Less than a week to the 7th Bangalore Ultra

Looking forward to completing  my 7th consecutive year of 50Km or longer run at the Bangalore Ultra on Saturday 9th November 2013. SCMM in Mumbai ,the 10K in Bangalore and the Bangalore Ultra are three events that I have run every edition.  The first five editions of Bangalore Ultra were held in a trail at Hesarghatta . In 2012 the race moved to a new route in the bamboo forest off Hennur road. The first edition in 2007 was an out and back loop of 6.5Km  each way- so runners ran multiples of 13Km. The ultra runners ran 4 loops to do 52Km. In subsequent years at Hesarghatta the route was standardised to an out and back loop of 6.25Km each way so that participants ran multiples of 12Km. And then from 2012 the new route at Hesarghatta is 12.5Km out and back for a loop of 25Km. 

As in the past I do not plan to race at the ultra. That is, I plan to run at a moderate pace without pushing myself too much. The intent is to reduce chances of injury and conserve energy for the two important races of the season , that is, SCMM on January 19th  2014 and the Boston marathon on April 21st 2014. Depending on how it goes in first half of the race my goal would be to do better than the time of 5:07:31 in 2012 - in any case keep it below 5:25; My 50Km timings over the years has been  5:50 in 2008, 5:22:29 in 2009 and 5:24:17 in 2011.

My strategy will be run at an average pace of under 5:30/Km to complete the 1st 25Km in under 2:30 and then pace myself comfortably to try and finish in around 5 hours. Followed the same last year and did the first 25Km in 2:19:19; however slowed down considerably in the second half . This was due to the lingering fatigue from my first sub 3:40 race at Mohawk Hudson River marathon on 7th  October 2012 just 5 weeks before the ultra. This year the gap between my last FM at Hyderabad and the Ultra is much more (11 weeks) so I hope to achieve a timing of just under 5 hours.

The 50Km at the Ultra  will replace the 2nd of the five 32Km long runs that are part of my 16 weeks 'Run Less,Run Faster'  training program from FIRST for SCMM on 19th January 2014 -  I anyway convert one of the five  32Km  runs (usually the last one)  into a longer one of 36Km

Marathon training post injury lay-off

Injury is a bane of all experienced/regular runners - having to stay away from something that one is passionate about due to injury of all things is a dreadful phase for a runner to go through. But injuries are a fact of life for runners. There are various statistics floating around about running injuries. One popular one is that 70% of runners will get injured in a given year. Of course this is too vague as both the definition of runner and injury can vary. Another way of looking at it is that in most cases there may not be a strict line between being injured or not. The closest a runner(specially one doing Half marathon and longer distances regularly) maybe to being 'injury-free' is when he/she is able to run freely without pain and even then the runner maybe balancing several weaknesses,imbalances, scar tissues etc.

Fortunately I have  not to be laid of weeks together due to a running related injury since I did my 2nd Full marathon in 2005. Though I have had breaks from running due tom sickness, travel and even just to give my legs and body some rest. However the 2013-14 running season started with injury woes.. While training for TCS 10K 2013 using the 'Run Less, Run Faster' training program from FIRST I got hit with pain in my left calf/ankle   and I had to consult a sports physio and adjust my goal for the race. A week before the race my right calf got hurt so bad that  I had to abandon my medium pace  training run after 2 Km or so and almost decided to skip the TCS 10K. However, I ended up running the race and while trying to push for around 45 minutes time I tore  a muscle in my right calf. Based on the Physio's advice I took 3 weeks completely off from running- doing light cycling, rowing and stretching to keep myself fit. After the TCS 10K race on 19th of May my next run was a slow 10K as part of the Mother Earth run on 9th June!!

Getting back to training after an injury layoff is quite tricky.One should pick up the pace and distance very gradually however much there is temptation to do otherwise due to the eagerness to catch up on lost training time. If the stressing demands of running are introduced at a rate and volume that the body is not ready for—especially after time off after an injury—it makes recovery difficult and makes the body vulnerable to new injuries due to compromised form. The key for a successful return is allowing the soft tissues to have the chance to adapt. More in this article in Competitor - a great online resource for running. As another article in the same site states:

A  running plan post an injury should be formed strategically based on  the following five factors:

1. 1. The severity of the injury—a stress fracture or injury that required surgery differs vastly from tendonitis.
2. 2. How long one was  sidelined from running.
3. 3. One's  fitness level prior to getting injured.
4. 4. How many years of experience one  have as a runner.
5. 5. Whether one  could cross-train during the  layoff.

Here's another nice perspective - this one from RunnesConnect on how to get back to training after injury,sickness or missing training.

In my  case after some nice easy runs during the week of 10th June to build mileage I started my training for Airtel Hyderabad marathon 2013 with 6 x 800m intervals at Kanteerva stadium on 19th June jumping into week 10 of the 16 weeks 'Run Less, Run Faster' training program. I did not push myself during the intervals which I was doing after a break of over 2 months. The 33Km slow run up and down Nandi hills on June 23rd was the longest run since SCMM in January 2013. Though exhausted at the end of the run there was no pain in either calf - so my injury seemed to have fully healed.

The next 8 weeks of training went off quite well. Was able to do most of the workouts - skipped a couple of tempo runs and a couple of cycling workouts due to travel. Most of the running workouts went well specially the long runs. Also managed to get in two 33Km runs and one 36Km run. And work out for about 15 minutes on the foam roller and do about 45 minutes of stretching at least once a day while not travelling. This was complimented by strength training - rowing, leg press, calf press, leg raises, squats, lunges, step ups 2 days a week.  My weight varied in the range 118 lbs to 123 lbs and body fat dipped just under 10% for the first time ever. Except during the tapering fortnight , when I am going through the usual jitters, doubts, aches and pains, overall I feel well trained , fitter than ever before and ready for my first marathon of the season!! .

