If you have not read this do so now.
I am currently coaching or have signed up both men and women training for the following events among others
- Contours Women's Day run in Mar 2012
- World 10K in Bangalore in May 2012
- Perth Marathon 2012
- Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in Nov 2012 (yes some people start that early!)
- other marathons in Europe & USA across the year.
However if you are planning to train for a 5k/half marathon/marathon in India or overseas, write to me at dhammonia@gmail.com along with your contact details (mobile no. if you have one) and we will work something out.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Hard Times: At a bookshop
Serious Men by Manu Joseph
A Shot at History (Abhinav Bindra with Rohit Brijnath)
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
were all bought at Landmark today out of credit card points. That brings me to my present situation alluded to, in the title of this blog post.
Although the first book above was on some silly "buy 1 and get the 2nd at half price" offer, I never found any of the other books under the same offer enticing enough to spend a couple of hundred rupees more. In my earlier avatar when I would spend hard earned money on books each month, I probably would not have minded as much. Now that cash is a serious constraint, I am forced to be doubly diligent.
Landmark at Forum Mall is getting to be worse, with less space for books than before, although that might change if they add more space for books once their revamp is complete.
They didn't have any of about half a dozen books which I would have bought in place of the Manu Joseph. Further due to my lookup exercise, I also discovered that some real good books were at the sale but are now back to being at original price.
Petty thinking no? Shouldn't they perhaps send them to their online entity and dispose them at sale price. I would gladly buy each of the 5-6 books I checked. Joe Sacco, Guy DeLisle, Simon Winchester and several others were among the ones which were apparently on sale :(
A Shot at History (Abhinav Bindra with Rohit Brijnath)
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
were all bought at Landmark today out of credit card points. That brings me to my present situation alluded to, in the title of this blog post.
Although the first book above was on some silly "buy 1 and get the 2nd at half price" offer, I never found any of the other books under the same offer enticing enough to spend a couple of hundred rupees more. In my earlier avatar when I would spend hard earned money on books each month, I probably would not have minded as much. Now that cash is a serious constraint, I am forced to be doubly diligent.
Landmark at Forum Mall is getting to be worse, with less space for books than before, although that might change if they add more space for books once their revamp is complete.
They didn't have any of about half a dozen books which I would have bought in place of the Manu Joseph. Further due to my lookup exercise, I also discovered that some real good books were at the sale but are now back to being at original price.
Petty thinking no? Shouldn't they perhaps send them to their online entity and dispose them at sale price. I would gladly buy each of the 5-6 books I checked. Joe Sacco, Guy DeLisle, Simon Winchester and several others were among the ones which were apparently on sale :(
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Auroville 2012
5 years after the event started, I finally managed to run in Auroville. Unlike several other events- Delhi Half Marathon, Bangalore Ultra, Mumbai Marathon, Hyderabad 10K, Kaveri Trail Marathon, Auroville was one event I had never participated in its inaugural year. That gap in my race portfolio has now been remedied. I would now whole-heartedly recommend anyone wanting to have a good race (maybe not if you are racing for time) on a lovely course. As Hari already pointed out in his FB post, big round of applause to the organizers for such a splendid show. It is actually difficult to believe that this is the same place that was ravaged by a cyclone over a month ago. Actually the organizers did such a great job that you will find it difficult to realize what it is they have done, since the place looks so clean. It is only when you look around that you notice trees bending in one direction, several of them bending over, some of them broken at the stump incl. a few having a diameter about that of my car! God bless them all.
Now for the race report. As is the case with anyone coming back from an injury I was feeling quite anxious about the race since I was planning to run at a brisk pace, a little slower than my tempo but faster than my long run pace. However, I had originally planned to race here. But my coach prudently recommended I do no such thing since my training which was originally scheduled to start 2 weeks after the Mumbai Marathon would now start the day after Auroville, since I told him I was running the race. I treat his word as gospel. So there would be no racing. However I would still try and run a PB for my half marathon in India.
