Books in 2019

Here are the books I read in 2019

1. If this isn't nice, what is? by Kurt Vonnegut
2. Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt et al
3. The Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn
4. To the Finish Line by Chrissie Wellington
5. Mastering Sleep by Swami Subramaniam
6. Rework by Jason Fried
7. Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden
8. Range by David Epstein
9. The Long Dark tea-time of the soul by Douglas Adams
10. Loonshots by Safi Bahcall
11. The Crossword Century by Alan Connor
12. Alchemy by Rory Sutherland
13. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
14. The Invisible Gorilla...by Christopher Chabris et al
15. Katha by Shobana Narayan
16. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
17. The Nature Fix by Florence Williams
18. The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
19. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
20. The Joy of Quiz by Alan Connor
21. Fifty things that shaped the modern economy by Tim Harford
22. Reasons to stay alive by Matt Haig
23. How I almost blew it by Sidharth Rao
24. If not now, then when by Greg Searle
25. In his own words by Terry Pratchett
26. Go! India's Sporting Transformation

Book 26 has essays by Dravid, Gopichand and Bindra (amongst people you may know) and Joy Bhattacharjya (amongst people you should know). What more do you want? I'd also recommend the Harford book for the anecdotes on Fritz Haber, Diesel and Fleming (among others).

I really loved the Psychopath Test by Ronson.

Since 2019 was such a good year, it is hard for me to recommend a single book as almost all of the above were wonderful reads. You may notice that the Pratchett and the Adams books were the only works of fiction that I finished. 

How was your year in reading?

Manju - 14 years on

I am a little embarrassed that I remembered this a week before the 19th, when I was travelling and forgot to post. Today (26th when I am actually making this post) is a week and 14 years since Manju was shot dead on the job.

So much has changed in the country that I am unsure whether most people care about honesty and corruption. Still, one does hope that one gets better and so does our country.

Here is a brief moment in memory of that brave man. I still remember you Manju. Bless your soul as ever.

Boston D Party

It has been 8 years since I started on a wonderful journey from Bangalore to Boston. 

Here's my book https://amzn.to/2kkrYdY 

I spent some time looking for publishers but made no progress. The story is there. The production value could be better but I didn't want to wait longer than I have. 

The feedback from early buyers (who had committed to buy in 2011, before I even finished writing it!), is encouraging.

US buyers, click here

8 Years

It has been 8 years now.

The further I get away from 2011, the more I am impressed by the fact that I took the plunge than by the fact that I have survived for so long without going back to a job.

The last year has been a surprise but in ways I didn't expect. I had mentioned becoming a parent in last year's post. Now our son is over a year old and walks around and pretty much occupies the top of any list I make.

The reversion to the mean has come pretty close to happening although the themes for this year have been parenting and other items.

Parenting is harder than anything I have done before. I heard Scott Jurek say on a podcast that compared to parenting, running ultras like he did, was easy (or something to that effect). But it is incredibly fulfilling. You could say that on most days my oxytocin levels should be greater than my endorphin levels. I don't think I would have survived this without my superhuman wife. All mothers are superhuman, by default!

Running continues to be a constant although I mostly run without a plan. I am grateful to just stay in shape and manage to run as much as I can.

I stopped working with The Fuller Life in mid-May to focus on finding some opportunity for myself that offers more bucks. I was already getting enough excitement. Thanks to that, coaching has stayed my primary source of income. And that is just one surprise. I am now coaching almost the same number of people as I was at peak with trainees continuing for almost 4 years or more now.

Reading has suffered a bit but I have read some wonderful books this year. Range by David Epstein, Loonshots by Safi Bahcall and Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden are 3 picks if you can't wait for my annual post on other good books I read. Audiobooks and Podcasts have bailed out quite a bit of my reading.

I continue to be grateful for so many good things in my life. I only wish the same and more for myself and for you, my dear reader. As with every year since I began coaching, I have met a few wonderful and generous people who have tried to make my life better in the last year too.

And as with the last few years, now that you are here, say hello, write in and let me know how you have been and anything else you have been perhaps meaning to say :)

Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn

Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn is the 3rd book by the author and easily his best work.

Spoiler Alert!

