Resurrection

It is almost two years since the last post on this blog. Hectic work schedule and detoriation in ability to run long or fast without pain were easy excuses to put off updating the blog and it spiraled into a vicious cycle. Revamping the blog and launching version 2.0 was one of the many unfulfilled 2018 resolutions.  After toying with several aspects of changes such as redesigning the layout, changing the URL, focusing on informational content (versus personal experiences and observations) and even abandoning it all together here it is - resurrected  with some minor layout changes and cleanup of inactive links and information no longer relevant. TMM 2019 , less than a week away, was one key factor that motivated me. Hopefully this is not a one time post - there is potential to do a monthly post based on the topics that have been shortlisted so far.   

This post serves as a quick summary since the last one - the intention is to expand on some of the topics in future posts. 

During 2017 and the first half of 2018 continued stress in the left quads and left sole hampered the running. The key focus was to strengthen the glutes, quads and the upper body to try and get back to injury free running. Following are the highlights of the last two years:

•  Disappointing FM  at Western Pacific marathon (Fremont, CA) in April 2017 (enjoyable course, age category first but the time of 4:07:45 was one of the slowest finishes in several years)
• Skipping the Bangalore Ultra after starting at 50K or longer distance in every edition since 2007
• Continued the trend since 2015 of just one or two events in a year due to injury
• Visits to  orthos and  sports doctors/physios 
• Changes in diet to increase protein intake
• Not abiding by advice from an ortho and friendly coach to skip Mumbai marathon  and finishing at a consciously slow time(2nd slowest Mumbai ever) of 4:34:57
• "Lost" my Garmin 310XT device in September 2017, briefly used Strava, bought a Tom Tom Cardio 3 in Dec 2017 and found the missing Garin 310XT in Dec 2018
• 5 months of personal strength training with trainer Sekhar as a result of which the pain in the glutes moved to the quads and then slowly dissolved enabling one to crank up the distance and then pace of runs
• Decent 50K finish (7:14:17)  followed by 10K run/walk at The Malnad Ultra  to complete 60K in 'celebration' of the start of life's sixth decade
• Discovery of some wonderful (albeit tough) running routes in the new neighbourhood off Doddalamara road

Some non-running related milestones during this period:

• Vacation in Yosemite national park, Monterey Bay, Savannah, Charleston and NY in May 2017
• Vacation in Poovar, Kerala with dad and families of all siblings in Dec 2017
• Retirement from full time corporate job(CSR leader of Dell India) in April 2018
• Adoption of an Indie breed puppy("Bambi") in June 2018
• Move to a sustainable community in a semi-rural location outside Bangalore in August 2018
• Entering the 6th decade of life in August 2018

Counting down to the annual pilgrimage..

The week leading up to the 3rd Sunday of January has been a tense and nervous one for several years - as it ends with the premier road marathon in India - Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. I have been making the annual pilgrimage to Mumbai since the first edition in 2004. After running the HM there in 2004 and 2005, it has been the full monty since 2006 making 2014 the 9th consecutive year. Despite  familiarity with the course as well as  the ambiance and organisation of the race the week leading up to the race has never been an easy one (not only for me but for other family members as well). This year should have been different as the key goal of qualifying for Boston marathon  was accomplished in SCMM 2013 and I am fortunate enough to have successfully registered to run in Boston in April 2014. However, it is no different -. there is a (self-imposed) mental pressure to do well in this event. And try and continue the following sequence of year-on-year improvement. 

1. 2006                   4:42:28
2. 2007                   4:37:16
3. 2008                   4:31:09
4. 2009                   4:13:16
5. 2010                   4:00:56
6. 2011                   3:52:46
7. 2012                   3:48:57
8. 2013                   3:37:20

Of course, I am well aware, that age will catch up sooner than later , the FM time will plateau and improving upon the 2013 timing will be challenging. Nevertheless, I started training for SCMM 2014 on 1st October 2013 with a target time of 3:35. Training went very well till 30th November including a good race at Bangalore ultra 2013 with a PB for a 50K inspite of a fall around 29K mark. I then got hit with injury woes in the 1st week of December and the training has been erratic ever since. Due to the strained left glutes/hamstring/calf I have not done any interval run since 4rth December. Have also missed or struggled through the long runs. The saving grace , hopefully, is that I have managed most of the tempo runs and the cycling cross training workouts. I am feeling reasonably positive after the 3 runs ( two tempo runs, a 16K run at MP) plus 2  cross training work outs  done this week  - the last time I had five satisfactory workouts in a week was 6 weeks ago. This has been possible thanks to the stretching advice from doc Gladson of AttitudePrime and soft tissue massage by sports physio Anitha Mathews. Things have been complicated by quite a bit of personal(rail) travel and eating out since mid November. Thankfully the weight has stayed in the  54-56 Kgs range since January 2013. My body fat% (as per the test at Snap fitness, Indiranager) has changed from 12% in Jan 2013 to 10.2% in Jan 2014 (it had dipped to 9.7% in August 2013 ). 

