Countdown to TCS World 10K Bangalore 2014...

TCS World 10K Bangalore  on 18th May,  the first event of the new running season just 4 weeks after my 2013-14 season ended with the Boston marathon on 21st April , means that unlike the last couple of years I don't get to take a break between seasons. Though I considered  giving the TCS World 10K a miss this year I decided to keep my streak going - having run the event since its first edition in 2008(then called Sunfeast World 10K).  I obviously have not trained specifically for the event and will probably continue to take it easy for a few weeks after the race (as I do not plan to run a full marathon till at least October). With a few easy runs and a couple of tempo runs in the last couple of weeks I feel in reasonable shape to aim for a sub 46 10K  and  try and  better my last year's time of 46:56. I certainly feel fitter than I was last year before the race despite the iffy left side(glutes/hamstring/sole).  And if the first half goes well then I may even gun for the PB of  45:57 achieved in 2011. A lot depends on the start I am able to get and the usual help from the Bangalore weather. With the number of runners participating in the event growing tremendously it is important to breakaway from the throng of slower runners and get into a rhythm within the first 2 Kms. Hopefully the holding area will be streamlined and the race starts staggered as was the case last year. My goal would be to get to the half way point in under 23 minutes.  The earlier start time of 6:20am(compared to 7:20am last year) should certainly help.

One other variable this year is going to be the shoe.  I plan to run in the much lighter Skechers Gorun2 which I was 'awarded'  for finishing 1st runner up in the 50Km at the 2013 Bangalore Ultra. . At 6.7oz , it is 4 ounces lighter than the 10.8 oz Brooks Defyance 5 that I have been using since September 2012.  And this mainly due to the lack of cushioning. The shoes feel comfortable in the training runs I have done so far; however on the couple of occasions that I have run a bit fast both my calves hurt post the run. So unless this changes I am unlikely to use this shoe for distances beyond the half marathon.

The bib collection process on 10th May was very smooth. The expo seemed bigger than he past years with large stalls from all the major shoe brands selling in India. Also, there were fewer non-fitness/non-running stalls. It was great to hang out and chat with fellow runners. 

TCS 10K 2013 : Decent run despite a torn right calf muscle

Considering that a week before the run on 19th May 2013 I was unsure of making it to the starting line due to a right calf injury, I am satisfied with my 46:56 performance  (bib# 578) in the race with an overall ranking of 189 out of 8137 finishers. The icing was the 3rd place finish out of 191 runners in the 51 to 60 eyars category behind awesome runners Pani and Sid. Running through right calf pain for the last 2 Kms was quite tough. The wonderful capture below around the 9th Km by  Shantanu Singh shows this well.

I literally limped over the finish line with severe right calf pain - thanks to friend and fellow runner Ravi Venkatesam for getting the volini spray from the medical tent in the finish area. After spraying that generously the calf felt much better. 

Ravi and I left Domlur Layout at 6am by car and after parking at UB city we reached Kanteerva stadium by 620am. There were hardly a handful of runners in the category A section(finisher in less than 50 mins within the previous 2 years) at that time. At 630am the World 10K men racers took off at a blistering pace. Soon thereafter the area was buzzing with runners - many of them familiar. After using the restroom one more time I went down the steps to a position close to the gate to the tracks. At about about 7:19am (by my Garmin) the gate was opened and all runners rushed out tot he start line. The pushing and jostling was much less compared to the previous two years - though it was still there specially with the corporate challenge runners also joining the category A runners at the same time. (I understand it was much worse for the category B and Category C runners - their gates were opened a few seconds later). The race started at 7:21 within a few seconds of my getting to the start line. I was able to get a good start and clocked the 1st Km in 4:07 much faster than planned. Ran at a good pace till Km 4  clocking an average of 4:16/Km - the gradient after the turnaround at Ulsoor slowed me down considerably and the pace gradually fell. By the half way mark I knew that sub 45 was not going to be possible and soon thereafter also vanished any thoughts of a beating my previous PB of 2011. The last 4 Kms were really tough as the right calf pain steadily increased. Surprisingly, my usual left calf and left glutes niggle did not show up this time. I have always found it difficult to sustain a fast pace in the shorter races - My goal was to ensure that I finished sub 50 and as close to 47 mins as possible. I was doubly relieved to cross the finish line around the 47 min mark. As has been my practice at the 10K race I consumed water 3 times during the run all in the 2nd half. I felt the weather was quite ok.