Injury woes

It is a well known fact that injuries are the bane of pretty much all runners - very few runners are fortunate enough to be completely injury free for years together. Personally I have been lucky to have avoided a major injury that has prevented me from running for extended periods of time. I have been nagged with stress/pain in my left glutes and left calf specially when trying to push my pace. These along with occasional numbness in the left sole plagued me in the 2011-12 running season so much so that I took nearly 2 months completely off from running or cycling at the end of that season.  As stated in my previous post I did not take any time off after the admittedly more grueling 2012-13 season in which I did two sub 3:40 full marathons. This seems to have impacted my fitness and may even have caused (what I hope is) a minor injury. For the first time since I started training using the 'Run Less, Run Faster' training program in early 2011 I had  4 consecutive below par runs - two short tempo runs,  6 x 800m intervals and a 16K long-tempo run  were all below target pace. Not only that I had to stop and slow down in the tempo runs due to pain in my left ankle/calf. So I decided to skip this weekend's long-tempo pace run and consult a physio therapist. It seems I might be suffering from mild Peroneal Tendonitis  though my stress is more in the lower calf than the ankle and there is no swelling anywhere. I have now decided to take 10 days off from running and cycling, focus on strengthening and stretching during this period and hope this helps recovery. This also means I  have had to further downgrade my goal for the TCS world 10K on 19th May. After starting with an aggressive target of 42:55 I would now be happy if I can beat my PB of 45:57 and would be thrilled if I manage a sub 45. Depending on how it goes when I resume training in a week I may even decide to take it easy and not worry about timing like I did last year. After some dilly-dallying I went ahead and registered for the event yesterday as this is one of the 3 races where I have a streak going  - the other two being SCMM and the Bangalore Ultra. 

Not being able to train to plan at the beginning of a running season is for sure  disappointing  for a runner ;in my case it impacts my frame of mind significantly and leaves me quite irritated and restless. Extra care also needs to be taken to avoid adding too much weight. While I am very tempted not to take more than a couple of days off from running, I dont want to jeopardise the training and performance in the 3 marathons that I am targeting in the season. 

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!!

2nd half of training for the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon

This is a fairly long post - more like a diary log of the last 7 weeks of my 16 weeks full marathon training leading up to the Mohawk Hudson River marathon on 7th October.  It is a continuation of the  previously logged training details of month 1 and month 2. 

Half way through the 10th week  of my Full marathon training I traveled to the US and did the remaining training mostly in the Southbury, Connecticut area. I  continued training using  the 'Run Less,Run Faster' program of FIRST doing 3 running workouts and 2 cross-training cycling workouts every week. For the cycling cross-training workouts as well as for strengthening exercises  I took temporary membership of  the gym in Southbury. Compared to the gyms that I have seen in India this gym had excellent facilities including a large area exclusively for stretching exercises where foam rollers, exercise bands and exercise balls of various sizes were available. With a fairly large number of folks exercising on a regular basis in the gym I was motivated to go there often twice a day to do my foam roller and stretching exercises - in the morning usually after a run or cycling workout and again in the afternoon/early evening. The mornings were a bit of a challenge. Unlike while in Bangalore my workouts during weekday mornings were usually post 930/10am due to work related meetings with India. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed using the gym and it certainly motivated  me to stay obsessively focused on stretching and strengthening during the last 8 weeks of training. I used some of the machines available in the gym during weeks 7 through 4 doing strengthening exercises for the Adductor,Abductor, glutes, hamstrings and quads. The machines here were different from the ones I am used to from the Manipal Hospital Department of sports  medicine - the weights I was able to handle here were substantially lower.  During weeks 3 and 2 I focused on strengthening through squats, lunges and step-ups rather than weights. While finishing up a stretch of the right quads using a bench in the gym I hit my right toe thumb against an iron rod resulting in a swelling and pain for several weeks. While the pain reduced substantially there was a certain discomfort in the toe thumb even on race day.

As soon as I went out for my first run in Southbury  - a 10 miler at marathon pace (8:19 per mile) on 23rd August - I realised how hilly the terrain was. The roads in the the area had lots of ups and downs some of them being fairly steep and long. Though I have run in this area earlier this is the first time I was doing a timed run.  Though I did the 10 miler as per goal  I found the 20 miler a week later to be extremely challenging. Due to the steep ascents I ended up with an average pace of 8:57/mi versus the goal of 8:49 with several 9 mins+ and 10 mins+ miles. The Garmin connect entry gives  mile wise splits.  After struggling through a 15 miler on 8th September I did the next two long runs (a 23 miler and a 13 miler) in the Fairfield Connecticut area along the Atlantic ocean. In these runs I met my target average per mile pace as well being reasonably even across the distance as is evident from the splits. The route was very scenic and there were numerous runners and cyclists on the roads on both days. I had a minor scare when I pulled my right calf in the 11th mile of the 13 miler on 23rd September and had to walk for nearly half a mile. Fortunately I was able to recover from this in a couple of days. 

For the medium distance runs as well as one interval workout I used the Larkin Bridle trail close by. It was a beautiful trail. However, like most trails it was uneven resulting in high risk of tripping and injury. I was fortunate to get away without any adverse impact in the one 15 miler, two tempo runs and a 5 x 600m intervals that I did on the trail. However, I did have a couple of (mis)adventures. While doing my first (15 mile) run on the trail I unknowingly wondered off the trail into the drive way of a house where I encountered a couple of mastiffs charging at me. Fortunately I realized my folly and stopped just in time - plus the dogs were thwarted by an electronic fence. On another day while doing a warm up run on my way to a 10 x 400m interval run a couple of great danes being walked by a lady cut loose and charged at me. I fell on the trail and the dogs were literally on my face. Fortunately I got away with a few minor bruises. However, I was too shaken up and abandoned the run that day. This however, pushed me to research the athletic tracks at the local high school.