I met Hari, at the starting line and we discussed that we'd run together since I had a goal of 1:40 and it was in his ballpark too. A few weeks ago, I had met him at Navin's party (for the first time) when we had discussed that he'd be running for time, regardless of what that time would be, thereby endearing himself to me (as I told him, I time even my warm up runs!). However he had already run 1:36 in Delhi in Nov and was in better shape, by his own admission, although he had not longer than 9 miles. I had run a 10 miler in 72:18 about 2 weeks as prep towards Auroville as I needed some confidence that if I were to run faster than 1:42 (my previous best for a half in India), I had the required strength. One major potential show-stopper was my glute-injury which has been literally a Pain in the A*** (now thankfully on the path to being fixed, thanks to some strengthening). So while I did want to run fast (not race), I didn't want to aggravate an injury which has only just begun healing.
At the start were various stud-runners, Damian, Steven, etc all of whom are sub-3 runners for a marathon and some of them have run 1:20 or thereabouts for a half. It was one cinematic moment - when people lined up for the race. The starting lineup had markers for people running from 12 kmph to 9 kmph. Everyone who stood at the front of the pack was checking everyone else out trying to mentally assess which ones would tear away from the beginning. I was obviously doing the same!
One of my regular preoccupations at the start of races is to check out the legs of various runners and then try and guess which ones will finish in the top 3...Of course since I knew quite a few of the runners, I had some knowledge of their abilities too. My guess was that Damian would be the first to the finish - I train in the stadium and at Cubbon Park, same places that he does and hence see him often. Steven I think is Hyd based. So a bunch of the Hyd guys were cheering him before the start. And there were some Indian runners, all ectomorphs who looked like they would go under 1:30. Then the countdown began - 5 mins to start, 2 mins to start, one minute and then the whistle.
We were off. Hari and I began a conversation which we kept up till the 11th mile till which we ran next to each other, after which I was in great pain to talk any more and trailed him till the finish. I had a side-stitch in the 1st mile itself (WTF!) which basically began to sting from about 300 m into the race. And then by mile 5 or so, I developed a second side-stitch which began to feel like a knife in my abdomen. Running with a side-stitch is not recommended or healthy! Running with two is asking for trouble.
However we still went through 6 miles in under 44 min or so, by when I knew that if finished under 1:40, it would be a success for the day. There is a mild gradient on the course about 2 miles into the run, which knocks the wind out of you. Although we managed to get through it in the first lap without much damage, we suffered in the second lap. At least I did. To quantify a pain, sample this - On my 10 miler in Lalbagh, I had an average HR of 181 and a max HR of 189 for an average pace of 7:13/mile. During this race, I had an average HR of 185 and a peak of 197 for an average pace of 7:33/mile! I have no doubt that the HR spike was due to my pain due to side-stitches!
There was only one spot at which there was a fork and there were no markings. Otherwise the organizers had done a good job, by posting good signs or volunteers at every such ambiguous point. Of course the course was a little longer than 13.1 miles. My Garmin and that of at least 3 other people showed 13.3-13.4 miles.
One grouse I had on the course was that despite organizers advising on race etiquette, several runners ran with headphones and at slower speeds, not making way for faster runners behind them (which is perhaps mostly since they couldn't hear a thing). In some cases, I could even hear the music playing on someone's music player! One guy even elbowed me on my 2nd lap. I hope that, that guy suffered in the sun and suffered some ignominy! On a trail run, especially on such a beautiful trail where one can hear birds, would you really miss music or whatever you are listening to for 2 hours?! Shame on you and a painful DNF to you in your next marathon.
During the first lap, I had pointed to Hari that we needed to take a left turn although it was unmarked for the half & full. The spot only had a sign for the 5K and 10K.
Since he was ahead of me by about 50m or so in the last 2 miles, I couldn't call out to him when he passed the gap. And I followed him. By this time, another fast runner (a woman named Olivia, who looked like she had started much after everyone) had sped past both of us, effortlessly! And she overshot the turn too. With my side stitches burning into me, I chased after Hari and screamed out that he had overshot. He stopped and then looked back, wondering what had possessed me. Eventually Olivia also began running back and Hari followed. I did too. I had run about 0.1 miles extra. Hari had run more.
