Uncategorized – Run Diaries

Endurance Journey – 2023

New Year, new goals and a new training plan!

As the new year dawns, I get ready to begin the 6 month training cycle heading up to the August 100 mile race in Berlin. A training cycle is journey that includes the physical, the mental and the spiritual aspects. There is a lot of planning, to the day and sometimes to the hour as to what I need to do. Yet, the mental and spiritual side of the training is also dealing with the unknown and the unplanned. There will be days and weeks that won’t go per the spreadsheet. There will be injuries, life events and who knows what else, that will need problem solving.

Endurance is to be ‘planned to the T’ and yet be prepared for it all to go haywire. To have that confidence that I will problem solve whatever that will be thrown at me. And yet, I have to start with the mindset of not missing 1 minute of my planned training. Discipline is a given. Chaos is the catalyst that will take the discipline to the next level.

The 200 day training cycle will being in full earnest on 24th January, 2023.

1136 Miles of training runs, 80 days of weight training, countless hours of recovery and a continuous mental stream of focus on the goal!

Keep Breathing!

Mile 31…In the 7th hour of running.

My legs are feeling very heavy. Lower back is stiff and the hip thrust for moving my leg forward feels like moving a log of wood.

Something I have reminded myself during the later miles – BREATHE. KEEP BREATHING! WATCH YOUR BREATH! KEEP BREATHING!

It feels counterintuitive but in the moments the body is exhausted on the runs, it chooses to conserve and preserve by keeping the stale breath in and reducing the intake of fresher air. Obviously some breathing is happening, else I wouldn’t be alive to write this. It’s just that the volume of oxygen intake reduces.

The technique to fix this is simple – pay attention to the breath for a few minutes. And breathe in an out as though all you are doing is breathing. No more than 2 minutes.

Fascinatingly, that’s all it takes to get the body breathing again.

And voila – in few short minutes, the energy levels in the body start rising again.

The heaviness in the legs eases just a little bit. A little bit is all I need to keep pushing for another 3-4 miles.

While there is a lot to explore and go deeper into the science of breathing during running, the most basic component of all that complexity starts with a simple step – to pay attention and to keep breathing.

If you are not sprinting, you should be breathing.

Day 24/300 – It doesn’t matter how I look…

10 minutes in. I am not warmed up yet. It feels very heavy today. It’s interval training day and I have to push myself to run as fast as I can for 4 minute intervals.

Fellow runners on the road always get my attention even if for a very brief moment. The co-passengers. As I glanced over to my right, I noticed a 20 something man in grey running shorts and black hoodie stroll by me. He looked like he was warming up. His strides were smooth and effortless. The body seemed to be not even in the second gear.

As I was pounding away my body with every ounce of energy I can muster into my hips and legs, my fellow runner just passed me running faster than I am, while looking like he is not even walking.

This is nothing new for me. I am not an athlete. I don’t look like one. I am not built like one and I don’t run like one. I am in my 40th year, who did jack with physical fitness for 30 of those 40 years.

But as I saw this wonderful athlete wave past me like a feather, it hit me – my thoughts for those brief few seconds..

“…It doesn’t matter how I look this moment. I am not running in this moment to look good. I am not running in this moment for anybody here on this street right now. I am. And I am running for something beyond me and beyond just this moment….It doesn’t matter..”

The lethargy and heaviness vanished in that very moment, my eyes nearly closed and the run continued with every ounce of energy in that moment.

He was a teacher today. That gentleman whose name I don’t know. I don’t know if he knows he was a teacher today. But he was.

An hour later, I finished up what I had to train for today. Tomorrow, If it comes, we will learn something new!

Running – Injury Prevention and Care (1/n)

For every one hour that I run in a week, I make it a point to spend at least an equal amount of time, an hour, working on my body preparing it for the run and recovering afterwards. Preparation includes strengthening and conditioning of the muscles, and recovery includes rest, restoration and active care. While rest is the most effective form of recovery, there is a need to also do a more active form of recovery. That includes yoga, massages and lighter form of activity.

