"You don't stop running because you get old, " said the Demon a.k.a Jack Kirk. " You get old because you stop running." - Born to Run
I had finished off the running season with Corbet cross country race in March. I felt quite tired having run 7 21k, 1 25k, 4 10k races. I overcame my PB 2 times in 21k and 10k. Starting April I felt quite hopelessly lethargic with no energy. Anyhow i registered for 100 days (HDOR) challenge to keep continuity in Running. This time work pressure started to pile up from May, things are not same for everywhere. Initially, I had planned to do AHM2018 then dropped the plan as I couldn't train properly.
As HDOR was coming towards middle when ADHM2018 dates came out. I decided to go for it. Since this time it was during Dusherra vacation, decided to take family along and end June booked the tickets.
As MyAsics was closing down i was moved to RunkeeperGo. I started the plan for 21st October fitted my PB and target of 2.00 hrs. The app came out with plan and predicted expected result of 2.02 something. The whole training plan was designed on base of this.
I was travelling almost every week since June which made it quite difficult to stick to the plan. I missed lot of long runs and this was for the Saturday training. Body needed rest and Sundays went for that. If there was holiday in between I would try to squeeze in the Long run.
In May End I was travelling to Nepal and was in Kathmandu. I stayed with Avinash and ran with him in Kathmandu, bit of hill training. It was good feeling and he was marvellous host.
In May End I was travelling to Nepal and was in Kathmandu. I stayed with Avinash and ran with him in Kathmandu, bit of hill training. It was good feeling and he was marvellous host.
July I did one 10k, August 14k,10k and 18.4k in Freedom Run ( coure was short by 2.6km for 21k). Last one was quite pathetic as at times I was walking mostly. In fact I met Yasho, Rahul and Pooja all struggling at 13k, walking and joined them till 16k. Total activities were 16 in Aug quite low compared to plan.
September tried to run more, did more strengthening exercise and ran more finished of with only long race (LSD) with Roddur marathon 21k. Highlight of this period was that I could start for long run and finish it off at 8 or 10k. The humidity was killing. But my short runs were good.
P.C. The Shutterbug Photography
Slowly after the Roddur marathon started to taper off for the D day. I started of on 16th Oct and reached Delhi on 17th 11.00pm in night, train was late by quote few hours. Next day we were going for sight seeing to Agra. 19th Oct was Delhi sight seeing. My IT band was acting funny with all this sitting and sight seeing. It was bit exhausting as well.
20th Oct I went to expo early and picked my bib and met the other Runners from Kolkata . I picked up 2.05 and 2.00 pacers both of each. I didn't know how good my body would stand. Finished of dinner as usual.
Woke up 3.20 in morning, got ready. I started at the four pacer bands which one to take. I decided to take2.00.hr , as the initial 2km pace was 6 and looked good to me and it come down to.5.35 after that. I was not sure if I could sustain 5.35 till 21k , which meant quite a good pace. Anyhow I started JLN stadium and reached venue by 4.10. Good so far. I warmed up as per my training. Moved towards the holding area. I was in C. Met other fellow runners . Soimantik was there with me, Rest had moved up in holding area. Race started at 5am and holding area A then.and next C were released. Soimantik said you go ahead and I started moving up at the starting mat.
This time they had changed the course a bit and starting time. It was dark. I started off trying to criss-cross through sea of runners. About 2km it became bit less and I tried to the see the 2
05 pacer flag who was in C with us. He had started before me. I had kept bottle of water with me ,gulped down water and collected fresh bottle at water station. These bottle were bit bigger I guess 250ml. After 3km it was pitch dark at few patches. The runner in from was not visible . Coming to Mathura road I could see 2 familiar faces better to say backs - Soumitra and Supratim wearing the KR T-shirt. I could see there names in back, they were about 50-70 metre in front and the 2.05 pacer was 100m roughly. I tagged them and ensure they remain at sight. I tried checking with the band where I was on the plan unfortunately it was too dark to read at that pace. I crossed India Gate in the dark and.moved towards the Parliament. I met Triple M here and moved ahead. Crossing from there at 10.5 k I reached 2.05 pacer and Soumitra/Supratim had moved ahead. I asked him how we are doing and what the pace was , ran with for 400m and decided to move up. Here there was bit jump where I had sprained my foot. Managed to escape without any such incident this time.
I was on course and coming back towards India Gate caught up with Soumitra and Supratim. I ran with them for bit and was quite comfortable and decided to push up. So far so good, the sun rays were lightening up the sky and I used my time on TomTom to check at Km display and cross check with pace band whether I was on time. I could see I was bit ahead by 30 sec in 15th km mark.
