15 miles of "I Will"!!

I ran my first 15 miler yesterday!!! It was awesome!!! I felt really good before, during and after it!!! Finished it in under 3 hours, approximately, 2 hours and 55 mins.
The day was one of the better days we have had for the last 3-4 weekends!! It was cool, not cold, not too humid, and almost the sun was not at its harshest!! We also started reasonably early (20 mins earlier than we usually do) at 7:30 a.m.
I started off slowly, along with my running buddy Vivek. We had decided to do a slower and more consistent pace, since both of us ABSOLUTELY wanted to complete the 15 miles without walking even a bit! We generally have water-stops at 0 mile, 2 mile and 5 mile marks, so we wanted to run 5 miles to, 5 miles back, then 2.5 miles to, and 2.5 back! So plenty of water stops!!
The first 10 miles were smooth, and easy. Having run 12 or more for the last 4 sundays, 10 felt easy.....No body-aches, no pains nothing! Miles 11 and 12 got a little tougher. But we were still running at a reasonable 11-11.5 min/mile pace.
Miles 13 14 and 15 were what the marathon is all about. Being tough mentally!! Pushing yourself to keep going, keeping away all thoughts of stopping.......not giving up!!! It was just telling myself that "I will".....for 3 miles!!!!!:)
I actually ended up running the last mile faster than 11.5, mebbe I did the last mile in 10.5 minutes........
Felt really good after the run!!!
Its now 2 sundays with 12 miles, till I reach the next milestone of 18 miles, 21 days from now!! Looking forward to that!!:)
Apart from that, I got my first donation on Friday, from a colleague at work, Pardhiva. Thanks to him for kick-starting my fund-raising!!!

Weekly Mileage update

Training during the week

Last week was probably one of the best training weeks yet. I felt good, fast and like running forever!!:) I was running at the Holmdel High School track all week. Each lap is 400 m, so 1 mile is 4 laps.
Tuesday, I did a 5 miler (20 laps), with miles 3 and 4 at under 9 min/mile pace! It felt really really good! Running at arnd 8.5-9 min/mile pace for 2 miles didnt feel as bad as I thought. Wednesday was better. I ran 4 miles (16 laps) in 38 mins, consistent pace, no pain in the legs....no huffing-puffing......great feeling!!
Thursday was even better!! I was supposed to run 6 miles (24 laps), easy pace! I ran the first 4 miles at arnd 11 min/mile pace, then ran the 5th mile in arnd 8 mins....and the last mile in 9 mins!!! Felt really really good! I think I can do the 15 miler on Sunday!!!

My ASHA marathon webpage

I have just completed configuring my webapge on the ASHA website. The page basically has a small intro and a write-up on why I am running the marathon. For interested people, the page also provides information on how you can donate to the ASHA marathon program, and help me achieve my goal.

Again, please donate generously, and help make my "marathon" effort a success!!
The page is:

Aditya's ASHA marathon page

For those of you who dont know about ASHA please visit:

ASHA For Education

ASHA Central NJ Chapter

For ratings of ASHA as a charitable organization please visit:

ASHA Charity Ratings

Weekly update

Ran the third 12 miler.....wasnt as fast as the earlier ones....again, weather was hot and humid....on top of that i tried the power gels for the first time, but didnt have enough water with it. The stuff basically dehydrated me! At one point, during the 10th mile, I stopped sweating! My hands were dry, my face was dry.....and there was absolutely no sweating! I also started feeling dizzy!! I basically made it to the end of the 10th mile, to the water stop.....and drank and drank water and gatorade. Then I walked for some time. That really fixed things up, and I could then run the last 1.5 miles quite fast! It is a good thing that I tried the gels during training, and not directly in the marathon. The key to those gels is to drink lots of water with it. But, then I feel bloated after drinking lotsa water....so it is a catch-22 situation!
The moral of the story - never try anything new in the actual race - have to keep this in mind!!
I recently spoke to a friend, Chaitanya Gharpure who is in Utah, and is training for a HALF-Ironman triathlon . Hats off to you mate! and good luck!!!

HOT HOT HOT!!

