First 5K of 2017

I ran my first 5K of the year last night. The only other one was 14 months ago in September 2016. Last night's effort was a good 7 minutes faster than that. What's more, while last year I had got completely exhausted after the run, last night I was feeling pretty strong. I could have gone on for another km or more. But then I didn't want to risk an injury by jumping straight from 4K to 6 or 7K.

Of course the weather was fantastic last evening. After Wednesday's day long untimely rain, Thursday was a lot cooler. It didn't rain but the sky was overcast. It was mildly breezy also. Perfect weather for a Calcuttan. Neither too cold, nor too hot. I didn't feel the humidity also.

Last year's 5K was run in humid September.

I had been running 4K for a couple of weeks and last night just felt like going for the 5K. Significantly, my 5th kilometer was faster than the 4th by 20 seconds. This shows I was feeling pretty strong towards the end.

My aim is to stick to this distance for a couple of weeks and then go for 6K where I intend to stay for another week or so before pushing to 7k. Before the end of winter I want to be able to do 10k. 

My First Sub-12 min 2K

Today I ran my first sub-12 min 2 kilo meter. In 11:28 min, to be precise. This happened rather naturally. I didn't push myself too much. Of course, there was an element of telling myself, "you have got to do it" towards the end. But generally speaking, I didn't have to really really push myself. Along with the fastest 2 km, I think I also ran the fastest mile also at 9.06 min. 

One odd thing about tonight's effort was that I ran the two splits at exactly the same time. At precisely 5 min 44 seconds each. Usually my second km is a little slower than my first km (with a few notable exceptions). 

Tonight I went to run after seven days. I had last run on Saturday last. After that on Sunday morning I went for that 51 km ride. Ever since, every evening something or the other was coming up, jeopardising my plans to run. It feels so frustrating these days to miss an evening of runs, particularly for reasons beyond one's control. 

This evening I had a short cat nap at home after coming back from work. I also emptied my bowels before going out. This is a new problem with me. If I don't do it before a run, I feel the pressure after around 1.5 km and it affects my effort.

Of late, I have started doing a few running form drills before the runs. I read about them in Meb for Mortals, which came in last week. Gradually my target is to do the drills every morning. And strength training every alternate evening between the runs and a day's rest. 

My next target is to increase the distance gradually. Next week will be 3k. Followed by 4 and then 5. 

The weather has cooled down. Tonight I sweated significantly less. It was a little breezy as well as cool. 

The Fastest 2K So Far

I knew this was coming. Yesterday I ran the fastest 2K at close to 6 min per km. Fastest since I started running at this old age. This was substantially faster than the one I had clocked earlier in March this year. I knew this was coming but didn't know it would come on an evening when it was particularly  so humid. I had thought it would perhaps come late in October when the weather starts to get just a bit chilly.

Humidity was really bad last night. When i was walking to the Lake I was sneezing a lot and had a sort of runny nose. While stretching I felt so humid I was having to wipe my face several times. Normally I never wipe my face before the end of the run. In fact I had half a mind to go back home. Something I have never done so far. If I come out to run I run. 

I finally started despite all the trepidations. I thought I would go for a slow 3 km and started really slow. Normally I mentally measure my cadence the first couple of minutes. Usually it is 75x2. Yesterday I did not measure it but I guess it would have been somewhere in the region of 60x2. I looked at the pace once. It was 8:40 min per km. That's really slow. I stepped up the pace a bit. I thought instead of 3K I would go for a fast 2K if the first lap was in good time. 

When I saw that the first lap was done in 6 min and some seconds and I was feeling pretty strong, I told myself I'd go for a fast 2K. To my utter surprise I could quite step up the gas and not feel too exhausted. Ultimately I ended up running the fastest 2K of my life. Well not life really but life as an old-age runner. 

I am happy with my performance. The trend is faster. I just hope that I don't come down with any injury. I think my aim should be to now consolidate on this 6 min per kilo time and then go for a 3K at 18 minute. I know it will happen right away. But no harm targeting that.

Another great thing that happened last night was the average bpm of the heart. It was one of the lowest at 149. My average was coming to around 152. This was lower despite the higher speed. Another point worth mentioning. It was a holiday. Office was closed and I was at home the whole day, lazing around. 

Second Sub-13 min 2K of the Year

Today I ran a sub-13 min 2 km course at the Lake, despite the humidity and the nagging Achilles pain. This is significant given that I have started running about a month and a half ago after a long hiatus due to my plantar injury. In fact I started only after coming back from Amsterdam and that too to justify my new purchase of a pair of Asics shorts. My average times were coming to around 15 minutes for two kilometers. This reduced a bit over a few weeks but I could not break even the 14-minute barrier, largely because of the windless and humid conditions. So that way it is quite an achievement for me to shave off almost two minutes from the average time.