This time they had changed the course a bit and starting time. It was dark. I started off trying to criss-cross through sea of runners. About 2km it became bit less and I tried to the see the 2
05 pacer flag who was in C with us. He had started before me. I had kept bottle of water with me ,gulped down water and collected fresh bottle at water station. These bottle were bit bigger I guess 250ml. After 3km it was pitch dark at few patches. The runner in from was not visible . Coming to Mathura road I could see 2 familiar faces better to say backs - Soumitra and Supratim wearing the KR T-shirt. I could see there names in back, they were about 50-70 metre in front and the 2.05 pacer was 100m roughly. I tagged them and ensure they remain at sight. I tried checking with the band where I was on the plan unfortunately it was too dark to read at that pace. I crossed India Gate in the dark and.moved towards the Parliament. I met Triple M here and moved ahead. Crossing from there at 10.5 k I reached 2.05 pacer and Soumitra/Supratim had moved ahead. I asked him how we are doing and what the pace was , ran with for 400m and decided to move up. Here there was bit jump where I had sprained my foot. Managed to escape without any such incident this time.
I was on course and coming back towards India Gate caught up with Soumitra and Supratim. I ran with them for bit and was quite comfortable and decided to push up. So far so good, the sun rays were lightening up the sky and I used my time on TomTom to check at Km display and cross check with pace band whether I was on time. I could see I was bit ahead by 30 sec in 15th km mark.
I kept pushing up and thinking how the body will react at 17-18km mark as it get tricky fro there. At 19km mark I saw it was 1.42 on my TomTom and I had 12min to reach the finish line. I decided to push hard the last 2km, met Coach Ravindra on the way motivating runners, giving them a high five. So I huffed and puffed all the way to finish line. I crossed the line with 1.59.40 on my TomTom and I did it.
Crossing the finish line saw Sourav Banerjee and both went off collected medal and breakfast. This time they had cordoned off area such that after collecting the breakfast you can't go back to finish line or recovery zone.
Crossing the finish line saw Sourav Banerjee and both went off collected medal and breakfast. This time they had cordoned off area such that after collecting the breakfast you can't go back to finish line or recovery zone.
Anyhow, I was elated to have breached the 2hr mark and satisfied. In the morning I was not sure if I could do it. Met other runners and pushed off back to hotel as the day I had plan to visit Red fort and then move to Jaipur.
Few things I did right were the fast paced runs on the plan, long runs pace i maintained and if any point I was faltering I would correct or finish it off. Studying the pace graph it was negative split. And most places had reduced from previous km except few. Last two Km were fastest and last one km was faster than earlier one. I was amused knowing the gaps I had in training. Good thing I ran in controlled pace as my plan. For 2nd time I did better than my training plan prediction. Both times I was ahead by 3 minutes
After ADHM, took bit time to recover and started running again from Friday. The biggest problem was since my plan ended with recovery phase, the runs stopped being planned.The next race which I had was Airtel RFE on 25th Nov. This was a practise run for me as initial plan was if I didn't manage sub 2 then I would try for this. Since ADHM was successful, I decided to convert this to practice run for TSK25K.
Fast forward to AIRTEL RFE 2018. The race was to start at 5.15 am and had to reach early there. And this time this was new single loop route City centre 1 to New town Biswa Banga gate.When I reached the start point, I could feel this year weather was not as chilled like earlier year. As I dint have plan as such, I decided to go with the flow - Run as you feel.
I started off bit fast compared to ADHM. First 3km I was running less than 5.2min/km. Crossing Karunamoyee decided to slow down a bit. Moved there to Godrej waterside and then towards New Town. I was doing good so far, and moved back from Biswa Banga gate meeting lot of know faces on there way. I kept eye on Soumitra again this time.
As I approached 17th Km mark, I could see road full of 10k Runners, tried to manage to squeeze through. But I missed the next water station for hydration as it was overcrowded with 10k runners. Here I lost bit of pace as water is essential for me and I could get water in next station.
Finally crossed the finish line 1:55:43 bettering my best by 4 min in a months time. And it was tiring after that
Nest on the cards was KU60k relay which again was a practise run. This was event where you need to have one female runner in the team of three members. My team had two female runners - Anuja & Rajvi - for both of them this would be their maiden 20km.
Day of the event was 2nd Dec 2018, run started 5 am, I was the third runner and I started at 12.24pm. This was tough for me as running at mid noon even in winter is difficult . When I started we were the last team and I the last third runner. My objective was to move up a position, I did my fastest mile and around 3km I overtook the runner before. I kept pushing myself and it was bit confusing as at many places wind had turned the signs. Anyway, around 8km, I overtook another runner moving another rung up.
While on coming back, I met many of the 60k runners on the route, tired but still pushing forward. I reached the last bit of trail 4km to finish line, and I couldn't run much, my feet were hurting. I managed to cross this patch and reach tarmac which was 2km to finish line . And surprisingly, my feets didn't hurt and I could run. I understood I had worn wrong set of shoes for trail running.
