMM on 17th January 2016 - sub 3:50
- Green Europe Marathon in Trieste, Italy on 8th May 2016 - sub 3:50
- Bangalore marathon in October or Spice coast Marathon in November 2016
Two HM events that I may consider running are The Wipro Chennai marathon on 31st January(postponed from 13th December 2015 due to the floods) and Auroville marathon on 14th February
The year started with continued strain in the left glutes and hamstring and numbness in the sole specially when running beyond 20Km at faster pace. While the pain in the glutes went away after a period of strengthening the hamstring and sole continued to bother me for longer period. Other injuries this year:
- Pain in the right abdomen/hip when running
- Pain in the inside left knee just below the knuckle
- Injury to left wrist after falling from a cycle
- Lower back pull just before the ultra
- Right ribs/chest pain due to the fall in the ultra
- bruises in the left palm, elbow and left knee and hamstring from a fall in Koramangla at the start of a 29 KM training run
Fortunately the body seems to have recovered now enabling me to manage a 3:18/ 37Km on 25th December running the last 3 Kms at 5:07,5:10,5:06 pace and the injury woes of 2014 and 2015 are behind me at least for a while. If I can keep my weight to below 54 Kgs(in spite of the inevitable eating and drinking during the vacation of next 10 days) and stay injury free I am fairly confident of a good start to year 2016 at SCMM in 3 weeks. . And post that I hope to resume interval training after a break of 2 years to get to target a 3:40 finish by January 2017!!
