Week 2. Long Run. 7.3 Kms

New Record!

Longest distance run. Ever! Longest time run. Ever!

Today’s run was nothing short of legendary. I chose to run on flip-flops and again hurt the side of my feet, but the best thing today was that even after running 7+ Kms, I didn’t feel like shit (like I do every time!).

And the biggest reason for it was that I chose to cut my speed significantly today. Till now I hadn’t realized that I was running a little faster than I should be as a beginner. As a result I was getting tired way faster than I would like to.

Today my run pace was around 7.5 minutes/Km. This allowed me to run almost 4 Kms without stopping (a record!). I even ended up having a overall jog:walk ratio of over 80:20 (phew!!). What’s more, I think I still ended up running faster than ever because I walked considerably less today.

The slow pace made sure I didn’t feel overtly uncomfortable during the run. The pain in ankles was manageable for most part of the run. The only thing new was the pain I felt in my right abdomen between 5-6 Kms. But that also went away after walking for a while.

80:20 ratio is what I am hoping to maintain on the race day. But it is still going to be quite difficult as the second half of today’s run was considerably difficult than first half. I ended up running about 7.30 Kms in about 55 minutes (the GPS didn’t work properly for first 5 minutes). If I maintain this pace I will just be able to finish the final race in under 3 hours which is what I would be aiming for. I just hope they allow to run more than 3 hours, just in case it is needed to complete the race.

Week 2. Run 2. 4.5 Kms

Today I ran with my Dad’s shoes 😀 (only thing left are using my sister’s sandals and my mom’s chappals 😉 But seriously speaking, I am just trying to find out what works best for me. These shoes also gave a little ankle pain just like my brother’s and my own shoes.

The run itself went pretty fine. I think I ran with a jog : walk ratio of 70:30 which is quite good and improving fast. Today also I was able to run for over 1.5 Kms without stopping so I am definitely making progression. I just hope this turns out to be just enough to successfully be able to complete the race on 11/24.

Again I was scheduled to run yesterday instead, but that’s fine. Though I hope I run tomorrow.

Week 2. Run 1. 3.5 Kms

I was scheduled to run yesterday, but I ran today instead. It seems I won’t be able to exactly follow the half marathon schedule that I had  decided to use. But if at the end of the week, I am able to complete the required amount of Kms/runs, I think I should be fine.

Today was a short run. I ran nice and easy. I used my own sports shoes today, which as I have already told are not optimal but today was a dry day, so decided to go for it. The shoes felt OK. But the high point of the race was that I ran over 1 Km/5mins without stopping for the first time during the preparation!

As an experiment I also did some strength training exercises  but didn’t feel too great doing them. A lot of my energy was already expended during the run. But overall it was a good race.

Week 1. Long Run. 5.5 Kms

I was supposed to do my long run yesterday. I screwed up. But I did save face today by doing the long run. Although, today I had to simply do a 20-30 mins easy run. So, this means last 3-4 days have put my whole schedule in a jeopardy.

But I am not perfect and I am doing the best I can. And this is exactly what I want to see from myself. I believe my friends would appreciate the same 🙂

About the run. I ran about the same distance that I did last Sunday on my practice run. But there were certain differences.

First today I used my bro’s sports shoes instead of flip flops. Which meant I got better cushion but felt a little more weight on my feet. Also somehow my ankles don’t feel good after wearing shoes with high back padding.

Second today, on recommendation of my friend ‘Pro’, I used RunKeeper to track the distance I covered. And it really is an awesome mobile app! It uses GPS, hence gave more accurate data. Second it let’s you know when exactly 5-10-15… mins have passed during the run, so you can time your run. It tells about splits in Kms, average pace during the run and a bunch of other interesting stuffs and graphs. So, I am going to keep using it in future. The only problem I faced was that the phone took a lot of time to connect to satellite so, for about first 10 mins I had run 0.0 Kms!

 

Screenshot from RunKeeper.

Today, I ran with higher jog:walk ratio, say 67:33, hence finished up my race about 5-10 mins earlier than last Sunday which was good (but on the flip side, it put strain on my heart, so I need to be careful here).

I forgot to take my towel today as well, which again proved a disaster 5 mins into the run. I might need to get a small bag that I can hang against my waist to carry some essential stuffs like my phone, a small water bottle and towel etc. But right now, let’s focus on making the coming week the perfect run-week.

My next scheduled run is on Tuesday, but I might run tomorrow to cover up today’s EZ run that I had to skip.

Week 1. Long Run. Fail

Now this is frustrating. I just couldn’t muster the energy or motivation to go for the long run today. I don’t have any excuse as well, because today was a holiday.