The 400m tracks at Pomperaug High school were excellent for interval training. I also did a couple of tempo runs and a 10 miler in the area around the school - finishing the runs with a few laps on the tracks. With facilities like these in a school in a relatively small town like Southbury it is no surprise that there are lot more faster runners in the US. However, even in the US one needs to watch our for dogs. I found that dogs being walked often become aggressive on seeing a runner and the owner may or may not be able to control the dog.

I have been using the Addidas Supernova Cushion/Glide shoe (except for briefly trying out ASICS Gel Kayono 13 for a few weeks) ever since I took to long distance running over 10 years ago. I am very conservative about changing my shoe specially half through training. However, from week 11 onwards I switched to a Brooks Defyance 5 shoe and ran the race with the same shoe. More details on the shoes in a future post.

Summary of month 3 and 4 workouts :

Week of August 13th (#9)

• 1 mile/2miles/3 x 800 m  - target : 6:57/13:53/3:20; actual : 7:01/14:20/3:32/3:20/3:17
• 4 miles mid tempo run - target :  7:45/mile; actual : 10 miler in about 1:40; miles 5 and 6 at 7:45 and 7:48 - Independence day run and breakfast with BHUKMP gang
• 20 mile long run - target : 8:49/mile;actual : 1st 10 miles at 8:41/mile and then 8 miles at 8:04/mile(Fast finish long run)
• Cycling 1: 10mins Easy/1min hard,1min easy/2min hard,1min easy/3min hard,1min easy/3min hard,1min easy/3min hard,1 min easy/8mins Easy

Week of August 20th(#10)

• 3 x (2 x 1200m)   - target : 5:06; actual : 4:55/5:03/5:00/5:04/5:06/5:10
• 10 miles tempo run at marathon pace - target :  8:19/mile; actual : 8:15/mile; miles 8 - 8:41 and mile 9 -  8:38  
• 15 mile long run - target : 8:39/mile;actual : 8:27/mile;varying between 8:01 and 8:57
• No cycling this week

Week of August 27th(#11)

• 1K/2K/1K/1K   - target : 4:12/8:46/4:12/4:12; actual : 4:19/8:44/4:23/4:25
• 5 miles tempo run at marathon pace - target :  8:19/mile; actual : 7:51/mile
• 20 mile long run - target : 8:49/mile;actual : 8:57/mile;varying between 8:18 and 10:35
• Additional 6.37 mile easy run in Michigan at 8:50/mile
• Cycling 1 : 8mins Easy/6 x(2min Easy,2mins hard)/8 mins Easy
• Cycling 2 : 46 mins/20Km Moderate

Week of September 3rd(#12)      

• 3 x 600m    - target : 2:29; actual : 4:19/8:44/4:23/4:25
• 10 miles tempo run at marathon pace - target :  8:19/mile; actual : 8:09/mile  
• 15 mile long run - target : 8:29/mile;actual : 8:52/mile;varying between 8:01 and 11:09
• Cycling 1 : 45 mins/20 Kms 
• Cycling 2 : 60 mins/25.5 mins

Week of September 10th(#13)      

• 10 x 400m    - target : 1:38; actual : 1:26/1:33/1:34/1:34/1:35/1:34/1:36/1:36/1:34/1:32 (Pomperaug High School Tracks) 
• 8 miles tempo run at marathon pace - target :  8:19/mile; actual : 7:56/mile  
• 20 mile long run - target : 8:34/mile;actual : 23 miles at 8:24/mile;varying between 7:56 and 9:05
• Cycling 1 : 25 Kms/55 minutes
• Cycling 2 : 20 Kms/ 45 minutes

Week of September 17th(#14)   

• 8 x 800m    - target : 3:20; actual : 3:19/3:22/3:23/3:24/3:29/3:28/3:21/3:22 (Pomperaug High School Tracks)
• Tempo run skipped due to travel
• 13 mile long run - target : 8:19/mile;actual : 8:15/mile
• Cycling 1: 12 Kms/ 45 minutes in the Hotel gym in Austin

Week of September  24th(#15)       

• 5 x 1K  - target : 4:12; actual : 3:58/4:04/4:03/4:04/4:05 (Pomperaug High School Tracks)
• 3 miles short  tempo run - target :  7:30/mile; actual : 7:25/7:21/7:23
• 10 mile long run  at marathon pace- target : 8:19/mile;actual : 8:11/mile;varying between 8:01 and 8:26
• Cycling 1 : 19 Km/45 minutes
• Cycling 2  : 17 Km/40 minutes

Week of October 1st (#16)

• Easy 47.5 minutes run - 5.31 miles at 8:56/mile
• 4 miles easy run  ; actual : 8:37/8:03/8:11/8:24
• Cycling 1 : easy 35 minutes cycling
• Cycling 2 : easy 30 minutes cycling

Training Summary :

As would be expected over a 16 weeks period the training had its share of ups and downs. Overall I did most of the run workouts skipping not more than 4 of the 47 training runs (48th being the marathon itself!!). A few runs were surely below par, most went as per goal and some of them went better than goal. I was very apprehensive about interval training when I started the training. Half-way through I felt quite comfortable with it and towards the end I even started to enjoy it. My favorite run though remains the tempo run - I find the short/medium distance ,at faster than marathon pace but slower than 10K pace, fairly comfortable and almost all of them went better than goal. As in the past  I have been experiencing a swing of 3-5 pounds in my weight during a day.  When I started my 16 weeks training on 17th June my weight was 59.7 Kgs or 131 Lbs. In the week leading to the race the weight varied from 125 Lbs in the morning after a workout to 130 Lbs at the end of the day before going to sleep. On race day the weight was about 57.5 Kgs or 126.5 pounds. 

