Bidding adieu to 2023-24 Running season

It was end-March 2023, when me and coach Pravin Upadhyay sat down to plan for the next running season. I took the initiative and jotted down 3 goals for 2023-24:

1) Full Marathon (42.2k) at 11,000+ feet elevation in Ladakh, 

2) Tata Mumbai FM under 4 hours (my previous best was 4:21 hours) and

3) Tata Ultramarathon 50Km (my first ultra)

The immediate counter from my coach was whether I should tone it down to Ladakh HM 21km and Tata Ultra 35K.. it made sense as these would be taking on 3 tough goals for single year and I do end up missing exercise sessions due to work / personal commitments... But then what's fun in doing what "just makes sense", right??

Finally we decided to take up the challenge and the coach told me to ensure I adhere to his training plan to the maximum... And a year later, this is where we are !! 😊😊😊

I am still a learner and there are many expert/ better runners around me, but thought of sharing my experience for the new runners (and to my friends who have been pestered to read my blog 😁)  -

1) Putting in the miles 

There is no shortcut here.. If you gotta run, you gotta run!! I ran 1500+km during the year with combination of weekend long runs, speed intervals, tempo, SCR (slow continuous runs) etc. The combinations help in improving the functioning of vital body parts - heart, lungs, core and legs.

For absolute beginners or fence-sitters thinking running is difficult, my suggestion is to start slow with a mix of jog-walk-jog, increase the jogging time gradually and soon you would be able to do jog/run continuous. Don't focus on pace but time spent on the street.. Pace will increase as you keep running.

2) Strength training

While I have managed to do one half marathon a year since 2009, but I never saw an improvement in my timings or faster recovery. I would attribute this primarily to lack of sufficient strengthening exercises (be it core, upper body or lower body). 

This is where joining a fitness group (Tez Runners) in Jan-2022 worked wonders for me as coach Pravin used to regularly take these sessions with an increasing intensity. These sessions use body weights and minimal equipments (loop band, thera bands, 1kg ankle weights, medicine ball). 

Tip for runners - Include strengthening workouts in your schedule. During the last year, on an average, I would have spent 7-8 hours minimum a month on strengthening, flexibility and mobility exercises.

Work with a fitness trainer who can guide you in your journey. If you want to self-train, then there is no dearth of videos on YouTube. In my case, I preferred the former as I tend to slack when I tried solo at home. 

3) Mind games:

When I ran the first HM at 2:40 hours, I started seeing runners doing 2:20... When I did 2:20, I saw sub-2 hour HM finishers.. Similarly for Full Marathon (FM), couple of years back, I would have been thrilled with sub-5 hour Full Marathon, but 4:21 hour finish in Jan 2023 was disappointing as I started seeing many sub-4 finishers...

So this is a never-ending game - As your pace or goals increase, you see runners faster / more adventurous than you and one keeps changing their goals. It's important to set short-term targets (realistic but aggresive ones) and work towards it.

4) Taking family along :

As with any addiction, running takes a toll on one's family time (though they would be quite open about talking about a runner than an alcoholic or a chain-smoker!! 😜). The obvious problems for the family with you taking up running goals would mean missing out on weekend OTT binges on TV ("I have an early morning run") or pizza/burger gorging ("I need to get more protein rich food for muscle recovery").. They may wake up mid-of-the-night hearing some noise from the kitchen and angry that it's just you hunting for a pre-run snack from the fridge at 4 am!! The shoe cabinet may have 3-4 pairs of running shoes and the wardrobe would have more dry-fits than cotton tshirts !! Visit to the mall may mean a quick (read 'minimum 30 mins') dash to shoe store!!

I will stop here, my wife may have many more points to add.. but long story short, the family is very well made aware that you run !! 

So before taking on any ambitious targets, it's important that you take your better-half into confidence.. not just a FYI, but a proper conversation!! It will help in mentally preparing the family of the season that is to come !! 

5) Why run?

Now that's the question non-runners keep asking !! The answer keeps changing as one moves on this journey :

Phase 1 (<50km per month) - "I run for good health!"

Here the newbie runner has been advised by doctor or his friends about merits of healthy lifestyle and decides to add Running as exercise. 

Phase 2 (~50km per week) - "Running group inspires me to chase my goals & make new friends"

By now, the health freak has found his fitness group which meets regularly and often the 'chai pe charcha' involves participating in some 5k/10k/HM/FM events. Running may be a solo sport, but fun when done in a group !! You click selfies, send kudos on strava... Just like colleagues, college friends, we have one group of running friends who know each other's VO2Max, cadence etc and enjoy talking about it !!

Phase 3 (Running 50+ km per day/ event!!)

"I love to enjoy quality me-time in the lap of nature at its purest form.. experience spiritual bliss.. running is meditative" 

Now with few road marathons done & dusted, our runner is ready to chase some serious/ bizarre goals ! Like 100km run through trails, frozen lakes, deserts etc. In this phase, the running becomes an adventure sport, where the runner is constantly testing his physical limits and trying to break them through mental perseverance.

As for me, I am still very much in Phase-2, but now as mentioned in section 3 (Mind Games) above, I can see lot of runner friends who have done or are doing Comrades, Khardungla, 120km Silk Route Ultra, Maharashtra fort trail (SRTL Ultra) etc, all of them seeking to push the mental barriers and test their physical endurance. I am also tempted to get into the Spiritual/ Philosophical/ Self discovery mode, but it requires much more dedication, practise and commitment, which I am still not sure if I am ready.

Now with the season ending, I have to sit down again to set some targets and work towards achieving it.

That's it for now!! Thanks for reading this and being a part of this journey. 😊

Cheers

SP