I just didn’t feel like doing it, as is what happens during most of my Saturdays. I feel so much wasted that I don’t even feel like picking up anyone’s call or do anything at all. But I am forgetting one important thing here. This training is not about me, it’s more about my friends and my friendship with them. I am doing it for them (although I am going to take all the credit at the end!).

Hence, if I can’t get my butt off the bed and push my ass out of home, then I am just being selfish. I must remember the whole purpose of doing this exercise.

I want to apologise to myself for not giving even a try today. I will make it up tomorrow. I will feel bad if I am not able to complete the half marathon on 24 November 2013 but I will feel worse if I am not able to complete my training properly.

Following is the schedule I am following for the training of this half marathon. This has been taken from About.com. CT stands for cross training which is basically doing alternate forms of exercises like strength training or biking etc. 

And yes, I will be running in Kms, not miles!

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Rest	2 mi	Rest	2.5 mi	Rest	3 mi	20-30 min EZ run
2	Rest	2 miles	Rest	3 mi	CT or Rest	4 mi	20-30 min EZ run
3	Rest	2.5 mi	CT	3 mi	Rest	5 mi	20-30 min EZ run
4	Rest	3 mi	CT	4 mi	Rest	6 mi	20-30 min EZ run
5	Rest	3 mi	CT	3 mi	Rest	7 mi	30 min EZ run
6	Rest	4 mi	CT	4 mi	Rest	8 mi	30 min EZ run
7	Rest	4 mi	Rest	4 mi	CT	9 mi	30 min EZ run
8	Rest	4 mi	CT	3 mi	Rest	10 mi	30 min EZ run
9	Rest	5 mi	CT	4 mi	Rest	11 mi	Rest
10	30 min EZ run	4 mi	Rest	3 mi	CT	12 mi	30 min EZ run
11	Rest	CT	Rest	3 mi	CT	5 mi	30 min EZ run
12	Rest	2 mi	20 minutes	Rest	20 minutes	Race Day!	Rest Day!

 

Week 1. Run 2. 2 Kms

Today is Friday. It was scheduled to be a rest day, but due to me not running yesterday, I had to run today. Although I couldn’t wake up as early as I wanted today too, I decided to at least run today for the sake of running. I didn’t have much time so I just decided to take a round of my neighbourhood.

It turned out to be just over 2 Kms completed in about 20 mins. Although, I was scheduled to do a 4 Kms run on my Week 1, Run 2, I managed only half. Not satisfied but at least am happy I did what I could. Hope do better tomorrow on Saturday, which is my long run day of the week.

Temparture during the run.

Not publishing the map of the run today, due to privacy concerns.

 

Week 1. Run 2. Fail

I couldn’t wake up on time today. I had option to do a 5-10 mins run but I have this habit of either doing something properly or not doing it at all. Hence, my mind convinced myself of not running today. Hope to run tomorrow.

Week 1. Run 1. 3Kms

When I woke up today, my legs were killing me. As I suspected, I overran on my practice run and I could feel the fatigue setting in from Monday itself (which was thankfully a rest day). But today it got worse. But, if I were to give up, it shouldn’t be on my first training run itself, right?!

So, I gathered myself up and went for a run. Today was a shorter run of about 3 Kms, but it hurt on every step. I managed to finish my run, this time with a better jog:walk ratio than my practice run (I think). But now, as I type these words my legs, especially my calves, are cursing me with most ridiculous profanities. I think I will go for my next run (which is day after tomorrow) as well.

But if this pain doesn’t subside and gets worse I don’t know, how much longer would I be able to continue this training. Guess we will have to wait and watch.

Note to self: I am forgetting to carry a towel with me and making a sweaty mess of myself, half way through the run. Please don’t repeat.

Day 0. Practice Day.

Ok, ‘nough said, now let’s talk about the training. I start my prep from tomorrow (Monday). I haven’t been running for a while (except little jogs of half to 1 Kms sometimes) so today I just wanted to test how much I can run pre-training.

I didn’t preplan my run, so I end up running over 6 Kms! Technically it wasn’t a run, it was more of a jog-walk-jog-walk routine with a jog-walk ratio of about 60:40. Of course, I need to cut down on my walking, but from what I have read it’s quite difficult (and dangerous) for first time half-marathoners to do it ‘all-running’.

 

Hence I am making my body ease into the running mode (I admit I overran today, will be careful next time. Promise!). The whole running went quite OK. I did have some difficult moments where I had difficulty breathing and my legs hurt like anything. But eventually I was able to do it.

Also, I ran in my flip flops as my regular sports aren’t that great for running. They are slippery and it’s monsoon time here. Flip-flops have their own problems but I think of them as minimalist shoes. Also, there is no time wasting having to search shoes, put on socks, tie the laces (enough for my monkey mind to talk me out of running!).

But yeah, I will get myself a pair of running shoes, provided I be a good boy and complete the next 3 weeks of training coming up. That’s it for today.