Had the privilege of running the lake circuit with the charming Genia Topple of our US office who is visiting India. Genia regularly runs half marathons back in the US and has been timing 2 hrs 10 mins for the 21 km run. That would be about 20 minutes faster than me and is enough to give me a huge complex.
She was gracious enough to humor me and run along with me in my run/walk/run style and that too at a much slower pace. Despite the walk breaks we finished the run in a good time of just over an hour. Good fun.
Genia’s story is hugely inspiring in more than one ways and it has been a privilege to know her and now get to run with her.
Another rockstar from our Atlanta office is Frank Zaubi and I ran the same circuit with him last year when he was here in India. Old enough to be my father, he has been running full marathons for several years now and in very, very decent timings. He has a plan to run a marathon on each continent and at last count he had done some spectacular runs at the most exotic places including the Great Wall of China and Antarctica. Yes, Antarctica.
Frank too uses the Jeff Galloway method of run/walk and he shipped me Galloway’s latest book from the US when he saw me using the same technique. A very sweet gesture.
Running has helped me connect with some really interesting people and I shall be writing about more such people in my future blogs.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Running Strategy
Took advantage of the holiday today and ran a lap of the Hussain Sagar lake – a little over 9 kms. Took me 65 minutes but was completely drained out by the end of the run. Long way to go Brajesh….. if you get exhausted in running 9 kms, how will you last 42??
Running Strategy
I will be following the same regimen that I have been using for the past years – the one that has allowed me to complete several Half Marathon events.
Introduced to me by my friend and then colleague Atish, I shall be following the world famous Jeff Galloway’s running method – a combination of walk/run segments as against a continuous run from start to end.
In this method, you run for a while, walk for 1 minute and then run again for the same time duration.
You keep interrupting your run with 1 minute walk breaks that let your muscles recover and energize you for the next segment. I have been using a 7 minute run + 1 minute walk during the 21 kms and this has allowed me to finish the runs within a range of 2 hrs 24 minutes to 2 hrs 35 minutes.
But here is the tricky part. I just did the math for the full marathon and the task is going to be very, very difficult.
If I have to complete the run in 5 hours, and if I maintain a speed of 5 kms/hr during each of the 1 minute walk breaks that I will be taking, I will have to run for 8 minutes at the speed of 8.5 kms/hr – for a full 5 hour period.
The most that I have done is 7 minutes with an average running speed a shade lesser than 8 kms/hr so this is really, really going to stretch me.
Planning to use the treadmill to get myself into the routine of running for 8 long minutes @ 8.5 kms/hr. Or, I could run for 4 minutes and take a 30 second walk break…..
Will try out all combinations – luckily there is time for me to experiment and also to build my stamina to see me thru a 5 hour run.
Will keep you posted on the developments.
Running Strategy
I will be following the same regimen that I have been using for the past years – the one that has allowed me to complete several Half Marathon events.
Introduced to me by my friend and then colleague Atish, I shall be following the world famous Jeff Galloway’s running method – a combination of walk/run segments as against a continuous run from start to end.
In this method, you run for a while, walk for 1 minute and then run again for the same time duration.
You keep interrupting your run with 1 minute walk breaks that let your muscles recover and energize you for the next segment. I have been using a 7 minute run + 1 minute walk during the 21 kms and this has allowed me to finish the runs within a range of 2 hrs 24 minutes to 2 hrs 35 minutes.
But here is the tricky part. I just did the math for the full marathon and the task is going to be very, very difficult.
If I have to complete the run in 5 hours, and if I maintain a speed of 5 kms/hr during each of the 1 minute walk breaks that I will be taking, I will have to run for 8 minutes at the speed of 8.5 kms/hr – for a full 5 hour period.
The most that I have done is 7 minutes with an average running speed a shade lesser than 8 kms/hr so this is really, really going to stretch me.
Planning to use the treadmill to get myself into the routine of running for 8 long minutes @ 8.5 kms/hr. Or, I could run for 4 minutes and take a 30 second walk break…..
Will try out all combinations – luckily there is time for me to experiment and also to build my stamina to see me thru a 5 hour run.
Will keep you posted on the developments.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Inspiration
The Status
The week of my public pledge went pretty well with two evenings of 45 minutes running. Last week though was a complete washout with a very stiff neck; visitors at office and erratic schedules. Have tried to be back on track this week with an hour of brisk walking Sunday evening and hope to have at least two sessions during the week.