Based on the recent injury woes, my coach Bill Pierce of FIRST has advised me to skip SCMM, take some time off from running and then focus on training for Boston marathon. Several other runner friends also feel that I should not risk running fast at SCMM and jeopardise the chance of doing well at Boston. However,  personally for me it is more important to do well in Mumbai than in Boston. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to run Boston and will certainly try and do well there. However, since it is once in a life time thing I would rather enjoy and soak in the atmosphere and the crowds instead of going all out and focusing on a stringent time goal. Besides the course is new and the weather unpredictable - it could be either too hot or too cold on race day. The race itself starts at 10am. The last time I did a big race (London 2006) - it started at 9am and it was one of my slowest finishes. Mumbai on the other hand is familiar territory with more predictable and palatable weather and I have improved my timing each of the last 8 years I have done a full marathon there - I am keen on continuing that trend as long as possible.

My race strategy is going to be the same as last year's : 21.1K in about 1:46, 30K by 2:30, 35K in under 3 hours and then push as hard as possible in the last 7K based on physical and mental state. Of course, it all depends on how the left glutes and calf hold up. If I feel very stressed during the race and sense a risk of not making it to the start line in Boston in good shape then I plan to take it easy and not worry about the timing. I will be thrilled if I can go below last year's time of 3:37:20. A sub 3:40 would still be great. In the worst case I will take anything around 4 hours. Finally a lot depends on all the different variables falling into place and the motivation to dig deep physically and mentally on race day. Here's wishing all runner friends a fantastic enjoyable race on 19th Jan!!

Start of training for SCMM 2013

After a week's break post the 50Km run at the 6th Bangalore Ultra the training for SCMM 2013 on 20th January has started in right earnest. SCMM is the biggest road marathon in India and has been a fixture in my running calendar for the last nine years.  After running the HM in Mumbai in 2004 and 2005 I have been able to run a FM there every year since 2006. The last couple of years I have been striving to improve on my PB for the marathon at this race. And that is the goal for 2013 as well. My target is to better the PB of 3:39:57 I achieved at Mohawk Hudson River Marathon on 7th October by a couple of minutes and try and finish in as close to 3:38 as possible. 

Once again I am using the 'Run Less,Run Faster' training program from FIRST which is based on the philosophy of 3Plus2. That is 3 specific running workouts and 2 cross-training workouts per week for 16 weeks. Based on the time left for the event I re-started my training from week 9 of the program. Having recently gone through the full 16 weeks program I am comfortable tailoring the program a bit based on previous experience and to fit in with the  work and travel schedules over the next few weeks. I have also switched back to training in Kms instead of Miles.It was not bad to do the 2 x (6 x 400m) intervals at Kanteerva after a break of 2 months. In fact all the 3 runs went very well - with the 32K long run at 5:27 per Km(versus goal of 5:30) and the last Km at faster than target marathon pace at 5:08 per Km. Hoping to keep the momentum over the next 7 week in spite of  travel plans (personal) on 3 of those weekends!!

More on SCMM 2011

While the Mumbai marathon on 16th January was my best ever Full marathon run where I comfortably exceeded my goal of 3:59 by clocking 3:52:48, the last couple of days leading up to the race was quite nerve-wrecking. I usually am quite nervous before a big event specially if I am targeting a specific time or a new distance. Even then this time was different - maybe it was the pressure of aiming to do my first sub 4 hr in India. Or the fact that the last time I attempted a sub 4 hr FM in October 2010 I ended up with cramps and  missed it by a whisker. I felt extremely hungry in the 48 hours before the race eating much more than normal. I was a bit apprehensive of getting to the start point well in time for the early start time of 06:15am. Specially the last 12 hours from Saturday evening after returning home from WTC was a very nervy and restless period so much so that I started feeling light pain in my tail bone. All of this fortunately had no impact in the end as  the race went as perfectly as possible on Sunday morning. 