FM training details

As mentioned (a few times) in previous  posts  my next marathon Mohawk Hudson River Marathon is on 7th October 2012. I started my 16 weeks training program for this marathon on 18th June using  FIRST's 'Run Less,Run Faster' program with a target time of sub 3:38 to qualify for Boston marathon 2014. The essence of this program is '3Plus2', that is, 3 quality and specific running workouts and 2 cross training workouts. The 3 training workouts are: 1. Interval training  2. Tempo run 3. Long run and the cross-training workout can be either cycling, swimming or rowing or a combination thereof. 

I have been doing 5 or 6 workouts per week and complementing it with strengthening (at  Manipal Hospital Department of Sports Medicine and at home)  and stretching after each workout and a few times in the evening.  The strengthening exercises I do at home are :squats, walking lunges and step-ups. The stretches are mainly for hamstrings,quads,glutes and calves. Before the stretches I try and do exercises on the foam roller for the same areas as well as the ITB.

My best case (or ideal) weekly schedule is as follows. I have  been able to keep to it to a large extent except during travel or when I have evening work related calls/meetings or personal commitments. I would say the morning workouts have been 90%+ to plan; the evening ones have been 70% to plan!

Monday 

morning - 15  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening  - 1 hour strengthening at Manipal; 20 minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

Tuesday

morning - interval training, 20  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening -  40  minutes strengthening, foam roller exercises and stretching

Wednesday

morning -  35 to 45 minutes cycling,  20  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening - 40  minutes strengthening, foam roller exercises and stretching

Thursday

morning - tempo run,20  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening - 40  minutes strengthening, foam roller exercises and stretching

Friday

morning - rest or 35 to 45 minutes cycling, 20  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening - 1 hour strengthening at Manipal; 20 minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

Saturday 

morning - long run, 20  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening - 40  minutes strengthening, foam roller exercises and stretching

Sunday 

morning - rest or short easy run or cycling workout, 20  minutes foam roller exercises and stretching

evening - 40  minutes strengthening, foam roller exercises and stretching

Interval training was at the tracks at Kanteerava Stadium till last week when Department of Youth Sports and Services(DYSS) which controls access to the stadium decided to restrict access to the stadium for amateur runners. This was a real bummer as I had started enjoying the training at the stadium. Based on the strong suggestion of coach Dharam I did my this week's intervals (Yasso's 800- more on that in the next post) at Cubbon park in the stretch from the central library to the Hudson Circle gate. And surprisingly enjoyed it even more than the tracks at Kanteerva. 

Tempo runs (between 3 and 8 miles) are usually on the Indiranagar-Koramangla Inner Ring road or EGL.

Long runs (13 to 22 miles)  are usually solo at EGL - sometimes I have joined the BHUKMP Dandi at Inner Ring Road.

In the 2nd edition of the 'Run Less, Run Faster'  book (released in April 2012) the cross-training cycling workouts are described in detail and classified as Easy, Tempo and Hard to correspond in intensity with Easy, Tempo and Hard(or interval) runs. My easy cycling workout is usually at 27-30Kmph/75-80 RPM. The Tempo workouts are 30-33Kmph/80-90 RPM and the hard cycling workouts at >  33Kmph and 85+ RPM. Have found it challenge to sustain 5 minutes of hard cycling workout. 

So far I have been able to do at least 4 workouts every week including all the 3 key running workouts. Except this week(week #7) I had to skip the long run (13 miles at 8:34 per mile) due to a strain in my left hip. I am keeping fingers crossed and hoping to keep as close to the above schedule as possible for the rest of 9 weeks of my training!!

Monthly update on 16 weeks marathon training

Completed training week four of 16 using the 'Run Less, Run Faster' FIRST program with excellent back to back tempo and long runs on 13th and 14th July. This is not usual for me - I rarely do back to back runs - there was a possibility of going out of town Saturday night so I had little choice. So far the training has been pretty much on target with 3-4 runs and 2 cross-training cycling workouts every week for the last four weeks. All the three run workouts , namely, interval run, tempo run and long run have been as per the prescribed pace In fact  the   long runs  have all been at faster than target pace - I need to avoid this in future long runs - else there is risk of fatigue or injury. eg The 1st of 5 20 miler that I did this weekend was at target pace of 8:47/mile rather than 9:19/mile - this was also my longest run in my new pair of shoes. I also had a good run in Sankarnagar (Tirunelveli district) despite strong headwinds, stray dogs, gradients on the Tirunelveli-Rajapalayam highway, wrong turn on the return, stomach cramps and warm weather. This was the only long run in which the 2nd half was much slower than the 1st half - I managed negative or close to   even splits in the other 3 long runs so far. 

I started my 16 weeks training  on 18th June  for the Mohawk Hudson River marathon (7th October) from  after building base mileage for 8 weeks. During this period my weight has dropped from 61.5Kgs to 59.5Kgs   mainly due to the consistency of exercise and some control on diet - though  I have been travelling and eating out quite a bit as well. The pain in the left glutes and left calf has reduced considerably. Not sure whether this is due to the change of shoes or due to my rigorously and regularly doing specific stretching and/or foam roller exercises after every workout. These exercises were suggested to me by Dr. Gladston of Attitudeprime. 

