The (Abrupt) End

I apologise to anyone who followed this log (I assume none, except me), I couldn’t keep up with writing logs here. The hiatus in training due to Delhi Elections took a heavy toll on my running as well as updating this blog.

My rest of the training log can be found on Runkeeper site by following my profile. It’s great site/app for timing your runs. Recommended for runners.

To cut the long story short: My training was quite less than what I planned for but I still completed the half marathon! 

Thank you all who supported me in this challenge.

I am taking a new challenge of participating in a triathlon (or duathlon) this year. Hope it turns out to be great. I might re-use this blog as the training log for it (or I might not). 

Thanks again for all the support. 

Week 5. Long Run. 12 Kms.

Today was my greatest run. Not because today I ran the longest or farthest in my life. But because I had all but given up on today’s race after about 2 Kms. There was such excruciating pain I started feeling in my legs after about 15 mins into the run, that it became impossible to run even for 2-3 mins at a stretch.

I don’t know the reason why it happened. I want to blame it on non-fitting shoes and me not doing proper warm up before running. But the most important thing is that at the end, I didn’t give up. I decided to stay on the field for about 80 odd mins even if I have to cover the whole distance walking. 

And believe me, I just don’t like walking for long during my runs. But walk I did, for 5-10 mins after running for just 2-3 mins. There was so much pain in the lower leg that it was difficult to even walk but I didn’t give up. I had made up my mind  that I would make this run count (after giving up on a friend’s plan of eating his homemade pizza).

And something extraordinary happened after about 55 mins. I started running but the pain had become manageable now, so I easily ran for 5 then 10 then 15 mins. And after that I just kept running for 45 odd mins until I finished the race. 

I had mentally prepared myself to stop after about 10 Kms, but then I took on the challenge and completed over 7 miles (today’s target run), ending up running for over 100 mins covering 12+ Kms.  

Those who say that marathons show the true human spirit are right, I just experienced it today. I believe this experience will give me the strength in my future difficult situations, not just running but elsewhere as well.

Right now, I remember Martin Luther King’s quote:

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

 

But I have to figure out what the hell is wrong with my feet. I don’t want to go through the pain I experienced today, again. Also, today I just ran in a 2 Kms circuit in multiple laps over and over again.

Week 5. Run 2. 5.5 Kms

Today again I ended up being a little short on time (even though I had ample time when I got up). But I ran again and today I made sure to make up for yesterday’s half mile!

I had to really speed through my rest of the morning schedule but once again I did 2 runs on consecutive days to get myself back on track. Now I have at least a day to recover so that I can do my long run in peace and not screw up like last week.

Cheers!

Week 5. Run 1. 4 Kms

I was scheduled to do a 3 Mile (about 5 Kms) run today, but I didn’t have enough time. I was already a day late. If I hadn’t run, it would have again made this week a disaster like last week. 

So, I decided to make full use of whatever little time I had. So I ran for 30 mins, covering a little over 4 Kms. It was not enough, but I am happy that I ran today. It’s really important to keep the ball rolling when you take on a long project like training for a half marathon.

So, well done RavS!

Week 4. Long Run. 1.5 Kms . Fail

Today was a disaster. In fact, this whole week was a disaster in the making. The whole schedule this week was awkward. What the hell was I thinking after running about 7 Kms yesterday?

My legs just didn’t help during the lonely mile that I ran today. Plus I had commited to my friend Yogs to meet him today NO MATTER WHAT (after screwing up my promises umpteen times in past few months). So, I just had to drop the idea of running today. 

It was a failure today, but I had made it sure much earlier this week. I don’t want a repeat of this in the coming weeks. While I will just skip this and continue with my rest of the training, I will make sure that this doesn’t happen again. That would be the greatest lesson I could learn from today.

Week 4. Run 2. 6.5 Kms

If I were to be following the schedule, today would have been my long run. Instead I did my Run 2 of the week today. It’s getting irritating. It feels I am doing myself a favor by running.

Only good thing has been that I am able to keep up with the schedule as far as running the scheduled miles is concerned. But I must get my act together. Otherwise, it won’t feel good even after actually putting in the work.

Today’s run was good, especially considering Run 1 of this week was a disaster. Legs are still hurting while running and I am still to figure out why. But I did a good thing by taking frequent but short breaks in between. The overall jog:walk ratio would have been about 75:25 which is good enough I think. Another good thing today was that I was able to measure approx how much 1 mile is during my run. So if required I can do laps around that distance to do my required miles.

But now I worried about my long run tomorrow. Tomorrow I plan to run 6+ miles which would turn out to be over 10 Kms. I am excited but a little anxious as well. I don’t know how my legs are going to hold tomorrow. I don’t want to huff & puff to my first 10 K ever. Take care God.

Week 4. Run 1. 5 Kms

Today’s my birthday! Isn’t it great to be running today 😀 Err… Only problem is that I wasn’t well today, and then I chose to run in the afternoon heat and then I did a terrible mistake of taking in high quantity of water during the run. 

It not only broke the rhythm, it made me feel nauseous several hours after the run. Gotta be careful not to repeat this stupidity again. Yes, I need to carry and drink water during the run, but shouldn’t do it in large quantity. Legs were also not 100% after the grueling long run last Sunday. 

But all is well that ends well. Although it took over 50 mins to complete the 5 K, and the Runkeeper app faltered in between, I still did my scheduled miles. Well done RavS! And Happy Birthday 🙂

 

Week 3. Long Run. 9 Kms

Wow! If last week’s Sunday run was something, how about today?!! Running for over 75 mins continuously. Running the longest distance ever, without taking a break! Doing a 5 miler for the first time in life! Today was good. Really good. 

But I think my legs will never forgive me again to send them to such an intense session without giving them rest in between. When I stopped running at the end, I was wobbling for a minute or 2. 

I didn’t intend to run non-stop today, it just happened. I dared myself to take on numerous mini-challenges during the run and I won them all. I could have even gone to do a 10 K today, but intentionally stopped myself. I will definitely get a chance to do that on my next long run.

But now I have to give my legs rest for next 2 days and hope that I haven’t sprained myself.

 

Week 3. Run 2. 5 Kms

Nothing much to write about today, except that I ran for consecutive days for the first time! I ran further than yesterday, it was a little hotter than yesterday and it hurt even more than yesterday.

But overall it was a good run and I am pretty happy that I am maintaining the momentum. Cheers!

 

Week 3. Run 1. 4 Kms

I did something different today. Today I clocked my distance in miles instead of Kms. I wanted to see the difference and I did saw the difference! Even after running a considerable distance I was waiting for RunKeeper to tell me a mile has passed!

While the run was alright (the legs were hurting but I managed), the app suddenly crashed at the end of the run. But thank God the progress made till then was saved and updated automatically (Good Job Runkeeper!). I have entered 3rd week now and things will start to heat up a little bit from now onwards. I hope I am able to keep up.