After hanging around in the finish line a bit - stretching and getting photographed - drove to Konark for the wonderful breakfast hosted by Nagaraj Adiga (aka 'godfather'). It was great to exchange thoughts with fellow runners and also an opportunity for more pictures. Got back home around quarter past 10am - well fed but a bit worried about the right calf.

A day after the race I discovered that the right calf had swollen quite a bit. In general the right leg was quite sore even more so than after a typical marathon. Next day when I found some internal bleeding below the ankle it had me really worried. The ultrasound scan of the calf area (recommended by Doc Gladson of Attitide Prime) revealed ' a partial tear of the proximal muscle fibres of soleus with associated hematoma'. The soleus is one of the 3 muscles that form the calf muscles. A hematoma is defined as a collection of blood or a clot that has accumulated outside of a blood vessel. The blood has leaked from a ruptured artery, vein, or capillary and then seeps into the surrounding tissue. 

The only solution for such an injury is to ice the area and stretch lightly frequently and stay off from running for a few weeks. After a complete break for 5 days I did some cycling over the weekend. After a week the swelling in the ankle has gone but there is still a dull pain while walking or going down the steps. Depending on how it goes I hope to restart running the week of 3rd June and after a couple of weeks of light training start the formal training for Hyderabad marathon towards the end of the month!!

TCS 10K 2013?

I am quite under-prepared,physically and mentally for the 6th edition of  Bangalore's  world 10K run that is less than a week away . With just 4 running workouts since 18th April training has been minimal. While the usual stress in the left glutes,calf and sole has been nagging me for the last few weeks I have also been having a problem with my right calf since the 1st of May. On 5th May I had to abandon my  fastish 16K run after a 48mins/10Km with stress in both the calves. I literally limped back home. This is the first time ever that I had an issue with my right calf. When I had to give up on the  medium pace  run yesterday that I was doing after a break of 5 days after a Km or so with acute pain in the upper right calf I was completely shattered. It looked like it would be prudent to skip this year's 10K and train for the Hyderabad marathon after recovering from the injury. An injury like this at the beginning of a running season is a real dampener - I have been unable to avoid being depressed the last couple of weeks. Not being able to run the 10K to plan was bad enough, the possibility of the injury impacting the marathons targeted for the season and that beating my BQ time by 2:40 may not be sufficient to get me a place in Boston 2014 made it much worse.

Despite  uncertainty of whether I would make it to the start line on 19th May I collected my running bib from Koramangla indoor stadium on 11th May morning. And then went to show my right calf to Dr. Gladson of Attitude Prime. It looks like the calf pain may be due to a weak plantar fascia not being able to strain of my running pace. As per Gladson it is not Planatar Fasciitis - a very common injury among runners. And I should be in a reasonable shape to run the 10K after exercising the plantar using a  golf ball  a few times a day for the next few days.

Hope to make it to the starting on line on 19th May and keep my streak of running the world 10K if the easy  training runs on 14th and 16th May go well.While I had changed my goal to Sub-45 or to at least beat my 2011 PB of 45:57 now I will be satisfied if I can keep it below 50 minutes though I know I am in shape to do sub 45. My strategy will be to get a good start(a challenge by itself considering 11,000 runners are expected to participate and the organisers have been unable to enforce discipline in the starting area to have runners assemble and start based on their previous finish times) and try and sustain  sub 4:30 minutes Kms as long as possible. 

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. 