Next was TSK25, I didn't have much ambitions for this one, just keep it below 2.30 hrs. The weather was cloudy and this year weather was not as good as last year. I was doing good job till mid way, my pace was below 5.39min/km. The U turn at tollygunge, I pulled my glutes. I didn't stopped, I kept running. After 2km, I started loosing pace. I was bit disappointed that I will not finish within 2.30 hrs.
At start line
As I approached 21st Km mark, I was running slow, had lost almost a minute of pace. I looked at my watch and I realized that I had done 21k in bit less than hour, so I have 4 km to go and less than 30 minutes. I just need to run at same speed and I will finish less than 2.30. Around 23rd Km mark Prasunda crossed, urging me to speed up. Unfortunately, I couldn't managed to speed up. I ran with the best possible pace at that time and finished less than 2.27 hrs. Done with TSK25k
I had decided at close of last season to reduce down the number of events. I skipped Bhumi/Carethon/Santa Claus Run.
Next was the SDSL Kolkata police run, this event I got selected as 90min pacer for 10km. My co-pacer was Sreetama Roy. This wasa total fun run as running slow was patient job. I had 3 runners on the bus, I pushed 2 of them to finish ahead and one who was there till end was Sayantani Ghosh for whom this was maiden 10k. Thanks to Jbro for giving the honour of pacing in this event.
Kolkata trail was next event where I was again Ambassador and was running 10km. This is one of well organised event with limited registrations compared to other events. Running through the trails in early morning. I and Prasunda started together and then around 5km mark, he said I can push ahead as he didn't wanted to take risk as TMM was around the corner. I stated pushing ahead and finished 56min for 10.5km . Better than last year.
Fourth Sunday of Jan, two events were clashing Ekal Run and BRC. I had decided to Run Ekal as I was not running TMM and wanted to run 21k. Ekal route was bit of ARFE route, starting from Godrej waterside and into Newtown towards Shapoorji. This was my first race with Brooks Ghost 11 and wanted to check how it feeled during a 21k. The number of runnerswere divided between BRC and Ekal Run.
I started fast as weather was good. The wind was blowing like anything in the morning. I saw Harsh crossing me at 05.km mark, I told him to take it easy. After 3rd km, the road was become empty, the number of participants for 21k was less. As I reached around 7km mark, I caught up with Samiksha Rai ( a strong runner ). I asked her what happened , she said she was getting bored running alone. We ran together till 10.5km after which she started pushing ahead. I kept running trying to maintain the pace.
I started fast as weather was good. The wind was blowing like anything in the morning. I saw Harsh crossing me at 05.km mark, I told him to take it easy. After 3rd km, the road was become empty, the number of participants for 21k was less. As I reached around 7km mark, I caught up with Samiksha Rai ( a strong runner ). I asked her what happened , she said she was getting bored running alone. We ran together till 10.5km after which she started pushing ahead. I kept running trying to maintain the pace.
As I reached 16km, 21km route was merging with 10km and I could see runners but still roads were not crowded. Around 19th km mark, route merged with 5km and this was crowded. Jbro was race director and he had taken special care to segregate route of 5km with 21km. But people have habit of not following rules and were crossing over to 21k path. I was running fast and had to shout to runners ( better word walkers) to move aside. But when they have headphones stuck up their ears and how can they hear . Few places, I had pushed/hit walkers unfortunately.
I crossed the finish line at 1:59:07 hrs. My Tomtom said it was bit more than 21.1km. Ekal Run was a good race with number of runners for 21k was less. This is a good route, and probably next year more runners should participate.
The next race on the cards was The CSC run for Fitness Mini Marathon on 17th Feb as I was missing IDBI Kolkata FM on 3rd for office duties. Calcutta Swimming Club does a good job of organising the race.
On the day of race I turned up on time and in the early morning it drizzled a bit. The weather was nice as winter was leaving the city and a nice route to run on. I didn't have anything in particular while coming for this 10k. I started up a bit , there was route change for 15k guys after AIR which looked tricky to me and I went straight ahead. The road was bit slippery and I had to run carefully not slip and fall. I crossed Babughat and onto towards Princep ghat, few runners crossed me. Abu was ahead of me. As I was nearing the U turn for 5k, which was a bit camouflaged and I could see Atul going straight ahead instead of taking a turn. Later at end I realised it has happened with many.
I took a turn and ran back towards CSC. The route is loop of 5k two times. When I crossed 5k, I checked my watch and saw I crossed 5k in 26.07 which was best for me. But the weather after 5k was bit humid, I lost pace in 2nd half. I saw Abu walking a bit after 5k. I came back , trying to keep the pace and crossed the finish line 53 min 17s on my watch. Later the official result came as 53.12 , down by 6 mins from last year. So 10k best was achieved finally for the season.