This weekend has been one of the hottest weekends this summer. On saturday, I went for my 4 mile run at (ahem!!) 10 in the morning. It was the biggest mistake I could have made. The worst run, ever since training began. It was hot, humid and extremely difficult.
I topped that on Sunday. It was my first scheduled 13 miler. What a day to have that! It was around 85F at 6 o'clock in the morning, humid beyond imgaination. It was like Mumbai, the air was so thick that you could almost see it. When we started the run,the temp was something like 36 deg celcius, all of us knew this was gonna be the tough one! But nobody had anticipated the kind of sweating that was happening. Water every 2 miles....was an absolute need. At 3.5 miles from the finish point, three of us doing 13 miles, turned back to go half a mile, to get that odd 13th mile done. We hoped that the water point at 4 miles out was still there, but he wasnt!! So it was three miles, without any water, till we reach the water point 2 miles from finish. I dont know how we got there!!
But the worst was yet to come. The last 2 miles do not have many trees, so at 10:00 a.m. the sun was out, it had become really really brutal! This was the first time I had to walk during the run. Walked for a couple of minutes, before I could get runnign again!
It was brutal, brutal, brutal!! Hope we dont need to go through another run like this!
Today, it took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to run 13 miles!!! Way too much than I had anticipated, but I am happy I could finish the run!!

Training and Annealing

Through the past 8 weeks of training, I have come to realize one thing. The farther you push your body, the better it gets!! Of course, overtraining or overexerting will mean damage, but if one can find the perfect balance to push oneself, but not overdo it, then training can do wonders to the runner's fitness! That is where having such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable coach like Tom really helps!!!
Training can be compared to the process of Annealing!! In annealing, a metal is heated to high temperatures, and then slowly and systematically cooled so that equilibrium is achieved at each temperature level. This improves the metal's microstructure and its properties, such as ductility and malleability.
Training is just like that! Every week, we have been pushing ourselves much further than what we have been used to. The body gets fatigued, and then is allowed to recover. When the recovery is complete, the body actually attains a higher fitness level than what it was at earlier. In the process, the ability of the body to sustain high stress is increased. The body becomes flexible enough to adapt to different loads. I guess you could say the body becomes more malleable and ductile!!
But training in a systematic manner is the key!!
Its a great feeling, when each successive week, I challenge myself to longer distances, or better times, and my body responds to achieve that goal. It really gives you lots of confidence in yourself!!
Last but not the least, I have been reading about running, related problems etc. The following links are a good reference for runners:

1) Selecting a good pair of running shoes:
http://www.therunningadvisor.com/running_shoes.html

2) Typical running related injuries and problems:
http://www.time-to-run.com/injuries/thebig5/runnersknee.htm
http://home.sprynet.com/~holtrun/knees.htm

Week of August 1

This week was a good running week!! I basically ran the whole week on pavement/road for the first time since training started. Earlier, my legs used to hurt around the shins due to the hard road surface, but surprisingly, there has been no pain this week. I also made it a point to run harder this week, trying to get a 10min/mile time for all short runs. I was somewhat successful!!! But I missed track training this week, so will have to push that to the next week.
Trying for the 10min/mile target seems to have paid off. Today's 12 mile run was good, really good! I did the first 8 miles with quite a brisk pace, finishing the 8th mile after exactly 82 minutes. However that had an adverse effect on the last 4, where I became slightly slower. The last mile was particularly taxing, and actually seemed 3 miles long!:D:D I eventually got a 5 mins improvement on my first 12 mile run, finishing in 2 hours and 5 mins this time.
A little about the track training:
I start out with a mile run as warmup. This is followed by a mile of "Strides". Strides basically consist of speeding up and slowing down at fixed intervals. Running on the track makes this easier, as I simply speed up on the straight portions of the track, and slow down on the curves portions. So each lap would be 2 sets of strides. So a mile is 4 laps this way.
This is followed by timed runs, in my case 2X800 last time, seperated by a slow lap for recovery. This is particularly tiring!:D:D
The workout then ends with a mile of "cooling down"!!
The track workouts are supposed to build my speed reserve, i.e. increase my ability to run faster! This seems to be working, since my long runs have been getting better!!
Next sunday is my first 13 miler - will be running the half marathon distance for the first time!!

Running is going to be an expensive sport!

