5.1 miles in 55 minutes in the Gym

Put aside many other things and focused on getting back to running.

Got back home straight from work - picked up dinner on the way - and went to the Gym and started running by 8:00 PM. With a Gatorade bottle in hand! Took a drinks break at around half way through.

The running was easy; felt comfortable and energized through out the run.

Planning for a 20 mile run on Monday, after being in the second week-end of the Introduction Leaders Program. Have taken Monday off from work - to do the long run, recover, catch up on a few stuff. The 20 mile run will be the longest I will run before the Philadelphia Marathon on 23rd November. Thrilled about it!

4 miles in 44 minutes on the treadmill

After more than three weeks break, got back to running today with a 4 mile run in the Gym. The rain and cold weather made it difficult to run outside. Nevertheless was glad to be running in the Gym on the treadmill. The three weeks break seemed to have made me really out of touch.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, there is less than a month for the Philly Marathon!!!!!!!!!!

Less than seven weeks for my first marathon!

Nov 23rd is just 53 days away!!! OMG!!!

According to the recommended training for marathons, I should have run at least one run of 16 miles or more by now - seven weeks out. The longest run I have done so far is a half marathon distance. Not all that bad!

NO PANICKING!!

My goal for the first marathon is to finish, and finish FIT. It would be great if I can complete the full marathon in 4 and a half hours, but it is not a must. I will be happy just finishing even if it takes six hours!

I should be able to do it easily with systematic training over the next seven weeks, with greater emphasis on the long runs over the week-ends. I will be able to run at least on 5 of the 7 remaining week-ends. Also could take a couple of days vacation from work to fit in some running.

So definitely not an impossible task!

Tentative plan for long runs in the next seven week-ends:

• Weekend Seven - Saturday Oct 4th : 13.1 Miles at Grete's Gallop Half marathon in Central Park
• Weekend Six - Saturday Oct 11th : 18 mile run
• Weekend Six - Sunday Oct 11th : Volunteering at the Staten Island half marathon and getting inspired by the runners
• Weekend Five - Oct 18th and 19th : No running possible; will be at Landmark "Reinventing the Enterprise" event
• Weekend Five - Monday Oct 20th : A possible day off from work : 12 mile run
• Weekend Four - Saturday Oct 25th : 15 mile run
• Weekend Three - Saturday Nov 1st : 20 Mile run! (This means I will not be in the Fall Introduction Leaders Program!)
• Weekend Two - Saturday Nov 8th : 12 Mile run
• Weekend One - Saturday Nov 16th : 8 mile run
• Weekend Zero - Sunday Nov 23rd : 26.2 miles at Philadelphia Marathon!!!!
• Weekend Zero + 1 day : Monday Nov 24th : Back to normal life!

Looks good on paper. Now to make it happen for real!

24 miles of running this week

Clocking in at 24 miles for the week! I had ramped up my running efforts this week after realizing I am very close to run my first half-marathon.

The 24 miles breakdown is as follows : Tuesday 4 miles; Wednesday 5 miles; Thursday 4 miles; Saturday 3 miles and Sunday 8 miles.

I am not fit enough to be doing this week in and week out. This effort itself was very tiring, and I could put in this many hours of running mainly as I am not holding down a full time job now. Once I am back in the grind, it will be difficult to put in as much mileage.

Given my commitment to running a marathon by the year end, I am sure I will figure out ways to train regularly and finish strongly at my first marathon.

One decision I made earlier today is to not run in the NYC half-marathon on July 27th for which I have signed up. I had already signed up for the Communication - Power to Create course at Landmark Education during that week-end, and I am choosing now to participate in the Communication course, and skip the NYC half-marathon. I will choose to run in my first half-marathon a few weeks later.

3 Miles in 32:05 minutes at JP Park

After a hectic week-end at the Introduction Leaders Program Third week-end and the journey from New York to Bangalore, got to run again today. Ran 3 miles at the Jayaprakash Narayan Park today morning; finished at a surprisingly good time of 32:05 minutes. I guess my motivation to complete was high as I was running in my neighborhood - where people look up to me as a Hero!

