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!!

Seeking support for GKV Trust

The  two most important events of my 2013-14 running season are the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2014 on 19th  January 2014 and Boston marathon on 21st April 2014. SCMM is the marquee marathon event in India which I have enjoyed running every year since 2004. The Boston marathon is an aspiration for every marathon runner and I have been fortunate enough to be able to qualify and register for the 2014 edition. However, a key reason why these two marathons are critical to me is that I am running them this year to  raise funds for the children of  Gita Krishnamurthy Vidyalaya  - a school in Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu that provides English medium education to children of socially and economically backward families in the region with no cost to them. The school, which is administered jointly by Sri Jai Sankara Educational Trust and GKV Trust, was started in June 2009 and currently has 420 children from classes LKG to 5. 52% of the children are girls and over 75% of children come from families having income of less than Rs 40,000 per year. The goal is to add one class every year till class 10. 

The school is named after Mrs. Gita Kirshnamurthy - a dedicated teacher (who has taught at Mothers International School,Delhi,Cathedral School,Mumbai and La Martiniere, Calcutta) who passed away due to cancer in 2002.

The school currently operates from two rented buildings. Construction of a 11,000 sft permanent school building with all amenities comparable to any mainstream school has commenced in October 2013 and is planned to be completed by June 2014. So far the school is supported by endowments and donations from family and close friends. We are now seeking support from all well wishers to help us with the operating expenses and building construction expenses. My target is to raise Rs 3 Lakhs by April 2014. I am personally involved with GKV school as a trustee since 2010 and have seen first hand the tremendous progress that the school has enabled for numerous first generation school goers. The energy and enthusiasm of the children to learn is quite amazing. Being a zero overhead trust I guarantee that 100% of the contribution will be used towards the school expenses. Update of activities in the school is available here. 

Contributions in support of the school and the children can be made to GKV trust either via check or online bank transfer. Contributions in INR  are eligible for tax benefit under section 80G of the IT act. Donation of any amount is welcome and will help us tremendously. Details of amounts towards specific operating and building expenses as well as bank account details are available here.  As I train hard for the two races to meet my timing goals I  look forward to generous support from friends and family to help me achieve my fund raising target as well!!  

2013 year end musings

The 32Km/2:48 run on 29th December being the last long run of the year  it is time for the annual year end musings. Like  last year, in 2013 also I limited myself to  a few select events : 2FMs, 1HM, a 50K and a 10K race. Update on these races against the 2013 goals set in Dec 2012 : 

1. Sub 3:38 at SCMM  in January  - 3:37:20 

2. Sub 1:43 HM at Auroville in February - met the goal but official time is 1:44 as I ended up running about 900m extra towards the end

3. Sub 45 10K at TCS world 10K in May - 46:56  - both calves injured before the race and tear in the right calf during the race

3. Register for Boston 2014- of course this is not completely under my control - got confirmation of registration on September 25th 

4. 50K/75K/100K at Bangalore Ultra - ran 50K in PB time of 4:52:22

5. In addition I ran the Airtel Hyderabad marathon in 3:46:20 - my PB for that event 

Overall I ran about 2000Kms (mostly outdoors) and cycled 2100Kms(all in the gym) The year started very well with a PB at SCMM 2013 which eventually enabled me to beat the cut-off for Boston 2014 by over a minute. This was definitely the year's highlight. The injury to the calves before TCS 10K and the strain in the left glutes/hamstring/calf disrupting  the training for SCMM 2014 have been the bummers of the year! Otherwise it has been a satisfactory year.  I would personally consider 2013 as the year of inflection in the history of running in India. The number of running events has mushroomed all over the country and during the 4Q of 2013 runners were spoilt  for choice with a race almost every weekend and sometimes multiple races in the same weekend. I plan to stay with limited races in 2014 as well. I might consider doing the 75K at Bangalore Ultra if I decide to run Comrades in May 2015. After participating for 5 straight years I will skip the Auroville marathon in 2014. I might consider running one or two fast HMs. Of course, the key events for the year are SCMM on 19th January and Boston marathon on 21st April. 

