Mapping my Mind

I ran 26 miles today.

I feel so great. One of my goals to run a marathon is going to be realized in another month or so.

Things that I have learnt so far from the training program:
1. Set small goals that are realistic.
2. Once the small goals are reached expand on to the next one.
3. There is power in working along with a group.
4. What happens between the training runs (including food, water, work-stress etc) matters to a great extent.

It is great to run along with a group. I have this theory there there is some energy that we tap into when doing things together in a team.

My theory of group energy
I have talked to many runners and they all agree that running in a group is much easier than running alone. I have also felt the same way in my training.

I have this theory that each person has an energy field around them and when people are together somehow this field interacts with one another to create a overlapped new energy field.

About the run
I was running along fine will about the 16 mile mark. With every long run, the “wall” has been pushed back. When I ran the 16 mile run, the wall was at 12 miles. At the 18 mile run, the wall was at mile 14. At the 20 mile run, the wall was at mile 17. The 23 mile run, I hit the wall at 17 miles.

I hit the wall at mile 18. I wasn’t able to run at all. I sat down by the street, removed my shoes and massaged my feet as they were hurting like crazy. After my little break, every step that I took was hurting.

I could feel the bolts of pain start at the ball of my feet and shoot up my leg … with every step I took.

After a few minutes, the pain started to reduce a bit and I started to jog. The last 7 miles, I ran by myself. It was really hard. One thing that I realized about myself was that I have lot of will power. I am amazed that I ran the last 7 miles all by myself.

I guess by that time, I had crossed my threshold of pain and wasn’t feeling much pain except when I slowed down.

The finish at the 26th mile was awesome. There were so many people cheering me and they had a medal for completing the run. I felt awesome for those 30 seconds just before completion. No pain.

Then after that, the pain started again.

I guess this time, the recovery is going to be quicker.

My run tomorrrow is 23 miles. I am excited about it.

Tomorrow by this time, I would have ran 23 miles at a stretch. It is pretty impressive what the human body could adapt too in a few weeks.

For those of you who were interested in the workout summary, here is the info from my Polar RS 100 watch. I lost my chest strap last week and wouldn’t have the workout summary for the 23 mile run.

Date: 10/09/05
Start Time: 7:27 am

Running Time: 4 hours 51 minutes 05 secs
Average Heart Rate: 145 bpm (75% of VO2 Max)

Calories: 3914 Kcal
Percentage of Fat burnt: 45%

Heart Rate Target (upper): 153 bpm
Heart Rate Target (lower): 143 bpm
Above Zone: 1 hours 47 minutes 59 secs
In Zone: 1 hours 06 minutes 05 secs
Below Zone: 1 hours 57 minutes 01 secs

This run has been the best so far in terms of recovery. I feel great. My muscles are a bit sore. I feel like I have had a good leg work out.

The recovery during the previous runs have been painful.

Today, I feel so much better.

A Marathon training update

As part of the AIDS marathon training program, this weekend was the 20 mile run. My previous 2 long runs had some “after-effects”. I was limping around for 7 days after the run.

The 20 mile run was originally scheduled for last weekend. But due to the fire in Los Angeles and the air pollution that it caused, the run was rescheduled this weekend. I have been mentally preparing for it and felt like the anticaption was prolonged.

Anyway, I started the preparation on Saturday by having 2 dosas at Annapurna Cuisine. It is my new fav indian restaurant. I like the food and service there. I was also stocked on Cliff Bars and shots.

The run started out very smooth. I breezed through the first 5 miles. It was too easy Around mile 10 I started to feel a bit tired. I was low on energy. Actually, I felt energetic. But my legs were feeling heavy. It is hard to explain. Thoughts of my “12 mile wall” flashed through my head. I would say running long distance is an experience in self-mastery. It is a lesson on how to break through my own internal voice (Yes. I do hear voices in my head ) and continue running.

The previous 2 runs, I had 2 main “pain spots”. My knees on the outer, lower edge hurt and the outer edges of my feet hurt. It is a dull pain when I am not walking or standing. And turns into a sharp, radiating pain once I start to walk or stand-up. It is not unbearable. I would rather not have the pain.

