'Longer' run [02/21/2010]

Ashinth (Natasha's brother) suggested that we check out W&OD trails. So we'd decided to check that out today. Unfortunately we couldn't wake up on time to do that this time around.
I know the program states today we had to do 9M. But there was no way we could manage that. Firstly there was no time as we had to get to Harkirat's birthday brunch. Secondly, we were not sure Madhura could manage 9M especially since she couldn't practise her runs in the snow clad streets the past month.
So we chalk out ~5M, put on our usual gear and take off. Great run I should say. The pace was a tad slow. But well, I am not going to complain. If nothing else, I am thankful I can even run on the streets. There were a few patches of black ice. But being bright and sunny, they were avoidable.




Meals: A gigantic brunch at the party: Quiche + sausage links + fried potatoes + coffee, रसम + rice + wine for dinner.

Interval Run [02/19/2010]

Couldn't run on Thursday as I got home really late. We Prithvi's birthday party to go to. So 3M was the best thing to do. I was looking forward to this run as I had decided it was going to be an interval run. Waited for Madhura to get home. We were not sure if we still should go out on the roads as the sidewalks were still not clear. So treadmill, it was.
I set the interval training level to 6. I had no clue what that setting meant. But as the elevation went up to 7 and 8.5, I was really fucked! Had to turn the speed down a lot...at 5M/hr for elevation of 7 and 4.5M/hr for 8.5. My legs were screaming! But it all felt good.
Hunger pangs hit the roof. Had a sumptuous dinner.
Meals: 2 bulls-eyes + tea for breakfast, heat-n-eat lean cuisine pizza + 1 मेथी पराठा for lunch, lamb and chicken and veg curry + rice + naan for dinner.
I am contemplating on registering for this year's New York marathon. Atleast put my name up for the lottery. What say?

New route...warding off the effect of cold [02/17/2010]

After yesterday's run, I decide "Okay! I am going to take it easy till the mercury touches a decent number...like atleast a positive number!"
So I got back home a little late. But the program is still on my mind. I have to cross off the numbers there. And then I am planning on working late tomorrow. That means I get home late. So slim chances of doing the Thursday 6M run. What the hell! Just do it Amit.
The usual gear. And now that I have the new app on my phone...from Dishant.com. Hopefully the songs will keep me going.
So I decide to avoid that road where I hit black ice yesterday and take the Dyke road. Good decision! Though it was pitch black, atleast the new road felt good. That pitbull got me a bit nervous. I was just hoping that the chain held fast. Talking of the pitbull, I wonder what the fuck was the owner thinking when he left the dog out in the cold! Hmmmm!
Anyways...3.8M in 34min. Pace of 8.5min/mile. Nice!




Meals: Cereal + soy milk for breakfast, Buffalo chicken salad + pepsi for lunch, heat-n-eat chicken curry + 2.5 rotis + 2 कला जामुन for dinner.
By the way, I found a couple of real good articles online about the benefits of strength training and best natural fuel for runners. A good read.

Black ice and chilly winds...scary [02/16/2010]

Finally the snow seems to have melted and the roads seemed a wee bit clear here in Dover. And have been yearning to hit the roads and not the treadmill. But the temperatures are not very friendly, to say the least. 32deg Fahrenheit = 0 deg celsius! Not pleasant. But I decide to brave it out. The plan said I had to do 5M. I have the base layer, a tee, my cap (with the LED lights) and ear muffs on. And of course, my favorite Fivefingers. Less than half a mile in and I turned back. The cold really was taking my breath away. I was hoping that my core temperatures would rise up sooner. Felt as if there were a clamp on my chest. I stopped, looked back and then it was pure mind vs body. No kidding. So I decide...lets see what happens. So I am trying to find any motivation I can. And start running backwards. This ways, I think, I know the house is close by and worse comes to worst, I will just walk back home. And then I reach the 0.5M turn. And I decide, "Okay Amit, just do 4M today. That means you got to do this just 7 more times! That's easy!". Okay! So I keep concentrating on my breathing. And think of good ol' Pune. For some reason I think of Anar mess and Delhi mess! LOL.
Then comes the scary part: Black ice! Fuck! So now I have to worry about the traffic, any puddles or ice blocks/pebbles (the Fivefingers don't do much in terms of padding), and then the fucking black ice! But the Fivefingers did a great job with the gripping! A couple of minutes in that stretch of black ice and I had a lot of confidence with my footing. In fact, I was feeling GREAT!
Another patch of backroads where the snow was not plowed at all. But I was warm enough. Not a problem at all!
So there I was...~4M in 39min. Nice!