2014 Goals:

1. Sub 3:37 at SCMM - this one may get changed to a sub 4 based on how the left glutes/hamstring/calf behaves in the next 3 weeks

2. Sub 3:40 at Boston 2014

3. Sub 45m 10K in TCS world 10K 

4. Sub 3:45 at Hyderabad marathon in August

5. 75K at the Bangalore Ultra

And above all to try and avoid major down time due to injuries  and continue enjoying the running. Here's wishing all friends a fantastic, healthy, injury free year!!!!

Injury impact on marathon (SCMM 2014 )training

This is not an uncommon occurrence with regular runners training for an event. All the workouts are going well, one is feeling quite confident of achieving the race goal and then suddenly the whole flow is disrupted due to an injury. Few things can be more frustrating for a runner. The workouts of week 8/16 had gone very well including a 32Km/2:48 long run. However, I had a severe strain in my left glutes and left calf during the week 7/16 intervals (3 x (2 x 1200m) in Kanteerva stadium. And for the first time since May 2013 I did not complete my planned workout and decided to abort  the training   after pushing through the 5th interval. Since then the training has been irregular punctuated by interactions with Dr. Gladson of Attitudeprime.  Of course I am down  both physically and mentally . SCMM is one of the most important events in my running calendar - not least because I have been running it every year since it started in 2004. It is well organised event with fantastic spectator support and I have been lucky enough to improve my FM timing every year. The PB of 3:37:20 in last year's edition got me a place in Boston 2014. The way my training was going  I was looking forward to matching or slightly bettering last year's time (3:35). Now the last few weeks I was not even sure whether I would make it to the starting line. 

I am not able to figure out the cause for this injury. It could be a combination of one or more of the following:

• Muscle fatigue due to doing a tempo run and a fast long run(21K/1:45) within a week of the fastish 50Km at the Bangalore Ultra
• Lack of flexibility due to inadequate and/or incorrect stretching post the workout
• Lack of strength - it has been 8 months since I stopped the strengthening sessions at Manipal hospital(though I am doing  leg curls, leg press and calf press in my apartment complex gym apart from squats and lunges)
• Change of shoes  - I switched to a new Brooks Defyance5 after the ultra - the previous one having put in nearly 1500Kms
• Fatigue due to back to back workouts without adequate rest for recovery - due to travel schedule I ran a 12K tempo run on 1st Dec afternoon within 36 hours of running a fairly fast 32Km on 30th morning

Following is the summary of my workouts the past 3 weeks:

Week 7 of 16

Dec 1  - 12Km/60 mins  tempo run

Dec 3  - 26.5Kms/50 mins cycling

Dec 4 - 5 x 1200m intervals

No long run

Week 6 of 16

Dec 9  - 9Km Tempo run

Dec 10 - 23.38K/45 mins cycling

Dec 12 - 23.4K/45 mins cycling

Dec 15 - 21.2K/1:50 long run (goal was to do 32Km but had to stop due to pain in glutes,hamstring and numbness in sole - all on the left side)

No intervals

Week 5 of 16

Dec 16 23.56Km/45 mins cycling

Dec 19 5k/30 mins easy run

Dec 22 16Km Tempo run

No long run

No intervals

Based on discussions with Dr. Gladson I have decided not to do any more interval training. Though the glutes are better now the left side l does not feel normal and I dont want to take any chances. For the remaining 3 weeks I am going to stay with a tempo run, an easy run and a long run and 1 or 2 cycling workouts. The 32Km long run this weekend , probably on 29th Dec, will be the most crucial run to determine my readiness for Mumbai. I will determine my strategy for the race based on how that goes. In any case I am keen on not missing Mumbai - in the worst case I will not race and will run to finish around 4 hours or so - keeping fingers crossed!

