Hyderabad Half Review

After the Hyderabad half marathon, it is time to introspect on the training and preparation. For me running a race is very similar to preparing for an exam. You don’t go into an exam thinking that you will do well. You go in knowing that you will do well. And having that confidence only comes with hard preparation.

There were several reasons why I could not increase the volume and quality of my training. The groin injury, the constant stitches have not been fun to say the least and have almost quite literally disrupted my training. However, besides all this, I gave in to the injury without trying hard enough to overcome it and resume training.

Pre-Race:

I walked around, ate unhealthy biriyani for lunch and dinner, skipped sleep the previous night – all things one should not do before a big run. Ideally, one should just put their legs up, relax and think about the finish.

Race Morning

I forgot to take my favorite running t-shirt and had to run in a dri-fit that I was not comfortable to run with. It sucked all throughout the race and I had to take my t-shirt off after 10k and run with a bare chest.

The run went well until 15k after which a group of runners from Rishi Valley who seemed like they trained together overtook me. It is really de-motivating to see 6 people overtake you in one shot.

The Terrain

My training was mainly to run in Indiranagar or Cubbon which are both mostly flat. To train, I did not work on hills, speed workouts or intervals. It is much needed if your goal is 1:43 for a half. The terrain in Hyderabad was difficult and had several uphills which killed me.

The Finish

This was again one of my best finishes. There was one person from the railways who was going to drop out and it was fun to pull her up and get her to finish 4^rd in the elite women category.

A very well organized race but it was not a fun experience to finish 5 minutes slower than my personal best. My strategy is not to run a race for a few months until I am confident to run a half marathon in 1:40. I hope things work out this year just similar to the end of last year.

Fire, Manoj Bhatt, 7.5k

The alarm was set at 5:30 am and after several snoozes and a shower, I was at Cubbon park by 6:45 am. The run began at 6:55 am and I wanted to bust out a hard 10k. However, after 2.5k, things did not go right. I suspect that the speed was higher than usual and my body heated up faster than expected.

It was great to bump into Manoj Bhatt and we spoke about a few runners in Chennai, the Hyderabad marathon, plans before the marathon etc for about a minute. Then we bid farewell and I took off again. The 5k was done in 23 minutes.

I wanted to just stop. Luckily, I managed to bump into a few athletes from the Karnataka Athletic Association and the video "Why do I run" played in my head. It was great to bust a few 800 meter loops with them. They glided effortlessly while I had to pant and weep through the 4 loops. Finally, it was somewhere between a 7.5 km and 9k run.

The Hyd marathon is going to be clearly be a mental game. There is absolutely no physical strength to run a hard half marathon but the need and the want to do it has set a fire in my belly. I hope this fire gets converted to a good race

A Great Video

This video made me do a 20k last friday evening after work through the busy streets in Bangalore. I started running at 6:00 pm through the main roads of Indiranagar, Coramangala, BTM layout, JP Nagar and Jayanagar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuy1GSYoOr8

A Leg Circuit

Vikram and I were supposed to do a crossfit this morning in Indiranagar. I forgot to confirm the previous night and when I dropped in at his place, he was sleeping peacefully. The initial impulse was to do a 10k run. Stretched and pondered over the idea and started the run. Upon passing Figurine fitness, a idea struck me. A circuit was immediately schemed in my head which involved running 5 1ks intercepted by a complete leg workout. The funny thing is everytime I do a circuit, I remember Sandy pushing through it as though he is fighting a war and thats motivating enough.

The groin is pissing me off. Doc says that I should cut down distance and speed which is what I have been doing over the last six months. The core needs to be strengthened. A part of me wants to train for a marathon but long-term running is more important than running a sub 4 marathon.

The plan is to stay inside for a few days and focus on getting the groin repaired by icing, stretching and strengthening it.

Off Alcohol, Figurine Fitness and Balu

Fortunately or unfortunately, I need to both hit the gym and run this month in order not to get injured. Last evening was my first time in the gym after 4 months and it is really annoying when the trainers tell you to take it easy, and give you a freaking 15 minute workout. I told him that it was not enough which ticked him off and gave me a whole bunch of core exercises. It was fun to go through an intense workout other than running or yoga after a long time. Yoga helps you build strength over a period of time which stays even if you don't work out for a while. Gym helps you build quick strength. However, if you don't continue to work out, you lose it. Both is good - gym is good for me now mainly because I have to build strength in very little time.

This gym is called "Figurine fitness" and the trainer is called Balu. He is okay and for some strange reason his eyes are always red...makes me wonder !!

The plan is to stay out of alcohol for 45 days and work out as hard as I can. Lets see how it goes..there is shit to do in the next 45 days and it will be wise not to drink.

The Tour, Canondale Hybrid and Kaveri

The tour of the nilgiris starts on December 14 and goes on till December 23rd. I am saving all my vacation for that part of the year, where I get done with the ride and then head out to Kookal from there. We have heard some fantastic things about Kookal but we never got a chance to be there when we were in Kodi. Its going to be two weeks of amazing mountains in the western ghats and I just cannot wait for it. The bike has been shortlisted - Canondale hybrid and all I need to do is pick it up from bums on the saddle next week. The plan is to try and get some really cool folks and so if you are reading this and if you are interested, join the tribe.

The half marathon this month is on home ground - Hyderabad. Rajesh Vetcha is trying hard to put up a similar show like last year. Being in Tanjore last year, I was unable to run it but there is no reason not to run it this year. If you are in Hyderabad on August 30, I encourage you to come out and run.The Kaveri trail is coming up on September 15th and my thought is I'll peak there. It will be cool to touch 1:30 this year and it depends on how much work I put in this month. Note the date - SEPTEMBER 15TH Bangalore !!