Finally, when we got close to the finish line, I began pushing the pace when I saw the "200m to go" sign. That surge got me in 1:42 for 13.5 miles. I will console myself saying that I did perhaps get through 13.1 miles in 1:40, which is all I wanted. Once I finished, I buckled over since my side stitches (esp. the one on my right side) now felt like I would have an involuntary removal of my liver or whatever else inhabits my abdominal cavity. After about 2 mins of swallowing pain, I was fine. I went and got my free t-shirt which is awesome (grey t-shirts are usually so! Dibyo, if you are reading this, remember our Flickr idea!?). Damian made my day by saying my tee is better and he couldn't get the same colour (the organizers perhaps had only one colour for each size to make the task of handing out easier). And the medal is lovely and exotic - 2 fabric dolls hung on a standard medal strap.
My racing flats which perhaps helped me come under 1:40 are now brown with red earth from the trail.
I am writing this about 24 hours after the race and my right abdomen is still sore from my running with the side-stitch y'day. I feel like someone has branded me - Now I know the burning sensation from a side-stitch can persist for a day! And although I have been looking forward to it, I never thought I will write about my butt in a blog post! It doesn't hurt any longer. Woo hoo!
One of my trainees had a decent race in the half. The other, JB, was set back by a painfully twisted ankle (suffered earlier last week) and had to DNF - 2/3rds into his race. Several friends had less than desired performances. We will all survive this and do better some time in the future.
Overall a great race, thanks in no small part due to the generous Pradeep, who gave me a ride to Pondy and back, and his driver Mohammed who drove like a saint all the way through, despite the large number of idiots on the road from Bangalore to Pondy and back. Also a shout out to Auro-Grace in Thiruvannamalai for the great lunch.
Nice weekend overall!
And with that, I started on my Mission Boston 2012 with a 30 min easy run.
Someone tell all the pretty women at Wellesley college to start warming up ;)
Now for the race report. As is the case with anyone coming back from an injury I was feeling quite anxious about the race since I was planning to run at a brisk pace, a little slower than my tempo but faster than my long run pace. However, I had originally planned to race here. But my coach prudently recommended I do no such thing since my training which was originally scheduled to start 2 weeks after the Mumbai Marathon would now start the day after Auroville, since I told him I was running the race. I treat his word as gospel. So there would be no racing. However I would still try and run a PB for my half marathon in India.
I met Hari, at the starting line and we discussed that we'd run together since I had a goal of 1:40 and it was in his ballpark too. A few weeks ago, I had met him at Navin's party (for the first time) when we had discussed that he'd be running for time, regardless of what that time would be, thereby endearing himself to me (as I told him, I time even my warm up runs!). However he had already run 1:36 in Delhi in Nov and was in better shape, by his own admission, although he had not longer than 9 miles. I had run a 10 miler in 72:18 about 2 weeks as prep towards Auroville as I needed some confidence that if I were to run faster than 1:42 (my previous best for a half in India), I had the required strength. One major potential show-stopper was my glute-injury which has been literally a Pain in the A*** (now thankfully on the path to being fixed, thanks to some strengthening). So while I did want to run fast (not race), I didn't want to aggravate an injury which has only just begun healing.
At the start were various stud-runners, Damian, Steven, etc all of whom are sub-3 runners for a marathon and some of them have run 1:20 or thereabouts for a half. It was one cinematic moment - when people lined up for the race. The starting lineup had markers for people running from 12 kmph to 9 kmph. Everyone who stood at the front of the pack was checking everyone else out trying to mentally assess which ones would tear away from the beginning. I was obviously doing the same!
One of my regular preoccupations at the start of races is to check out the legs of various runners and then try and guess which ones will finish in the top 3...Of course since I knew quite a few of the runners, I had some knowledge of their abilities too. My guess was that Damian would be the first to the finish - I train in the stadium and at Cubbon Park, same places that he does and hence see him often. Steven I think is Hyd based. So a bunch of the Hyd guys were cheering him before the start. And there were some Indian runners, all ectomorphs who looked like they would go under 1:30. Then the countdown began - 5 mins to start, 2 mins to start, one minute and then the whistle.
