Push push push

I put in a decent run this Sunday past. A good 28 K in 3 hours flat but the last 2 K were a struggle. I'm almost comfortable now running with a bottle of Gatorade for about 15 K. It is definitely adding a few minutes to my time but there really is no other way. On Race Day too I will carry a bottle as I am certain there won't be any Gatorade along the way which is ridiculous but that's how it is.

The other problem I am facing is looping around any one place after 20 K becomes too taxing. I am sure that if there was an open road I would be hitting 35 K right now. But mentally when I have to loop around a 1.5 K circuit, it is very easy for the mind to give up. I have 4 more long runs left. Two of those have to be 35 K. The climb suddenly got a whole lot steeper. I already know that the last 10 K from no. 32 to 42 are going to be something extraordinary. And the last 5 out of those 10 will be like nothing I've ever experienced. :-)

Tingle

A whirpool of emotions. I sat listening on Saturday to Subroto Bagchi in Delhi who spoke about transformational leadership. One of his analogies was, inevitably about a good leader being like a marathoner. Knowing when to conserve, knowing when to push, recognizing the different pains that occur as you go further and further.

The next moment, or so it seemed I was taking a cab back from outside the Air India building / Oberoi (now Trident) hotel to Bandra. But before I hailed the cab, I walked for a few minutes down Marine Drive...soaking it all in. The panorama, the road, the sea, Haji Ali in the distance...mentally assembling the building blocks of determination bit by bit almost...for the moment exactly 2 months into the inevitable future where I wouldn't be wearing a buttoned down shirt but a running jersey with 1159 pinned on the front.

As I rode in the cab, I checked off various landmarks I had passed in the half marathon run....Haji Ali, Kemps Corner fly over, different traffic signals...and then I sat back, alone with my thoughts as Mumbai moved along in her customary hurried but not knowing why pace. After a fair amount of time, my attention was drawn to an imposing structure on my right and I let out an audible gasp of disbelief: it was the Siddhinivayak temple. I had been in the cab for at least 30 minutes and here we were, just about a quarter way into the marathon route! After what seemed like an eternity Reclamation came into view: the loop where I would be turning back after 23 K.

That drive has done a lot for me. The drive and Murakami. Reading his essays on running is like a soothing, calming influence. I have taken a week's rest. I hope this will now let me gather enough momentum to take me all the way to Bombay in January with a good vibe. I have a lot to learn, a lot of work yet to do, mentally I need to revisit my Cricket days of learning how to concentrate again. So much learning. Its uncanny how much this is teaching me and the best part is it's only just begun.

More on Joy

It's 6:03 AM...the sun is gently pushing aside his duvet and the first rays are nudging the clouds and twilight away...the water on my left occasionally sparkles like friendly winking Aldis lamps of old...welcoming a new day. And I'm on the road with Springsteen belting out Thunder Road. Far from shattering the simple and almost inexplicable dignity of the surroundings, the Boss manages to increase the sensation of being in a time and place where there is nothing other than the crisp, clean air, the first warm rays of the sun, the gentle sound of my shoes hitting the tarmac and stillness.

What if anything can trump this sensation?

X

I finished my run today with mixed feelings. I needed water at 2 hrs 20 mins but couldn't find any and decided to pull up. I feel with some Gatorade at that stage 30 + K was within reach. At any rate, this morning was my strongest ever long run though...I hit the 19 K mark in 1 hr 49 mins. Not something I've done in any training run. I finished today with about 24 K under my belt which was good but now this is becoming almost routine. The Gatorade bottle I carried with me helped at just the right stage. First half consumed at the 14 K mark and the rest around the 19 K mark. I figure I'll need to consume water every 15 mins after hitting the 25 K mark to avoid collapsing. After today's run I feel that there is something missing...something small yet huge. That X factor which clicks in at a time when there isn't any physical prop that can hold you up...I can feel it but can't yet harness it. Maybe in 4 weeks.

I was asked by Indranil (the ass) what I would do if I didn't finish the marathon. I was reminded of the times we went onto the field in a Cottonian shield finals: there really was only one option and that was to win. There was a certain sense of inevitability about that tournament both times I played it and I feel the same way about this. There really is no second option. Barring injury, there is a certain sense of inevitability here too. May the force be with me.

T2

The science behind training for and running a marathon is complex, varied and very confusing. An example of this is a "race time calculator" that is available that gives you a rough estimate of your probable race time. It is calculated like this:

The Distance Finish Times calculator calculates a predicted time at a distance for you based on a time you provided for another distance. It uses the formula T2 = T1 x (D2/D1)1.06 where T1 is the given time, D1 is the given distance, D2 is the distance to predict a time for, and T2 is the calculated time for D2.

My current time as per this formula is 4 hours, 42 minutes and 40 seconds. *

Reasons

I was reading up an article on possible causes of cramp during distance running and how to avoid them. Apparently, there are many contradictory theories on why we cramp and worse, no clear solution on how to prevent it. That's comforting. However, one line that really struck home in the article was a t-shirt with a slogan someone was wearing at the finish line: Never again...until the next time.

Hell yeah...I am so pumped. I have refreshed my reasons for running and I'll write about that in a separate post but for now, suffice to say that I'm not so serious anymore...not so anxious about this. My mind is calm. What I realised over the weekend of Murakami, pain, cramps, disappointment of not reaching 30 K again, ice packs and a drink with very pleasant company is that I run because I love it. Truly. Purely. With no preconditions or expectations. No strings attached. And I hope I can continue doing it for many years to come. I could go on but the solitude it offers is therapeutic, almost transcedental. Yeah...deep.

Cramp

Slight setback. I had aimed to follow the 10% rule this morning and increase my long run mileage to 32 - 33 K but instead what ended up happening was an average 20 K. I have this little shop around the 20 K mark that I stop at to buy water before continuing but this morning right from the 5 K mark something was wrong. I felt a constant dull pain in both my heels as I ran, it was colder than usual (duh its November), my shoes didn't feel right and worst of all I started cramping. I managed to ignore the slow paralysis creeping up but I pretty much knew that this wasn't going away.

At 20 K when I stopped for water, my hamstrings and calves collectively froze. I tried walking, tried stretching and going back to a slow jog but it didn't work. No sir said my hamstrings. I haven't felt this kind of pain before. The strange this is that the rest of my body, heart, breathing...everything was at a 100%...almost expecting me to push them for another hour. But of course without hamstrings you're playing a losing game. I think I did the wise thing...I listened to my body and stopped. I don't feel entirely happy right now but I still had a good run at a decent pace and this will make me increase my stretching...a lot more.

60

This week was good. I clocked 60 K this week fair and square. I am running every alternate day now but the distance I am running is never less than 10 K per run. The next two months I really need to focus on strength training along side the usual miles. I've been good thus far in terms of injury or rather lack of it and hope to see through the next 8 weeks in the same vein.

I need new shoes which are going to cost me a bomb but I can't compromise on this most important of things. Adidas Cushions here I come.