Hyderabad has been treating me well. We had some good meetings with a equity investor and some beuraucrats. I hope things pan out on the product front over the next few months. The yoga class this morning was great. I have started to feel that a private lesson is so much better than the group lessons in Bangalore. The plan on the yoga front is to continue to do it as regularly as possible at home and Apoorva has been kind enough to draw all the asanas for me to practice at home.Please send out a prayer that I remain injury free this year - injuries mess with your head.

Remember what my boy Jess always says - "Environmentalism is not an ideology, it is a religion that instead of worshipping the Creator, worships the creation". And always spread the love !!

Run Faster and Stronger

Traditionally intervals, fartleks and hill workouts have been mantras to improve your speed. However, a few additional micro changes could help you run faster and stronger.

a) Get atleast 8-10 hours of speed during your training months.

b) Lose weight

c) Try not to wear gadgets, heavy shoes etc.

d) Avoid junk food

e) Avoid smoking and limit drinking (this one is difficult)

10ks, ECR and Booty Ful

First of all, sorry for not updating the blog regularly. Sometimes, you don't really feel like writing and it was one of those weeks of the year.

Well, when I was running yesterday, I thought about this word "freak". When someone is hip, they are named "freak" (in a good way) in Chennai. For example, if Amit goes to a discotheque, the boyz in the hood say "Amit is going to freak. He is going to a discotheque". Chennai - I love the place. To refer to agression (good or bad), the street thugs call it "assault". Assault ??? WTF ???

My runs have been good and have been doing 10ks 4-5 times a week. I plan on running the ECR run this weekend in Chennai and am planning on doing 20k (I think??). The groin is great now but it requires a lot of stretching to keep it intact.

On twitter, I have been following Mallika Sherawat and Gul Panang. Mallika Sherawat calls herself "bootyful" and calls her sleep "booty sleep". Again my expression simply is WTF ???

Alcohol consumption, balancing and a 45 minute run

Yesterday was a highly productive workout (and work) day. I managed to work out for an hour on my core and balancing postures and another hour on shoulders and overall stretching. It was also great to get a fast 45 minute run which was a mix of intervals and fartleks.

However, the night ended up being a little too rough – skipped dinner and pounded a few beers. Obviously, this morning I ended up being dazed and confused. The workout seems almost pointless now.

The lifestyle requires radical change. I am tired of pulling my body in two different directions – intense workout sessions and intense alcohol consumption (read twice a week). My liver and lungs definitely require a break and with less than 2 months for the marathon season to begin, I better get my stuff in place.

5 Reasons - Why You Should Not Run a Marathon in India

a) Sufficient notice not given to prepare for the race: They announce the marathon less than 2-3 months before the actual race

b) Too much pollution: Marathons are organized in big cities that are among the top ten polluted cities in the world

c) Lack of Infrastructure: Roads are opened to traffic after the top 10 kenyans finish, no water available after the course is closed. Course is closed in less than 3 hours.

d) Insufficient knowledge of the organizers: Organizers have never run marathons and they do not take the event seriously. I have seen organizers drunk on their job.

e) No respect for runners: We have found people throw stones at runners on one occassion.

Tehelka Quotes Shumit

The report on Indian aerospace and defense industry that I wrote recently, happened to be a decent hit in the defense market. I never expected to be quoted in the same article with some big names in the defense industry. Thank you my friend Google for helping me research.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main23.asp?filename=Bu120906Private_sector.asp

India's Infrastructure Dilemma

Though public infrastructure spending in India remains inadequate, Bloomberg's Andy Mukherjee reports that many of India's billionaires are now helping to plug the gap: How India's Rich Are Plugging Power, Road Gaps

It's easy, perhaps too easy, to become pessimistic about India's deficient infrastructure. Everything from potholed roads and clogged airports to frequent power blackouts and creaking urban transportation would appear to be daunting, if not intractable, shortcomings.
Sure, the challenges are humongous, and the pace of their resolution is slow. The highly indebted Indian government hasn't the wherewithal to make a decisive improvement, which is estimated to require additional spending equal to 3.4 percent of gross domestic product. That's almost three-quarters of what India is spending on transportation, power, water, irrigation, communications and storage capacity in a year.

The case for glumness is probably overstated.

Private enterprise is playing an increasingly important role. Inadequate public spending is still a huge constraint, yet domestic non-state companies are slowly taking the lead in allocating much-needed capital to some of India's most overlooked requirements.
A glance at the latest Forbes magazine list of 40 richest Indians should prove that point. Except for the ``knowledge- economy'' czars -- the computer-software and generic-drug exporters who are mostly sticking to what they know -- almost everyone else on that list is investing in infrastructure.

India - Full of Contradictions

As a part of my research on India's macroeconomic factors, I came across an interesting research by Tamara Trinh, senior economist at Deutsche Bank Research. She points out in her presentation presentation India - A study in contrasts, the following contradictions in India's economy. I am really amazed by some of these economists who can see the big picture with so much ease. We even did a strength, weaknesses table with the same points but were never able to present our research as well as Tamara did.

* India’s attractiveness for foreign investors is increasing - but huge investment is needed, especially in infrastructure
* Low workforce participation, especially of women – more labour market reforms are needed
* Qualifications are unevenly distributed and do not always fit - but huge improvements in the quality of workforce is likely to be a major driver of future growth
* GDP growth from 2006 to 2020 is forecast to average 5.5% p.a., greater than China
* At the end of the next decade, India could reach Japan‘s living standard of 1960 or Korea’s of the early 1980s
* Despite many challenges, India is rising