Since my last 50K, I and Kiran both thought it was fun running together so we both signed up for the PC Trails Woodside run - http://www.pctrailruns.com/Woodside_Dec.htm. I told Kiran I will go with her all the way. Race starts at Huddart County Park at 8:30am so we dropped our kids at a friends house in the morning and reached the park at 7:45am. Park opens at 8am but the race organization had made special arrangements so we didn't have to wait. Soon, we realized, we had started without our wallets (so didn't have any money to pay for the park entrance). The guy let us in since we were probably not the first one to whom this happened. Back in the park, we found Reshu, borrowed the money from her and paid the guy. Soon Vivek, Rajeev and Anu reached there. We got our bibs and got ready for the race. Surprisingly, they misplaced our bibs so we had to start with another bib numbers.
When we reached there, the temperature was hovering at 35F while it was in 40s at home. Soon, we realized, we forgot the gloves. Sun was up so it didn't feel that bad. At 8:30am, the race started. First couple of miles was all downhill but the there was a bit of traffic jam early on. At the third mile, the ascent started. It was slow and gradual and I bet it was all doable. But, we were soon taking breaks as a strategy not to tire ourselves early on. In the woods, it was freezing. Both me and Kiran were holding water bottles in hand and our hands were freezing. Gloves would have been nice. On a second thought, hand water bottles don't seem like such a good idea for a cold run.
Pretty soon, we were quite at the bottom of the pack. Vivek and Reshu were long gone. Rajeev and Anu seemed to have decided on a different pace and we couldn't see them behind us. Kiran's shoe was pinching and it wasn't looking good. She had dropped out from her 12hr run just for the same reason. There was a cut off of 8hours at the 19K in 2hr 50 min so we had to make sure we made the cut off. But, with mostly up slope, it looked like we wouldn't make it almost until mile 7. We had reached a high point by this time so the next 3 miles were somewhat down hill or flat. We did some really fast miles here and made it in time for the cut off with 8 minutes to spare.
We thought we had another cut-off on our way back so we decided to take the benefit of the next 4 or 5 downhill miles to the midpoint. This certainly wasn't a wise move since Kiran pulled a muscle on the way down. After that, we just decided to walk all the way back up since now we had to run up what we came down. With Kiran hurting, we decided it was best for her to stop on the way back at the aid station and take a ride. I'd run back. We found a couple of females with us who also decided to walk up the hill.
We reached the aid station in at 1:35pm (in 5hr 5min) and talked to the crew to get Kiran ride back to the base. I figured it was 11 miles from the aid station. Terrain didn't look hilly at all compared to the Steven's creek run so a 2hr run looked promising. I ate whatever I could at the aid station and started my dash at 1:40pm. Till this time, I was feeling fresh as if I hadn't run. I reached the last aid station (5M from finish) at 2:40pm. Somehow, my GPS was telling me I wasn't running fast enough to make it in 2hr. It seemed like I would make it in 7hr 10min or so. At this station I finally caught up with Vivek and Reshu. They were getting started on the last leg. One guy at the aid station commented that Reshu was looking so fresh that she must have been giving Vivek and me a hard time. Soon they started off. I fed myself well so I didn't have to take a break till the end. In fact, I gluttoned quite a bit in a short time that running immediately seemed out of question. With no lunch since the morning, it is easy to let go of yourself.
I got back to the last leg at 2:44pm. Looking at my GPS, 7hr now seemed impossible. It would be more like 7hr 10min. I had been thinking that with such a gradual and low incline, I could target a 6hr PR in future. But, if it took me 2hr 10min to do 11 miles mostly downhill, that didn't look very practical. I was going fast but soon another runner blitz past me. This was a guy who had been running with his friend and his friend must have dropped out at the aid station. My GPS was now showing over 28 miles and I was close to 7hrs. The finish line really seemed to be far away. Suddenly I saw the parking lot, looked at my GPS watch which still showed I was at least 1.5 miles away. I saw the finish line and finished really strong. To my surprise, I finished exactly at 3:30pm. I had forgotten that the GPS doesn't always behave well in dense wooded forests. It kind of pushed me to get some speed I wasn't seeing on my GPS. I actually finished my last 11 miles in 1hr 50min which make me feel pretty good to think about doing a PR of 6hr next time.
Looking for Kiran, I couldn't find her anywhere. I asked one of the guys whom I saw at the aid station. She should have been here. One of the race organizer was prompt in telling me that they had run out of coasters so they would mail it at home address. I looked to our car and sure enough Kiran was in there. She hadn't expected me to finish that fast. She was counting on another half an hour. We got our T-shirts. Chili soup was out of stock so had to be content with chips, coke and cookies. We called our friend, picked up the kids and reached home. We were going out for dinner but reaching home, I was in no mood to go out again. We had an early dinner, watched a movie. I write this while trying to sleep. After 5hours, I still can't catch a blink so I decided to finish this race report. Hopefully, I can catch some sleep soon.
