Run Update 29.10.15

I went for a quick, short run last morning. My foot has been behaving really well after my decision to not wear my Jambu shoes and I felt good enough to attempt the run.

The Run planned was really short- just 2k. The idea was also to test my fuel belt out close to home before bringing it out with me on a long run. I positioned it the right way this time (I guess) where the bottle sat on the small of my back as opposed to lower down on my hip like I did the last time. It looked quite ridiculous (I thought) but it stayed put, felt comfortable enough and allowed me to run unhindered.

Being a short run I upped the tempo a bit and ran the distance at an average pace of 6'22" which was a good minute faster than my long distance pace. It felt good. Post run, the foot feels fine even though I skipped the usual routine of icing my feet. It still feels fine. I think I should be able to do a short tempo run like this one mid week, every week.

I also started the Insanity Fitness Program yesterday. Its a 60 day workout program of (as the name suggests) insanely intense exercises combining cardio, plyometrics, interval training, sports training and body weight training. I find it crazy tough. I could barely get through Day 1 and Day 2 but it feels amazing when you've pushed through the end and Shawn-T tells you you've completed the work out. This will now be my workouts on my non-running days. I figure it will really help build my endurance and strength which I find so necessary for long distance running.

Foot Worries Solved (?)

Last evening I may have discovered the reason my foot hasn't gotten quite back to normal yet. While sitting at my desk I felt the familiar nagging pain on the outside of my foot that has been happening on and off over the past few weeks since I resumed running. 

In case you missed it (which is highly unlikely considering how much I've been obsessing and lamenting about my foot injury), I strained the peroneal tendon on my right foot shortly after my first Half Marathon back in July. I resumed running after 6 weeks of resting it and though there isn't any major pain, swelling or any visible signs of the injury, the foot still feels tender from time to time. 

All this time I assumed that the tenderness was caused due to the running but as I discovered last evening, it may very well be my everyday-wear shoes. These are the comfiest pair of shoes that I have ever owned and since I tend to walk a reasonable amount on an average day, more often than not you'll find my feet encased in them despite my husband calling them the ugliest pair of shoes I have ever owned. As I felt the too-familiar irritation, I reached down and loosened the strap of the shoe and almost instantly the pain disappeared. On thinking about it, I realized that my snug-fitting shoes strap down at the exact point of the injury and could quite possibly be keeping the tendon from healing fully especially since I walk a lot in them.

I'm also remembering that the tendon doesn't get irritated immediately after or during my run and it usually occurs a few hours after I've rested and walked around (most likely in my Jambu shoes) a bit. Although I love them, I going to try not wearing them for a week and see if things with my foot improve. I hope they do.

Michelle Kakade & The Great Indian Quadrilateral Run

Today I across this runner & her event while reading random news feeds on facebook and it is Jaw-dropping to say the least (my jaws dropped anyways).

The Great Indian Quadrilateral Run is a run planned over 6010 km of highway passing through 57 major cities in India, touching Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta, Chennai and Bengaluru among the others. More on the route can be found here. Michelle Kakade is running this distance in an attempt to enter the Guinness World Record for "Fastest time to travel the Indian Golden Quadrilateral on foot (female)". The run has been broken down into 171 stages and the plan is to cover all 171 stages in a matter of 187 days by running an average of 35 km a day with just 16 days of rest inbetween. Phew.

Michelle's run was flagged off on October 21st at the Gateway of India in Mumbai and has been going strong ever since. I have been reading her blog updates on finishing each stage and I have a feeling that its going to take on a sort of serial addiction.

In every city, she's had other runners keeping her company for the whole or part of the way - just to be part of the event - and its being called "Run with Michelle". I wonder if  I'll join in by the time she reaches Chennai. It will probably be 4-5 months from now so I'm not sure myself. 

But all in all, Kudos to this woman. She started her running at 35 - she only took part in sports in school because it was compulsory - I can relate - and is going incredibly strong at 47. She holds three Limca National records - all for endurance running and has a string of other achievements at various endurance running events all over the world. So much admiration!

The runs - they get longer!

I had a really nice training run this morning. The weather was cooler than usual, I felt well hydrated and energetic and managed to push out a 12k when my goal was only 11.5k.

I took my new favourite route down Nungambakkam High Road, Cathedral Road and RK Salai all the way up to Marina Beach and back. I was hoping to run with some of runners from Nungambakkam Nitros but I guess my timing was off and I couldn't spot anyone from the group. 

I enjoy these weekly long runs - I am even hoping on increasing them by 2k every week as opposed to 1.5k so in a very small way I can increase my training miles. I've hardly been sticking to my workout schedule these past couple of weeks and with just about 7 weeks to go before race day, I better get back on track. I'm also thinking of signing up for the Dusk to Dawn Night Marathon (10k) which will take place 2 weeks before the Chennai Marathon and will make for a nice taper run before the big run.