I don’t think I have run a single day, wherein some part of my body hasn’t felt some pain. That pain is almost always an indicator for me to put some extra care to that part of the body. From the foot to the jaw, every part of the body at some time or the other needed additional care.

One thing I have learnt is when running, it is of utmost importance to be acutely aware of the body. A wandering mind that is not aware of the body is many times more likely to attract injuries. Our body has a way of signaling the injuries before they manifest. And by keeping the attention on the body, on the pain, on the signals, I have learnt to care for the problems mostly before they become major. Touchwood!

Over the next few months, I will from time to time focus on how I care for various muscle groups and lessons learnt. And I owe a big debt of gratitude to many teachers all around the running and yoga community.

Today I would like to make a mention of the immense help that a foam roller has done to my running.

Every day that I run, and on some non-running days too, I spend a few minutes running the foam roller on my legs, lower back, hip and calves.

Do google and youtube for a proper medical/scientific explanation of how a foam roller works.

This little piece of magic has helped me heal an acute IT band (knee) pain in less than 10 days and for months on now, a 5 minute foam roller session on the day of the run, has cured the legs of all fatigue and tiredness every single time. From runs of 10 miles to 30 miles – the foam roller after the run has worked wonders in getting the muscles in the lower body circulating again and absorb away the fatigue within minutes.

That immediate release and preventing the muscles from tightening up for extended periods, also goes a long way in preventing injuries from building up.

Until next time!

Day 8 of 300

A partially hilly trail run on a Sunday morning. On a back-to-back run day, after running 12 miles yesterday, I set out for a 4-5 mile, 1 hour trail run in the South Mountain Reservation’s Lenape Trail. What i did not evaluate properly ahead of the run was that this trail is not an easy one. I should have checked the elevation profile and some of the reviews of other runners. It’s hilly in parts and definitely mildly technical.

Further, many trails crisscross and that means one has to be very aware of the maps to make sure I don’t go away on an unplanned escapade.

All in all, it was an excellent experience both from a trail run perspective as well as giving my legs a good workout.

I treated myself to a Chocolate GU gel at the end of the run 🙂

Day 7 of 300

October 10th, 2020

Weekend long run – 12 miles back and out loop from Hoboken to Liberty Park.

While the distance was comfortable, I did push the pace slightly above my long run speed today. I did try out a new run-walk-run combination. It was 3:30 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking which is a step up from my usual 3:00/1:00 mix. I was happy with the average heart rate which was 155, something that didn’t rise up even as I extended my run duration.

Next week, I plan to step up the combination to 4 minute run and 1 minute walk on my long run. It will be an interesting challenge.

Day 5 / 300 Days of Training

October 8th, 2020

I had my alarm set to wake up at 5:30 AM. I had a day with meetings starting at 8:30 with work planned all day. The only possible window to run today was going to be between 7 and 8 in the morning.

And as it would have it, I had a night I couldn’t get much of a sleep. With 3 hours of sleep, I stepped out to run 5 miles. While I did warm up, it wasn’t easy to move the body to run. There were times, I felt as though I was propelling my body forward as though I am pushing a heavy log of wood.

And almost an hour later, I did complete my 5 miles of planned run. At target pace and target heart rate.

Some runs start rough, but as I did hit the stop button on my watch, I was pleased!

300 Days of Training

On 07/31/2021 – I will be running the longest distance I have run to-date. It will be my first 50 mile race.

Today is Day 1 of the training regime in place to get my body to a place where I can finish a 50 mile race with both legs standing, with a smile on my face and joy of running in-tact.

The training will involve lots of running, many hours of gym training for the legs, core and the various other muscle groups, lots of yoga for healing the body and many other forms of healing for both body and mind.