When I started training for the marathon, I thought running would be a nice way to keep fit....you dont need to join any health club, no need to buy expensive equipment, you can work-out alone, at your convenience.......you are the master of all you run!!
But things dont seems that rosy now!! At least for me, whose engineering drawing would probably have been: Top view: Blob, Elevation: Impossible...too heavy for that :):)!!!
My body is probably going through more changes than a teenager's!:D:D:D:D
My "cherubic countenance" (AHA..wordlists!!) has lost its "glow".....people can no longer see me from very far.....they need to come a little closer!!:P:P

I suddenly seem to have dropped a pant size, so most of my clothes now look like they are doing a tough job staying on, trying not to fall off!! So basically, all the "savings" of taking up running to keep fit will soon be offset by having to buy new clothes!!:D:D

They say "you have to lose something to gain something", in my case i seem to be losing something (money) to lose something else (weight)!!!!;)
Anyways, its not such a bad thing!! Hope I keep losing,.....weight I mean!!

Running 12 miles

In response to a comment, here's how 12 miles felt like:

Mile 1 - (7:50 a.m. Sunday) Ahh, 12 miles...shouldnt be much of a hassle......after all, im training really hard!! I should be able to run 12 miles....whats that little sharp shooting pain in the left shin? Ahh, nothing that I cant cope with!!
Mile 2 - Going strong.....never felt better, the shin's not paining now........feels so nice to run......theres the first water point!!!
Mile 3,4,5 - Still going strong......thinking - "The formula1 race must have begun......wonder whose winning......wonder how schumacher started from his first pole of the season....what the hell am I doing here???"
Mile 6 - AHA! Water-point 2, with Gatorade!! Hey blue colored liquid never looked so inviting, so delicious, so desirable......( I turn back at this point, to run back 6 miles)
Mile 7 - Whens the next water point?? Whens the next water point??
Mile 8 - Not too bad, 8 miles in 85 mins.....good pace, but better keep going at the same speed........water point in 2 more miles.....must reach there.......
Mile 9 - "Cmon Aditya, you can do this.....you must do this!!"
Mile 10 - Do I see the water-point?? Hey, the water-point's not too far from here......THERE IT IS!!!!!!!
Mile 11 - There's that little pain in the shin again....seems like its growing up really fast!! I seem to have developed new muscles in the last 10 miles.......or did I always have them? Why didnt they pain earlier??? Keep going....save yourself for the last mile.....
Mile 12 - Finally......I can speed up now........must set myself a time......must reach the finish at 10.00!!...........Is the last mile longer than the others????.......Theres the finish!! AT LAST!!!! Its 10:00 a.m. on the dot...I have actually managed to run the last mile faster than the 10th and the 11th!!! That gives me a 10.8 mins/mile speed, which is faster than my first 10 mile run, and at par with my second 10 mile run!


Running long distance is actually not too bad....there are times during the runs when I feel like quitting.....or walking for a bit..........but something inside just keeps me going.....at some stages I even set myself shorter goals......the next big tree, the next bridge etc etc......and keep adjusting these goals once I reach them!!:) Being someone who has not really been physically avtice for the last 'n' years, telling myself to keep on going seems harder to do than actually running!! Running seems to be more of a mental thing after a while, rather than physical!
I just want to keep going this way, till I finish my 26.2 miles!

Weekly update - 07/25 - 07/31

I missed a run this week due to a busy schedule at work. This is the first run I have missed so far, and felt really bad about it.:)
However, this week turned out pretty good. Tuesday, I did a 4 mile cross country run at Holmdel park. It was a good run, but I think I went there too late in the evening....
Wednesday, missed my five mile run, so made up for that on thursday, in effect missing the 3 mile run on thursday. Friday was a rest-day.
Saturday was track-training. Was kind of relieved to see a couple of Team ASHA members turn up for the saturday track. It was just me all this while. Did 2 timed 800m runs seperated by one slow lap. Got decent times - 3m 46s and 3m 42s - which translates to 7-8 min/mile pace. If only I could sustain that speed for more than 800m:D:D
I am doing a time-trial for a mile on the coming saturday, hope to get something around 7.5 mins.....
Sunday was fantastic. Ran my first 12miler in 2 hours and 10 mins.....actually ended up getting a better time per mile than my earlier 10 mile runs, which felt really really nice!!