As has been my tradition for the past several years  I landed in Mumbai Friday evening and went to WTC to collect the race bib on Saturday morning a little of noon. And as usual I met a number of familiar runners from Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. Also met a few new runners as well. As always the excitement, energy and passion among the runners  was great. After lunch at La Flamboyante in WTC I returned to Govandi by about 5PM. One thing I noticed was that Mumbai was less warmer and less humid on pre-race day comapred to the previous years. Was praying that race day weather would be at least s good.  I tried to relax as much as I could. The 2nd  India-South Africa ODI in SA served  a good distraction. I went to bed around 9:45PM soon after India got bowled out for 189 with the intent of waking up around 3:45am. I slept reasonably well and woke up just before the alarm rang. 

I got ready by about 430am and informed the security to send me an auto. Within about 7 minutes there was an auto on my doorstep which took me to Chembur station where I caught the 4:45am train and reached VT station by 5:20am. This can only happen in Mumbai in India - very impressive!In the train I chatted with a bunch of runners who got off at Vadala to head to Bandra for their HM start. Given the segregation of the FM and HM start points VT station was not that crowded. I changed into my shoes and headed towards the entry gate in Azad maidan. While wearing my shoes the timing chip came off from the plastic tag and I had to thread it through my shoe lace. I thought this was not a good start - in the end of course it had no impact. En route I met Pani and Sid - two other veteran runners from Bangalore(see photo below taken inside Azad maidan after finishing the race and collecting medal, refreshments etc).   In side the maidan of course there were a lot of familiar FM runners. After some warm up, I consumed a half of my fourth banana(had eaten 3 before leaving home) and checked  in my bag in the baggage counter and moved to the holding area around 6am. 

With Pani and Sid post the race

The gate was opened just before 6:10am and all of us took a brisk walk/slow jog to the starting line. The race started on time at 6:15(flagged off by Deepika and a few other 'celebrities'. Having managed to get myself close to the front of the start line  I crossed the start line in 12 seconds. Vasu and I started together and got off to a good start covering the 1st Km in about 5:22. At this point Ravi Balasubramanya joined us - though a much faster runner he decide to run the race with us(probably due to inadequate training). As always in the first few Kms it looked like there were lots of runners ahead of us. In reality we were probably in the first one third of the pack of runners. Around the 5Km mark Priyankar - another very strong runner - joined us and the four of us then pretty much ran together for the next 25Kms.  The weather was definitely much much cooler than it has ever been in a race in Mumbai and the 6:15am start was indeed a great help. The point of merger with the Half marathon runners was a bit of a bummer as the slower runners came in the way of FM runners impacting their momentum. The four of us managed to weave our way through the crowd reasonably well all the time hollering out for the slow runners to give way and keep our 5:27 per Km average pace.  We had crossed Sid Mallya from Bangalore during this stretch. In the stretch leading up to the sea link Milind Soman and his friends went past us. The Mumbai crowd as was to be expected had special cheers for Milind. (Milind's finish time of 3:49:53 is very impressive and a huge improvement on his time of last 2 years).  In the stretch leading up to the sea link a wide patch of shade had been created by putting up a tall side shamiana for a fairly long stretch. This was a pleasant and welcome improvement. At the sea link we were still running at an average pace of 5:27 per Km. One big change from last year was the presence of two water points on the sea link which was huge boon to the runners. Around the middle of the sea link stretch Vasu slowed down while I continued running  pretty much with Ravi and Priyankar.  I got to the 29.9Km timing point at 2:43:31(5:29 per Km pace) as compared to 2:45:21 at the 29.7Km mark last year. And felt much much stronger  compared to last year. Somewhere at the back of my mind I was hoping that my timing chip was registering at all the mats - at the 29.9Km mark this got confirmed.

Of course, as with any FM the last 12Km is the toughest and more so at Mumbai where you hit the Peddar road flyover in this stretch. Also it got warmer though it was not really hot. At the Peddar Road flyover Priyankar took off- I could not quite keep pace. I just focused on keeping the current pace below 6 minutes per Km. At this point it was clear that I would go below 3:59 fairly comfortably. Going below my previous best of 3:56:49 seemed very possible. Now I hung in there from Km marker  to the next one. As I turned from Marine drive towards Churchgate station for the last 2Kms I ran at a fairly comfortable pace to get to the finish point with a net chip time of 3:52:48!! I felt much less tired at the end  - so much so that I felt maybe I should have pushed harder in the last 5Kms to shave off a few more minutes. However, I am very satisfied specially to have exorcised the ghost of Hartford and achieving the 2nd sub 4 of my career in 26 Full marathons!! Chandra with a time of 3:47:42 was at the finish line. Soon after I met Rajesh Vetcha of Hyderabad runners and also my brother Mahesh and his daughter Divya. Mahesh and Divya had come all the way from New Mumbai to experience the marathon atmosphere and try and take a picture of me finishing. However, he had not expected me to finish in below 3:55(well nor had I expected to do it this year) - so he missed me by a few minutes at the finish line. Below are a couple of pictures taken a few minutes after completing the race.

