Thursday, August 04, 2005

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!!

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

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!

Monday, August 01, 2005

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!!