A speed workout on Wednesday at Fairfax High School's track. Very refreshing.
Got a pair of Nike Free after a lot of decision battling with Saucony Kinvara.
I had tried the Kinvara on one of the Fun Runs with the Pacers group. And LOVED it. But when I went to get it at the store, they did not have the freaking thing. But they did have the Nike Free. The colors were not so cool. But since the reviews of the Free is so rave, I got a pair nevertheless. I don't know why I did that when I went in to get the Kinvara. Of course, both are minimalistic shoes. The Kinvara look a lot cooler, I must admit.
The 10miler on the W&OD trail was another story altogether. The IT band was not creating havoc. But I was just plain tired. I do not know if it is my mind playing havoc on me or the fear of the IT band fucking my happiness that is slowing me down. Or is it just plain overtraining syndrome?
I logged on to the Marine Corp website and filled up the deferment form twice since yesterday. Just to close the window down. The practical side of me says I should defer and avoid long term injury. But the 'other' side tells me that I should battle on.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
ING Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon [09/19/2010]
We'd registered for the ING Rock'n'Roll Half marathon in Philadelphia to assess our preparedness for our respective marathons.
Prepped Maggy up before Manasi picked her up for the weekend. Bless her heart!
The drive to Philly on Friday was quite stressful to say the least. Thanks to the fuckin I-495 beltway. Well, the supposedly 3 hour drive took us almost 6! Not good, especially when we were guests at a nephew's place who I hadn't met...ever! The couple, Kirti & Abhijit, was understanding and we had a good time chatting and catching up.
Saturday found us at the race expo where we picked up the race packets and walked around and bought a few things for Madhura. A couple of free beers helped cheer us up. And the double decker city tour ride too. A sumptuous lunch at the food market...yumm!!
Met up with Madhav and Gauri and had a nice dinner at P. F. Chang's.
Slept at a decent time and woke up at 5am. Abhijit dropped us off at downtown Philly. Grabbed a couple of bananas and half a bagel. Checked our bags in. A good warm up and we lined up at our respective corrals. The crowd was terrific. 25,000 strong! Amazing to see how such a large crowd got to the startup area, which basically covered the WHOLE of Arch street, starting from the Philadelphia musuem of Art! All without any chaos or accident.
The race started and I had my Garmin on. Started with a good stride.
The Garmin lost its signal less than 1M in. That was expected amidst the tall downtown buildings. So well...fine! All I could use it was as a timer.
I made sure I got a cup of water at every break station. My biggest concern was my sore ITB. I had my ProTek band on. A little too tight. It was holding up. No pains.
Found someone's shoe pouch with a car key in it! What a bummer to the chap who lost it. Stupid on his part to try out the pouch they handed out in the race packet. Drives the point home...not to try anything new on race day. I picked it up and wanted to give it to a voluteer who I thought might get to the finish before I did. Ended up carrying it all the way myself.
Started on the gel I had at mile 7. Grabbed a couple more at 8M. The run was awesome. Saw a few runner drop out. Some were limping bad. Some dropped out of exhaustion. But the crowd support was amazing. A band at every mile. Very cool.
At about 10m, I felt the exhaustion set in. The ProTek band started getting uncomfortable. I loosened it at 11M, I think. Maybe that was not a good idea. The temperature was about 75deg F. Pleasant.
Was really exhausted at 12M. More so when I knew that I would not be able to finish it within 2hrs.
Try as much as I could, inspite of all my plans, I couldn't manage a negative split.
My splits:
I was in quite a bit of pain after the race. The walk back to the train station was not pleasant. All this inspite of loads of R.I.C.E and foam roller and ultrasound therapy.
My am seriously re-evaluating my plans for the Marine Corp Marathon. Unfortunate and heart-breaking as it may sound, I might have to defer.
Lets see, maybe, more of the therapy might help. Madhura suggests that I do not attempt the marathon. And avoid long term injury. She has been right earlier. My heart does not agree though. All this effort that I have put in training...will be for nothing. Well, atleast thats how it sounds.
Pity we forgot the camera. No photos of this Philly trip.
Prepped Maggy up before Manasi picked her up for the weekend. Bless her heart!
The drive to Philly on Friday was quite stressful to say the least. Thanks to the fuckin I-495 beltway. Well, the supposedly 3 hour drive took us almost 6! Not good, especially when we were guests at a nephew's place who I hadn't met...ever! The couple, Kirti & Abhijit, was understanding and we had a good time chatting and catching up.
Saturday found us at the race expo where we picked up the race packets and walked around and bought a few things for Madhura. A couple of free beers helped cheer us up. And the double decker city tour ride too. A sumptuous lunch at the food market...yumm!!