Summary of the workouts : 

Week of June 18th (#1) 

• 3 x 1600 m  - target : 6:57; actual : 6:55/7:02/6:58
• 2 miles short tempo run in 15 minutes(7:30/mile)
• 13 mile long run in 1:51 versus goal of 1:54
• Additional 6 mile easy run
• Cycling1: 10min Easy/20min Tempo/10min Easy
• Cycling 2: 10minEasy/3 x(2min Hard,2min easy)/10min Easy

Week of June 25th(#2)

• 4 x 800 m  - target : 6:40/mile ; actual : between 6:29 to 6:38 per mile
• 6.5 miles tempo run at 7:57/mile versus goal of 8:19/mile
• 15 miles long run at 8:50/mile versus goal of 9:04/mile
• Additional 6 mile easy run 
• Cycling1: 10min Easy/10min Tempo/5min Hard/5min Easy
• Cycling 2: 10min Easy/5 x(1min Hard,1min easy)/10min Easy

Week of July 2nd(#3) 

• 1200m/1000m/800m/600m/400/200m; target pace : 6:48/6:43/6:40/6:38/6:32/6:16; actual pace: 6:41/6:35/6:37/6:25/6:21/5:33

• 7.5 miles tempo run at 7:54/mile versus goal of 8/mile
• 17 miles long run at 8:33/mile versus goal of 9:04/mile 
• Cycling1: 10min Easy/20min Tempo/10min Easy 
• Cycling 2: 10min Easy/3 x(2min Hard,2min easy)/10min Easy

Week of July 9th(#4)

• 5 x 1000 m  - target : 6:43/mile ; actual : 6:14/6:43/6:34/6:35/6:38 per mile
• 6.5 miles tempo run at 7:57/mile versus goal of 8:19/mile
• 15 miles long run at 8:50/mile versus goal of 9:04/mile 
•  Cycling1: 10min Easy/8min Hard,2min easy,8min Hard/10min Easy 
• Cycling 2: 40min Easy

Week 1, Day 1 of 16 weeks marathon training

Started my 16 weeks marathon training using the FIRST  'Run Less, Run Faster'  program today with  3 x 1600m interval training at Kanteerva stadium. This program requires one to do 3 specific runs and 2 cross-training sessions per week. The three training runs are: interval training, tempo run and a long run. Each of the 48 runs has a specific pace/timing goal. Of these, the interval training is definitely my least favorite - in fact I am always apprehensive before the interval run and usually want to get it over with as the 1st run of the week.Today though  I was  pretty much on target with 6:55, 7:02 and 6:58 versus a target of 6:57. Though I had been very busy the previous few days with inadequate sleep perhaps the fact that I was working out after a low mileage week(20Kms) ,  running after a break of 2 days and the cloudy weather helped me.  This was my 2nd run with  a new pair of Addidas Supernova glide 4 - a family of shoes that I have stayed with for the last 9 years.

There are of course several different marathon training programs out there- I have for now decided to stay with the FIRST program.  I recently acquired the 2nd edition of the book which has several improvements over the 1st. The tables are both in Kms and Miles. The sections on cross-training as well as stretching and strengthening are more specific and detailed. In general, I found the flow to be better. This is the 3rd time that I will be using the program. Both the previous times - Hyderabad marathon 2011 and SCMM 2012 - I fell short of my target. This time I am training for a marathon pace of 8:19 per mile with the goal of completing the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon on 7th October   in 3:38 and qualifying for Boston marathon 2014 in the 55-59 years age group. I used the last two weeks to do interval training and tempo run after a gap of 5 months.  I am continuing to do strengthening two days a week at Manipal hospital. Based on advice from several sports physios I am also trying to spend adequate time stretching(specially my calves and glutes) after a workout. 

For the record my weight after the 1st day of training was 59.7Kgs close to my target optimal weight of 59Kgs. It is quite amazing how my weight varies  as much as 1.5 -2 Kgs between the morning and night - not sure if so much variation is normal. The picture below was taken just after the workout:

PS.  By the time I completed this post I also did my tempo run for this week - which was a 2 miler at a short tempo pace of 7:30 per mile after a 2 mile warm up. 

Start of FM training for the new season

The new running season,at least in South India, usually starts with the 10K race organised in Bangalore by Procam  in late May/end June. See here for the 2012 India running calendar. This year's TCS open 10K event happened last Sunday on 27th May. Since my main focus is marathon training and I had planned a short vacation just prior to this race I set myself a modest goal of 48:30 for this event. I fell well short of this goal - see my next post for more details.

In the 9 weeks since I started training after a 7 weeks break I have built a reasonable foundation to launch the formal training for my next marathon - Mohawk Hudson River marathon on 7th October- one of two Full Marathons I plan to race in the 2012-13 season(the other being SCMM 2013). I have done a few weeks of 40K to 50K weekly mileage including my first 30K+ run of the season. With two easy  weekday runs and the weekend long run my mileage build up has been as follows:

2/4  25K

9/4 35K

16/4 35K

23/4 40K

30/4 41K

7/5  50K

14/5 40K

21/5 25K

28/5 45K

During this time I  signed up for runyourbq - a website focused on helping runners run their fastest marathon and qualify for Boston. While there is lot of useful information on the website, the training plans there have me confused. Like many other marathon training plans available on the net their training plans advocate 5 days of running per week and high weekly mileage of between 40 and 55 miles per week. This is quite in contrast with the 'Run Less, Run Faster' program from FIRST where the max weekly mileage is about 35 miles consisting of 3 runs per week - an interval run, a temp run and a long run. Of course, the 3 runs need to be complimented with 2 intense cross-training workouts per week.

At least for now I plan to stay with the FIRST program. I plan to do a practice interval training run and tempo run next week and  start the formal 16 weeks marathon training program the week of 11th June. Given that my next race is in the US I have changed the setting on  my Garmin  to show the distance and pace in miles rather than Kms. I plan to have a trial of  this as well next week. I will have a buffer of a week at the end as well - that is, it is exactly 18 weeks to the Mohawk Hudson River marathon. Incidentally this marathon got sold out on 12th May - nearly 5 months before the race!