50K PB at the 7th Bangalore Ultra

A fastish first half ,a fall between km 29 and km 30, a PB time of 4:52:22, a 2nd place finish in the senior category (and fifth overall) sums up my 7th consecutive 50Km+ finish at the Bangalore Ultra on 9th November 2013. Though I felt that I could perhaps have managed a  sub 4:45 finish if I had not  lost time due to the fall around 29Km ,overall I was very satisfied with the outcome and the experience. In a way it was probably a blessing in disguise that the fall forced me to slow down as I was running at a faster pace than I had planned to. Having done my regular interval and tempo workouts as per my 'Run Less,Run Faster' based FIRST training program pushing harder on a 50Km run could potentially have increased the risk of injury and fatigue and disrupted the rest of my training for SCMM 2014. The good thing was the bruises due to the fall were minor and my recovery was quite fast. Most of the soreness was gone within 36 hours after the run and I was even able to climb up and down staircases quite comfortably. It usually takes me 3 days before I am able to do that. As a precaution I skipped the scheduled  interval training workout of the week following the race. However, I was able to do a 10K tempo run and 21K long run at the targeted paces fairly easily. 

Waking up at 3:35 after about 4.5 hours of sleep I had 2 small bananas and some walnuts and salted pecans before leaving home at 4:20 am.  As in 2012 I left Domlur around 4:35 am  - with Shilpi Sahu and Shilpa Deo riding in my car(I ended up waking up Naveen who was also supposed to come with us and had overslept. He nevertheless made it to the race start on time !). We waited at the ORR/Hennur road junction for a fellow runner Rajesh Swaminathan's car to join us. Following the well laid out RFL banner directions from the point of right turn from Hennur road we reached the start point at Kingston county just after 530am. After warming up, checking in a bag and using the port-a-loo I was at the starting line by 545am. As usual met up and chatted with a number of familiar runners from around the country while warming up - it was quite a nippy morning.  Post the  customary announcements regarding the race, route, aid stations etc by A1 and A2 the 50K run was flagged off ,on the dot, at 6am, by Rev. Samuel Reddy - a 11 times finisher of the gruelling Comrades marathon.

I started  at about 5:20/Km pace and was joined by Pani around the 2nd Km. We ran the 1st half of the race pretty much together. As a result  I ran faster than planned - completing the 1st 25Km in about 2:12 at an average pace of 5:17/Km versus a goal of 2:20 or so. I had the (Powerbar) energy bar in two installments : at about 18Km and then 27Km. After picking up some water at the aid station at Km 27 I was chatting about my race strategy while running along with a fellow runner bicycling the trail when I tripped on a stone and fell down quite hard. In the process  I scraped both my knees and  my left palm(lesson: never take your eyes of the route specially on a trail where stones, roots and generally uneven terrain is part of the course).Getting up after a couple of minutes I slowly continued my run with blood streaming down both my knees. At the next aid station I washed my knees and hands and with the help of Jaggi sprayed relispray in all the bruised areas. Though I felt much better after a few minutes I decided not to push myself and continued at between 5:30 and 6:45/Km pace. I stopped at every aid station to have water,enerzol and some salted peanuts. I also took a couple of short walk breaks in the 2nd lap. I sensed that I would comfortably better my Ultra 2012 timing of 5:07:31 and if I remained steady do a sub 5. I managed that easily with 6:01 and 5:49 in Kms 49 and 50 finishing 2nd in the senior category behind Pani!

Though it became quite warm towards the end of the 2nd loop it was not very hot. In fact my hands and finger tips were cold till the end of the 1st lap. Another unusual thing about this run was I stopped for a loo break 3 times - in the past it has been once for sure and sometimes twice in the ultra. 

A number of friends did their best times and/or longest distances - though the number of true ultra runners is still much smaller than the non-ultra distance runners in this event the Bangalore Ultra has certainly helped a number of runners achieve distances much beyond their imagination a few years ago!!

I left Kingston county at about 12 after lunch and got back home by 1PM.

The video of the event shot by Runners for Life is available here.

PS. This race report is very late - I started it about 2 weeks ago but could not complete it due to travel over consecutive weekends. 