Two new things were introduced in this year's event:

- there was a 5hr FM pacer and 2hr and 3hr HM pacers; pacers for every few minutes of finish time are common in most international marathons. 

- there were a couple of spray showers on the route to help cool down the runners ; this was welcomed by many runners though personally I did not run through any of them

Overall it was a great run for me and for a number of friends. It maybe a tough act to beat this next year unless the weather gods are kind again. 

with Rajesh after the run

With Rajesh, Divya and other Hyderabad runners

The challenge of SCMM 2011 beckons

By this time next week I should  be done with my 8th run of the Mumbai marathon (6th FM)and would have hopefully achieved my goal of a sub 3:59 Full Marathon. While I am reasonably well trained and prepared for the event and can take heart from the fact that I have progressively improved my timings at Mumbai since 2006(see below) shaving over 40 minutes, I am well aware that now going below 4 is going to be very tough. Whatever be the training a lot of factors need to fall in place in order to have a good race specially in Mumbai: race start, heat and humidty, aid station support, sleep and rest in the days leading up to the race, mental and physical state on the morning of the race etc etc.

1. 2006        4:42:28 
2. 2007        4:37:16  
3. 2008        4:31:09 
4. 2009        4:13:16 
5. 2010        4:00:56

Of course for the last week or so one has been going through the usual tapering blues that encompass  reduced level of excercise with  higher level of food intake and imaginary aches and pains couple of weeks before an event. The light fever that I had every evening for several days since 31st December has been worrisome and had an adverse impact on my 35K run on Jan 1st.  While the timing of 3:40 was slower than my target time I felt much more fatigued than normal at the end of the run. Anyway, the fever seems to have gone now and my last 15K+ run before SCMM this morning was quite normal.

In order to devise a strategy for my run this year I analysed my split timings from SCMM 2010.

           Distance           Time                Average Pace

• 14.7 Km         01:21:35            5:33 per Km
• 17  Km           01:34                 5:31 per Km
• 24  Km           02:12:55            5:32 per Km
• 29.7  Km        02:45:21            5:34 per Km
• 42.2  Km        04:00:56            5:42 per Km

To shave two minutes off my finish time I need to increase my average pace by 3 secs per Km ie stay within an average pace of 5:39 per Km. My target is to hit the half way mark in about 1:55 at an average of 5:27 and get to the 30K mark by 2:45 at an average of 5:30. That will leave me about an hour and 14 minutes for the last 12.2Km at an average pace of 6 minutes per Km. This is vis-a-vis over 115 minutes I took for the 12.5Kms at last year's SCMM. More recently at the ING Hartford Marathon I got to the 32Km mark in 2:56:46 at an average pace of 5:32 per Km. and ended up taking 6:11 per Km for the last 10.2Kms.

Looking at these numbers makes me even more nervous - it certainly makes me very conscious of the enormity of the challege ahead of me next Sunday morning. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that all factors fall into place on race day and I am fortunate enough to continue the trend of improving my finish time at the biggest road marathon in India!

Here is wishing all fellow runners a great run at SCMM 2011!!

First 4 hour marathon in India..

It was quite a warm Mumbai morning  on 17th January making this year's SCMM  very challenging specially from the sea link onwards when there was no water point for over 7Kms. In the last 3Kms it was a real tough physical and mental battle - but I am happy to report that I managed to push hard  and complete the run in the chip timing of 4 hours 56 seconds  shaving over 12 minutes off my last year's time and comfortably meeting my goal for this year. This is my fastest time for a FM in India and 2nd best time ever! The split timings are available here.

Will post complete details of the experience  by the weekend.