The training plan is for a target FM time of 3:38 at an average pace of 5:11 per Km or 8:19 per mile. This target time/pace assumes that I can do a HM in about 1:44 - which I did at the Mysore Half marathon in October 2011. Since then I have put on some weight and have had some major issues on my left side - glutes, calf and numbness in the toes. After consulting with a couple of different sports medicine professionals I have realised that probably the only way to get over this issue is continued focus on strengthening and  stretching. I have been doing strengthening since February and plan to continue this through the year. I have not given sufficient importance to stretching after a training session - I plan to address this now on. This might mean spending longer hours on my weekday training session as well -something that is going to be a challenge to achieve with my current work schedule.  I also need to manage my weight and bring it down by a couple of Kgs to under 60 - for this I need to manage my diet better which is another challenge.  In order to test my progress with train I would like to run a fast HM in the July timeframe(I have a  13 miler scheduled on 29th July). There is no race scheduled in the area during that time - so this will have to be a training run on a flat course. Or I have to look at a event in the US in late August/early September (I will be in the NY area starting 22nd August till the race date) but that would be too close to the FM date.

As mentioned in my previous post my goal is try and BQ between September 2012 and September 2013. I am looking at a maximum of 3 attempts for this - Mohawk Hudson River marathon in October 2012, SCMM in January 2013 and possibly another race in the US in 2nd half of 2013!

Start of the 6 months quest for BQ...

My only running goal for 2012 (and 2013 if I dont make it this year) is to qualify for Boston. My qualification time in the 50-54 years age group is 3:40 - I probably need to do a sub 3:38:30 to assure entry. And this needs to be done between September 2012(after the registration for Boston 2013 closes) and September 2013(before registration starts for Boston 2014). And to achieve this I need to shave over 11 minutes of my previous PB - a real daunting task indeed!! Nevertheless, if I can't do it in the next 12-18 monthls then it is unlikely that I will be able to BQ in this lifetime! While I have been steadily improving my FM timings over the last 6 years and in theory the human body can be pushed much beyond one's imagination ,in my case I expect age to catch up soon resulting in plateauing of my performance.

After a 7 weeks break from running and cycling I started my quest for BQ with a 6Km/36 minutes training run on 1st April. And two weeks later did a 16.5Km run at the RFL run at EGL today. Though I have been stretching and strengthening during my break and have added just about 2Kgs to my (optimal) weight of 60Kgs it has been quite challenging to get back to running and the first couple of runs have been bit of  a struggle. Right now completing a 42Km run looks very daunting - leave alone completing it in under 3:40.  My left glutes and left calf  feel slightly stressed during and at the end of the run. In fact, the left glutes now hurts even when I am siting in one position for a couple of hours. Based on Dr. Rajat's advice I consulted Dr. Thomas Kishen of Sparsh Hospital. He advised X-ray and MRI of lower back for suspected pinched nerve. I have decided to park this for now and see how the training goes for the next few weeks.

I intend to build the base mileage by the end of May. This includes getting to 45Km+ per week and at least one run of 25Km. I will start my 16 weeks Full marathon training using the Furman 'Run Less, Run Faster' program starting 11th June. I have registered for the Mohawk Hudson River marathon on October 7th.  I do not intend to race in the TCS world 10K this year - will run it at a moderate pace to try and do a sub-50. I probably will try and race a HM in early September and am targeting the Swanzey Covered Bridges Half marathon.  Assuming it is good to do a fast HM 4-5 weeks before the FM  - I need to confirm this with my coach.

It is going to be an arduous 6 months which I am sure will have its share of ups and downs. The key will be to stay mentally(more on this in a future post)  and physically strong and injury-free. I am looking forward to some serious training starting 1st May - after returning to Bangalore from  10 days vacation starting 18th April; will need to be careful not to put on weight during this period of low training and unbirdled eating/drinking! Not so coincidentally this post is being written less than 48 hours before the 2012 edition of Boston marathon.

A family affair at season ending Auroville 2012

After some hesitation I registered for the HM at Auroville 2012 just before the closing date in early January.

I normally do not travel out of the Bangalore area to run a half marathon -  however did not want to miss the wonderful Auroville experience.  I am glad I participated- my fourth Auroville marathon and the last event of the season 2011-12 was real special – apart from thoroughly enjoying the route, ambience , comraderie of fellow runners and enthusiastic support of the organizers and volunteers this year’s event was a ‘family affair’.  While my two brothers , Mahesh and Chandru, and myself participated in the event in 2011 (I did the FM while my brothers did the Half)  this year  the 3 of us and Mahesh’s wife Lakshmi  all ran the Half marathon.   

I left Domlur in Satish's car along with his wife Vani around 10:30am on Saturday 11th Feb. We were joined by Ashok enroute who was planning to run his first FM. After a lunch break at A2B and a tea break in Tiruvanamalai we reached the visitor's center at Auroville around 5:45PM. As expected the place was buzzing with runners.  Mahesh,Lakshmi and Chandru came soon thereafter and we had a bit of a photo session.

The bib collection barely took a minute. Though we missed the lively session of  ‘Barefoot’ Ted  , the interaction  with runners – mostly from Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad – before and at the pasta dinner  was thoroughly enjoyable. After dinner we reached our hotel Surguru around 9:15PM after buying some bananas on the way. I went to sleep at 10:15PM after discussing our pacing strategy for the HM with Mahesh and reading a few pages of 'Born to run'. Unlike in the case of Hyderabad 2011 and SCMM 2012 I was not nervous at all. This was because I was not targeting an agressive time goal. I woke up at 4:15am while Chandru was already up and about. We left the hotel in Mahesh's car at 5:25am and reached the Auroville visitor's center parking lot by 5:45am. It was still quite dark  - this year there were tubelights along the way from the parking lot to the start point instead of lanterns.  After using the wash room we made our way to the starting point.

Mahesh and Lakshmi at the visitors center before heading to start point

 Mahesh and myself positioned ourselves near the 10KM/hour speed  point . Segregation of runners based on their target speed or pace was a welcome innovation at this year’s race specially with growing participation in the event. There were  over 800 HM runners out of a total of over 2000 runners across all events. My goal was to pace Mahesh to try and help him beat his PB of 2:13 that he achieved  a few years ago. All his recent HMs have been in about 2:19 or so.