Musings at the start of 2013-14 running season

I plan to kick-off my 2013-14 running season  with the TCS 10K on 19th May and hope to end it with the Boston marathon on 21st April 2014 (assuming I get a place when the registration opens in early September 2013). Between these two events I plan to run the Hyderabad Full marathon in August, 50Km at the Bangalore Ultra in November and the Mumbai marathon in January 2014. I might optionally run HMs at Mysore in October and Auroville in February 2014. Unlike last year when I took a complete break from cardio exercises for 7 weeks after the HM at Auroville, this year I continued exercising  with between 4 and 6 cycling/running sessions per week after the 2012-13 season ending Auroville HM in February 2013. I did this  without a concrete training plan or goal with weekly running mileage being below 35Kms and cycling mileage varying between 45 and 65Km. Since the 2nd week of March I did run a fastish, tempo paced 10K every Tuesday just for self-confidence.  During this period I did just one run beyond 20Km. While taking a short break from running is good and helps the body recover from any injuries or muscle micro tears, this year I felt the necessity of continuing to run - in order not to let my fitness level degrade much, keep the self-confidence and also help manage the stress of work and personal life. I have got used to my life being anchored by training for one event or another and feel more stressed out than usual when not doing so - assume this is what addiction is about.   I was also paranoid about not putting on much weight. With a lot of hard work and self control I had managed to bring down my weight to what I think is my optimal racing weight of 55Kgs and I was hoping to keep it close to that at the start of training for the new season. Despite a bit of travel and eating out regularly I managed to keep my weight below 57Kgs. 

Even when running without a time goal I still needed to have  my Garmin - another addiction - and did keep looking at it periodically. I put together my 10K training plan with an ambitious target of 42:55 - over 3 minutes faster than my PB in TCS 10K 2011. The intent was to start training from week 8 of the 12 weeks FIRST training program from the week of 25th March. My 1st training workout was a 4 x 400m intervals with a timing target of 1:28 - I struggled to do those between 1:35 to 1:40. I blamed this on the fact that I had not done intervals since the 2nd week of January and that I was doing this in EGL rather than the tracks. The 6.5K run at short tempo pace of 4:16 was a real disaster - I could not sustain that pace beyond the first 3 Kms. That is when I realised that my target was unrealistic and if I continued with it my chances of getting injured would be very high. So I tuned the weekend long run of 16K for a 10K target time of 43:55 - which meant a pace of 4:41 per Km. I could not achieve that as well - I ended the 16K with an average pace of 4:52Km - for the first time in the last year or so all 3 key training runs of the week were below par. There were perhaps many factors for this - the hot weather, jumping into the middle of a rigorous training program at the start of the season, general fatigue due to not having taken any time off from running etc.  .Nevertheless,I further revised my 10K target to 44:20 and tuned my training program accordingly. From the FIRST race prediction/equivalent performance at different distances table I found that the 10K equivalent time for a 3:37:20 marathoner is 46:44. Or looking at it the other way a 42:55 10K runner should be able to a marathon in 3:20 - this re-confirmed the fact that I had started with a completely unrealistic goal for 10K.  Having trained for and run a number of marathons I know for sure that the 3:37:20 that I did in SCMM 2013 is close to the best I will ever do - perhaps I could bring it down to 3:35 at best. And knowing fully well that I am more a longer distance runner of moderate pace than a fast paced runner for short distances I would be happy to beat my PB 10K timing of 45:57 and very satisfied if I can go sub 44:30. The 2nd week of training was a bit better but still not completely on target even for the re-revised goal. The left glutes, left calf and the left sole are all playing truant once I restarted the hard training. Hopefully supplemented with stretching, foam roller exercises and strengthening I should be able to sustain the train over the next 6 weeks. If needed I may cut back even further on the intensity as 10K timing is not very critical for me. The key goal this season is to stay injury free and keep my FM timings to below 3:40 and as close to 3:38 as possible till April 2014!!