Meals: Cereal + Soy milk for breakfast, Curry chicken for lunch + Heat-n-eat छोले + rotis + honey + 1 beer.
I have started with this routine of a spoonful honey in warm water at night. Got some good honey from the Amish market here. Lets see how that feels.

Long run on the treadmill...not! [Feb 14 2010]

Dreaded the day I would have had to do a long run on the treadmill. And that day came! Had to do 8M! I knew I couldn't. Question was how much boredom could I withstand. Madhura gave be a brilliant idea...stagger the runs. 3+3+2 taking breaks cross-training. So thought I would do just that. Bummer! All the treadmills were taken. And to top it those two Indian females were blabbering away to glory like there was no tomorrow. Finally one stopped and stood on the treadmill yapping away. I had to excuse myself in. There goes almost 20mins. So I just went ahead and did a 4.4M. 45min. Sweat like a pig.
Meals: Went to see homes early in the morning...skipped breakfast, Sarvana buffet for lunch (yummy! BURP!), spinach-दाल + rice + 2 काला-जामुन for dinner.
Its slated to snow tomorrow. But just an inch or so, I believe. And tomorrow is rest day. So by Tuesday the roads in Dover should be clear enough to run. Yay! Finally! Hopefully!

A quickie on the treadmill... [Feb 12 2010]

It was a horrid morning after spending 3 hours on I-66 driving Madhura to work. Got back, had a quick lunch and a quick nap. We had plans to go for dinner at Filomena at 6. So I stole 40min to snuck in a 4miler...on the treadmill. I swear today was a strength of will. I had no will to get up and go. But since I committed to the program, I guess I had to do it.
4.2M in 40min. Did a lot of stretching and some core strengthening too.
Meals: Breakfast burrito from McD's + coffee for breakfast, heat-n-eat Hakka noodles for lunch, and sumptuous dinner (Grigliata Alla Costello) at Filomena. Too much meat...too much food. Sinus headache's a bitch.

ggrrrr...treadmill day [Feb 11 2010]

The roads are still not clear. Atleast the sidewalks are not yet. And from the looks of it, they are not likely to be soon. Piles and piles of snow stacked up.
So well, another day on the treadmill. Madhura went to her gym to do one of her classes...some Zumba thing. Determined as I was to stick to the schedule (6M today). Just not the best of situations. First dhingana was messing up. So I chucked that. Then the phone starts ringing. The damned microphone's messed up. So I have to go through all these circus acts of pulling the headsets off, and then yelling through the armband. And then attempt to restart the freakin music. I just gave up after 4M! Oh well...
Stats: 4.2M in 40min.
Meals: McD's breakfast burrito from the dollar menu + coffee for breakfast, leftover rice + रसम + (yummy) ठेचा + kala jamun for lunch, Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana + salad for dinner.

Another snow day...hence...the f#@$%& treadmill...again! [Feb 10 2010]

I am so bummed out! Its been snowing the whole day! That's not a problem. The winds are worse. So another day of not being able to run out there. It's been a lethargic day. Good thing Madhura prodded me to go. 5M on the treadmill. 50min. Good thing I took my favorite 'powerdrink'. Took a couple minutes break to take a few swigs.
Played racquetball with Nehal after the run. Just for about half hour. He plays well. Felt great. Good thing is that I am close to the program.
Meals: Omelette + bread + tea for breakfast, leftover पुलाव + eggplant भाजी + frozen रोटी for lunch, rice + rasam + cabbage भाजी + half a cookie + 2 slices of orange + a glass of red wine (is that a lot to eat?)

Feeling lazy [Feb 09 2010]

The snow is really creating havoc on the training schedule. All that planning and chalking out the training program, and I am unable to really follow it. It's just too crazy out there. I am sure even Frank must have hung his training shoes in this weather!
But we got on the treadmill nevertheless. Did ~15min on the elliptical. I don't know if the elliptical was broken or I am just plain dumb, but I really couldn't figure out what I was to do on the 15min 'Fitness Test' mode. So I just kept pedaling till I got bored. Then hopped on the treadmill for about 10mins. Between the darned elliptical and treadmill, I think I must have covered ~2miles (the training program says 5M)
Meals: 2eggs + tea for breakfast + yesterday's leftover पुलाव for lunch + red wine + yummy eggplant भाजी + चपाती + grapes for dinner.