See the GPS route on Google Earth.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Use it or lose it!!
You must have heard it so many times - Shopping, rewards, airline miles, and what not. So, why does it figure in my blog? Simple, this rule applies even more prominently in running. If you don't run, you lose your running ability. Well, you can take it even beyond. Any part of your body you don't exercise, you lose - be it a muscle, brain.
Here is why. When you run, you exercise quite a group of your body muscles. And because you exercise, you build their ability to do more - your lungs, your heart, your torso muscles, your leg muscles, everything. Lot of first times complain of injuries, knee problems and so on. Sure, there are injuries. When you run long distances, there are micro-tears in your muscles and so on. So running is not really injury free. So, why should you run?
It's not what happens during running that is important. What is important is what happens after running. After the run, your body starts to recover. (That's why a good diet is important for recovery). When your body is recovering, it is actually working to re-generate the parts of the body that got hammered, got torn. And this is an essential important step. This is when the stem cells in the body are turning into your leg muscles or heart muscles or lung muscles depending on the micro-injuries in your body. Your body is using your stem cells to heal itself.
Once again, it is the same principal - "Use it or lose it". If you keep your body safe (or rather exercise free), unlike machines, you are not using your stem cells which give your body the healing ability. And when you are not using your stem cells for a long time, your body will start losing its ability to generate stem cells. And when it does, every injury will be equally harder to recover from.
Of course, as an infant, as a kid, you always had many folds more stem cells than as an adult. You are growing, the stem cells are in constant use. Your body is fresh and clean so blood pumps easily, cells get energy and oxygen easily, and toxins get passed out quickly. You are active, and you like activity and run around even when you are not consciously thinking about it. Until your late twenties, you keep growing and without doing anything your body parts need repairs consistently to support growth. Your body is consistently using the muscles and body parts.
And then one day, your growth is over. Your metabolism slows down, your body may have grown some layers of fat on the blood vessels and your body no longer needs to use the stem cells on a regular basis. You become a little lethargic and soon one thing leads to another and you find a layer of fat around your tummy. Exercise seems harder and so does losing fat. And if you don't get up and run or exercise regularly, soon your body feels uncomfortable to do so. It starts to lose its ability to provide food and oxygen to body parts or take away toxins/waste out. If you don't push it for a while, it doesn't have much to repair and so your stem cells are getting wasted and soon you lose the ability to generate stem cells.
One day when you get up and start running, sure enough your body feels pains. Why? Because now you are causing all the micro-tears that your body needs to repair and it wasn't ready for such a workload. It's regenerating capacity is short of the effort needed. Hence you get pains, specially in more vulnerable parts of the body. I have gone through it and so did my lovely wife when we both started to run long distances. But, if you persist, eat right foods, you will soon see your body improving its ability to heal. And with that, those pains will also go away.
Now, this doesn't happen in a day so you better be patient and consistent. You do want to give your body enough material (proteins, vitamins) and time to repair those injuries (just short of undoing all the efforts you put in). You don't want to get to a point where it is all pain and no fun. And if you keep consistent, you would have won a battle against time, snatching back your body's healing powers and with that slowed down the aging process itself, if not stopped it outright.
So, remember, "use it or lose it!".
Here is why. When you run, you exercise quite a group of your body muscles. And because you exercise, you build their ability to do more - your lungs, your heart, your torso muscles, your leg muscles, everything. Lot of first times complain of injuries, knee problems and so on. Sure, there are injuries. When you run long distances, there are micro-tears in your muscles and so on. So running is not really injury free. So, why should you run?
It's not what happens during running that is important. What is important is what happens after running. After the run, your body starts to recover. (That's why a good diet is important for recovery). When your body is recovering, it is actually working to re-generate the parts of the body that got hammered, got torn. And this is an essential important step. This is when the stem cells in the body are turning into your leg muscles or heart muscles or lung muscles depending on the micro-injuries in your body. Your body is using your stem cells to heal itself.
Once again, it is the same principal - "Use it or lose it". If you keep your body safe (or rather exercise free), unlike machines, you are not using your stem cells which give your body the healing ability. And when you are not using your stem cells for a long time, your body will start losing its ability to generate stem cells. And when it does, every injury will be equally harder to recover from.
Of course, as an infant, as a kid, you always had many folds more stem cells than as an adult. You are growing, the stem cells are in constant use. Your body is fresh and clean so blood pumps easily, cells get energy and oxygen easily, and toxins get passed out quickly. You are active, and you like activity and run around even when you are not consciously thinking about it. Until your late twenties, you keep growing and without doing anything your body parts need repairs consistently to support growth. Your body is consistently using the muscles and body parts.