We were off. Hari and I began a conversation which we kept up till the 11th mile till which we ran next to each other, after which I was in great pain to talk any more and trailed him till the finish. I had a side-stitch in the 1st mile itself (WTF!) which basically began to sting from about 300 m into the race. And then by mile 5 or so, I developed a second side-stitch which began to feel like a knife in my abdomen. Running with a side-stitch is not recommended or healthy! Running with two is asking for trouble.
However we still went through 6 miles in under 44 min or so, by when I knew that if finished under 1:40, it would be a success for the day. There is a mild gradient on the course about 2 miles into the run, which knocks the wind out of you. Although we managed to get through it in the first lap without much damage, we suffered in the second lap. At least I did. To quantify a pain, sample this - On my 10 miler in Lalbagh, I had an average HR of 181 and a max HR of 189 for an average pace of 7:13/mile. During this race, I had an average HR of 185 and a peak of 197 for an average pace of 7:33/mile! I have no doubt that the HR spike was due to my pain due to side-stitches!
There was only one spot at which there was a fork and there were no markings. Otherwise the organizers had done a good job, by posting good signs or volunteers at every such ambiguous point. Of course the course was a little longer than 13.1 miles. My Garmin and that of at least 3 other people showed 13.3-13.4 miles.
One grouse I had on the course was that despite organizers advising on race etiquette, several runners ran with headphones and at slower speeds, not making way for faster runners behind them (which is perhaps mostly since they couldn't hear a thing). In some cases, I could even hear the music playing on someone's music player! One guy even elbowed me on my 2nd lap. I hope that, that guy suffered in the sun and suffered some ignominy! On a trail run, especially on such a beautiful trail where one can hear birds, would you really miss music or whatever you are listening to for 2 hours?! Shame on you and a painful DNF to you in your next marathon.
During the first lap, I had pointed to Hari that we needed to take a left turn although it was unmarked for the half & full. The spot only had a sign for the 5K and 10K.
Since he was ahead of me by about 50m or so in the last 2 miles, I couldn't call out to him when he passed the gap. And I followed him. By this time, another fast runner (a woman named Olivia, who looked like she had started much after everyone) had sped past both of us, effortlessly! And she overshot the turn too. With my side stitches burning into me, I chased after Hari and screamed out that he had overshot. He stopped and then looked back, wondering what had possessed me. Eventually Olivia also began running back and Hari followed. I did too. I had run about 0.1 miles extra. Hari had run more.
Finally, when we got close to the finish line, I began pushing the pace when I saw the "200m to go" sign. That surge got me in 1:42 for 13.5 miles. I will console myself saying that I did perhaps get through 13.1 miles in 1:40, which is all I wanted. Once I finished, I buckled over since my side stitches (esp. the one on my right side) now felt like I would have an involuntary removal of my liver or whatever else inhabits my abdominal cavity. After about 2 mins of swallowing pain, I was fine. I went and got my free t-shirt which is awesome (grey t-shirts are usually so! Dibyo, if you are reading this, remember our Flickr idea!?). Damian made my day by saying my tee is better and he couldn't get the same colour (the organizers perhaps had only one colour for each size to make the task of handing out easier). And the medal is lovely and exotic - 2 fabric dolls hung on a standard medal strap.
My racing flats which perhaps helped me come under 1:40 are now brown with red earth from the trail.
I am writing this about 24 hours after the race and my right abdomen is still sore from my running with the side-stitch y'day. I feel like someone has branded me - Now I know the burning sensation from a side-stitch can persist for a day! And although I have been looking forward to it, I never thought I will write about my butt in a blog post! It doesn't hurt any longer. Woo hoo!
One of my trainees had a decent race in the half. The other, JB, was set back by a painfully twisted ankle (suffered earlier last week) and had to DNF - 2/3rds into his race. Several friends had less than desired performances. We will all survive this and do better some time in the future.
Overall a great race, thanks in no small part due to the generous Pradeep, who gave me a ride to Pondy and back, and his driver Mohammed who drove like a saint all the way through, despite the large number of idiots on the road from Bangalore to Pondy and back. Also a shout out to Auro-Grace in Thiruvannamalai for the great lunch.
Nice weekend overall!
And with that, I started on my Mission Boston 2012 with a 30 min easy run.
