Weeks Eleven and Twelve: 16 mile run

These two weeks were very difficult training-wise. I took a long time to recover from the previous 14-mile run, and I was travelling Thursday-Monday of the following week. So I ended up doing the buddy run, but skipping my OYO run on the weekend. In addition, the travel and the jet-setting caused me to catch a cold, cough and fever. I therefore had to miss the track workout and cardio workout for the week just before the 16 mile run. In fact, until the day before the run, I had some fever and I was not sure whether I will be able to go for the run. Thankfully, on the day of the long run, I felt about 80-90% fit, and I decided to go for it.

The route was the second half of the Nike marathon- in San Francisco. It involved some gentle hills around Lake Merced, on the Great Highway, and in Golden Gate Park. It was a beautiful route, although I was in no mood to enjoy it. I was completely focussed on completing the run. I managed to do so, although I was extremely extremely exhausted after the run. In fact, I had to walk more than half of a mile between miles 14 and 15. After that, I gathered enough energy to finish up the run with a slow jog. I took more time than normal to finish this run. I was just glad that I finished without injuring myself.

The most surprising part was that although all kinds of muscles were aching a lot on Saturday and Sunday, I was back in full form on Monday. This was an unexpectedly fast recovery. On Tuesday, at track we had hill repeats, and by then I was perfectly fine, even on the hilly terrain. I am so happy to be back in action after a week of anxiety.

Moving forward, we have a relatively relaxed week, with buddy runs and on-your-own runs of 5-6 miles. The next weekend run is the toughest run of the training season- at Woodside. It is a hilly course, and we are running 18 miles. The hill repeats will definitely help in handling that run.

Team in Training is Awesome

Every week, our Team in Training (TNT) coaches put up a "coaches' message" on the website. Today's message was simply too good. It was so apt, that I was wondering whether these guys had the ability to read my mind.

The first couple of sentences were something to the effect (paraphrased): While celebrating your successfully completed run on Saturday, many of you might be wondering about your goal to run a marathon. You must be thinking, "Although I managed to complete this challenging run, it was really hard. My aches and pains are really painful, and I feel tired. And this is just 14 miles. How am I going to complete the entire 26.2 miles?"

They then went on to empasize that from here on, mental strength is very important to complete the long runs, in addition to the physical strength. They talked about planning your strategy, including the walking breaks, fluid and calorie intake, etc. And to finish up the message, they put the whole training program in perspective by noting that this is a one day event that we are choosing to participate in. The honored patients, for whom we are all doing this, do not have a choice and their painful battles with leukemia or lymphoma last much longer than any of our training runs or seasons. How true!

The message was very well put. The TNT coaches are really experienced, and have been amazingly encouraging and supportive, while pushing us further and further to our limits. They have a great team of captains and mentors to help them. Each mentor has about 7-8 mentees. Although the mentors are the first point of contact, the captains and coaches pay close attention to your fitness level and muscle aches and injuries. The level of personal attention came as a big surprise to me. They make it a point to cheer in every single participant at the finish line on the long runs. The training schedule is very well planned in great detail. Just follow the schedule and the coaches' advice, and you will be fine.

I would very highly recommend anyone planning to train for a marathon to train with TNT. They know their job very well. They are the best!

Week Ten: Done with a 14-miler

On Saturday, August 12th, I successfully completed a 14-mile run. This was a simple, flat route along the Bay Trail. It was not too windy that morning. We started from Redwood Shores and ran north toward San Francisco along the bay. We passed under San Mateo bridge, and turned around about a mile before Coyote Point Recreational Area in San Mateo. This is the first time I ran more than the half marathon distance, and I am quite happy about it.

Although I completed the run in just 5 minutes more than my predicted regular time, it wasn't one of my best runs. I think I did not time my calorie intake well during the run, and felt really tired between miles 11 and 13. I walked more than normal on that stretch. But once I regained my energy, I managed to finish the last mile with a good pace and a smiling face.

However, the strain on the body is slowly surfacing with a few aches and pains. My left hamstrings are a bit tight, and I will need to follow a regular stretching routine to get them back to normal. I also have a slight pain in the right ankle, which I have been icing all weekend. Hopefully that will be back to normal as well. I am already feeling much better today (Monday), compared to Saturday. These muscle aches are scary. I can definitely feel that I am pushing myself more and more. Hopefully I will manage to get till the 26.2 mile mark. I am quite determined to do that.

Week Nine

This was a week of solo runs. Due to some misunderstanding on my part, I landed up for the buddy run at the wrong time. After waiting for 10 mins for the others to show up, I ran 4 miles on Stevens Creek , starting at Whisman park. We had done this trail on the first long run, and on the previous week's buddy run as well.

For the weekend on-your-own run, I wanted to do the Sawyer camp trail once again, hence decided to not go for the planned runs on Saturday. Instead, I headed out to that trail on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, due to some biking race, the trail was closed until noon. I therefore headed back to the Palo Alto baylands trail near my house.

I had decided to do 6 miles this time. By the time I started running, it was already late morning. The wind on the bay was quite strong by then and it offered me a good resistance. This was the first time I was running in such windy conditions. Initially I was trying to maintain my usual pace, but that started draining my energy more than usual. I realized that I needed to do something about it. I started slowing down my pace a bit until I was running more comfortably. That helped me conserve energy, and on the way back, assisted by the windy conditions, I managed to maintain my regular average pace for the entire run.

The 14 mile run tomorrow promises to pose similar challenges. This run is along the bay on a flat, but windy trail. I better get used to the winds, as I am sure San Francisco will be quite windy. I am getting slightly anxious about tomorrow's run, as this is the first time I will run more than the half marathon distance. Let's see how that goes.