Phasing out..phasing in..shoes

It is generally recommended for runners to change their shoes after about 400-600 miles or 700 to 1000 Kms of running. I have done over 1500 Kms in my Brooks Defyance 5 - a shoe I switched to in September 2012 after using the Adidas supernova Cushion family of shoes for nearly ten years. Being a neutral runner my shoes wear out fairly evenly. I have used my current pair of shoes (shown below) for 3 full marathons and one half marathon : Mohawk Hudson River marathon in October 2012, SCMM in January 2013, AHM 2013 in August 2013 and Auroville Marathon in February 2013.

The Bangalore Ultra on 9th November 2013 will be the last race with this pair of shoes. In preparation for the two most important races of this running season(perhaps of my running career) I started breaking into a new pair of Brooks Defyance 5 last week. I will be running the Mumbai marathon on 19th January 2014 and Boston marathon on 21st April 2014 with this pair shown below.

Having done one tempo+cool down run of 9Km and a longish run of 27Km with the new pair of shoes it seems quite comfortable. Plan to switch to it completely after the Ultra next week.

Some more posts giving guidelines for changing shoes:
When to retire a running shoe
How often should I replace my running shoes?
How often should you change your running shoes

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

Boston 2014 Registration Process

The dynamics for Boston 2014 changed due to the bomb blasts at the finish line of Boston 2013. The interest among runners to qualify and run in Boston 2014 went up significantly. Many runners who were not intending to run Boston 2014 were now motivated to show solidarity with BAA, city of Boston  and the running movement  in general. As a result the number of registrations for  marathons in the US between May and September saw a definite uptick On May 16th B.A.A. announced  that the 5,633 official entrants who had passed the halfway point but were unable to finish will be guaranteed entry into next year's marathon. As per their press release these entrants would not need to qualify again but will need to pay the  registration fee.(These runners were eventually invited to register between August 1 and August 29th - nearly 5000 of them registered). After some speculation BAA finally announced an increase of the field size by 9000 from 27,000 to 36,000 runners. Nevertheless  there was a lot of discussion whether all BQ runners would get in. Here's another report on this. Once the registrations opened on September 9th there were discussions on many forums as to the number of spots that would be left for the 2nd week (for all BQ runners) and where the cut-off would be as it was pretty much certain that even with the increased field size not all runners would get in. 

Finally notifications to the runners who registered during the week of September 16th were sent out on September 25th and it turned out that the cut-off was BQ- 1:38 and unfortunately 2976 runners who BQ'ed and registered did not make it.

There was also a lot of discussion as to why the number of slots for qualifiers was only 500 when the field size was increased by 9000. The thinking was that maybe the no. of charity slots was increased by a large number which of course did not go well with the BQ'ed runners who had applied for registration. BAA clarified that this was not the case. 

The following from the BAA website provides details of the applications received and the cut-offs by category :

Registration for runners who met the B.A.A.’s Qualifying Standards for the 2014 Boston Marathon began on Monday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. ET using a “rolling admission” schedule and continued through Saturday, September 14 at 10:00 p.m. ET. Registration re-opened on Monday, September 16 at 10:00 a.m. and application submissions were received through Friday, September 20 at 5:00 p.m. ET.

• 25,654 applications were received during the two weeks of registration (September 9, 2013 through September 20, 2013).
• 22,679 applicants have been accepted or are in the process of being accepted, pending verification of their qualifying performance (17,229 from Week One; 5,450 from Week Two). 
• Details of the B.A.A.’s two-week registration process for Qualifiers can be found on the following web page:
  http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/athlete-registration/registration-information.aspx
• 2,976 applicants were unable to be accepted due to the large number of eligible qualifiers who submitted an application for entry combined with field size limitations.
• During Week One, when the fastest of all Qualifiers submitted their application for entry:
  4,484 Qualifiers accepted met their qualifying time by 20 minutes, 00 seconds or faster;
  6,866 Qualifiers accepted met their qualifying time by 10 minutes, 00 seconds or faster;
  5,879 Qualifiers accepted met their qualifying time by 05 minutes, 00 seconds or faster.
• From Week Two, 5,450 Qualifiers were accepted.  These were Qualifiers who were one minute, 38 seconds or faster than the Qualifying time for their age group and gender.
• An additional 5,625 runners who were 2013 Boston Marathon starters who reached the half marathon checkpoint or later but did not have the opportunity to cross the finish line on Boylston Street on April 15  were invited to participate in the 2014 race, some of whom were qualified. Of those runners, 4,615 registered for 2014, 1,649 of whom were Qualifiers.
• In addition, 402 Qualifiers who have an active streak of ten or more consecutive Boston Marathon completions also entered during a pre-registration period in August and have been accepted. 