Someone tell all the pretty women at Wellesley college to start warming up ;)
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
New Book, book lust
I bought yet another book, this time with hard-earned money :(
Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka is acknowledged as an amazing book.
And while looking thru the Royal Society's prizewinning books, discovered that quite a few of my objects of booklust are there. Among the ones that I don't have right now and want to buy desperately is
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
And while we are discussing my lust, I am also looking to buy
The rest is noise by Alex Ross
Crowded with Genius by James Buchan
Where is that benevolent billionaire uncle when you need him!?
Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka is acknowledged as an amazing book.
And while looking thru the Royal Society's prizewinning books, discovered that quite a few of my objects of booklust are there. Among the ones that I don't have right now and want to buy desperately is
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
And while we are discussing my lust, I am also looking to buy
The rest is noise by Alex Ross
Crowded with Genius by James Buchan
Where is that benevolent billionaire uncle when you need him!?
Friday, February 03, 2012
Russia on Radio - More Radio thoo thoo
This is yet another c*** series on Radio.
There is this random woman on FM radio who calls herself "Shweta" on behalf of perhaps a Russian tourism organization but who uses an accent that can't be Russian, however skewed your imagination is. In fact an RJ on the same channel made fun of this "Shweta"'s silly accent.
Why the f* would we want someone speaking with a silly accent, at least one which is distinctly not Russian?
Now the hilarious bit is that this ad airs way too many times incl. at around 530 am in the morning (I kid you not. I think I have even heard it before that sometimes). Who in their right f* mind would want to know about Russia at 5 in the morning? Like what?! You are in the waiting lounge in the international airport and want a quick download on Russia on your way there?! And the advertisement isn't even bloody edited as far as I can see. It has some propaganda style content saying Russia has done some cutting edge research on cancer that other countries couldn't get their arms around, etc... WTF?! Seriously! What era is this? 1960s?!
And someone please wake this woman up and tell her that her accent sucks!
There is this random woman on FM radio who calls herself "Shweta" on behalf of perhaps a Russian tourism organization but who uses an accent that can't be Russian, however skewed your imagination is. In fact an RJ on the same channel made fun of this "Shweta"'s silly accent.
Why the f* would we want someone speaking with a silly accent, at least one which is distinctly not Russian?
Now the hilarious bit is that this ad airs way too many times incl. at around 530 am in the morning (I kid you not. I think I have even heard it before that sometimes). Who in their right f* mind would want to know about Russia at 5 in the morning? Like what?! You are in the waiting lounge in the international airport and want a quick download on Russia on your way there?! And the advertisement isn't even bloody edited as far as I can see. It has some propaganda style content saying Russia has done some cutting edge research on cancer that other countries couldn't get their arms around, etc... WTF?! Seriously! What era is this? 1960s?!
And someone please wake this woman up and tell her that her accent sucks!
Radio Thoo Thoo
Once in a while I forget to carry a podcast on my car and I am forced to listen to radio, which barring the advertising lets me catch up on some new film music. But there are some ads which are so f* all that I have to ran about them, just like I do about some c*** TVCs.
Here is my current nominee for s*** ad.
There is this ad for Davanam Jewellers which has some woman talking to her husband saying that their daughter is only 12, but before they know it, the daughter is going to be of marriageable age.
Seriously! WTF! What a solid retrograde ad!
Is that the first thing you can think of when you daughter is 12?! God help your daughter if that is the case.
How about getting a f* insurance policy to ensure she gets an education if you pop off or an investment if you can't afford her education later?!
There are numerous other ads which piss me off but this one deserved a blog post. When I hear a worse one or an equally c*** one, I will post again
Here is my current nominee for s*** ad.
There is this ad for Davanam Jewellers which has some woman talking to her husband saying that their daughter is only 12, but before they know it, the daughter is going to be of marriageable age.
Seriously! WTF! What a solid retrograde ad!
Is that the first thing you can think of when you daughter is 12?! God help your daughter if that is the case.
How about getting a f* insurance policy to ensure she gets an education if you pop off or an investment if you can't afford her education later?!