In the course, I plan to run at least two runs of 30+ miles, a few marathon distance runs and many weekends of 20+ mile runs.

The training will also involve, for sure, a lot of mental processing to prepare not just the body but my mind for the endurance test. There will be a lot of meditation…both while running and while not running.

I will be logging the journey as I go through it. Much life will happen in 300 days.

Day 1 –

4 Miles, 49:07 Minutes

After a 14 mile run yesterday, today was recovery run on tired legs. No thought of speed or any other considerations, just pulling my legs along to be able to run was adequate. Ended the run with a sit down at the cafe for a coffee and toast on a sunday morning brunch!

Best!

Run around the Island!

I finished a 31.6 mile run/jog/walk of entire perimeter of Manhattan on August 1st. This blog is my experience from what was technically my first ‘ultra-marathon’ run all around the beautiful Manhattan island. The blog is divided into two sections. First I cover the ‘experience’ and then, I delve in to the details of preparation, route, logistics, challenges and such.

If you are already someone who has run marathons and ultra-marathons, I am guessing much of what is said here is probably a different shade of your own experience 🙂

Why? Why run 31+ miles on a summer afternoon all around the city?

Well, for me it is just because I love running and running is a beautiful expression of meditation in motion. That is my reason. Love for running is helpful when you have to stay on the road for 7+ hours on a summer afternoon. While short and fast runs are very useful for building certain parts of physical fitness, the joy and bliss of a long slow drawn run is quite something else for me. A protein bar can give you the calories and nutrition you need, but there is no comparison between a protein bar and a multi-course meal at a fine restaurant.

Secondly, I love New York City. This is my home for the last 17+ years and a place I hold very dearly in my heart. As I go into the challenges, this fact is quite a help in plowing through certain sections of the run and the city.

The loop run lets you enjoy the views of the city and its surroundings in a very different manner. In short, you take in a panoramic view of the city, and not just what you see with your eyes but the wide variety and array of flavors and contrasts in nature, wealth, energy, vibe, people, cultures and however else you personally process the world. New York City is probably one of the very few (if not the only) cities with people from every single country of the world. And that makes this place the true microcosm of the world as a whole. And a panoramic view of that microcosm is quite an experience!

Needless to say, this type of endeavor takes preparation 🙂 Both physical and even more importantly mental. When I say mental, I also include emotional and spiritual aspects.

The Mental Processes!

I used the word ‘processes’ for a reason. While you and I have very little control on what thoughts will pop up in your head at what point, we have a lot more control on what processes we follow in our mind. You can call them habits or processes or patterns, but when the body is tired, energy is low and you are doing things which you have no memory to tap into, these processes become saviors.

First, I had to define what my mental processes are that I will follow before and during the run. And then, stay very disciplined to follow those processes with all the focus of my mind and diligently to the T.

From my previous runs, I knew the speed at which my heart rate jumps into ‘red’ territory. While heart rate is required to be in this territory to do cardio workout, you cannot run with heart rate in red zone for 7 hours. Based on that information, I had a plan of the pace to run from start till end. Some math and I had a spreadsheet with minute by minute breakdown of what speed I will run for the entire 32 miles. I mostly stuck to my plan except of course, running in a city meant unforeseen changes to route and situations. But some rules I followed without fail to ensure no physical breakdown were –

Rule 1 – Never let my heart rate exceed 170 for more than a few seconds. Immediately slow down if heart rate goes over 170 until the heart rate comes back under 130.
Rule 2 – Unless the heart rate is comfortably under 140, do not exceed run pace of 10 minute mile. Immediately slow down if running faster than 10 minute mile even if body feels fresh and capable.
Rule 3 – Never run more than 3 minutes without a walk break of at least 1 minute even if the body is feeling fresh and capable. On miles 20 and above, never run more than 2 minutes without a walk break and on miles 25 and above – 1 minute is all I would let my body run at a time. For the first 10 miles, drink water on every mile completed. Eat something for every 3 miles completed. For later miles, sip at least one sip of water on every walk break.
Rule 4 – If there is a pain in any part of body, slow down, evaluate, do some stretching, re-run and re-check.
Rule 5 – If heart rate is too high or if the chest or upper body is tightening while running, slow down, let heart rate come down and then re-run, re-check.