This is in fact the second time this year I ran 2 km below 13 minutes. The previous one was clocked some time in March this year when I was doing a lot of exercises for the legs. I still remember how strong I was feeling on that day in my legs. Here is a link to my post on that run .

Today's run, in comparison, was done more like a routine daily run but with a little extra push.

Today is Tuesday. I ran a relatively fast one km on Sunday. That was done at a fast clip right from the word go. I found I managed a decent sub 6 minute time. Although I stopped running after 1 km, I thought I could have pulled off another one km, perhaps at a slower speed. Today I was mentally prepared to go all out for the first km and then finish the next km, no matter how slowly.

I think on Thursday, my next day for jogging, I will push myself in the 2nd km as well.

I am more than confident that if I carry on pushing myself I can do a sub-12 min 2 km as well. All I need to do is strengthen the legs through lunges and other exercises.

But what was remarkable about today's run is the relative performance of the heart. My average heart beat per minute for today's run was much less than what I managed in March. This means my heart has become more efficient in pumping blood. In easier words, the March effort was more taxing for the heart than this one.

I salute modern technology for helping me know and understand all this about my body. The Garmin watch is really worth it.

Friday, 15th September 2017

Yesterday I ran yet another sub-13 min 2 km on that same course. A few seconds faster in fact. That makes it two back to back fast runs. Fast by my standards of course. I was feeling a lot more tired yesterday. Probably because of hydration. It might well be the breezeless climate. The previous night it was a little breezy. Not so last night.

For the first time in life I used a mobile phone while running. Kept it in my pocket. The wire ran up my body below the running T. I had set the metro at 80 beats per minute. One for each right step. That's the way I count my cadence. All I needed to do was match my steps to the beats and I would get a cadence of 160, which is pretty taxing for me. I could run at that cadence only for some time. I was usually slower than that and often faster. But synchronising my steps exactly with the beats was difficult. I don't think I will want to take the mobile phone with me again.

If I could see my cadence on the watch then I would probably buy a foot pod. But that's not possible. I can get the cadence with the gadget only after coming back home. Of no use to me.

Old Man In A Hurry

Few days ago I had signed up for a trek to Roopkund in June. Now Roopkund in summer is not an easy trek to undertake. Certainly not for me at this age. So I started exercising in right earnest, particularly the legs. I did not step up my mileage on the run days. But I certainly stepped up the exercise on the intervening days. As I said earlier in another post I do not run on two consecutive days. 

Initially I was doing only squats, half chairs, lunges and calf exercises. I soon added weights to the lunges and also added some core strengthening exercises like planks and bridges etc. After this I discovered that there are certain exercises to improve body balance. And these I took up in right earnest, because balance indeed is an issue with me these days. 

The exercise is apparently easy and I could quite easily stand on one leg for three minutes at a time. But I did not realise that it was such a strenuous exercise for the calves. Last week I realised my left Achilles was aching a little. I concentrated on getting that repaired first and did not run. Last Sunday (today is Friday) I did some heel raises with a 10 kg rucksack on my back. Rise with both the feet, come down with the injured feet following full range of motion and then rise again. 

I don't know what went wrong but I came down heavily with pain in my left calf. It would pain in the morning when I woke up but would subside subsequently. I knew this wasn't anything serious but still took rest. On Wednesday I called my masseur to come and rescue me because the pain hadn't subsided in 2 days. Madhav's deep tissue massage helped tremendously. I woke up on Thursday with no pain in my calves. The Achilles is still hurting though.

Meanwhile I carried on with calf stretches and Achilles stretches. The Achilles is yet to heal but last night when going to sleep I felt a small marble like inflammation on my right knee. Prepatellar bursitis. I applied some ice and the inflammation went away. This morning I was finding it painful to climb down stairs at office. So I did a lot of quad stretches in the office. The bursitis is gone for now.  I am pain free. But I guess I will give my evening run a miss today as well. Might go for some cycling though. 

What I Learnt From This

• No matter, what don't rush things. Do not step up the intensity of your exercise all of a sudden.
• Just because you can do it, don't do it. For example, I shouldn't have probably stood for 3 minutes on a single leg though it seemed fairly easy. 
• No matter how trivial the exercise seems like, go slow 
• If you exercise for half an hour, spend at least 15 minutes for stretches.
• Stretch each and every muscle that is involved in a particular exercise.