Mumbai marathon 2010: The Maths

Borrowing the title of this post from that of a post from Tanvir Kazmi - probably the most prolific running related blogger in the country. The tapering period before a big race in which one has a target time goal is often spent in working out the math of how one is going to get there. Referring back to my previous post on Average pace to achieve target  I need to do an average of 5:48 to complete in below 4:05.  I will try and do the first half between 1:55 and 2:00 and hope that I can still keep a below 6 minute per Km pace in the second half. The average pace this year will have to be 13 seconds per Km faster than last year's average pace which gave me a 4:13 finish. While the familiarity with the course will help the 5 Kms or so over the sealink on the return leg will be a new factor. Of course, by this time next Sunday I will know!

Countdown to Mumbai 2010

With just about 20 days to go for the 2010 edition of Mumbai marathon most runners registered to run either the HM or FM there are in the final stages of their preparation. They would have done their last long run either the alst weekend(26th/27th Dec) or would be planning to do so the coming weekend ie 1st, 2nd or 3rd of January 2010. I fall into the latter category. I was away from Bangalore(at Jungle Lodges and resorts in BR hills) for 4 days and have done little runnig sicne Wednesday 23rd December.  Rather I have been pigging out with 3 heavy meals a day with some deep fried snacks thrown in between lunch and dinner.  Fortunately, for me I have not added too much weight due to this.(I guess by now my metabolism helps me burn off high calorie intake quite efficiently!)  I hope to do a fair amount of running this week: a 9-10K tomorrow, followed by a 12-15K run on 1st of January and then a 32K+ run on Sunday 3rd Jan exactly 2 weeks before the big day in Mumbai.

To hit my target of a sub 4:05 finish and shave 8 minutes from my last year's timing I need to maintain an averge pace of 5:48. Based on my experience of recent training runs in Bangalore this should be quite possible; however I know the weather in Mumbai will be quite a challenge. Also, this year's change in route will bring in a new unknown. While running over the recently opened sealink should be fun I am a bit apprehensive of the effect of the wind on my pace. I am hoping to do the first half in under 2 hours and then push for the second half in about 2:05. This week's runs are crucial to build and maintain the confidence to achieve this.

More on crowd support in SCMM

'Long after the African superstars have loped their way through Docklands, you can hear the crowds enthusiastically bellowing. 'Come on, Fairy, come on, girl, you can do it'. The London crowd are there for the rhinos as much as the record breakers .. ' so starts the chapter on crowd participation in John Bryant's The London Marathon The History of the Greatest race on Earth - a wonderful book that I am currently reading(borrowed from Dharmendra a while ago).

The above applies very much to Mumbai marathon as well.

Borrowing further from the book(replacing London by Mumbai):

The spectators really can keep you going when your body screams to stop. The spectators seem to put as much effort into supporting as the runnerd do into running.For this one day Mumbai simply stops, stands on the pavement and cheers. The spectators have a seemingly unending supply of sustenance for the runners: water, fruit juices, soft drnks, bananas, oranges,biscuits etc. etc. Its the interaction with the crowds that keeps one going. You make eye contact with people you don't know, you've never seen before, but who are there willing you on to the finish. When these strangers shout " come on 440(my bib # at Mumbai), you are doing great, dont give up" there's a contact that lifts one through exhaustion. It's as if the crowds don't just watch - they're part of the race. They are close enough to touch as you pass and the children love to slap hands and high-fice with the runners. The effect of all this on a runner can be very positive - crowd support and interaction is one big factor which contributes to my enjoyment of the Mumbai marathon every year!

Running for a Thousand Dreams!

I have been involved with Dream A Dream for over 2 years now and have seen first hand how much of a difference this organization makes in the lives of vulnerable children. Thanks to Dream A Dream nearly 1,000 orphans, street children and children in slum communities are participating in programs such as team sports, creative arts, learnIT and civic awareness – helping them to develop crucial life skills such as confidence, problem-solving, communication and leadership, skills that will empower them to achieve their dreams!

Running for a charity is common in most international marathons. In a big marathon like Flora London marathon if one is not running for a cause then one is in a minority- nearly everyone is running for someone else and their joy is in knowing that their efforts will be rewarded in measures beyond medals or personal records.

Once again this year, I have a personal goal of running marathons and raising substantial funds for Dream A Dream. My next marathon will be the Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon on 18th January 2009 - I will be running this event for the sixth year in a row with several thousands of runners many of whom will be raising money for some cause . If you would you like to make a tax-deductible pledge and help support Dream A Dream please make out a check in favour of 'Dream A Dream' or donate online so that I can do as much as possible to support this noble cause. You can dontate in INR or any other currency.

Remember, every single rupee counts and together we can make a huge impact!