If you don't want to know some key details of the book, skip the rest of this post, read the book and come back to finish reading this post.

If you are still here, I must thank you for indulging me.

As I tweeted giddily after the initial few chapters, it has everything from fantastic anecdotes, sibling rivalry, the wonderful Thomas Payn and expectedly some of the legends of ultrarunning.

For one, the book is quite unlike anything Finn has written before. It has none of the meticulous, slow nature of his two earlier books on Kenyan and Japanese running. It also betrays a certain impatience (perhaps driven by the publishing contract) for someone entering the world of ultrarunning. But it is a bloody colourful book and never has a dull moment. Amongst many reasons to read it, is the author's visceral honesty and willingness to share his vulnerability with his readers although one would love to know how one even has the cognitive coherence to remember such detail for someone subject to hallucinations during an ultramarathon!

As the reader follows Finn on his journey, one wonders what happened to the Finn from Kenya and Japan? Wasn't he much nicer? You wouldn't expect him to mock his generous hosts, would you? And he does get quite hard on himself, more than once about his racing. The one time one sees a clear sign that this is the same author who wrote with such fondness about Kenyans and quite some amusement about the Japanese, is when he observes the rather "white" universe of ultrarunning. And to his credit he does make an attempt to remedy that (which would be familiar to some of his followers on Twitter). But this book is mostly about Finn and his experience while meeting practically every legend in the ultrarunning scene globally. The one gap if any, is that there's almost no mention of some of the accomplished Japanese runners, esp in the 24 hr races.

If you weren't already a fan of Finn, when you see his adulation for Damian Hall, the journalist runner who does spectacular stuff at the UTMB, followed by a desire to emulate him, you know you are that guy!

The book also has more of his family and friends than in his previous books, since this book has a lot of self-reflection on Finn's part and it hasn't escaped this writer than Finn spent more time in the Alps doing his first UTMB than I spent in acquiring this book, reading and then writing this review!
But it was worth every moment and I hope you get to savour it too.

It has enough drama for even a non-runner to appreciate a good read on an adventure. You could read the book if you a runner, maybe even an ultrarunner, an adventure seeker, a navel gazer, a nature lover or someone who just loves a good story or two.
Don't blame the author if you get inspired to sign up for an ultra!

Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden

*

Christie Aschwanden’s Good to Go, is subtitled “How to eat, rest, sleep and rest like a champion” but it could easily have been subtitled as the sports science version of https://callingbullshit.org/

x

There’s more than a lifetime’s reading of books on training to achieve better performance as an athlete across sports but there’s not a comparable body of work on recovery. And that’s with good reason - It is really hard to figure out what works and not too many have bothered trying to find out. Should you take that pre-workout drink that all your friends are taking? Should you buy that special set of socks that your rivals are swearing by? What about those post-race ice baths and massages?

Christie boldly steps in where not many have dared to and examines claims from manufacturer of recovery devices and supplements and protocols and practitioners to see what works and whether it makes sense, even stepping aside to explore what works when it seemingly doesn’t make sense!

Along the way, she manages to entertain the readers with humility and humour while raising the reader’s understanding of what sports science has to say on various topics. While she willingly submits herself to various ideas in the interest of sports science, she doesn’t spare herself for trying whatever idea she is examining, in the first place. And she has the inputs of over two hundred people in the area of sports science including Olympic medallists, world class sportspersons across sports as diverse as American football and mountain biking, coaches, sports scientists, even the businessmen behind some of the products and services and fellow authors.

The book is endorsed by two of the very best writers of our times - Alex Hutchinson who wrote the incredibly useful “Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights” and David Epstein who wrote “The Sports Gene, ” and with good reason. Christie is very respected as a writer on science and it will become quickly obvious to her readers why that is so.

The book is an enjoyable read and not just because Christie writes in a simple, lucid and witty manner with chapters titled “The Cold War” while discussing ice baths (and related protocols) for recovery or “Selling Snake Oil” on supplements, but it causes the reader to pause and think for herself why she is  doing what she is doing and whether it really works. The book is worth reading for just a section alone - one on questions for scientists in an early chapter titled “Just-So Science” and how a study on whether beer aids recovery taught her lessons she uses throughout the book.