Not that my feet are back to normal - they still feel slightly strained - but the running hasn't worsened them and this run-a-day-then-rest-6-days-plan seems to be working well. 

Stay posted for updates.

The definitely-must-run-someday list.

In my last post, I mentioned my definitely-must-run-someday list. Its fairly new - only has about 3 runs on it currently but I'm sure it will grow in no time.

My list started out two months ago when I was unable to go for the Chennai Trail Marathon thanks to my foot injury and I decided I would definitely do it next year. The latest entry on there is the Run the Rann that I posted about last. The 2nd entry and the most interesting of the three is something that I chanced across while reading another runner's blog.

This blog, mom on the run, carries an interview - rather a story by a runner which details her experiences of running a marathon in Antartica. You heard it. Antartica. ANTARTICA. Who goes there? Let alone runs there! The story is very inspiring and I couldn't help feel awestruck by this mom of two and her grit. 42 kilometers (and then some) in unimaginable sub-zero temperatures, strange terrains all in 8 layers of clothing - I'm all applause for this lady.

I am not even sure why this run is on my list. My fingers turn numb if the air conditioning is turned to below 20 degrees C. If I ran, I think I would just turn into a frozen block of ice and they would have to ship me back home. But then I imagine being in a place so remote that only a handful of people have ever been to, running with penguins gawking at me wondering what on earth I was doing there in their territory and seeing beautiful ice scapes such as only nature can create and I think that would be a wonderful thing to have on your bucketlist. At this point I find it highly unlikely that I would ever do it but how awesome if I do! :-)

This is the link to the actual race which I looked up later on. Incidentally they are fully booked for the 17th & 18th editions in 2016 & 2017. Just saying.

A Trail Run for Whenever

Yesterday, I came across a call for registrations for "Run The Rann", a trail marathon held in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat and of course I had to read more on it...

The trail snakes through the arid terrains of the salt desert and runners will have to put themselves through limit-testing conditions to get to the finish line. Some of the photos in the gallery from past editions of the run look beautiful. The Desertscape and the promise of views of the ancient ruins of the Indus Valley Civillization made me want to put this one on my definitely-must-run-someday list. (The list is pretty new and currently has only 3 runs on it). Normally, I would have wanted to register right away and start counting down the days to the big run but these days I'm not feeling very upbeat about my running and hence the list. 

I'm totally not happy about having to take my training down a notch and not running as frequently as before is causing a disconnect between me and my running.  There are so many running events happening all around leading up to the Chennai Marathon and it sucks that I cannot participate. It is also the Marathon season now and there are races taking place almost every week. I would have loved to be part of the Bangalore Marathon (just for the experience - I heard from people who went that it was not well organized). Sigh! I keep having to tell myself that there is always next year...

A Nice Long Run

Laced up my running shoes today, after a break of 10 days. The goal was 10 k which I managed to do in a pretty decent time of 1:08:52

A slight change in scenery today as I had decided to run straight from home all the way up to Marina Beach - an extension of the usual Nitros route - and halfway back. Loved the run! It is always awesome to be up in the early hours when there are so few people and traffic about (relatively) and the air still feels fresh and clean! Once I got to the beach, I paused a little for a few lungfuls of the sea air before turning around.

There were a lot of runners around today. Chennai Runners had organized a short group run along the same route and I got to see a few familiar faces from the Nungambakkam Nitros as well. I initially thought that I would run with them today, but running with the group might have made me push a little harder just to keep pace with some of the other runners  and I wanted to go a little easy on the foot. 

I like today's route, it is more or less a straight stretch and can be easily tweaked for slightly longer distances. For my long runs I thinking I'll use versions of this route from now on. I'm all psyched for my next run on Saturday which will be 11.5k. 

Foot is doing ok right now. Need to see how it fares over the next couple of days and if all goes well with it, I'm thinking of doing a short 3k run on Tuesday to get used to my hydration belt & make sure that I can run comfortably with it. Fingers Crossed...

More Foot Worries

Its been a week since my last run. Had planned on doing a 10k run on Saturday but my weekend was way too happening to squeeze it in.

Post my 8k run last Tuesday, my foot has been feeling a little strained so the unplanned rest was actually a good thing. It feels ok now so I could probably run tomorrow but I think I'll skip it - just to be on the safe side. Funny thing is that the foot started acting up just when I was feeling confident about it and had registered for the the Chennai Marathon.

I am concerned that if I continue with my training as planned - even at the low weekly mileage at 3 times a week, I could end up injuring my foot badly and having to take several weeks off running. I'm cutting my runs down to once a week so it gives my foot enough time to recuperate after every run and fill the rest of the week with cardio & strength-training exercises. Its far from ideal but its the only way I can think of by which I could still run the half marathon relatively injury-free. The runs will be long, slow distance runs to build & maintain endurance which is the most important requirement for finishing a marathon. 