And then one day, your growth is over. Your metabolism slows down, your body may have grown some layers of fat on the blood vessels and your body no longer needs to use the stem cells on a regular basis. You become a little lethargic and soon one thing leads to another and you find a layer of fat around your tummy. Exercise seems harder and so does losing fat. And if you don't get up and run or exercise regularly, soon your body feels uncomfortable to do so. It starts to lose its ability to provide food and oxygen to body parts or take away toxins/waste out. If you don't push it for a while, it doesn't have much to repair and so your stem cells are getting wasted and soon you lose the ability to generate stem cells.
One day when you get up and start running, sure enough your body feels pains. Why? Because now you are causing all the micro-tears that your body needs to repair and it wasn't ready for such a workload. It's regenerating capacity is short of the effort needed. Hence you get pains, specially in more vulnerable parts of the body. I have gone through it and so did my lovely wife when we both started to run long distances. But, if you persist, eat right foods, you will soon see your body improving its ability to heal. And with that, those pains will also go away.
Now, this doesn't happen in a day so you better be patient and consistent. You do want to give your body enough material (proteins, vitamins) and time to repair those injuries (just short of undoing all the efforts you put in). You don't want to get to a point where it is all pain and no fun. And if you keep consistent, you would have won a battle against time, snatching back your body's healing powers and with that slowed down the aging process itself, if not stopped it outright.
So, remember, "use it or lose it!".
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Offically an Ultra Marathoner today
Finally, I finished my first 50k trail run in the Santa Cruz Mountains today. Run was Stevens Creek 50k. See http://www.stevenscreek.com/stevenscreek50k.html for details and pictures.
Weather was awesome. It was probably in sixties most of the time. First 11 miles were in the woods and it was nice and cool. For remaining miles, it was a nice breeze from the ocean and sometimes, a light drizzle kept things really cool. View was wonderful. You could see the pacific on one side and bay on the other side. It's just a wonderful place to run.
Terrain is quite different. It starts with a mile down and then a mile up before going about 3.5 further down. And then the climb begins going 1200ft over next 5.5miles. But it is not just uphill. It goes up and down in many places, making it even harder.
For first 11 miles, one of my friends, Vivek paced me. Our strategy was to walk steep sections. For runnable sections, we did about .25 mile running and walking for a minute. It went quite well and we made it to 11 miles in 2hr 20min.
Somewhere around mile 10, we saw a really fast runner crossing us. Since I made an early start (1hr early), I told Vivek, no way this guy cannot be a regular starter since for him to be @ mile 10 in 1hr and 10minutes almost seemed impossible. Later, I saw him again when I was around mile 22 returning. And guess what, that guy beat the course record. He finished the 50k in less than 4hours. What a runner!!
Next 8 miles, I ran all by myself. There were a few of the regular starters crossing me. For the downhill parts, I was doing good going around 10min a mile. But, something in my left shoe was bothering me. So I stopped to clean up my left shoe. After that, it was much better. Then, around mile 17 or so, one of left thigh muscle started quivering running uphill. And I was a little scared. I tried messaging but it didn't go away so I walked the hill up. I was thinking, "Man, will I also have to quit this time around?" (Last year, I ran the same race without practice. It was so hot that I dropped out on mile 11). Nevertheless, as I started running downhill, the quivering went away. So, I kept going, walking the uphills.
At mile 19(back at the parking lot), I ate some cookies and potatoes and got my energy back to finish the remaining race. Kiran joined me to give company for the remaining 12 miles. Next couple of miles it was kind of steep uphill. I guess it was runnable but with my quivering muscles, I just walked. Lot of people outside the race come there to do a small hike or enjoy the view which is wonderful. After mile 22 it was downhill for about a mile or so and then back uphill another 1.5 mile. It went down after that all the way to mile 25 which was the turning point. Returning back, another runner Christine who was on my heels for quite some time, joined Kiran and me and we chatted along the way. It was up and down all the way back but by that time, I knew finish was close at hand. A light breeze and light drizzle kept things really interesting. I finally finished and became an ultra-runner after having completed 2 marathons back in 2007.
Trail running is so different than regular marathons which hardly have any elevation gain.Website lists the elevation gain around 5000ft but my GPS watch shows the total around 10000ft!! It was quite an experience. At some point, I was scared I might have to quit because of my quivering muscles. But thanks to Sujanian training, I made it all the way in 7hrs 9min which is still a decent time given that this is my first 50k. I look forward to doing more ultra-runs in future.
Results and pictures posted at http://www.stevenscreek.com/stevenscreek50k.html. I really like the pictures at http://www.seeingbirds.com/stevensck_50K/index.html
Cheers!!
Weather was awesome. It was probably in sixties most of the time. First 11 miles were in the woods and it was nice and cool. For remaining miles, it was a nice breeze from the ocean and sometimes, a light drizzle kept things really cool. View was wonderful. You could see the pacific on one side and bay on the other side. It's just a wonderful place to run.