It seemed more humid than I expected as we took off at 6:15am at under 6 minutes per Km pace. The route was brand new taking into account the higher participation as well as the havoc Cyclone  Thane had caused in Dec 2011. HM runners this year were to run two loops of  10.15Km each while the FM runners did 3 looks of about 13.8K each. 

Mahesh and myself stuck together and hit the 10Km mark on target in 61 minutes. Except for one stretch the route – almost 100% trail - was quite broad for multiple runners to run together. It was mostly flat – just one gradient of any significance. The aid stations were well spaced out and stocked and the volunteers at these stations were as supportive and encouraging as ever. The route was better marked then last year (I missed a turn during the FM last year – I learnt that a couple of HM runners lost their way this year too) and the drum beats from ‘Swaram’ added to the unique environment. The only flaw was the incorrect calibration of the route with both the HM and FM runners running more than the required distance. It was sad to see fallen trees and broken branches along the way reminding us of the impact of the cyclone a few weeks earlier. Mahesh slowed down quite a bit after the 13Km mark and started to do run/walk more frequently.  I coaxed him on till 18Km trying to keep the average pace below 6:10 per Km but realized that sub 2:10 was not going to happen. At around 18.5Km when Mahesh felt a bit giddy and slowed down considerably I decided to leave Mahesh to complete the run at his comfort pace and sprinted ahead to finish in a  time of just under 2:15. My first two Kms of the race and the last two Kms were the fastest. Though the finish time was much slower than my PB of 1:44 at Mysore in October 2011 I felt quite stressed with my left glutes and calf at the end of the race.  This is the only race that I stop and take pictures in – took nearly a dozen of them during the race this year. The quaint hand crafted doll medal that all finishers got was really cool. Mahesh finished a couple of minutes after me  in 2:17 followed by Chandru and then Lakshmi.  Though Mahesh was a bit disappointed it was a good performance considering we ran about 400m extra - most garmins showed 21.5Km for the half.

Mahesh is in action

Mahesh is in action

Lakshmi sprinting to the finish line

Udaya and Giri in action

We hung around mingling with other runners while having breakfast and taking pictures. Out of the 11 runners who started training in November 2011 using the 'Run Less,Run Faster' program from FIRST 6 particiapted in the event. Of these six met their timing goals - others did not due to either injury or because of not having a great race day. However, uniformly they all enjoyed the structured training program and are likely to be continuing with the same in future also. We returned to our hotel rooms by 11:15am resolving to come back again next year! And this is pretty much true of everyone who has ever run at Auroville – I don’t know of any runner who did not enjoy the experience and did not want to come back again and again to ‘Run for the Joy of Running’ as the last event of the long distance season. On my part I need to take some time off from running and work on strengthening my glutes and calves.

We left Pondicherry after lunch at about 1:30PM and reached home around 8:45PM. Ashok had completed his first full marathon(actually 42.3Km) in under 6 hours - a great achievement for a trail marathon specially considering he had never beyond 25Km before. Vani and Satish (who drove both ways) also had good half marathons .

'Final Countdown' to Mumbai numero 9

The next 6 days leading up to my Seventh Full marathon at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon  on 15th January(9th run at SCMM including the Half-Marathons in 2004 and 2005)  is going to be quite nerve wracking- I can sense the tension building up since Saturday(7th) evening. I was pretty much in the same state last year also. From my 4:42:28 finish in SCMM 2006 to the 3:52:48 in 2010 I have been successful in beating my goal every year specially at Mumbai with significant improvements in the last three years. However, this year's target of 3:45 looks daunting. This is the second Full Marathon that I have trained using the 'Run Less,Run Faster' program from FIRST. As per the race prediction table in the book I should be able to do a FM in 3:43:49 as my best HM time is well below 1:46:36( 1:43:33 at Mysore HM in Oct 2011). Nevertheless, in my previous FM of this season at Hyderabad, which was the previous FM for which I ahd trained using the FIRST program, I struggled to finish in 3:51:48. I ran a very fast first half in this race(1:45:17) which took its toll in the second half given the elevations in the course. 

To finish within 3:45 I need to do an average 5:18 per Km pace. I am as yet unsure about the race strategy to adapt this year. That is, whether to try and do almost even splits that I managed last year   or to try and do a fast first half    and sustain a good pace till 35Km. Given the way my pace has dropped in the last few Kms in the past , one option is to get to 35Km in 3:04 at an average pace of 5:15 per Km. This would leave me about 40 minutes for the last 7.2 Km at an average pace of 5:40 per Km.  Last year I got to 29.9Km in under 2:44 at 5:28 per Km. I certainly need to be much faster this year. If I were to aim for even splits then I am looking at 21K in 1.51, 30K in 2:39 and 35K in under 3:06. So my goal will be to get to the half way mark between 1:46 and 1:50, 30K between 2:35 and 2:39 and 35K in as close to 3 hrs as possible. Of course, despite all the hard training of last several weeks(which has mostly gone well) a lot depends on the next few days and the race day itself. One needs to get to the race day adequately rested both mentally and physically. This means very little running and cycling the next four days(I will do one easy 9K and another easy 7K on Tuesday and Thursday this week and nothing after that) and reasonable amount of sleep every day with no undue tensions at work.  On the race day itself there is a major dependency on the weather being favourable. One is hoping it will be at least as good as it was last year. The earlier start of 5:40am should help though the weather forecast as of now says it will be 23 Celsius at 6am going up to 27 by 10am! Finally to have a near perfect race one is praying there would be no issues with the stomach on race day , no recurrence of severe cramps and ache in the left glutes and hamstrings and the shoelaces don't come off(well even a few seconds matter!). I may even avoid taking a leak during the race or chewing on a energy bar and depend only on water and Gatorade  to shave a few seconds - I will carry the bar with me though and decide during the course of the race. In races where I have a stringent time target I avoid talking to runners and try and stay focused on my pace - something that is tough to do at Mumbai with so many familiar runner friends. Familiarity with the route should  help. After some speculation in the press that the route might be changed this year it looks like it is going to remain the same as last year with the sea link round the 25th Km.