First non-stop 4 mile run in 43:43 minutes

Ran 4 Miles today at the Bayonne Park - for the first time without taking a walking or running break!

My pace of around 11 minutes per mile is very slow compared to other runners I come across on the blogosphere and in Running magazines and books who seem to effortlessly run at 6 or 7 minutes per mile.

With 170 pounds of body weight, and very little practice in running at a young age, I think I am doing good at 11 minutes per mile. I should not be worried about the pace now; the pace will pick up as I put in long mileage week after week.

3.1 miles (5K) in 36:10 minutes

Ran a 5K within my community - Society Hill. Had taken a two day break from running since I ran with Dr. Roy on Sunday.

An important thing in today's run was that I ran all 3.1 miles of it without stopping or taking a walking break! Slowed down a bit to play with two kids along the way, but no scheduled break as in my previous runs.

I am HAPPY!

I figured out a possible route for a 5K within our complex. I will try out a slightly modified route tomorrow - a route which will include a detour into a few inner streets, which will make it a full 5K distance from the beginning point to the end point - both of which are likely to be the Recreation Center at the Society Hill at Jersey City II complex.

It is amazing how naturally kids take to running.

The first kid I came across while running yesterday was Arpita - she was happy to see me - someone she already knew, and tried to run with me.

The second kid - around two year old Dion - was out walking with his grandfather, and though he has never seen me before, he just started jumping up and down with excitement as I came close to him in my jogging stride. Got to know the family is from Tamil Nadu; Dion gave his Grand-Dad quite a bit of working out by running with me for a few yards!

6 Mile long run with Dr. Ashis Roy in 1:19

Met with India's Marathon man Dr. Ashis Roy today in Fairfax, VA and ran 6 Mile with him.

Dr. Roy - who has completed 82 marathons so far, and has been running consistently since 1982 - shared insights from his incredible experience in running. The 6 mile run itself was at a very slow pace - Dr. Roy going slow as he was running without kneecaps for the first time in few weeks, while I was keeping up with him and we were having a good conversation.

We took just one water break during the run, and we did the 2 mile running loop three times. I was surprised to be finishing this long distance run with relative comfort!

As per the training plan, I was supposed to run 9 Mile today. Given that I ended the 6 mile run today very comfortably, I will take this as the benchmark distance for this week, and adapt my training plan from this week onwards.

Yesterday, I took part in a river clean-up - organized by the Hackensack Riverkeeper organization - in Bayonne, and did quite a bit of rowing and moving stuff around - that was a decent cross-training for the week-end.

3 miles in 39:50 minutes in Bayonne Park

I did not want to run today! Even after taking a day's break from running after the over-exertion on Wednesday. Legs cramped up most of the run.

Ran from Rutkowski Park to the Running track at Bayonne Park, ran more than a mile on the Running track, and returned to Rutkowski Park.

The Running track was being used for school Physical Exercise period; the kids were bringing in amazing amount of energy!

5 miles in 55+ minutes plus 3 mile walk

Participated in the NYRR 50th Anniversary 5M run today morning in Central Park. Being a week-day morning, the race started at 5:30 AM!!

Stayed over last night at Marc W's place in Midtown Manhattan to make it to the early start. Despite getting up at 4:30 AM, got delayed while walking 20+ blocks to the start point and was 6 minutes late to begin the race. By the time I reached the starting point, the entire 2000+ people had already started off, and the front runners were probably past the first mile market!

Enjoyed the early morning run in beautiful Central Park - wet weather adding to the enjoyment. As per the training plan, I was supposed to run only 4 miles today; so took it very slow in this 5 mile race. Finished the race in around 55 minutes, as per my Garmin Forerunner GPS. However, the official NYRR results of the race show it as 1:04:27, which is very surprising. Most likely I was being penalized for starting late.