As I mentioned the preparation also involves a spiritual component. The two emotions that I had to embrace very dearly were Fear and Pain. There is no running away from these two friends. 20+ years of meditation does help. There is a freedom in running with an empty mind bereft of the fear of mortality and a mind that loves the pain.

I am fascinated by how as we grow older from being little babies, our threshold for tolerating physical pain grows and quietly, at some point in adulthood, that threshold starts dropping off again.

As I ran regularly, I learnt to differentiate between the pain of strain and the pain of injury. The former is a friend, the latter is your foe. There is no joy with this body of ours without learning to fall madly in love with the pain of strain.

Preparation

If you are an experienced long distance runner, the first 3 sub-sections are probably very known material. I talk about the city route challenges in the fourth sub-section.

Pre-Run Physical Prep

First and foremost, you have to be physically capable of running long distances. That comes with practice. How much practice? That depends on you and your body. If you are a natural athlete, I guess it takes lesser preparation. But I am not. Far for it. It took me almost 1 year of continuous running every week to bring my body to a place where it can endure 31+ miles. To be precise over the last 48 weeks, I missed running for 2 weeks. I have been running at least thrice and sometimes more for the last 46 out of the 48 weeks. I was running on/off before that for the previous 6-7 years. However, the disciplined, “come whatever may – I shall not miss my run” was the last 46/48 weeks.
In addition to running every week, for the last 9 months, I have also been doing weight/strength and conditioning workouts on my muscles at least twice a week. And to top it, I make sure I do at least 10-12 miles of walking in addition to all the running. Walking and workouts ensure buildup of muscle strength and keep the key joints aligned. And finally, at least once a week – I use yoga postures to fix any lingering mis-alignments/brewing injuries etc. which has helped me to so far, touch wood, have no running injuries.
While this run of mine was not a competitive race, I have run a half marathon in a simulated race situation and running long distances at a full pace certainly helped me understand my body’s capabilities and limitations.
I also learnt to develop gears to my running. That means being able to run at varying speeds with varying levels of intensity. This comes into a huge play when you want to increase the distance without increasing intensity. High Intensity = Lesser Distance and Low Intensity = Greater Distance.

Nutrition and Hydration on Run Day

Common knowledge is that for any run beyond 1:30 hours, you have to drink water and eat on your runs. So, for a run like this, you have to naturally drink LOTS of water and eat LOTS of food. As the temperature was going to be in 80’s, I was going to sweat a lot. My watch at the end of run estimated I lost about 6.8 litres of fluids in sweat. Obviously, to avoid any complications of dehydration, I should be targeting a re-fueling plan of atleast 5 and even more litres of liquids over the period of run. Sweat takes out not just water, but also salts from the body. So, just drinking 6 litres of water won’t cut it. I have to combine some sports drinks, salt supplements into the water quantity. I used gatorade, salt tablets with water and water mixed with lime/salt for this.
Another common knowledge is when you are running on medium to high intensity, you are likely to burn approximately 200-300 calories and 40-60 gms of carbohydrates for every hour of running. So on a run of 8ish hours, you have to plan to eat atleast 1200-1600 calories which include about 160-200 gms of carbs. With that in mind, I used gels, seedless dates and protein bars in addition to the sport drinks. Earlier on the run, for the first 3-4 hours, solid foods are ok but as I went past the 5 hour mark, I just couldn’t eat the bars. I had to stick to gels and sport drinks thereafter.
I ended the run with no cramps. So I am pretty happy with my hydration and nutrition strategy. 🙂