Met up with Madhav and Gauri and had a nice dinner at P. F. Chang's.
Slept at a decent time and woke up at 5am. Abhijit dropped us off at downtown Philly. Grabbed a couple of bananas and half a bagel. Checked our bags in. A good warm up and we lined up at our respective corrals. The crowd was terrific. 25,000 strong! Amazing to see how such a large crowd got to the startup area, which basically covered the WHOLE of Arch street, starting from the Philadelphia musuem of Art! All without any chaos or accident.
The race started and I had my Garmin on. Started with a good stride.
The Garmin lost its signal less than 1M in. That was expected amidst the tall downtown buildings. So well...fine! All I could use it was as a timer.
I made sure I got a cup of water at every break station. My biggest concern was my sore ITB. I had my ProTek band on. A little too tight. It was holding up. No pains.
Found someone's shoe pouch with a car key in it! What a bummer to the chap who lost it. Stupid on his part to try out the pouch they handed out in the race packet. Drives the point home...not to try anything new on race day. I picked it up and wanted to give it to a voluteer who I thought might get to the finish before I did. Ended up carrying it all the way myself.
Started on the gel I had at mile 7. Grabbed a couple more at 8M. The run was awesome. Saw a few runner drop out. Some were limping bad. Some dropped out of exhaustion. But the crowd support was amazing. A band at every mile. Very cool.
At about 10m, I felt the exhaustion set in. The ProTek band started getting uncomfortable. I loosened it at 11M, I think. Maybe that was not a good idea. The temperature was about 75deg F. Pleasant.
Was really exhausted at 12M. More so when I knew that I would not be able to finish it within 2hrs.
Try as much as I could, inspite of all my plans, I couldn't manage a negative split.
My splits:
My am seriously re-evaluating my plans for the Marine Corp Marathon. Unfortunate and heart-breaking as it may sound, I might have to defer.
Lets see, maybe, more of the therapy might help. Madhura suggests that I do not attempt the marathon. And avoid long term injury. She has been right earlier. My heart does not agree though. All this effort that I have put in training...will be for nothing. Well, atleast thats how it sounds.
Pity we forgot the camera. No photos of this Philly trip.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
A refreshing recovery run [09/15/2010]
Have been icing and stretching and using the Pro-Tec ITB strap like crazy since Sunday.
So decide to test out the results on a small run. Had the strap on. Ran really slow and easy. Felt great! No problems at all. I have the Philly half marathon that I really really do not want to miss. So lets see.
Date: 09/15/2010 7:00 PM
Type: Run (Recovery)
Distance: 1.79 miles
Time: 0 hr 20 min 00 secs
Average pace: 11:10 min/miles
Route: 2.8M @ Mnmt Rndm Hls Fairfax
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/K8fyxFbd32Pn7y
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Calories: 245
The stretches I did were:
Incidentally, the site I got these pictures of has great stretches for lower body.
More info on the ITBS that I found useful is available here.
Some other good information is available on this site.
Madhura also taped the IT band area with kinesio tape and that has been tremendous relief.
As you can see, I am doing all that I can to be able to run this weekend.
So decide to test out the results on a small run. Had the strap on. Ran really slow and easy. Felt great! No problems at all. I have the Philly half marathon that I really really do not want to miss. So lets see.
Date: 09/15/2010 7:00 PM
Type: Run (Recovery)
Distance: 1.79 miles
Time: 0 hr 20 min 00 secs
Average pace: 11:10 min/miles
Route: 2.8M @ Mnmt Rndm Hls Fairfax
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/K8fyxFbd32Pn7y
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Calories: 245
The stretches I did were:
More info on the ITBS that I found useful is available here.
Some other good information is available on this site.
Madhura also taped the IT band area with kinesio tape and that has been tremendous relief.
As you can see, I am doing all that I can to be able to run this weekend.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
In touch with nature trails - my foot! [09/12/2010]
A very pleasant day. It was raining in the morning. So I took off at about 10am to Accotink trail. Well stocked on water and got a Powerbar for just in case.
Had 16M in the agenda.
Started off very well. Turned on the training assistant with pace of 9min/mile.
Unbelievably beautiful trail. Imagine sighting deer standing less than 10ft away. Wish I had my phone to take a snap.
At ~5M the trail turns rugged. The paved trail is no more. I felt pretty okay initially with my VFF. And then it started getting a little uncomfortable. At about 7M, my respect for BareFoot Ted increased 10 fold...or maybe more! The rubble was pretty sharp and strangely enough, my right sole was taking the brunt of all the sharpies. Very strange. It seemed like the left leg was completely 'blind'.
