First 50km week of 2008

It feels great after having finally done my first 50km week of the year. Managed four runs during the week, 11km, 13km, 11km and 15km runs on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

I did Sundays 15km in about 1hr 35mins, in some amazing weather. It was raining during the entire duration of the run, which made things very easy and enjoyable. Actually its been raining all through the week, which has been a welcome relief (its not rained for almost a month, and Bombay was suffering water shortage, drought in Maharashtra and massive load-shedding in areas around Bombay). I personally love running in the rains, it makes running so much easier. Though it can be dangerous - greater chances of impact injuries, slipping, rashes, plus there are pot holes and manholes to manage (so its better not to experiment, and stick to the tried and tested routes). Will write a more detailed run on running and rains later.

A 45km week...

As planned I managed four runs during the week. I ran on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, doing 11km each on first three days and 12km on Sunday, taking the weeks tally to 45km. I could have done more on Sunday, but had to catch Dark Night in the morning (super flick, its got the best script ever for a super hero film. It had more than a slick action and digital special effects).

Next week I hope to do 50km during the week. And in a phased manner take it to 80km in two months time. Which means that September would require about 3 weekly runs of 13km each and Sunday run of 20-25km, totaling to about 65km a week. So that I have about 4-5 weeks in October with 80km each (doing about three to four weekday runs to 13km each and do a 30-35km on Sunday) and take November easy so that I am ready for my Bangalore ultra on November 16, 2004. I only hope I don't have to travel much in November, as that will make things more difficult.

I was recently contacted by a runner who wanted to participate in the Bombay marathon. He had ever run more than a few kilometers, but had gymd reasonably regularly till recently. I initially suggested that he take up the half marathon in Jan 2009. But, he wanted to do the full marathon in 2009, this again was very doable as he has about 6 months to go. So I suggest he aim for a time around of around 5.5 hours. And after that things went haywire. He mentioned that he wanted to be one of the top Indian finishers in the full marathon. I know most of us would have brushed this off as a random wild thought, but when he told me, I knew he meant it (don't ask me how, but I knew it). And this got me really worried. As a responsible runner I did my best to explain to him the pitfalls of attempting it (and explained to him the most obvious outcome, a permanent injury which will make it impossible for him to ever run again and tried to get him to postpone his goal to 2010). Distance running is about patience, determination and continuous training, and results don't come overnight. I hope he reconsiders his decision and takes up a more realistic and practical goal.

Catching up over the weekend

The long weekend is almost over, which makes it two great weekends in a row. I also made up for the lost time by doing two runs in 16hrs. I did a 11km run today in about 1hr 10mins with my new pair. It took my weekly mileage to 29km.

The weather today was hot and humid which made the run difficult, but the fact that I was wearing my new pair made up for it. The shoe seems to be behaving well and is living upto my expectations. I look forward to doing about three runs next week.

I also hope to become more regular with my blog, as I have been quite erratic with posts.

Eventful day..

Its been a great day, although it had a slow and lazy start. But after that its been a totally different day, when I went shopping.

I picked up some much needed cycling gear, cycling gloves and a foot pump. The sad thing was the store selling these biking accessories and gear (Hypercity, Malad), does not keep anything specific to road cycle. They only stock Raleigh gear (a UK company having a manufacturing base in China), which is almost 'dumping' stuff in India at some really attractive prices. So the gear and accessories they stock are also produced by Raleigh (which seems to only produce mountain bikes). I wanted to pick up spare tubes, seat covers, etc, could not find anything for my road bike.

But the highlight of my shopping expedition was purchase of a pair of Reebok Road running plus shoes (one of the few specialty road running shoes in India!). I have had a couple of bad experiences when I have purchased Reebok running shoes, as the cushioning technology they use does not seem to suit me. But these specialty running shoes have the extra cushioning to help my cause and I got them at a very special price (thanks to a sea (almost every clothing brand and accessory) of 'sale' and discounts doing the rounds in the city, to boost consumption, which has taken a huge beating after the recent news of Inflation - which at the consumer level is at 16%). I personally believe that in times of high inflation its better to spend more, as savings do not really help your cause.

Now I am fully stocked up on my running, swimming (not sure if I have mentioned, I now have another set of complete swimming gear which I picked up recently) and cycling gear. The only thing left is to train on these three disciplines.

I completed the day by doing a 7km run in about 42minutes. Thank god I went for the run today, as I found the new pair of road running shoes, while I was returning after my run and coffee break.

Lazy couple of weeks

Its been a lazy couple of weeks, though I have been running regularly, esp. last week. I managed 4 runs last week of 13km, 11km, 10km and 11km, on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

I also managed a short holiday last week, from Thursday evening to Sunday in Baroda. The weekend runs took place in Baroda and I had a great time running in a park, which had a 1km and 2km loop and it was a welcome break running on asphalt instead of concrete. The weekend break did me a whole lot of good, was completely distressing, lots of eating, cafes and watching movies (Jaane Tu was a highlight, it should be the biggest hit of this year, a very well made flick using a regular love story).

This week has not been so good for running, as I guess I strained by thighs a little. So taking it a little easy, more strengthening required for thighs now! I managed a good 11km run on Wednesday and will do another run on Sunday (I skipped my Saturday run, as I wanted to take it easy and go shopping, inshort I was feeling extremely lazy).

13K run in extreme weather

It really was extremely. I completed by 10.5km run today in about 1hr 10mins and did the balance distance in about 16minutes, after a short breakfast pitstop. Most of the pictures (below) have been shot at King circle and Dadar TT area in Bombay


Taken at Dadar TT, Outside Damodar Sweet shop


More pics from Dadar TT


BEST bus going up Tilak Bridge at Dadar


Road leading to King Circle flyover


Stranded taxis at King Circle flyover


Knee length water & higher in most part of King Circle area.


It was really deep.....


Massive traffic Jam before King Circle railway station, due to water logging


Road divider were submerged.






Water coming out of storm drains (knocking off 'warning' signboards)


More stranded BEST buses at King Circle area.