The last 21k of season was SBI Green Marathon. This race was supposed to happen in 2018 October and had got shelved. As I missed IDBI i thought I will do the 21k, last one for the season. This race was to be held at Eco park , a AIMS certified race. I was bit sceptical for the race - one thing being in loop of 10k and water being given in glasses. I failed to understand for AIMS certified race, why give water in glasses when Runners would try to get a good timing and loose time trying to drink/gulp down water. You needed to carry your own bottle.
Prasunda came with me in morning, he was running 10k recovery phase after TMM 42k. The race started at 5.30am, and was still dark in spite being at end of February. I didn't have any goals for this race, decided to keep the pace around 5.35/km.I finished 10km at 55 min. I could see that I was fine. I was carrying a 500ml water bottle it finished around 8.5k. I kept running till 12km without water, I could see Rahul running before me. He stopped at 12km water station to fill his bottle. I took bit of water, most fell to roads. Trying to drink water at each station in cup was really challenging and disheartening as I was loosing 20-30 sec and my water craving was not satisfied. Before 18th km, I was feeling dehydrated and lost quite bit of pace. I saw other runners struggling as well. I had some water and felt better and tried a bit to make it up. Somehow I managed to finish the race with time of 2:01:54. And I vowed never to participate in race in 21k where water is being given in cups.
This sums the journey from the first 21km of the season to the last one. Biggest achievement has been being injury free, body not over stressed. Lots of learing in place, coming season will continue the good things learnt. It had been amazing runs in the season. Reducing number of races helped both physically and financillay. I had initally started this as ADHM 2018 racelogue but my laziness overcame my eagerness and couldn't publish it on time. I decided in April to finsh them and add the rest of races to make it one story. The details of ADHM and houney before are more in details as the inital draft of it I had completed in Oct.
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The next race on the cards was The CSC run for Fitness Mini Marathon on 17th Feb as I was missing IDBI Kolkata FM on 3rd for office duties. Calcutta Swimming Club does a good job of organising the race.
On the day of race I turned up on time and in the early morning it drizzled a bit. The weather was nice as winter was leaving the city and a nice route to run on. I didn't have anything in particular while coming for this 10k. I started up a bit , there was route change for 15k guys after AIR which looked tricky to me and I went straight ahead. The road was bit slippery and I had to run carefully not slip and fall. I crossed Babughat and onto towards Princep ghat, few runners crossed me. Abu was ahead of me. As I was nearing the U turn for 5k, which was a bit camouflaged and I could see Atul going straight ahead instead of taking a turn. Later at end I realised it has happened with many.
I took a turn and ran back towards CSC. The route is loop of 5k two times. When I crossed 5k, I checked my watch and saw I crossed 5k in 26.07 which was best for me. But the weather after 5k was bit humid, I lost pace in 2nd half. I saw Abu walking a bit after 5k. I came back , trying to keep the pace and crossed the finish line 53 min 17s on my watch. Later the official result came as 53.12 , down by 6 mins from last year. So 10k best was achieved finally for the season.
The last 21k of season was SBI Green Marathon. This race was supposed to happen in 2018 October and had got shelved. As I missed IDBI i thought I will do the 21k, last one for the season. This race was to be held at Eco park , a AIMS certified race. I was bit sceptical for the race - one thing being in loop of 10k and water being given in glasses. I failed to understand for AIMS certified race, why give water in glasses when Runners would try to get a good timing and loose time trying to drink/gulp down water. You needed to carry your own bottle.
Prasunda came with me in morning, he was running 10k recovery phase after TMM 42k. The race started at 5.30am, and was still dark in spite being at end of February. I didn't have any goals for this race, decided to keep the pace around 5.35/km.I finished 10km at 55 min. I could see that I was fine. I was carrying a 500ml water bottle it finished around 8.5k. I kept running till 12km without water, I could see Rahul running before me. He stopped at 12km water station to fill his bottle. I took bit of water, most fell to roads. Trying to drink water at each station in cup was really challenging and disheartening as I was loosing 20-30 sec and my water craving was not satisfied. Before 18th km, I was feeling dehydrated and lost quite bit of pace. I saw other runners struggling as well. I had some water and felt better and tried a bit to make it up. Somehow I managed to finish the race with time of 2:01:54. And I vowed never to participate in race in 21k where water is being given in cups.
This sums the journey from the first 21km of the season to the last one. Biggest achievement has been being injury free, body not over stressed. Lots of learing in place, coming season will continue the good things learnt. It had been amazing runs in the season. Reducing number of races helped both physically and financillay. I had initally started this as ADHM 2018 racelogue but my laziness overcame my eagerness and couldn't publish it on time. I decided in April to finsh them and add the rest of races to make it one story. The details of ADHM and houney before are more in details as the inital draft of it I had completed in Oct.
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