Least did I know that that leg had something else in store for me.
At about 8M the IT band on the left leg started acting up. And boy! Did it hurt. It was sheer will power that I could even back track the route. Well, did not have any other option, did I? All the stretching and resting in the world did not help. And then the trail gashing my soles...was not fun in the remotest sense.
Boy! Was I glad to have reached back to the car.
I have been icing, stretching and straping the left IT band like crazy. Lets see if the strapping and strengthening helps and I will post those solutions in one of my later posts.
While all this is going on, I have been having serious doubts on my ability to complete the marathon. Meeting my target time of 4hrs is the least of my worries. I am worried if I will even be able to finish it. I have a half marathon coming up this weekend in Philadelphia. Lets see how I feel after that. This is not nice news!
Date: 09/12/2010 10:00 AM
Type: Run (Long run)
Distance: 16.39 miles
Time: 2 hr 26 min 00 secs
Average pace: 8:54 min/miles
Route: 16M on Accotink Trail
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/YFBiCkol74bsgg
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Had 16M in the agenda.
Started off very well. Turned on the training assistant with pace of 9min/mile.
Unbelievably beautiful trail. Imagine sighting deer standing less than 10ft away. Wish I had my phone to take a snap.
At ~5M the trail turns rugged. The paved trail is no more. I felt pretty okay initially with my VFF. And then it started getting a little uncomfortable. At about 7M, my respect for BareFoot Ted increased 10 fold...or maybe more! The rubble was pretty sharp and strangely enough, my right sole was taking the brunt of all the sharpies. Very strange. It seemed like the left leg was completely 'blind'.
Least did I know that that leg had something else in store for me.
At about 8M the IT band on the left leg started acting up. And boy! Did it hurt. It was sheer will power that I could even back track the route. Well, did not have any other option, did I? All the stretching and resting in the world did not help. And then the trail gashing my soles...was not fun in the remotest sense.
Boy! Was I glad to have reached back to the car.
I have been icing, stretching and straping the left IT band like crazy. Lets see if the strapping and strengthening helps and I will post those solutions in one of my later posts.
While all this is going on, I have been having serious doubts on my ability to complete the marathon. Meeting my target time of 4hrs is the least of my worries. I am worried if I will even be able to finish it. I have a half marathon coming up this weekend in Philadelphia. Lets see how I feel after that. This is not nice news!
Date: 09/12/2010 10:00 AM
Type: Run (Long run)
Distance: 16.39 miles
Time: 2 hr 26 min 00 secs
Average pace: 8:54 min/miles
Route: 16M on Accotink Trail
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/YFBiCkol74bsgg
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A 3M quickie [09/11/2010]
Between a canceled racquetball session and getting to Tushar-Natasha's place for Ganpati pooja, I could steal a little while to run 'round the block'. Did not set the training assistant as it was pretty hot, so didn't want to burn myself out unnecessarily. Especially when I have a 16M run tomorrow.
Sweat like a pig. The achilles tendon is a little sore. I must admit I am trying to modify my running a wee bit. Trying to consciously land on the heel with shorter steps. And pleasantly enough, I see no slowing in pace. And I don't feel like I am hammering the ground.
Date: 09/11/2010 3:30 PM
Type: Run (Training run)
Distance: 3.03 miles
Time: 0 hr 28 min 42 secs
Average pace: 9:28 min/miles
Route: 2.8M @ Mnmt Rndm Hls Fairfax
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/K8fyxFbd32Pn7y
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Calories: 427
Sweat like a pig. The achilles tendon is a little sore. I must admit I am trying to modify my running a wee bit. Trying to consciously land on the heel with shorter steps. And pleasantly enough, I see no slowing in pace. And I don't feel like I am hammering the ground.
Date: 09/11/2010 3:30 PM
Type: Run (Training run)
Distance: 3.03 miles
Time: 0 hr 28 min 42 secs
Average pace: 9:28 min/miles
Route: 2.8M @ Mnmt Rndm Hls Fairfax
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/K8fyxFbd32Pn7y
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Calories: 427
17M biking on Accotink trail [09/10/2010]
It was supposedly a rest day for me. And for Madhura too. But she has her weekend booked for some continuing ed class she has to take. So she decides to do her long run on Friday. 18M. And she mentioned a new trail that I didn't want her to go alone early Friday. So we decide that she would run and I would bike. Good enough deal. Some kind of cross training for me, albeit a slow one.
We stock up on powerade, a bottle of water and a power gel, throw the $30 bike she bought off her patient in the car and take off to Fairfax downtown. Park by Pacers and ran the 2M to Accotink trail.I tell you...this is one of the nicest trails I have run on. Not that I have run on a lot of them. The other being W&OD. But this one's really nice. Shaded and not too hilly. It has paved and unpaved surfaces. And the FR201 did not baulk inspite of the woods. And its so close to home. And spans almost 25 odd miles. Guess where my long run this Sunday is going to be at?