There are numerous other ads which piss me off but this one deserved a blog post. When I hear a worse one or an equally c*** one, I will post again
Saturday, January 21, 2012
China by John Keay...
...was added to the now almost static collection, courtesy of a coupon from Crossword due to some prize I won while running! Yeah, now you get book coupons while running!
Now to go and read it
Now to go and read it
Monday, January 16, 2012
Books read & other interesting things on my train trip to Mumbai
Ok, fine, I didn't exactly read The Burma Chronicles by Guy DeLisle on the train but while I was packing, but WTH... It is a lovely read and has great sketching. I recommend it strongly and will give Vaish a hug for lending her book to me.
I also managed to read (on the train) The map that changed the world by Simon Winchester (who is now amongst my favourite authors) about William Smith, whose incredible story is inspiring, funny, poignant by turns. For someone who realized geology can be so interesting only due to the attention bestowed on it by Bill Bryson in his book, William Smith's story is an eye-opener. Fantastic read.
Am also finishing Adil Jussawalla's Trying to Say Goodbye (poetry collection) thanks to my man, Jerry, who got me a signed copy (Woo hoo!). Nice read if you like poetry. Nice read, even if you don't. Not a bad book to start reading poetry anyways.
And finally, Six Impossible Things before Breakfast by Lewis Wolpert moves off my "Books I am currently reading" list after spending some two years on it! Extremely smooth writing and convincing arguments by the author. Must read! For those who find Dawkins' a little too in-your-face and hence perhaps not very readable, Wolpert presents a much smoother & hence better digestible stance on why we believe what we believe, how we develop those beliefs, etc.
I guess one of the cooler experiences on this trip was to meet this 60-yr old priest who solves the Rubik's cube in less than 3 minutes on my way back. He gave multiple demos of the same :) And he is quite tech-savvy too.
Now, to finish off the Honourable Company sometime soon...
I also managed to read (on the train) The map that changed the world by Simon Winchester (who is now amongst my favourite authors) about William Smith, whose incredible story is inspiring, funny, poignant by turns. For someone who realized geology can be so interesting only due to the attention bestowed on it by Bill Bryson in his book, William Smith's story is an eye-opener. Fantastic read.
Am also finishing Adil Jussawalla's Trying to Say Goodbye (poetry collection) thanks to my man, Jerry, who got me a signed copy (Woo hoo!). Nice read if you like poetry. Nice read, even if you don't. Not a bad book to start reading poetry anyways.
And finally, Six Impossible Things before Breakfast by Lewis Wolpert moves off my "Books I am currently reading" list after spending some two years on it! Extremely smooth writing and convincing arguments by the author. Must read! For those who find Dawkins' a little too in-your-face and hence perhaps not very readable, Wolpert presents a much smoother & hence better digestible stance on why we believe what we believe, how we develop those beliefs, etc.
I guess one of the cooler experiences on this trip was to meet this 60-yr old priest who solves the Rubik's cube in less than 3 minutes on my way back. He gave multiple demos of the same :) And he is quite tech-savvy too.
Now, to finish off the Honourable Company sometime soon...
Mumbai Marathon 2012
What a difference a year makes!
Last year around this time of the year, I was pining for a sub-4 finish and ended up 5 mins outside 4 hours and was quite pleased since I was making steady progress towards my goal.
This year, I set my PB for a marathon in India and I am far from pleased.
Lets look at some data first.
My goal for this year was to pace my running buddy, Bhasker to a 3:45 finish. Nothing fancy but a good challenge given Mumbai's conditions. My PB for a marathon is 3:09:46. My PB for 20 miles is around 2:20-2:21. So I thought hitting 20 miles in 2:51 which was our target pace was doable. I was right on that account.
Our targets were 21K in 1:48-1:49, 35K in 3:08-3:09. I did exceedingly well on these intermediate targets. In fact, I did so well that I left the man I was supposed to pace, behind at around the 23km mark!!! I hit the HM mark in 1:48 and the 35K mark also around 3:08. So far so good.