Terrain is quite different. It starts with a mile down and then a mile up before going about 3.5 further down. And then the climb begins going 1200ft over next 5.5miles. But it is not just uphill. It goes up and down in many places, making it even harder.
For first 11 miles, one of my friends, Vivek paced me. Our strategy was to walk steep sections. For runnable sections, we did about .25 mile running and walking for a minute. It went quite well and we made it to 11 miles in 2hr 20min.
Somewhere around mile 10, we saw a really fast runner crossing us. Since I made an early start (1hr early), I told Vivek, no way this guy cannot be a regular starter since for him to be @ mile 10 in 1hr and 10minutes almost seemed impossible. Later, I saw him again when I was around mile 22 returning. And guess what, that guy beat the course record. He finished the 50k in less than 4hours. What a runner!!
Next 8 miles, I ran all by myself. There were a few of the regular starters crossing me. For the downhill parts, I was doing good going around 10min a mile. But, something in my left shoe was bothering me. So I stopped to clean up my left shoe. After that, it was much better. Then, around mile 17 or so, one of left thigh muscle started quivering running uphill. And I was a little scared. I tried messaging but it didn't go away so I walked the hill up. I was thinking, "Man, will I also have to quit this time around?" (Last year, I ran the same race without practice. It was so hot that I dropped out on mile 11). Nevertheless, as I started running downhill, the quivering went away. So, I kept going, walking the uphills.
At mile 19(back at the parking lot), I ate some cookies and potatoes and got my energy back to finish the remaining race. Kiran joined me to give company for the remaining 12 miles. Next couple of miles it was kind of steep uphill. I guess it was runnable but with my quivering muscles, I just walked. Lot of people outside the race come there to do a small hike or enjoy the view which is wonderful. After mile 22 it was downhill for about a mile or so and then back uphill another 1.5 mile. It went down after that all the way to mile 25 which was the turning point. Returning back, another runner Christine who was on my heels for quite some time, joined Kiran and me and we chatted along the way. It was up and down all the way back but by that time, I knew finish was close at hand. A light breeze and light drizzle kept things really interesting. I finally finished and became an ultra-runner after having completed 2 marathons back in 2007.
Trail running is so different than regular marathons which hardly have any elevation gain.Website lists the elevation gain around 5000ft but my GPS watch shows the total around 10000ft!! It was quite an experience. At some point, I was scared I might have to quit because of my quivering muscles. But thanks to Sujanian training, I made it all the way in 7hrs 9min which is still a decent time given that this is my first 50k. I look forward to doing more ultra-runs in future.
Results and pictures posted at http://www.stevenscreek.com/stevenscreek50k.html. I really like the pictures at http://www.seeingbirds.com/stevensck_50K/index.html
Cheers!!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Nisene Marks Forest Run
Last Saturday, I did a 12 mile hill run last Saturday (6/6) in Nisene Marks Forest. This was a beautiful run starting near Aptos Village County Park. About 2 miles was paved road and later a dirt fire road, shaded by giant redwood trees. It was an awesome run. This was the same day a half and a full marathon is held. We had some friends running that we cheered on our way back.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Running a Marathon
Running marathons is more about the state of mind. You need to enjoy running to be able to run a marathon. It requires dedication. And it requires more dedication to improve your PR. First time around, there is a goal. Something you haven't done. And that can be exciting. You beat the barriers one by one. First, you beat 8 miles, face blisters, bleeding nipples, broken toes, find the right shoes. Then you go on to beat 10 miles and then half marathon, 15, 18, 20 miles. And suddenly, you are ready for your first marathon. All this is exciting as you push your limits. And it takes time. It's not done in a day. It takes at least 3 months to get there. A more typical time frame is 6 months and all this if you run injury free. As you push distance, you could run into ITB, patella, shin splits or god knows what. Harder you run, more injury prone you are.
But, once you have done your marathons, what's next? First marathon is all about completion. You may have a target time that you may or may not meet but the challenge is in finishing it. Once you finished it, next goal shows up - getting your PR. If your first run was good, believe me getting a PR will be harder. You need to run every week, do at least 3 days a week to improve your PR. You need to do speed workouts, hill workouts and long runs. If you are not consistent, you can quickly fall back to old pace. At some point, it gets to be difficult to improve your pace. For me, 8 minutes a mile is the next barrier. But with age, if you are over 35, you are likely to slow down a little anyway. On average, you need to run at least 25 miles to maintain or get slightly better. A 35 mile a week will probably improve your running at a faster pace. And that cannot happen unless you are running at least 4 days a week, one of which is a long run with over 12 miles each week.
All this needs a tough mindset and at some level you have to enjoy this running, otherwise you simply can't do it.
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