Vitamin D Deficiency

My vitamin D level has been just found to be drastically low. It's 10.3 to be precise, while the minimum level should be 20. That explains why my shoulder aches so much every morning for the last several months now. Suranjan advised Uprise @ 2 tabs per week for the first month and thereafter 1 tab per week for two months. He also suggested Shelcal @ 2 tabs every day. 

I started the Uprise right away from today - Wednesday 29th March, 2017. This is Mampu's stock. I think Wednesday/Sunday will be right for me. I will take 2 tabs per week till end of April. Thereafter 1 tab per week for May and June. 

Shelcal should continue in perpetuity. After my wrist fracture I was on a daily dose of Calinta Frac for some months and then stopped it. I guess that was an error on my part. I must also routinely now start walking in the sun for at least half an hour every single day. 

Apparently a higher than normal level of the vitamin is potentially more dangerous. Have to check that. 

Long Time No See

It's been some time since I wrote anything here. Much as I would like it to be otherwise, running outdoors doesn't work for me in winter. In summer, when the tongue almost touches the knees out of sheer fatigue and every last bit of energy seems to ooze out with the drops of sweat and grime, one feels I will make huge progress in winter. But when winter actually sets in one gets lethargic. One feels reluctant to go out in the cold of the evening. Waking up to go out in the early morning hours is simply out of question. Eventually winter passes without much outdoor activity. This happens every year. 

I started running again in February this year. A look at my activity chart on Garmin Connect or Strava will show this. I have decided to run a fixed course of 2 km every other evening. Improve the time to something respectable like 6 min per kilometer and then increase the distance.

I started this year's runs from 31st January. The time has improved consistently and I am happy that from what started as a 20 minute course, is now doable in 12 and a half minute. 

My best, achieved a couple of weeks or so ago was sub 14 minute. I think 13 minutes 40 seconds. But today, I don't know what spirit of Carl Lewis got into me - I ran the first km in a few seconds more than six minutes and the second was completed in slightly above six and a half minute.

Commendable in my personal opinion. But I will have to work on closing the gap between the first and second kilometer's timing. I think I can do it.

So what is the reason for this huge success? I think my concentration on doing extensive lower body exercises on the off days. Today I realised the lunges that I have started doing are really paying rich dividends. My form has improved because of them, not to speak of the strength in the core regions.

I think once I build more strength in my calves, the going will get smoother and faster.  

2K Morning Run

I ran today after a couple of weeks when I was down with low fever. This was also my first morning run after a very long time. Could run only for 2 km when I thought I'd do 5. I was coasting along fine for more than a kilometer when I was running along the road. The moment I entered the lake the fuel seemed to run out suddenly. It is so windless inside the wooded part of the lake that it was well nigh impossible to continue running. I walked for 250 meters (1.56 to 1.81) to resume the run again but soon realised it would not be possible for me to pull it through today. So I gave up at 2 km.

I think it is a combination of these few factors that stopped me. A. I was running after a few days' gap B. I am not used to day time running C. It was totally windless inside the Lake today.

My First 5K

The other evening I ran my life's first 5 km. Let me write down the experience for posterity. First off - here is my map of the run from Strava. The original information was captured on my Garmin Forerunner 15, which was synced to Strava. That might sound too much of technology to many :-) But you can easily ignore that bit and not miss anything. 

I was running some 4 km more or less consistently for the last few weeks before this. On this particular evening I thought I would give 5K a try. Perhaps walk for a few hundred meters and then run again. I shall not save the run at 4K on my Garmin. As it turned out, I did not hear the beep at 4 km. When I looked at my watch it was showing 4.11 km. I stopped running but kept on walking. I was quite out of breath actually. This was on the other side of the Lake.

After walking for 200 meters I felt strong enough to run again. The heart beat per second had also come down considerably. So I started again in right earnest to stop only after hitting 5K. This part of the run was not as tough as I had imagined it might be. I could have gone on for some more distance perhaps. But then one has to remember the knees and other ligaments that may not keep pace with my enthusiasm :-)

I have noticed that on holidays and weekends, after a full day's rest when I run in the evening I do better - both in terms of distance and speed. On certain bad humid and breeze less, working days I can barely run for 2 kms.

My timing wasn't anything great. But I know I can bring it down in winter. Or perhaps in the morning also. I am not worried about that. My best timing over 4 km so far is 27 minutes. I think I clocked that some time in December 2015. Which is a little less than 7 min per km pace. I am sure with consistent practice it will come down to perhaps 6 min per km. But the tragedy is that every day I am getting old and getting slower. A classic case of running to stand still :-)

I must explain here why there is such a long gap between this entry and the previous one. Last year from January onwards I was getting bogged down by one after the other ailments that did not let me run. Finally I went to Chadar trek in late January and broke my wrist. This virtually put an end to my running. It may sound funny. But it indeed is impossible to be in a frame of mind to run when your wrist is recovering from a one-month long cast.

It took me quite a few months to come out of that phase and start to run again. I built up the distance slowly but steadily. Now I am trying to run 4 km every alternate evening. But I must admit on certain bad days I do finish the evening at 2 km. Of course I am not counting the 1+1 km walk to and from home to the starting point.

Celebrating 4K

I am running 4 km every alternate evening now. Since last week. My earlier attempt to hit 4k had met with a failure as I started feeling pain in the knee. I guess it was a case of bursitis. This time I progressed rather cautiously. From 3 to 3.3 first for two weeks. After that 3.6. From there it was 100 meters more every day. Finally hit the 4K last Sunday or so I guess.

After that my average pace suffered a little. But then I did some speedwork on one particular day. Mostly eccentric bursts of speed. The next day saw a marked improvement. The day after was even better. I am going to do these eccentric speed works once a week. It has its own benefits for sure.

I had promised myself a hairband after running 4K successfully for a few days. Today I got my swoosh hairband for Rs 490. It's a grey one with the swoosh in light green. It is meant to protect my eyes where sweat comes in rather easily. 

I will celebrate my 5K with a good book on running. Perhaps Jack Daniels's. 

I had originally planned to remain in 4 for the month of December and then go for 5K. Now I feel tempted to go ahead and do it the way I did the 3 to 4 transition. But I want to first run my best pace. Then only will I push my limits further up. 

Post-run Nutrition

The headline sounds rather technical and straight out of a running magazine. It indeed is. I read up on the subject and they said eat some protein and carbs after a run. It will help rebuild the muscle and aid in the recovery process.

Last week I ate a simple, large banana. The pain around my knee was completely gone the next day. The next day we made a banana milk shake. I don't feel like I have ever run in the last two years. My legs feel strong. No niggles anywhere whatsoever. 

Is it the "post-run nutrition" magic? Might well be. Because though I am running strong and uninterrupted for the last four months or so, I have never felt so pain free in my legs during this period. 

Right now I am pushing up from 3 km to 4 km per run and am at 3.8 km at this moment. Once I take it to 5 km, I intend to start running 5 days a week. Let me see, what I have in store for me in future. 

 

Going Great Guns

Haven't blogged in a while. Was more busy with running than writing. I can't remember when I had such a long injury free running streak. Make hay while the sun shines. 

• Started running 3.3 km from last Sunday (today is a Saturday) 
• Hope to push it up to 3.6 km from next week
• Clocked my best mile this morning @ 10:07 min. The previous best was 10:42 seconds or something like that. 
• On Friday I ran the 3.3 km at an average bpm of 160. That was also my fastest 3K so far, at sub 20 minute.
• This morning my average bpm was 156 but average pace was very marginally slower than Friday's. I guess a couple of seconds or so. 
• Possibly bpm remain better in the mornings