I have alluded to my glute injury first sustained during my BQ attempt in the past. I was quite anxious about whether it would trouble me during this race. It hadn't till that point although at several points I felt a pull in the arch of my left foot due to the hamstring and quadriceps getting pulled due to the pain in my glutes. At around the 33K mark, both my quadriceps felt like lead. But I had exactly 54 mins for the last 10K, 42 mins for the last 7K and that fit well into Bhasker's plan to leave 42 min for the last 7K. So I kept pushing through pain.
While my mins/mile kept climbing, I thought I should get as close as possible to 3:45 even if I missed it. At the 24 mile mark, I had run for 3:25 (exactly like I had in my training) and had 20 mins for 2.2 miles. I contemplated pulling out of the race at this point since I had not achieved my objective of pacing Bhasker anyways and I had excruciating pain each time I lifted my legs. So I stopped lifting them. And this is when quite a few of my running buddies from Bangalore passed me. While they muttered encouragement, there was no way I could describe my pain to any of them. In fact Bhasker who had caught up b/w the 35-36K mark pulled ahead of me sometime here.
So I began just counting step after painful step. When I neared the last 1km left mark, there were just too many people from the half marathon and other races heading to the finish. Since I had no energy to even ask people to make way, I began walking rather than run and stop. After I saw the 500m left mark, I noticed that the full marathon guys were running in a separate channel next to me, but beyond a divider. I had to look for an opening in the divider since my quads were too weak for me to lift them and jump over.
I did manage something of a running finish to finish in 3:54:21 but for a distance of 26.55 miles. Surely that last misdirection must have cost me about 30 seconds+50 m or so, but it is not like I would be happier with that. 3:45 was missed and I was disappointed anyways. And more so by the fact that I couldn't hold my pace for just 2.2 miles more. I took around 28-29 mins to cover that, which means I lost most of my pace only then.
Once I finished, I went to the medical tent for some help but an ice-pack and some spray provided little relief. And Procam's messed up finish line leading up to the medal collection left you wondering if this is the same team which has done India's premier race for 8 other years! I even thought of ditching the medal this time but then decided against sulking.
I am mostly bewildered by why my quads are so shot since I neither did hills too close to the race nor did something in my prep show a weakness in quads. If anything, my hamstrings should have gotten pulled and they stayed ok. And I had done all my miles.
I had done both a 22 & a 24 miler right on target pace although I had not done 1:48-1:49 for those runs. I had run them as steady runs. In this case, I chased that pacing pattern since we had predecided that we wanted a buffer for the last 7K, based on our history. And I would love to think I am better than being pooped by a 1:48 pace for a half now. My pre-race nutrition was quite good too unless eating an extra apple for breakfast screws your quads! I had 2 GU gels during the race and enough water. My post-race pee bears me out. So no hydration issue either although I had mild nausea due to marginal overhydration for about 30 mins post-race.
This requires a little digging, but for now, I am happy to just lie back and chill out.
And thanks to Harini for that awesome coffee, without which I would not have started the race. Thanks to Sacheendran for the company at Soam for my first post-race brunch. Thanks to VVS & KCP for that amazing lunch at Oh Calcutta! Jaggery Icecream rocks.
If someone in Mumbai finds an RFL running jersey in a taxi, you know whom to contact :(
Congratulations to several members of the BHUKMP gang who set PBs in such a tough race (you are all certified nuts now). I will still pick what I call "sissy" races (cold, flat courses) to set mine :) Congrats also to friends elsewhere like Srinath (who smashed through the half in 1:27 or so). Commiserations to some other friends who had ordinary days and some who didn't make it to the starting line for various reasons.
The BIG & good news for the day however came in the form of my trainees both smashing through their races for PBs. Guess I did a better job of coaching!
Keep running!
Update: Thanks to comments from observant bloggers, I made corrections as required above
Last year around this time of the year, I was pining for a sub-4 finish and ended up 5 mins outside 4 hours and was quite pleased since I was making steady progress towards my goal.
This year, I set my PB for a marathon in India and I am far from pleased.
Lets look at some data first.
My goal for this year was to pace my running buddy, Bhasker to a 3:45 finish. Nothing fancy but a good challenge given Mumbai's conditions. My PB for a marathon is 3:09:46. My PB for 20 miles is around 2:20-2:21. So I thought hitting 20 miles in 2:51 which was our target pace was doable. I was right on that account.