The other major surprising thing about the results is that they were available online by the time I walked back to Marc W's place and checked on my MacBook. I think it is almost real-time updates from the starting / ending mats to the NYRR Web-site; It would be awesome to have such technology available in RunWalkIndia events.

My ex-colleague Gerd Zeibig completed in 31:27!!! Wonder if I will ever be able to achieve that pace - 6.17 minutes per mile!

The race organization itself is a big surprise! 2000 people showed up, braving a steady drizzle, and the very early morning start in NYC. It will be fantastic to recreate this kind of event in parts of India where day time is too unsuitable for running races, and only this kind of early start will be practical!

On the way back, walked down Seventh Avenue past Times Square and Penn Station, and took a few photos to depict the early morning life in NYC. Photos are available on my Flickr account.

A memorable quote from one of the volunteers at the race:

Its just 6:30 AM and you have already run 5 Miles!! What better way to start the day!!

3 miles in 31:50 minutes in Bayonne Park

Good run today!

Completed 3 miles in 31:50 - not quite my best time, but close. Took walking breaks at each mile. I should go for 10 minute per mile pace for the 3 miles by next week.

Walked / jogged on the board walk from Rutkowski Park to Bayonne Park, did stretching exercises, and started running from the entrance of Bayonne park to the running tracks. Ran on the Running track till I reached around 2.75 miles and then started running back towards the entrance.

Walked all the way back to the car - stopping on the way to stretch.

Looking forward to tomorrow's 5 Mile run at 5:30 AM in Central Park.

4 Mile Japan Day Run plus 1 mile run in 56 minutes

Had a terrific run today!!

As per the training plan, I was supposed to go on a long run of 5 Miles this week-end. I signed up for the 4 Mile Japan Day run in Central Park, and decided to run an additional mile after the race.

The 4 mile run was awesome! I completed the race in 41:25 - my best time for a 4 mile distance, and the 10.21 minutes per mile pace is the best I have achieved in a race!

Unlike in the earlier races, in this race, I was neither carrying a backpack, nor was I stopping frequently to take pictures for the benefit my friends and RunWalkIndia associates in Bangalore.

I took four walking breaks - all on reaching the mile markers. I sprinted the last 50 meters of the race, finishing ahead of many people and in my best time. However, the sprint effort took heavily out of me, and I walked most of the next mile - taking almost 15 minutes to complete the last mile.

The 56 minutes for 5 miles too is my personal best!

I enjoyed immensely the three long runs I have had over the past three weekends. Looking forward to the 9 mile run next Saturday!


Next up - The NYRR 50th Anniversary run 5 Mile race on Wednesday June 4th at 5:30 AM!!

3.25 miles in 36:00 minutes at Bayonne Park

Ran for 3.25 miles between Mayor Richard Rutkowski Park and the running track at the Bayonne Park. The distance from the car parking area to the running track is about a mile. I ran 2.25 miles on the running track before heading back to the car parking area.

Today I took a minute's walking break after the first mile, and every half mile afterwards.

3.25 miles in 35:10 minutes at my community

Almost did not run today!

I was in the same situation as yesterday, leaving the running part to later in the evening , and almost winding up not having time to run before heading out on my other engagements. For a minute or so, I had eliminated the possibility of running today, and was on my way to declare a break down and start afresh from tomorrow. I probably would have gotten away with it as well earlier, but now I am made of sterner stuff!

All kudos to me - for my inventiveness - in turning the no-show to a spectacular 3.25 mile run by deciding to run in my community - right next to where I live, rather than go to the park.

Got out to run around 3:30 PM and ran through the streets of Society Hill - my gated community in Jersey City; treaded on many streets that I have never been on before!

A main motivation for me in running in my complex is to figure out if it is possible to organize a 5K race in my complex - a possibility I have been discussing with many people. The distance from one end to another is about a mile! It is possible to set up a route for a 5K by doubling up the path, and including many bypaths.