I would of course be thrilled to hit my target of 3:45; finishing a minute or so below 3:50 would be satisfying; not bettering my PB of 3:51:48 would be a disappointment.  One will know by this time next week. Here's wishing all friends running SCMM 2012 a great race!!

PB at Celebration Mysore HM

I had a near perfect race and while I narrowly missed my goal of going below 1:43 I still achieved a PB of 1:43:33 bettering my previous best  in a half marathon by over two and a half minutes. Ravi Balasubramanya and I pretty much ran the whole race together. And I got the benefit of a running commentary on the localities we ran through  from the local boy. Ravi , who  is a much younger and faster runner than I am, was returning from injury and decided to stick with me. With the finish line visible  a few hundred meters away Ravi found that extra burst of energy and sprinted to  finish 13 seconds before me. Sid ran a very steady race and finished a few seconds ahead while Neera also ran a strong race to finish just after I did. I finished 30th overall out of about 173 timed finishers. See here  for complete results.

The day started very early - 2am to be precise when my alarm went off. Though we had planned on driving down to Mysore the previous afternoon we changed our plans once  we learnt that bibs would be given out on the morning of the race for outstation runners.  I left home at 2:45am and reached Rich's place a little after 3am after picking up Sid on the way.  Rich, Sid, Neera, myself, Raj and Sabesan then left Lavalle road at about 3:20am in Rich's Innova. Enroute I was able to doze a bit. We reached the start point outside the Mysore palace at about 5:45am just before day break. The area was buzzing with runners as well the road seemed to have quite a bit of traffic. We collected our bibs in a few minutes(thanks to Nikhil of RFL for helping us out on this) , got into our running gear and headed for the portable potties across the road. At about 6:30am the timing technologies folks were setting up the timing system at the start point and there was some confusion as to where exactly the runners were supposed to assemble for the start of the race. The cricketer Javgal Srinath and actress Nidhi Subbiah appeared soon after. However, the run did not start as scheduled at 6:45am as the chief guest -  a minister arrived late. The crowd became very restless and started booing. Finally, after a few speeches which we could not hear anyway the race got underway a little over 20 minutes from the scheduled start time.

Ravi and I ran together from the start. In the 1st Km or so it seemed like the sun would come out; however thankfully it did not and it stayed partly cloudy throughout with little humidity.  We went out on Devraj Urs road and continued on Hunsur road  where there were a few gradients. Overall the route was quite scenic specially the  Mysore university area and the trail around Kukkarahalli lake. There was a downward slope leading up to the entry point of the trail which provided momentum to both Ravi and myself. Ravi hit a curb and stumbled across in front of me - fortunately he was able to regain balance as I managed to grab his elbow - else both of us could have got injured and our race might have ended at that point. We turned around at the end of the trail a little past the half-way mark. At this point I was pretty much on target with my garmin showing a little over 49 minutes.  The second half also had a few gradients and my pace strarted to drop a bit. However, I managed to keep the average pace at 4:55 . I could have possibly pushed a bit harder in the last Km - however as both my left glute and calf were hurting a bit I decided not to that. Both of these were sore tilla couple of days after the race. The traffic control was reasonable with the volunteers and cops doing their best to give priority to runners at intersections though there were a few instances when they found it challenging in handling buses. There were not too many Km markers on the route and also the route seemed to have the runners cross the road a few times more than is desirable. Otherwise , overall it was a good experience.

After the run we had a sumptious buffet breakfast at Pai Vihar and started the drive back to Bangalore at about 11am reaching home at 2:30PM. I decided to take a couple of weeks easy and do some light running and also undergo soft tissue therapy before starting on the rigors of the 'Run Less, Run faster' training for Mumbai 2012.

Less than 12 hours to the Mysore Half Marathon

After vacillating quite a bit I went ahead and registered for the HM in Mysore  couple of weeks ago.  I would be leaving for Mysore in a few hours along with Rich, Neera, Sid and a couple of other runners. The evening/night before a race is always a restless one for most runners and certainly so for me. This one is even more so as I know that I should probably not be running this race(My coach and mentor  Bill Pierce is quite categorical about it). I have not been unable to train much since the Hyderabad marathon on 28th August. Work schedule has been hectic and also I have not fully recovered from the niggle in my left glutes and calf which I picked up a couple of weeks before that event. So logically I should take some more rest and focus on the training for my next marathon event. However, I did not want to miss the opportunity to run a runner friendly (with RFL handling the organisation) HM event in the vicinity. Moreover, I have not run a daytime HM event since May 2005.  My goal is   to use this race to get over the disappointment of not meeting my target at Hyderabad and also restart my training   using the Run Less,Run Faster program from FIRST  for SCMM 2012 which is 15 weeks away.

The  1st target is to beat my HM PB of 1:46:03 from Midnight marathon in December 2009 and if all goes well to go below 1:43. This will depend on how the 1st half goes . If I can manage the 1st half in about 49 minutes at an average pace of 4:52/Km without  much stress to my left glute and calf then I will try and do the second half in under 54 minutes. Else I will take the second half easy. Either way am looking forward to the race - the route looks pretty interesting  with the start and finish being at the famous Mysore Palace and about 4 Kms of soft path around a lake and also going through Mysore University. Hopefully there will be efficient traffic control and weather wont be too bad - both critical factors for a race starting at 6:45am. This is the first time I have seen the video of the route put up on the website for an event in India.