Regular run [Feb 05 2010]

Its started to snow. It has been termed "The Blizzard of 2010". I am determined not to get the snow better of me. So I decide to go to the gym. How I was planning on doing 5 miles on a treadmill, I have no clue. And frankly speaking, I am pretty sure I cannot do it either.
As I thought, I just could not go beyond 3M. And I didn't! :-)
3.3M in 35mins.
Feet were a little sore (don't ask me why? strange!).
Meals: 3 bulls-eyes + tea for breakfast, उसल + रोटी for lunch, one aweful pizza for dinner.

Regular run [Feb 03 2010]

The snow's been melting and the temperatures were in the high 30's.
Showed the training program to Frank and he said it looked good. Just need to incorporate interval training in it. So I decided to do the Saturday 3 miles as interval training. Since Saturday is the one day I can consistently maintain a schedule, might as well use that day for the interval training.
Started off at 7pm. Shin splint on my left leg at about 2mile. Stretched it to no avail. Just went on nevertheless. At about mile 3 it subsided. Then picked up on lost time. 45 minutes! I am happy!
Iced my calves - just for precaution.




Meals: Cereal + milk and honey in warm water for breakfast, heat-n-eat chicken biryani for lunch + Daal makhani, 3 frozen rotis, 3 slices of fruit-n-nut chocolate.

Regular run [Feb 01 2010]

It was really chilly. Got back a little early from work (since I will be staying late this Thursday). Was excited to go out today after I chalked out the training plan. 3 miles to do today.
Put on my base layer and stuff. Did some good stretches. Forgot to take the ear muffs, but was too lazy to go back up to get them.
After what I learnt on the treadmill, I decided to take it really slow at the beginning. I don't know as yet how to time intervals, but I am pretty sure I did a negative split. Did the usual 3 mile run in 29 minutes. Felt great. Achilles tendons of both feet a little sore (very little). But that is to be expected with the Fivefingers. I LOVE them. No pain other than that. Iced the tendons while watching TV. Very refreshing run overall.




Meals: A gigantic burrito from McD's + hashbronws + coffee for breakfast (wrong order...but well...), Buffalo chicken salad for lunch and heat-n-eat पाँव-भाजी + rotis + fruit-n-nut Cadbury's (3 pieces) for dinner. (I think I really over ate today.)
Tomorrow's rest day. And it's going to snow. I hope its not too bad for a Wednesday night run.

Weekend treadmill running & 7 week half marathon program

Its really really cold over the weekend and snowed quite a lot too. Now if this were Michigan, I wouldn't have complained about the snow. They do a good job of cleaning the streets and sidewalks there. Unfortunately thats not the case in Virginia. So I just ran indoors on the treadmill.

Ran 2.5 miles on Friday with pace of 10min/mile and
ran 2.0 miles on Saturday with pace of 10min/mile.

The program says I should have run 5M on Friday, 3M on Saturday and 7M on Sunday. But I wasn't sure I could do it. Hence ramping it up.

Since I didn't run on Sunday, I will run 3M today (Monday) and let Tuesday be the rest day. Got to do 5M Wednesday. Then 3M on Thursday, 5M Friday, 3M SaturdayLets see how that pans out.

Summary for January 2010:

Got an email from Active.com about the Sun Trust National Marathon in DC on March 10th. Asked Madhura to register us. We have pre-qualified (half marathon in 2:30). So we are good.

Chalked out a 6 week running program on LogYourRun starting next week. Let's see if I can follow it.

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	3 miles	Rest	5 miles	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	7 miles	23 mi total
2	Rest	5 miles	3 miles	6 miles	6 miles	3 miles	8 miles	31 mi total
3	Rest	5 miles	4 miles	6 miles	6 miles	3 miles	9 miles	33 mi total
4	Rest	4 miles	4 miles	7 miles	7 miles	3 miles	10 miles	35 mi total
5	Rest	4 miles	4 miles	7 miles	7 miles	4 miles	11 miles	37 mi total
6	Rest	6 miles	5 miles	8 miles	7 miles	4 miles	12 miles	42 mi total
7	Rest	4 miles	4 miles	6 miles	4 miles	3 miles	13 miles	34 mi total