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That's D |
So, It’s been 2 months of running now & here’s how the 2nd
months went
Data & Goal Setting: After my
initial metric of “no of rounds of my apartment” I realized I needed larger
goals something which is closer to what I want to achieve i.e. distance &
time. After browsing through the net I downloaded runkeeper a simple app which started giving me very quickly – the
no of km’s I ran in how much time. As I started looking at km’s / time – it
gave a new dimension to my running. I
started relating my daily runs to my larger objective of a ½ marathon or a 10 k
to start with. By the end of the month I did 6.37 km in 38.52 seconds &
around 25 km/ week of only running. It also helped when I met my coach and
fellow runners. For anyone who is starting up – this is a must.
Running on the roads: I always
wondered Why would somebody do it, especially if you have a small circuit
within your apartment. Not only it is dangerous, it is also toxic as u take in
all the polluted air. My first run was to touch the Koramangla U turn from my
apartment (inner ring road to Koramngala) that’s around 3.5 km. By the end of
the month I was the going till the Ijipura Signal that’s 6.2 km. Running early
helped me avoid the traffic still it was bad – one could smell shit & urine
in parts of the road, sometimes it felt I was running a obstacle race as I had
to avoid pot holes, water logged drains, construction material and jump into
the so called footpath which was taken over & modified by most of the
shops. But this was 500m or so but the fun was when you got of this space &
moved to open road, it was lovely to run with the rising sun as if you are
competing with it & at most part the air was fresh & it just felt good
to run in an open area rather than going round & round the apartment –
which becomes suffocating after some time. But the biggest benefit was in
pushing yourself to just do a little bit more, once you are out you know you
have to come back, if not for this I would not have touched 6.5 km in 2 months.
Shoes / Injuries: I had one large
blister in my right feet and I was not comfortable with shoes but you cannot
just go buy a Nike for 7k and later say – this is not working. For a communist
minded Bong this was a NO GO. So I carried on, but by the end of the month my
shin bones were paining not during the run or walk but in general. At 45+ this
signals bother you & decided to read about this.
Deanne & D: I picked up Shut
Up & Train by Deanne Pandey, just because that was the only book on fitness
in the library & it turned out to be quite nice. Apart of generic
nutrition, body & food It had a separate chapter on running & explained
few things like strength training, breathing techniques while running etc.
While it was nice to read but you can only do that much so I decided to go in
for a coach. D came recommended by CKV, met him on a Sat at Lal Bagh after
filling in a simple questionnaire. As I spoke to him he barked commands on how
to do some exercise, explained why a particular injury happens & joked
around with few. To me he said stop running for 2-3 weeks so that shin will
heal else it might be detrimental plus told him a few exercise & send him a
record of my food/sleep for a week. He was away from last week of Mar to May 1st
week, so we could start in May 1st week & still do a half
marathon by end of the year.
Driving back from Lal Bagh after
a hearty breakfast at MTR I mused, although there was a sense of disappointment
as I had to let go of my regime I felt this was the sensible thing to do. Yes
the adrenalin rush was good for the first 2 months – it gave me the confidence
that 10k is doable & half marathon I can complete but I will need help.
Also I am in this for fun & for long run.
Written on 2 nd March
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