1.8 miles in 19:30 minutes

Completed part of the running required for today, as I was running late to an appointment in the evening.

Take away from today's reduced effort:
I will run first thing in the morning on the days I am supposed to run!

I will make up for the reduced effort today by adding .25 miles to the next two days 3 mile runs.

Second successful long run - 7 miles in 1:24

I can't believe it!!

I ran 7 miles in 1:24 minutes today as part of my Marathon training!! The longest I had run before this was a labored 1:15:02 10K at the Scotland Run in March this year. There wasn't much from my past efforts to prove that I will actually be able to run 7 miles and enjoy it.

I ran on the running track at the Stephen R Gregg Park in Bayonne today afternoon; went with the intention to run all of 7 miles (28 rounds on the 400m track) and try out my new Garmin Forerunner 305.

The first two miles were difficult; after that the run became easier and I was virtually cruising - laps and miles disappeared in the distance! And I had completed the longest continuous run of my life with a lot to spare!

I am loving this game! I can see clearly now the moment of my first Marathon completion!

I did this amazing effort without any external encouragement. Wonder how much better I can do if I had ZZ Top's La Grange or a Bollywood favorite blaring in my ears!

3 mile run on the Treadmill; 38 minutes

Ran 3 miles on the tread-mill today morning, to make up for the lost training session yesterday. Had to go very slowly after the first mile. Looks like the tiredness from lack of sleep caught up.

I have to implement the 10:30 PM Curfew period from now on; to avoid working late hours and consequently losing sleep and go around exhausted during the day.

Another concern that came up with the troubles I am having with training is that the remaining 13 weeks till the Self Transcendence Marathon will not be enough for my body to attune itself for the rigorous marathon run, and that I will be cutting corners and putting myself at the risk of injury and of losing the passion for running if I push myself to cram everything in a short time.

I will decide on this concern by the end of June - after completing 5 more weeks of training.

Breakdown in training plan

The training schedule required me to go on a 3M run yesterday. I did not. It is a breakdown in my preparations for the first marathon. I let circumstances determine how I go about it. I am not proud of it! By not running the requisite miles this week, I am jeopardizing my preparations for my first marathon.

I will make adjustments to my training plan and go running 3M on Friday morning - an off day according to the Training Schedule. The Gym opens at 5:00 AM - I will be there by 5:30 AM to finish the 3M as early as possible, so that I have time to recover and run this week-end's long run of 7 miles on Saturday in the afternoon.

I am the possibility of being unstoppable!! I will prepare for the marathon - AS IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE, and not like AS I FEEL!!

Today, my semi-depressed mood because of the non-progress on my businesses, as well as the doubts about the presence of authenticity in many of my relationships - all undoubtedly started by the Vodka binge on Wednesday night with Edward S - made me postpone the plan to run the required 3M to later in the day, till I couldn't go running as it became too late.

I will go through with the trainings early in the day from now on!

3 mile run in Wall Street Area

I participated in the American Heart Association Start! Wall Street Run 3 Mile Race today evening. The 3 Mile distance was in perfect alignment with the training schedule for the second week week-day run.

Had fun running in the heart of the financial district! Took tons of photos ; check them out on my Flickr.

I finished the 3 Mile distance in 36.26 minutes - much slower than my personal best. The wet roads, and my interest in taking photos made it for a much slower pace.

1.5 hour mega workout!

As per the Novice training plan, today is a rest day.

I decided to treat it as the first training day of the week - to compensate for not running one day last week, as well as to accommodate the evening start in the Wall Street 5K tomorrow. Went to Bayonne Park in the evening, and ran 2 full miles on the running track there, and more than a mile in getting there and back.

On the way back, since it was already dusk, the authorities closed the walkway which connected the park to where my car was located. Trying to get to the car in an alternate route I ended up walking more than 45 minutes - finally walking back all the way home and then having Amrit drive me over to my car!

Everything in my body is aching! I have to ensure I park my car inside the Bayonne Park next time I go running very late in the day.