Given that I will be doing any tempo runs or speed training runs, I will have to focus on finishing the run in whatever time and not worry about beating my PB. 

I ♥ Tuesdays

I'm really starting to love my Tuesdays. I have my first run for the week plus on the work front its "technically" my day off (though I still end up doing a bit of work from home). The group run gives me that little extra nudge out of bed in the mornings since I feel slightly more accountable and running in a pack makes the run enjoyable in a different way.

My schedule called for an 8.5k run today but I set off with a target of 8k. 5k to 8k seemed like a more reasonable jump than 5k to 8.5k. (I am not counting the 7.5k indoor drill I did on Sunday). I was very happy with my run. I could cover the distance without feeling drained or exhausted at any point and managed to keep up a steady, consistent medium pace.

For the past few runs I had gotten into the habit of skipping my pre-run snack which is usually a banana or some other calorie-dense fruit. Today, I did manage a banana in the morning before my run. The weather was pretty pleasant today in comparison and I also had my water bottle with me today and was hydrating frequently. Any of those or all three could be the reason behind my no-fatigue run. 

I really do not enjoy the feeling of holding something in my hand during a run. I must get accustomed to the hydration belt and get back to my hands-free running.

My running app setting was still on indoors from my last run so the distance shown isn't accurate. I ran 8.1 k (according to google maps) but it showed up on the app as 8.45k. Making my average pace 6.48 as opposed to 6.31 as shown.

Running Drills

I've had a pretty chilled-out weekend so far... Party Friday night, vegging out the whole of Saturday and a relaxed Sunday morning. Did not manage to wake up early enough for the 8k run that I had planned. So decided to substitute that this evening with some indoor drills for running form.

In the past, I've often resorted to running in place at home whenever I've been unable to get outside to run. Based on what I've read, it is a good form of cardio work-out and it also helps you train your running form. I looked up some running form drills today and came across this article on Women's Running which I tweaked a bit for today's work-out.

So the entire workout which lasted for 50 minutes included 10 minutes of jogging in place to warm up then 9 rounds of 40 sec High Knees + 20 sec jogging in place, 40 sec Butt kicks + 20 sec jogging in place and 20 sec fast feet + 40 sec jogging in place with 2 minutes of easy jogging after the 3rd and 6th round followed by 9 minutes of jogging in the end to cool down.

I had my nike+ running app turned on to the indoor settings and it showed the above workout to be the equivalent of running 7.5k and burning 418 calories. I'm not sure how accurate that is but it was certainly a sweat fest. I'm glad I worked out and happy that I did not give into laziness as I am prone to do on weekends.

:-)

A non-run run

There was another Girls Only Run organized by the Chennai Runners held today and I had planned to run for it. 

Since my schedule called for a 8.5 k run this weekend and knowing that I wouldn't be able to run this Saturday (blame it on our moderately active social life), I had planned on running from home to the GOR venue and participating in the 5k run with the women making up a total of about 7.5 k.

The run was meant to begin at 5:30 so I left home nice and early at 5:00 along an unfamiliar route to Panagal Park in T Nagar. Being a new route and unsure of how safe (or unsafe) it would be, I had asked my husband to come along with me. He was biking slowly along with me and I felt like one of those super-star runners with my own personal patrol... :-) :-)

I had worn my new hydration belt as planned and boy! did it take some getting used to. It was bobbing around all over the place (I probably hadn't worn it correctly) and I had to keep stopping to readjust it. 500 meters into the run I gave up on it, handed it to hubby and ran unhindered the rest of the way to the venue. Managed to cover the 2.5 k to the venue in about 20 minutes only to learn that the running event would start only by 6:00. I was all warmed up with my run and didn't want to stick around for half and hour and let myself cool down completely and so I turned around and headed back home.

It was a good 5k run to T Nagar and back but I may have to do an 8k on Sunday to make up my weekly mileage.

Got Myself a Fuel Belt!!

A couple of months ago, a new specialty running store, Running Lab opened up in Chennai and I've been been wanting to go and check it out ever since. Finally yesterday I managed to find the time to drop in and ooh! wasn't I like a kid in a Candy Store!!

I picked up a snazzy new fuel belt and a super-wicking headband and I'm so excited to try them out. They had a few options for hydrating on the go - from palm held bottles to fuel belts. I got the belt with the single bottle that holds about 750ml of fluid. I picked this over the double bottle belt since that one could only hold about 300ml of fluid (both the bottles combined). Given the weather conditions that I run in, I tend to need a lot more than just 300 ml.

As always the teeniest things excite me... Going to inaugurate this baby tomorrow...