I guess I got a little carried away with my desire to get super fit before mid-May. The trek starts from 1st June.

Monday, 24th April, 2017

I am yet to recover fully. The bursitis of the knee is gone but the heel is still a cause for concern. Every morning when I wake up there is some pain. Not a shooting constant pain but when I try to stand up I feel pain in the heel. It doesn't stay for too long. Later in the day I can feel it only when I try to stretch the Achilles. It is nothing serious in the sense there is no tear or swelling. But it remains a cause of concern and even leaves me very depressed because my trek is coming up. I cannot prepare myself, my training is stopped. If it does not go away before I reach Lohajung, my hike will be under serious question mark.

I made the mistake of thinking the pain has subsided and ran 2 km a few days ago. That set me back by several days. I have decided not to run unless I am totally pain free for at least a week. Today I think is the first pain free day. The problem with Achilles heel pain is that the recovery process is not only slow it can get aggravated during the rehab stage very easily.

Last night I tied a crepe bandage around the heel to keep it in a stretched position before going to sleep. Normally when we sleep the foot hangs down and there is some plantarflexion of the foot. That puts pressure on the tendon. So the idea is to give it some dorsiflexion. I tied the bandage in a figure of eight around the ankle. In the morning I thought the pain had gone and I could stand up on my foot properly.

I came to work in my Quechua because it has some ankle support. Let me see how the day progresses. If things go all right I will run only on next Sunday. 

Staying Injury Free

I have been running injury free for quite some time now. For two years almost, touch wood. I often wonder what went right with me this time that I didn't come down with any injury despite running for so long? 

In my earlier attempts I would come down heavily with injury in either the knees or calves or plantar or even Achilles. Why not now? 

I think the answer lies in doing a few things right. I do not know which one was right and which one was more important than the other. But I must have done them all right. Rather, I must not have done something drastically wrong to stay injury free. Let me note them down so that anyone who reads this might benefit. 

Rest and Recovery - The principal difference between a young man and an old man is the recovery time the older guy needs. If you are injured at 50 it takes you a much longer time to bounce back than it would have if you were 15. I realised this through trial and error and personal experience. And running is nothing but inflicting micro injuries on your joints. 

I therefore decided never to run on two consecutive days. I would run for a day. Rest for a day the next day and then run again on the third day. This would give my legs, particularly the joints, time to recover. If I have to err, I would rather err with two consecutive days of rest than run. 

Post Run Recovery Drink - I have started believing in the usefulness of a post-run recovery drink. It probably does not do anything to the joints but it works wonders on the muscles. The recovery of the muscle after this drink is almost instant. I can feel it. Without this drink my muscles used to remain sore for some time. But ever since I started drinking this my muscles feel strong almost instantly. My magic recovery drink is nothing but a banana milk shake. Just one banana chopped in a glass of milk and processed in the food processor. I drink it immediately after I come back. This is a combination of protein and carbohydrates, which is what is necessary for muscle recovery. I learnt about it from a website and it works.

Strengthening Exercise - Before starting this run of injury free running I started with a regular exercise regime. I used to get Mampu to sit on my feet and do three sets of sit ups. I think that strengthened my core and thighs. I used to do this every alternate evening and go for evening walks on the rest days. Finally those walks became runs. And then there was this evening when I ran for more than 2 kms. I was pretty impressed. That was a 23 minute run. Now I can run 2 kms in less than 14 minutes. In fact my best time is 12 min plus. I do a little more elaborate exercise now and that is probably yielding better time. But I think now I need a day's rest between the exercise and the run. I will experiment with that. 

Proper Shoes - There are many runners who believe in minimalism and go for the most ordinary running shoes and quite remain injury free. I am not one of them. To me properly cushioned shoes are very important. Without them I come down heavily with injuries. I will not get into the detail of all the trials and errors that I went through. But I finally saw some success after changing over to properly cushioned shoes. Of course with strength and stretching one can possibly get away with bad cushioning but let's be honest - I do not have that kind of strength yet. My shoes cost me Rs 10,000 or so. But I think it is well worth the investment. 

My Abilities

I want to note down the exercises I can do on a regular basis. Because after a few years these might look like only a distant memory.

• I can run for 2 km in less than 14 minutes and 3 km in less than 22.
• I can hold a half chair position with the back against the wall for 90 seconds x 4 sets. 
• I can stand on one leg for about three minutes at a stretch. With the eyes closed it is about 40 seconds to 60.
• I cannot do any proper push up now, due to non-use for about a year. My target is to be able to do normal push ups 8x3 in another couple of months. I am doing them with knees down on the floor right now.