Those who submitted a verified qualifying performance that was one minute, 38 seconds (1:38) or more under the qualifying standard for their age and gender have been accepted into the race. Qualifying performances for the 2014 Boston Marathon must have been run between September 22, 2012 and September 20, 2013.  Notices via email to those accepted will be issued by the B.A.A. beginning today.

The names of those runners who have been accepted will be posted on the “Entrants” page of the B.A.A.’s web site: http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/entrants.aspx

Some of those entrants who ultimately will be accepted will not be notified of their acceptance or have their name appear because validation of qualifying performances is ongoing. The amount of time to verify the performance of qualifiers can vary from race to race.

 2014 Boston Marathon: Men’s Qualifying Standards and Accepted Times

AGE GROUP	STANDARD ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION	QUALIFICATION TIMES ACCEPTED FASTER THAN AND INCLUDING
18-34	3hrs 05min 00sec	3hrs 03min 22sec
35-39	3hrs 10min 00sec	3hrs 08min 22sec
40-44	3hrs 15min 00sec	3hrs 13min 22sec
45-49	3hrs 25min 00sec	3hrs 23min 22sec
50-54	3hrs 30min 00sec	3hrs 28min 22sec
55-59	3hrs 40min 00sec	3hrs 38min 22sec
60-64	3hrs 55min 00sec	3hrs 53min 22sec
65-69	4hrs 10min 00sec	4hrs 08min 22sec
70-74	4hrs 25min 00sec	4hrs 23min 22sec
75-79	4hrs 40min 00sec	4hrs 38min 22sec
80 and over	4hrs 55min 00sec	4hrs 53min 22sec

2014 Boston Marathon: Women’s Qualifying Standards and Accepted Times

AGE GROUP	STANDARD ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION	QUALIFICATION TIMES ACCEPTED FASTER THAN AND INCLUDING
18-34	3hrs 35min 00sec	3hrs 33min 22sec
35-39	3hrs 40min 00sec	3hrs 38min 22sec
40-44	3hrs 45min 00sec	3hrs 43min 22sec
45-49	3hrs 55min 00sec	3hrs 53min 22sec
50-54	4hrs 00min 00sec	3hrs 58min 22sec
55-59	4hrs 10min 00sec	4hrs 08min 22sec
60-64	4hrs 25min 00sec	4hrs 23min 22sec
65-69	4hrs 40min 00sec	4hrs 38min 22sec
70-74	4hrs 55min 00sec	4hrs 53min 22sec
75-79	5hrs 10min 00sec	5hrs 08min 22sec
80 and over	5hrs 25min 00sec	5hrs 23min 22sec

“While 2013 has been challenging, we appreciate and acknowledge the outpouring of support which we have received and to which we have been witness,” said Tom Grilk, B.A.A. Executive Director.  “For 2014 and with a larger field size, we wanted to achieve the correct balance among the field of participants by accepting as many qualifiers as possible, accommodating those who were prevented from crossing the finish line in 2013, and recognizing some who were directly involved in 2013. While we would like to accept all qualified runners, field size limits are in place to ensure the best possible experience for all runners in the field.  We will next address the allocation of remaining slots in as fair a fashion as we can across people and groups who are or represent those most affected by the events of April 15.”

Notices to those who submitted an application for entry but who were not accepted were also issued today.

