I need to remember that a blog is meant to be updated or rather have some semblance to one! I typed this a while a go but never finished it!
So 2011 was a year of changes, especially with running. Three PBs and getting to the ever so close 3 hr / sub 3 marathon finish. I wouldn’t have thought i’d get this far at Auroville in Februrary where I just about managed a 3.30 and that was quite a challenge. I think the running plan that I followed worked more as a mental stimulant to get me out running everyday. After all the key to improving your time is consistency. I raced only once during the 6 months of training build up to KTM . TCS 10k was the only race I ran where I got my first PB of the year 40.08 – not sure if the 16 miler the day before that had anything to do with it. I was quite happy as it had been almost 6 years since I ran close to that time.
Training was tough – sometimes it was a 7 day week on top of it cycling to work drained quite a lot out of me. But it did pay off at KTM where I clocked 3.14.24 and came in second. Though I’d say a lot was to do with the weather that stayed pretty much cloudy for the first 3 hours. I thought i’d take it easy after that and signed up for the 50k at the ultra - a wise decision (as opposed to the 100k that I did the last 2 years)! The morning was chilly and the course new. The new course didn’t have the ‘big hill’ like the previous one and was pretty much flat, though the path was rockier and narrow. I wasn’t sure what goal to set as I never had run a 50k race before, but I decided a sub 4hr would be good. I came in first with a time of 3.58.56 missing the course record by just over two minutes (there’s always a next time). I also managed to do the 42k under 3hr 20 which made it my second best timing ever. It was super feeling – more of a personal battle won than a podium finish. The ‘icing on the cake’ was the midnight marathon. The week before the race was sort of a lazy one where I hadn’t been running too much (after the ultra) but I wanted to get in a long run on the weekend so I could feel at ease knowing I had done my milage for the week. I was planning on running SCMM this Jan so didn’t want to not be prepared. I thought midnight Marathon would be a good place to do a long run and see how I fared on road races. I had signed up for the full (thankfully) and figured doing a 20 – 22 miler that day would be a good end to the week. At 20 miles I was feeling quite good and the organizing (of the race) had been better than the past few years, so I thought why not just finish the race. The last 2 laps of a little over 6 miles I started getting cramps though not painful enough to stop me from running. I knew I was on for another PB but with the cramps I wasn’t quite sure how fast i’d be able to run. I finished in 3hr 8min! An amazing way to end the year!
Unfortunately this year hasn’t started off that well. I’ve cancelled going to Mumbai to run SCMM and my running has take a back seat. Hope the feeling of lethargy will blow over and I can start training again.
