Run 4 Fun

Fall training season has started. And, life is good. I believe laying low in terms of mileage for June & July was a good idea. When I started training again in August, my legs felt fresh and hungry for some running. I am a strong believer in training philosophy of Jack Daniels. It just makes so much sense scientifically and some of the runners I respect swear by Jack Daniels. Hence, I am also sold on Jack Daniels training principles. In first six weeks of my training the goal was to build a solid easy running base. I ran most of my runs at 7:55-8:15 min/mile and I can feel a significant improvement in my aerobic capacity. During brutal heat and humidity of Houston running easy really feels good :) I am at second phase of my marathon training where the focus would be on Hill training. I have started doing Mt. Bacon workout with Simon, Jay, Scott, Anna & Mark Fraser. Mt. Bacon is really a good workout. First, we jog 3 miles from memorial park to a parking garage. Then, we run up...

I will be honest. I have secretly fantasized about qualifying for Boston marathon and running the Boston experience. For those who are not familiar with Boston marathon, it is the Mecca of running. In order to run Boston marathon one needs to qualify first in another marathon. For a guy under 35 years of age, one needs to have finished a marathon under 3:10:59. I will take a little detour here and talk about my running experiences. In my childhood, I was very active kid with very high energy level. I grew up in India and many games children used to play in 80-90 era involved running around either in playground or in street near your home. I find it very sad that these days in cities, kids prefer to play indoors or spend time on computer games. Playing with other kids in street was the best part of growing up in India. I never took part in any racing competition till my college year. Our college was one of the better engineering colleges of India and the focus was always on studies. Eve...

Lately I have been feeling like blah, really blah...Usually a good easy run lifts my spirits but what do you do if you feel burnt out from running? Now, that is a difficult situation to be in. I have to really re-think my running situation. I have not run River-Oaks long run in over 2 months. For last 2 months, my running mileage has been 15-18 miles or so. And, I know that I have hit a plateau and a point of diminishing returns. In a race on a decent day, I can run 19 minute 5k or 40 minute 10k effort but it feels very hard. I can push through it on my will but my system is stressing. Probably this is the reason why it hurts so much. I have also noticed that my aerobic system is most stressed. I don't feel any pain/tightness/soreness in my legs. Even at that effort, I am definitely running below my lactate threshold but it becomes very hard to breathe and keep going. So, right now the bottleneck seems to be the aerobic capacity. Jay says that I don't need speed work but slow l...

Yesterday, I couldn't be happier to say the least. I ran my first sub 19 minute 5K race. I went into the race with a plan and the plan worked like charm. Running wise I had two goals for this spring and I achieved both of them. 40 minute 10K and 19 minute 5K. Although, I was surprised that 10K goal fell in place sooner than 5K goal but you can't complain, ;) For 5K yesterday, the idea was simple. Both David and I agreed on more of less even pacing. I had run a 5K race few weeks back with a hangover and hit first mile at 5:48. Ouch, needless to say that the race went downhill from there. Hanging onto a pace in a race is easier said than done. And, 6:05 min/mile pace is plain brutal to hang on for more than 12 minutes after first mile. Yesterday, the first mile marker came at 6:05. I would have liked flat 6 minute mile but I just ran with David. I modulated my pace so that I am just a foot ahead of David to do my duty as pacer for first mile. Then, it was the turn of David to tak...

Hey There, I know it is little creepy but we need to talk. Not in a bad way, we are not gonna break up or anything. I just wanna tell you how great you are these days. I think sometimes you deserve little attention and hence this letter. We both know that Fall was painful and we struggled and suffered together a lot. Then, you just gave up on me in the middle of a marathon. Come on, in the middle? I was so pissed on you for 2 weeks that we didn't run even a single recovery run together. Then came Med center 5k and we ran together a 19:45. We started talking again and you promised that you will stay with me for spring. So far you have delivered on your promise. You are with me when I need you most. I sometimes tire you but you don't complain. I know I am not taking enough care of you. I know, and yet you are not complaining. Since marathon we have run 6 races together in 8 weeks and out of them 4 were PR's. Remember how I told you before that we belong together. Yes, we do!!...

6 KMs cross country in 25 minutes and 10 seconds. Touch wood, I have no aches & pains post marathon and the spring season is looking good for some sprinting. We shall see.  All photographs are courtesy of my friend Hardeep. Hardeep: you take amazing action shots. Many thanks. (With my team members before the race) (At starting line) (Looking up ahead for that upcoming hill) (A nice flat stretch in the race) (The mean hill and jumping across the nasty mud pit) (The whole race was run on muddy trail) (The final sprint. Poor Simon couldn't close the gap and I kept increasing the lead and beat him by 15 seconds in the end)

After doing numbers, I have only one thing to say. I HAVE BEEN LAZY!!! 24.5 (Starting 7/13/2009) 30 32.5 35 36.5 20 One Week Off Just For Fun!!! 18.5 5 Weeks off to India (Total 28 miles including 10 miler race) 30.5 28 36 33 43.5 26 47.5 23 36 39.5 53 Planned Taper Mileage 32 (Taper Week 1) 24 (Taper Week 2) 37 (Including Final Big Day of Race)