Gear

Nike Winflo 5 Running shoes
Quickdry sweat absorbing t-shirt (carried an extra shirt for change at half way point. Absolutely made a big difference)
Running shorts and compression shorts with pockets to help with carrying water/phone while also sucking out the sweat
Sweat absorbing socks – 2 pairs, with a change at halfway point
A hydration vest that carries 2 litres of water, 2 small bottles, gels/bars and pockets for cash/cards/keys.
Not technically gear but a useful tip – pay attention to possible chafing. For a very long period, when the clothes keep rubbing against the body drenched in sweat, chafing can happen. For me, it’s inner thighs. So I did use shea butter lotion before and again at the half way point.

Route and Challenges

You will see below the strava route map captured from my garmin phone. It’s mostly accurate except for a weird slip up around WTC and also around east river park.

In summary, the route is –

Started at the entrance to battery park (intersection of west st and batter pl) and followed the bikeway onto the south st/FDR
The bikeway is straight without breaks (except for small construction around pike Pl) till you enter East River Park.
Followed the east river promenande to end of the park and continued on the bikeway till 34th st.
Turned on to FDR service road at 34th till 37th and turned to 1st Ave at 37th st
Followed 1st/UN Plaza till 53rd st
Followed sutton place from 53rd till 63rd st and then took the bridge down to river side John Finley walk
Here the walk was supposed to be uninterrupted till 78th st but a construction blocked the road between 76-78th st. This lead me to turn back and take the pedestrian bridge over to york ave and followed York till 79th
I rejoined the bikeway/walkway at 80th st entering the Carl Schurz park.
Thereafter the bikeway/walkway followed along the river till 116th st pedestrian bridge. Again, the walkway was closed here for construction.
I took the pedestrian bridge over to East Harlem streets and zig-zagged my way through east harlem till 155th and Frederick Douglas
Here again I missed the bridge which would have put me onto the Harlem River Greenway at 155th st – so I had to follow Frederick Douglas St for another mile and join Harlem River Greenway before the road merges onto the highway
Luckily Harlem River Greenway was a relatively empty and uninterrupted stretch until Inwood’s 10th ave
In Inwood, I criss-crossed over to the Inwood park for a bio break and a change of clothes. Also, this place has a lot of café’s and deli’s. So was useful to refill water and sport drinks.
From the park, I followed down on Seaman ave and turned onto Dyckman Ave before joining the hudson greenway using the ramp at the west end of dyckman ave
Hudson River Greenway is a mostly straight unbroken road all the way down to Battery Park. There are couple of possible mishaps if you are not watchful – one is around GWB and the other around 145th St where the greenway forks into Riverside Park. You would want to stay on the hudson river greenway at all times.

Some minor challenges while doing this route

East Side is the more challenging side. You have to zig-zag your way onto the streets and that means possible traffic and other such considerations. So, I chose to run east side earlier in the morning to keep the distractions to minimum.
Running/walking through East Harlem and Harlem is not a pretty jolly and jovial experience. The sidewalks are not always clean and you have to be aware of your surroundings. Just thinking of running will not always be possible. But keep moving is the best advice.
Constructions and walkway closures are to be expected and you have to think on your feet to detour. Hopefully without adding too many miles. The fear of adding to already long day of miles can be a little jarring to the mind. Be prepared.
In good old days, a starbucks would have been a good and easy place for a bio break, but now you have to map out the restrooms in advance. There are public restrooms in Carl Schurz park, east river park, Inwood Park and parts of Hudson river greenway (the piers). Most public restrooms in the city open around 8 am. So plan accordingly!
There are always café’s and restaurants within a quick detour except for the short 2 mile stretch on the Harlem River Greenway. So you are never too far into the wild. But detours add miles to your legs, so plan your stops as much in advance as possible.

If you have reached all the way to this line, read the whole post, thank you! And I hope you learnt something new and I hope you have a great experience if you chose to undertake a run like this.