In cooperation with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the eight cities and towns along the Boston Marathon route, the B.A.A. has set the field size for the 2014 Boston Marathon at 36,000 official entrants. At least seventy percent of the field will be comprised of athletes who have met the qualifying standards. The balance will consist of invitational entrants,many of whom run for local charitable organizations. Since 1989, between the B.A.A.’s Official Charity Program and principal sponsor John Hancock Financial’s Non-Profit Bib Program for the Boston Marathon, more than $170 million has been raised for charity.  

My 3rd Garmin unit is a Garmin 310 XT..

When I took to long distance running in 2001 I used a regular stop watch to track the run time. I used my car to measure the training route for distance. Based on the advice from Dr. Rajat Chauhan that a Heart rate monitor would help me achieve my potential as a runner both in terms of distance and pace I acquired the  Garmin  Forerunner 305 in July 2007.  Once I started using the device I got addicted to it. While I stopped using the HRM after a couple of years I used the average pace and current pace settings of the device to pace my runs and achieve the timing targets. The first unit lasted a little under 3 years before the buttons wore out and the unit split into two in April 2010. I acquired my second Garmin 305 unit in July 2010. In July 2013,exactly 3 years later, the battery of the device started to die in about 2 hrs 15 minutes. Soon after within a few weeks the battery life reduced to an hour. I trained for the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2013 using a Garmin 305 borrowed from Ravi Venkatesam and raced with the same unit.

 The Garmin 305 had been discontinued so I researched on the other Garmin units and narrowed it to either   a Garmin 310XT or  Garmin 610. After looking at the detailed reviews of DCRainmaker and the relative prices (US $ 230 versus US $399) I decided to go with the Garmin 310XT. Its similarity to the FR 305 and the 20 hour battery life was also attractive.Having used it for about 6 weeks now, since August 28th 2013, I am quite happy with it. It does seem to link with the GPS satellite faster than the Garmin 305. The setup was fairly straightforward very similar to the 305.  Being able to specify lap distances in fraction of Kms is a very useful feature for interval training - in the 305 the lap distance can be either 1 Km or 1 mile only. The transfer of data from the Garmin unit to Garmin Training center or Garmin Connect using the  ANT USB mini stick has been a bit of a struggle. I had to download the appropriate driver and install it on my PC. Even then the ANT agent often did not detect the Garmin device and I am having to exit the agent and/or switch the device on/off for the data to be transferred. This seems to be a known issue with the device. I am hoping the device was last for at least 3 years and the battery life will stay over 15 hours as I turn my focus to ultras after Boston 2014.

Marathon Trivia

Most marathon runners are aware that the the event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens.The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought), which took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "We wοn", before collapsing and dying.

A lesser known fact which I discovered recently is that the word Marathon or Marathos is the Greek name for Fennel(saunf)  plant - a herb that was indigenous to the shores of the Mediterraneans. The town of Marathon from which Pheidippedes ran to Athens was named for its fields of  fennels.

Treadmill Phobia

I suffer from the  fear of running on treadmills(Treadmilobia?). I have always been an outdoor runner since taking up jogging for fitness over 30 years ago and after moving to distance running in 2001. I have run on treadmills only when I absolutely needed to while travelling either due to bad weather or not being aware of a running route in the neighbourhood. However, ever since the experiences of a couple of years ago, when one time the treadmill I was running on changed  speed upwards on its own and another time it came to a complete stop quite  suddenly, I have developed a mental block against treadmills. I use then only when I have no other choice - I prefer the cycle or the cross-trainer or the rowing machine for a workout in the gym rather than a treadmill. Recently when I was out of Bangalore on vacation and needed to do a 8Km tempo run at 4:54/Km as part of my 16 weeks marathon training program I pysched myself up since the previous evening calculating and re-calculating the setting for the speed(12.3 Km/hr). However, when I got onto the treadmill I felt scared going beyond 11Km/hour. I somehow inched up to 11.3 Km/hr but felt uncomfortable and scared going beyond that. I ended up doing a 30 minutes run at a modest pace of 5:36/Km. I know of some running friends who do their tempo and even interval training runs on treadmills. I will never be able to do that. On googling I found that a lot of people dislike running on the treadmill mainly due to the boredoom; however there are a quite a few runners who are scared as well like me.