So at mile 13 (yes, ran through the 12 mile wall) my feet start to hurt. The previous 2 runs I didn’t feel the pain while I was running so never did anything about it.

Stu Mittleman says that our feet can expand upto 2 full sizes during long-distance running. I thought maybe that is what is happening to me. I mean, my feet had expanded and it is being held tight by the shoe, which is restricting the blood flow and hence the pain later.

I untied my shoes, and tied them again a bit loose. As I am writing this, I have very little or no pain at all on my feet. I will be able to verify my theory by tomorrow.

Finding Money
I noticed something curious during my run.

1. There were so many pennies and quarters on the road
2. No one else want to pick them up

I found a 1 dollar note (saturday), 1 Quarter and 6 pennies ($1.31) during my run. There would have been atleast 50 people from the AIDS marathon training alone run before me, so many other runners, walkers. How come no one spotted these coins? Is it my running style? Do I keep looking at the road instead of looking ahead? I don’t know. But I find a lot of money on the roads

So back to my running story — I ran out of energy at about 17 miles. Chewing on a additional energy bar didn’t make much of a difference in my every level. I walked for the next mile.

Mile 18 - I was talking to a fellow runner Matt. We started talking about his business. He buys and sells exercise equipment on ebay. I was talking to him about his business and what he does and before I knew it, we were about 500 feet from the finish line.

I felt good after the run. No major knee or foot pain (so far )

If you would like to donate to AIDS research please do so here: Aids Marathon

As you might know, I am currently training for the Honolulu marathon along with AIDS program Los Angeles group.

This weekend I was in San Francisco for a friends wedding. I thought I would miss my training over the weekend. I got in touch with the AIDS Marathon group and they had a training site at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It is always great to run with a group. The group energy has carried me to completion in my previous long runs. Also, I didn’t know whether I wanted to run 16 miles by myself.

We would be running for 16 miles in some of the most scenic areas of the Golden Gate Park. I was excited to know that the last 2 miles of the run was along the coast with an awesome view of the ocean.

When I started the run, I had some doubts whether I will be able to complete it. I was sick the past week and hadn’t trained. I was going into a 16 mile run immediately after. Anyway, I convinced myself to do it. The first 3 miles was easy. I was doing real well. I bought a heart rate monitor recently and I could see that I was well within my target training range of 134 - 154 bpm.

Side note: 16 miles is the longest that I have ever run in my life.

After mile 11, I started to fall back from my group. I asked them to go ahead as I felt like I was holding them back. One guy from the group, Erick jogged slowly along with me. They didn’t want to leave me in the middle as they were concerned. Erick said that he would jog with me to the next water station at the 12 mile mark. I can wait there for the next group or ask someone to give me a ride.

I wasn’t even able to stand after reaching the 12 mile water station. I lay down on the bench had lots of water and some pretzel.

It was about 10 minutes before the next group reached mile 12 mark. I felt a lot refreshed and joined their group. This group was much more fun and lively. I wouldn’t have run for more than 4-5 minutes when I had a muscle cramp on my right quadriceps. I just wanted to get a ride back. I didn’t want to run anymore. One of the runners in the group, Annabel was such a support. She said that she would walk with me to the next mile mark, mile 13 and then I could ask the volunteer for a ride back to the starting point.

I was limping for a while and then the pain started to go way. Maybe I was getting used to it. But Annabel coached me and cheered me to jog for a little while. It was such a help. Also, I had a boost of energy from the energy bar that I ate while I was resting at mile 12.

I managed to walk / jog to the 14 mile mark.

The next two miles was physically very challenging. It was the most physically challenging activity that I had ever done during my entire life. I was walking / jogging for what felt like more than 30 minutes. We thought that we would have crossed the 15th mile and there was no marker. But we didn’t. The 15 mile mark was still about 400 feet away!

On the 16th mile, I had another muscle pull on my left quadriceps. I slowly limped / walked the last mile.

After I reached the finish line, I just dropped in exhaustion.

I had a high for the rest of the day from all the endorphins rushing through my body. On the whole, I had an awesome run. I feel so much better that I did it. My heel is a little sore, but I am recovering quickly.

I am raising money for AIDS research. My sincere hope is to join me in this worthy cause. You can donate online at:

Donate to Aids Marathon