Madhura did well. 3hrs for her 17M. Her ITB started acting up last few miles. But she sucked it up and ran well. I am proud of her!
A bagel and a cherry pastry at Panera Bread was a good ending.
Date: 09/10/2010 8:00 AM
Type: Bike (Just for fun)
Distance: 16.76 miles
Time: 3 hr 00 min 00 secs
Average speed: 5.6 miles/hr
Route: 17M Accotink CC Trail
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/ASRJQiQJLjRjsC
Calories: 2047
We stock up on powerade, a bottle of water and a power gel, throw the $30 bike she bought off her patient in the car and take off to Fairfax downtown. Park by Pacers and ran the 2M to Accotink trail.I tell you...this is one of the nicest trails I have run on. Not that I have run on a lot of them. The other being W&OD. But this one's really nice. Shaded and not too hilly. It has paved and unpaved surfaces. And the FR201 did not baulk inspite of the woods. And its so close to home. And spans almost 25 odd miles. Guess where my long run this Sunday is going to be at?
Madhura did well. 3hrs for her 17M. Her ITB started acting up last few miles. But she sucked it up and ran well. I am proud of her!
A bagel and a cherry pastry at Panera Bread was a good ending.
Date: 09/10/2010 8:00 AM
Type: Bike (Just for fun)
Distance: 16.76 miles
Time: 3 hr 00 min 00 secs
Average speed: 5.6 miles/hr
Route: 17M Accotink CC Trail
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/ASRJQiQJLjRjsC
Calories: 2047
Friday, September 10, 2010
Run w/ Garmin Forerunner 201 [09/09/2010]
After a couple of failed attempts to get hold of a GPS watch, I finally got the Garmin Forerunner 201 on Craigslist. I don't think anything can beat the FR201 for $25! Lets see how it works out. No more hoping that the LYR app would not conk out. No more hoping that the battery does not give up on me. No more craning the neck to see how I am making out on the timing.
This is how it looks on my wrist:
Went through the manual and took it out for a quick run. The reviews say that the satellite reception could be a little dicey. Lets see what I find.
A lot of features. A LOT more than the free LYR app at least. You can have it beep if you were to go faster or slower than preset paces. Beep at particular distances. The display is big and clear. Just the 3 numbers I am interested in - Time, pace and distance. Then there's the running assistant that you program to run a preset distance at a certain pace and that lets you know if you are leading or behind the virtual guy. And then you can have the return to start that points out Neat! I am impressed. Apart from the missing heart rate monitor (which I have not use as of now), I don't see why I would need anything else.
So I strap that on and take off for a 'round the block' run. It was getting pretty dark. The mileage matched that of Google maps very accurately! And so did the Go Back to Start feature. Accurate within 8ft! Am just love-stuck. LOL
Anyways, here's the data for yesterday:
Date: 09/09/2010 7:30 PM
Type: Run (Tempo run)
Distance: 3.12 miles
Time: 0 hr 28 min 05 secs
Average pace: 9:00 min/miles
Route: 2.8M @ Mnmt Rndm Hls Fairfax
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/K8fyxFbd32Pn7y
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Calories: 419
Looking forward to better performance henceforth. Time will tell.
This is how it looks on my wrist:
A lot of features. A LOT more than the free LYR app at least. You can have it beep if you were to go faster or slower than preset paces. Beep at particular distances. The display is big and clear. Just the 3 numbers I am interested in - Time, pace and distance. Then there's the running assistant that you program to run a preset distance at a certain pace and that lets you know if you are leading or behind the virtual guy. And then you can have the return to start that points out Neat! I am impressed. Apart from the missing heart rate monitor (which I have not use as of now), I don't see why I would need anything else.
So I strap that on and take off for a 'round the block' run. It was getting pretty dark. The mileage matched that of Google maps very accurately! And so did the Go Back to Start feature. Accurate within 8ft! Am just love-stuck. LOL
Anyways, here's the data for yesterday:
Date: 09/09/2010 7:30 PM
Type: Run (Tempo run)
Distance: 3.12 miles
Time: 0 hr 28 min 05 secs
Average pace: 9:00 min/miles
Route: 2.8M @ Mnmt Rndm Hls Fairfax
Route link: http://www.logyourrun.com/showroute/K8fyxFbd32Pn7y
Shoes: Vibram FiveFingers
Calories: 419
Looking forward to better performance henceforth. Time will tell.
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