Our targets were 21K in 1:48-1:49, 35K in 3:08-3:09. I did exceedingly well on these intermediate targets. In fact, I did so well that I left the man I was supposed to pace, behind at around the 23km mark!!! I hit the HM mark in 1:48 and the 35K mark also around 3:08. So far so good.
I have alluded to my glute injury first sustained during my BQ attempt in the past. I was quite anxious about whether it would trouble me during this race. It hadn't till that point although at several points I felt a pull in the arch of my left foot due to the hamstring and quadriceps getting pulled due to the pain in my glutes. At around the 33K mark, both my quadriceps felt like lead. But I had exactly 54 mins for the last 10K, 42 mins for the last 7K and that fit well into Bhasker's plan to leave 42 min for the last 7K. So I kept pushing through pain.
While my mins/mile kept climbing, I thought I should get as close as possible to 3:45 even if I missed it. At the 24 mile mark, I had run for 3:25 (exactly like I had in my training) and had 20 mins for 2.2 miles. I contemplated pulling out of the race at this point since I had not achieved my objective of pacing Bhasker anyways and I had excruciating pain each time I lifted my legs. So I stopped lifting them. And this is when quite a few of my running buddies from Bangalore passed me. While they muttered encouragement, there was no way I could describe my pain to any of them. In fact Bhasker who had caught up b/w the 35-36K mark pulled ahead of me sometime here.
So I began just counting step after painful step. When I neared the last 1km left mark, there were just too many people from the half marathon and other races heading to the finish. Since I had no energy to even ask people to make way, I began walking rather than run and stop. After I saw the 500m left mark, I noticed that the full marathon guys were running in a separate channel next to me, but beyond a divider. I had to look for an opening in the divider since my quads were too weak for me to lift them and jump over.
I did manage something of a running finish to finish in 3:54:21 but for a distance of 26.55 miles. Surely that last misdirection must have cost me about 30 seconds+50 m or so, but it is not like I would be happier with that. 3:45 was missed and I was disappointed anyways. And more so by the fact that I couldn't hold my pace for just 2.2 miles more. I took around 28-29 mins to cover that, which means I lost most of my pace only then.
Once I finished, I went to the medical tent for some help but an ice-pack and some spray provided little relief. And Procam's messed up finish line leading up to the medal collection left you wondering if this is the same team which has done India's premier race for 8 other years! I even thought of ditching the medal this time but then decided against sulking.
I am mostly bewildered by why my quads are so shot since I neither did hills too close to the race nor did something in my prep show a weakness in quads. If anything, my hamstrings should have gotten pulled and they stayed ok. And I had done all my miles.
I had done both a 22 & a 24 miler right on target pace although I had not done 1:48-1:49 for those runs. I had run them as steady runs. In this case, I chased that pacing pattern since we had predecided that we wanted a buffer for the last 7K, based on our history. And I would love to think I am better than being pooped by a 1:48 pace for a half now. My pre-race nutrition was quite good too unless eating an extra apple for breakfast screws your quads! I had 2 GU gels during the race and enough water. My post-race pee bears me out. So no hydration issue either although I had mild nausea due to marginal overhydration for about 30 mins post-race.
This requires a little digging, but for now, I am happy to just lie back and chill out.
And thanks to Harini for that awesome coffee, without which I would not have started the race. Thanks to Sacheendran for the company at Soam for my first post-race brunch. Thanks to VVS & KCP for that amazing lunch at Oh Calcutta! Jaggery Icecream rocks.
If someone in Mumbai finds an RFL running jersey in a taxi, you know whom to contact :(
Congratulations to several members of the BHUKMP gang who set PBs in such a tough race (you are all certified nuts now). I will still pick what I call "sissy" races (cold, flat courses) to set mine :) Congrats also to friends elsewhere like Srinath (who smashed through the half in 1:27 or so). Commiserations to some other friends who had ordinary days and some who didn't make it to the starting line for various reasons.
The BIG & good news for the day however came in the form of my trainees both smashing through their races for PBs. Guess I did a better job of coaching!
Keep running!
Update: Thanks to comments from observant bloggers, I made corrections as required above
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