*This review should have appeared about 3 weeks ago but I had an avoidable mishap with the publisher. This review was made possible due to an advanced copy from the author

Mumbai Marathon 2019

A little bit of blood, lots of sweat and some tears...

Y’day was the 15th edition of the Mumbai Marathon (now called the Tata Mumbai Marathon).

The last year has been a significant year (and not just on the running front) in my life. With the birth of my son in Apr last year, I decided to put my running way down on my list of priorities at least in the short term. From Apr to Aug, I ran for just 3 days a week and at an easy pace. From Sep, I began running 6 days a week while continuing to run easy. By the time KTM came around in Nov, I was in good shape, despite no speed work.

I had a very good run at KTM thanks to some German business travellers, running under 90 min for the first time ever. So I was looking forward to Mumbai this year wondering this would be the year I would have a good run in the full marathon. Since 2011, I have had great runs at Mumbai in the half but a good run in the full has been elusive.

I had been to Mumbai last week (Well, Vashi isn’t exactly Mumbai - it is much cooler than South Mumbai, for sure) and I knew that come race day, the weather would suck - like it has in most years. While I wasn’t looking for a PB, despite being in PB shape, I wanted to beat my best time in India 3:14 from a race in Bangalore. I knew that was possible as my fitness felt better than that. I felt confident enough to tell anyone who asked me what my target was that I’d love to run between 3:10-3:15, unlike in previous years where I felt telling someone my target for Mumbai would jinx it. As an aside, I don’t feel like this at other races - when Hari (a running buddy) had asked me at KTM what my target was, I had said that I’d love to get as close to 1:30 as I could. And I did. But then…

Since the race started at 5:30 am this year, I woke up at 2:30 am as I was staying with a friend at Worli and wanted to be at the venue by 4:45. Since I had nothing to do after 3:30, I tried taking a nap till 4 am but that didn’t work. I finally ended up at the venue by 4:15 itself as the ride was a breeze. My cab went thru Marine Drive which was a surprise since I expected road closures much before the race start.

The race start was great as my first km took me almost 4:40 thanks to the crowds. I was kicked as I have never started this slow. I spent kms 3-10 talking to Murthy, a fellow runner from Bangalore, about his daughter, already a promising runner. Once we hit Pedder Road, I held my pace but Murthy dropped back a bit.

By the time I got to half way point, I was so looking forward to the 32km mark where I would begin a planned surge. That was not to be. Thanks to my bowels not being empty, I ended up with gas which got progressively worse from around the 26-27 km mark and I slowed to a walk. I went to some shops on the sea-face and asked for ginger which helps with gas. Since I couldn’t get one, I had to walk as my abdomen hurt a lot. I got one only by end of the sea face with a vegetable cart! That helped a bit.

I then stopped at a porta-potty at Kemp’s Corner but that didn’t help at all.

I began running again but in another 4-5km my legs which had got compromised thanks to a weakened core, just didn’t recover. I gave up and did a mix of walking and jogging till the end. I even entertained thoughts of pulling out of the race at the 29km mark when I passed close to where I was staying in Worli, but the memory of my only DNF in a 75km race at the 50km mark, thanks to a bad attitude haunted me for a year. I just sucked up and went on. As I established a few years ago, if you don't hit your target, any number is not palatable. So even if I finished in over 4 hours, it didn't matter.

Only when an old running friend, Priyankar popped up by my side with about 200m to go, did I attempt any sort of running.

That helped me finish looking better than I did after 30km but my stomach was bugging me.

Due to the gas, none of the electral and water (or even a banana) I had consumed along the way had been absorbed. Due to this happening at the ultra, I knew I had to puke it out or risk a messy flight trip back to Bangalore. So I did that. An old trainee and friend, helped me get thru this. We were both spooked when I puked some blood at the end. At first I thought it might be ORSL in the apple flavour, but I went home and checked that the drink is just light brown in question. I am guessing that my dry throat must have gotten scratched and puking must have made it worse.

Anyways, I was fine after this and went home, showered, had a nice lunch thanks to my host and left for the airport. Just a few years ago, I would have agonised over this. Thanks to the baby, there were very low expectations. I am disappointed but not exactly shattered. Another year, another race.

See you all next year.