Will try a long run Saturday
The Inspiration
My friend Sanjay who lives in Mumbai travels 90 minutes by car from work to home and seldom reaches home before 9. However, he hits the road/gym/grabs a cycle every day for about an hour after reaching home.
Jagdish, another friend in Mumbai has been waking up at an unearthly hour everyday for the past 3 months or so to work out over an hour. He has never been fitter before.
Both these gents work in high pressure – intense work organizations and still find time and energy to work out.
Highly inspiring. I need to stop blogging and start running.
{Next blog on the plan – the schedule, the drill, the strategy…. Coming soon}
The week of my public pledge went pretty well with two evenings of 45 minutes running. Last week though was a complete washout with a very stiff neck; visitors at office and erratic schedules. Have tried to be back on track this week with an hour of brisk walking Sunday evening and hope to have at least two sessions during the week.
Will try a long run Saturday
The Inspiration
My friend Sanjay who lives in Mumbai travels 90 minutes by car from work to home and seldom reaches home before 9. However, he hits the road/gym/grabs a cycle every day for about an hour after reaching home.
Jagdish, another friend in Mumbai has been waking up at an unearthly hour everyday for the past 3 months or so to work out over an hour. He has never been fitter before.
Both these gents work in high pressure – intense work organizations and still find time and energy to work out.
Highly inspiring. I need to stop blogging and start running.
{Next blog on the plan – the schedule, the drill, the strategy…. Coming soon}
Monday, February 7, 2011
No Life
The first day after my public pledge. And I woke up an hour after I shut the alarm off. As a result could not train in the morning at all as I hurried to reach work on time.
However, my pledge is now public and I am accountable to all my friends. Could not let the day end without any training.
Returned home at 9 pm and then ran a little over 5.5 kms. Could not have dinner till around 10.15; no wonder the wife was not amused. In the work-life-run balance, life lost out today.
But the silver lining is that I wont have to wake up early tomorrow. :-)
However, my pledge is now public and I am accountable to all my friends. Could not let the day end without any training.
Returned home at 9 pm and then ran a little over 5.5 kms. Could not have dinner till around 10.15; no wonder the wife was not amused. In the work-life-run balance, life lost out today.
But the silver lining is that I wont have to wake up early tomorrow. :-)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
My gift on turning 42
I will turn 42 this year in September. And what better gift to give myself than running the full marathon at the Mumbai Marathon event in Jan 2012.
42@42. 42 kms at the age of 42. Heard about this very appealing idea from my dear friend Geet whose cousin had done this feat a few years back.
I have never run this distance in my life though I have been doing half marathons for several years now. And then since it is boring to run for 6 hours or 7 hours, I want to target a timing of 5 hours.
This will require a very disciplined training program that I will have to adhere to over the next 11 months or so as I build the strength in my legs and the stamina to keep running for 5 hours. I will have to wake up at odd hours and run long distances come rain or the summer heat. And since I find getting out of bed the most difficult part of the training routine, I am putting myself at the point of no return by making this very pubic declaration of my intentions to train the whole year and then run the marathon next January.
I will be posting regular posts on this site to keep you updated on my progress. And to keep the whole stuff interesting I will try to pepper the blogs with tidbits on running, work-life-running balance and other interesting stuff.
I want you to prod me and push me and encourage me to stay on track so that I reach my goal. Pull me up if you see me slipping. Come, join my journey without leaving your chair...
42@42. 42 kms at the age of 42. Heard about this very appealing idea from my dear friend Geet whose cousin had done this feat a few years back.
I have never run this distance in my life though I have been doing half marathons for several years now. And then since it is boring to run for 6 hours or 7 hours, I want to target a timing of 5 hours.
This will require a very disciplined training program that I will have to adhere to over the next 11 months or so as I build the strength in my legs and the stamina to keep running for 5 hours. I will have to wake up at odd hours and run long distances come rain or the summer heat. And since I find getting out of bed the most difficult part of the training routine, I am putting myself at the point of no return by making this very pubic declaration of my intentions to train the whole year and then run the marathon next January.
I will be posting regular posts on this site to keep you updated on my progress. And to keep the whole stuff interesting I will try to pepper the blogs with tidbits on running, work-life-running balance and other interesting stuff.
I want you to prod me and push me and encourage me to stay on track so that I reach my goal. Pull me up if you see me slipping. Come, join my journey without leaving your chair...
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