running in Madras - FAIL

I have been in Madras for about 5 days now and have ran only once instead of the scheduled 3 times. And even that one run was painful. There is absolutely no proper place to run, in my limited knowledge. I did a loop near my house but it is so congested and uninspiring, am not sure if I can do it again. At first, I thought I would run along the shoreline, right next to the water. But due to the slums along the beach, this does not seem feasible. I still havent checked that option out properly. The only other options seems to be the Theosophical Society, which looks calm and serene from the outside, but am not sure how to get in. Lets see.

I thought running in Madras temperatures would be a lot harder(20-30 degrees warmer), but in the short run I did, that wasnt much of an issue. But dehydration is a definite issue. Lets see how tomorrow's run goes.

busy with moving

sorry about the lack of recent activity, but i have been busy moving houses. plus, am flying to india tomorrow, will start posting regularly starting this weekend. meanwhile, here's a pic from a run last week, the 10+ miler in SFO. see, i really run barefoot!

10 mile run - crissy field san fran

ran my first 10 miler last saturday, in east beach SFO. Starting the day off with a 50 mile drive was not much fun, but the place was supposed to be worth it. I wasn't really a big fan. Yeah, it had a great view of a foggy Golden Gate bridge and we ran next to the water but not worth driving an hour each way. And more importantly, everyone seems to be talking about global warming and pollution etc suddenly but don't really seem to understand what it means - a change in attitude. This doesn't mean conservation but preventing the scenario in the first place. So, why run 50 miles away when there are perfectly reasonable alternatives closer to where you live?

The run itself went off a lot better. And I was a lot faster than I am normally, which surprised me. I did 10.5 miles in 105 minutes(did 0.5 miles extra as went to touch the bridge). And did not feel too uncomfortable, which was awesome.

And one last thing about our volunteers, a group of people many of the runners take for granted. These guys are awesome. They are there before us marking the trails, slicing bananas, putting cream cheese on bagels. Those guys are awesome! am gonna miss those things when am running alone in India.

another milestone - first 7 mile run

Saturday was a day of many milestones, some real, some artificial, thanks to the metric system. It was the first time I had run 7 miles continuously, and I really mean continuously. Did not pause for even one step to take a break or to sip water, thanks to my fuel belt. It was the first time I had run for more than one hour, and the first time I had run more than 10 kms(11.2 to be exact). And the cool thing is I(along with my running buddies) kept a perfect pace of 11 mins a mile - finishing 7 miles in 76 minutes (we made up 1 minute due to our over-eagerness over the last half-mile by upping the pace).

And the weather had a lot to do with it. It was a muggy, cold day about 55 F/12 C, one of those days I used to hate when I was a kid. You know, an irritating, dull day where it is neither sunny nor rainy, just gloomy - basically like England but with zero chances of showers. But the perfect day for running, and if Oct 26th is anything like last Saturday, I think my chances of completing just doubled. If only I could get my hands on those weather-changing stuff China has apparently(see The Daily show from last week).

the performance pressure of running barefoot

Running barefoot seems to be pretty uncommon, at least in the runners I encounter around San Jose. The sole(no pun intended) reason for me doing this is to reduce/prevent injury. As I have explained earlier, running barefoot means you do not have the luxury of making mistakes in running form, inefficiency etc. Thus, you immediately correct your mistakes, which in effect reduces the chances of injury.

But many people, mostly other runners, seem to think that running barefoot is an exhibition than a better approach to running. People seem to think I am doing this to prove that this is possible, or to rough it or something unnatural.

For example, during the last long run, these are some of the conversations(sort-of) that I had with other people that I shared the trail with.

Lady with dog: (with a huge smile)OH MY GOD! You are insane!!!!

Me(running in opposite direction): Not really

Lady with dog: YES YOU ARE

Random girl: (stops running and starts clapping) That(me running barefoot) is so great...

Me: (uhhh.. what do I say... say something smart, or funny, or non-chalant.... ok, they are 20 yards away now and I just acted rude by not saying anything)

Other random comments

"Nice shoes"

"Your laces are undone"

What this looks like from other people's PoV is that am doing something that is hard or difficult, and like I am trying to make a point. They seem to think that I have a disadvantage, that this is a super-human effort. Running a marathon is, running barefoot is not. I am not dumb enough to attempt something with a disadvantage. I believe running barefoot gives me an advantage over me running with shoes, which is precisely why I do it. Am doing something which is easier and more natural, something which works for me. And it is not as hard as it looks.

But to the title/point of this post. If I get injured, people are going to attribute it to the barefoot running. If I get tired or if it is not my day, it is going to be attributed to the same thing. Which makes me think twice before giving up, before stopping to take a breather. So, in all it works out pretty well, sorta.

hill training

Our mentor at the group that I run with told us that we would be starting 'hill training' from next time onwards. And half-way through our run he took us along another trail that was definitely uphill. Man, it feels a lot harder running up a hill! But it does work relatively under-worked muscles which you do not use much while running on flat ground. And there's always the way back down to look forward to :)

So, how should you tweak your training? Incorporate some hill running, it helps a lot and it is more intensive than you might think. If you are running 4 times a week, once a week or once in two should be enough, depending on the trail you run obviously. It is definitely something you should check out though. It feels horrible, worse than running does, when you are doing it, but great once you are done. * sigh * I still dont enjoy running the way others do, but hopefully I will get there.

where you train matters

The long runs that I do on Saturday typically takes place on environments similar to actual marathon trails (like Campbell Park, which the SV marathon route runs through for about 15 miles). On weekdays, the 4 miles that I run with my smaller group is at Rancho San Antonio, in Cupertino. This trail is not flat and is a real trail, not paved road. It is hard ground, with stones and pebbles and with a constantly undulating path. It is a lot harder to run 4 miles on this, than to run 4 miles on, say, the SV route. And this shows on the weekend runs when I have to typically run longer distances than I have ever done before.

If you are in NorCal and east of Redwood City, west of San Jose, I would recommend Rancho over any other place.