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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Week after the marathon..

Its been a hectic week after the marathon. It took me a few days to recover fully after the marathon, thanks to the lack of adequate preparation for the marathon (courtesy the thigh injury). Plus I had a tough time catching up with all the work after the long break. I actually needed a weekend rejuvenation break to get back to normal.

I went for a weekend trip to a hill station near Bombay called Chiplun(300km from Bombay). The resort had everything in place to ensure that one had a very comfortable and relaxing time. I Am still continuing with my break from running. Though I did try and give running a shot, tried running on the hotel Gym and had to quit the treadmill in exactly 3 minutes (it was in real bad shape), but I did make up for it by going for a 3.5km on the beach, a good portion of the run was in the rain, which made things truly wonderful.

Have frozen on my next target - its to experiment and participate in the first Ultra marathon in India. It a 80km run in Bangalore, sometime in December '07. I hope to start running again in the next few days. After meeting some really wonderful and inspiring people at the GTM, I hope to do the MDS (Marathon Des Sables) sometime in the future (distant future). The Bangalore ultra marathon will be a good indicator to tell me if I am equipped to even attempt something like the MDS. Visit http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php for more.

Its a mother of all endurance ultra marathon events. Marathon Des Sables (MDS) is run over the sand dunes of the Sahara. It covers about 220kms over seven days, with average temperature of 40+ degree Celsius & complete Food self-sufficiency (minimum of 2k calories per day) for the duration of the race (plus obligatory equipment (survival blanket, sleeping bag, compass, whistle etc.), which has to be carried on person from day one. The only thing that will be provided by the organizers will be 9liters of water a day & a public tent at the end of each stage over the 6 stage race!

8 comments:

beanz said...

How about a nice cool Marathon of Britain?
http://www.ambitionevents.com/mob/

Anonymous said...

Guess I am trying to raise the bar for myself each time. MOB is similar to MDS, the effort involved is similar, except for the temperature (but the day temperture in bombay is 35degree C on many days and MDS has 35-43degrees), which should not be too difficult to manage.
Plus MDS is a more glamourous event (and more challenging) and which makes corporate sponsorship easier. I don't plan to run without sponsorship for such ultramarathons, as I will be puting in a lot of manhours preparing for such a event.

sandhu said...

Raising the bar ? That was the 80k plan.
Pole vaulting is what you're onto ;)

Also,I need some feedback, after my 10k+ runs I cannot(actually do not) run for 3 days to let the aches in legs(mainly calf) completely subside.
If I try then get some shin pains,and poor run.

Is this normal..when you set out do you have previous run's aches/pains ,safe to ignore or risking injury.

Sorry to divert yr blog comments.

@GirishMallya said...

Currently I am just focusing on 80K, which is a big jump for me. The MDS thing is a long term project (will medium term, as all of us are dead in the long term). I have no misconceptions on my current ablities.

As regards your query, 10k+ (is a very vague term, is it 10 or 12, 14 or 16 or 20???). If its closer to 10 and you have to rest for 3 days, means that you need to train more with shorter runs. Get to a stage where you can do a 15k, with a two day rest.

If its mainly calf pain, its nothing serious and you just need to train more regularly (with shorter distances) and have patience.

Its difficult to say if you can and can't run if there are aches and pains, its with time (as you get to know your body better) that you will realise if its a serious injury or some regular pain. Never ignore injuries, when in doubt rest. Best wishes.

Anonymous said...

Hey Girish, congratulations on the successful completion of the Great Tibetan Marathon 2007. It was good to read about all your experiences, the descriptions of the scenery and landscape. Post some pictures when you can.

sandhu said...

Thanks again Girish,this is helpful stuff..I was worried something wrong cannot run for 3 days owing to pains/aches.Can't run regularly (time constraints)so just do the longs after 3-4 days and get the legs shot :)

the 10k+ i mentioned are abt 10 to 15 k (depending on how the pains get)..

@GirishMallya said...

Thanks SAK. Am posting some pictures today, more will follow..

@GirishMallya said...

Just focus on being regular with your short weekday runs, find time somehow. Weekly short runs are more important than the weekend long run. You will see the benefits of being regular with shorter runs in a few weeks, all the pains will disappear. Best wishes.