Don’t forget you can also walk the whole distance. It takes a bit longer but I am sure it is as much fun 🙂

My Tryst with Gun Violence

On January 11th, 2019 at about 6 PM, My wife Shivani and I were just getting seated in the food court of the Newport Mall in Jersey City, NJ. At first we heard a commotion with people running and shouting behind us. For the first 5 seconds, we ignored this commotion, assuming it to be some kids having fun and continued with the food on our table. Very quickly, the commotion escalated to louder yelling and then to chairs and tables being thrown. This was the first warning to us that we might need to get up and be alert. The very next moment as we turned around to look what’s happening – were the first sounds of gun shots, followed by even more frantic panic yelling and commotion just a few feet in front of us.

I have, just as almost every one among us who lives in the USA, have a very sharp and acute awareness of the dangers and possibility of a mass shooting in our conscious and sub conscious mind. I have seen on the television, internet and the news countless instances of a shooter randomly killing everyone in sight.

In the few seconds following the hearing of the gun shots and the sight of gun in the air – all that I knew and read and understood about gun violence evaporated from my conscious mind. There was a blankness of thought, an immediate and instinctive switch to action without any doubt or judgement. I shouted to all around me – “Get down on the floor”, “Get under the tables” and quickly dropped to the floor along with my wife and a few others around us.

For the few minutes that I was aware the gunman still being in the food court – It felt that death was very very near.

Of those around me , there were a few who were in tears, a few trying to call their family/friends as quickly as they can, a few in total state of shock unable to process anything or do anything frozen in the moment.

I had never been in a situation of this nature before. Yet, looking back, all the many years of my practice of meditation and Sudarshan Kriya let me stay alert and relatively not shaken in those moments of imminent danger.

After a few minutes, and once the immediate commotion subsided, we got up from under the tables, looked around to see the mall security officers walking in. At this time we started to collect our belongings and walk down towards the exit. When we reached down to the 2nd floor walking through the blood droplets and bullet casings lying on the floor, as we stood in open with almost all the stores shut down, we heard a fresh round of gun shots, commotion of people yelling and running. The panic and the possibility of a shooter on loose were still there. We rushed to the only store half-open – A Pandora Jewelry store whose manager was about to shut down. The store manager waited a few seconds for us to run in to his store, closed the store and escorted us quickly into the back closet of the store where 10 others were already in hiding. As we stayed hunkered, we started informing some of our friends of our situation and their prayers and blessings helped our morale.

We waited out another 40 minutes in the closet while the Jersey City police showed in their gear and guns to scan and clear the entire mall of any shooter. And at about 6:55 PM we exited the mall escorted out by the police and mall security.

We came back home walking, did our evening meditation, ordered food from a take away, spoke to our friends and ended the day exhausted and still processing the events of an eventful day.

We later that evening found out more details of the shooter and the incident from news sources. That the shooting was a possible gang related violence and not a mass shooting.

Walking out of the mall and safely out on to the streets, and to this moment, I am grateful for the fact that we and many others in that mall that evening walked out safe and alive to live another day, to experience the beauty of this day.

The next evening, our life and our commitments to the life ahead of us meant we were back among our friends at the Art of Living center in New York working on wards to bring peace not just to us but those that surround us. The day ended with this beautiful moment sat in silence and love.

What comes to me in my life is sometimes beyond my control, like the evening of January 11th, which was neither in my plans nor in my wish list.

That evening brought to us the knowledge of impermanence of life and fragility of it in a very real and personal manner.

Yet, I am alive today, able to look beyond the event, be grateful for its lessons and be able to continue my life, enriched a little more and to be able to share my experience and learning into another day.

While the lessons of that evening remain, our life is in its unusual own way back to normal. And Shivani, my companion in life and that evening is back to her self re-telling the tales of that evening in her own trademark style. (Do ask her for her own recounting when you meet her next)

I do not know what comes tomorrow, but whatever it is, it will be life.

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