Category Archives: running

05.26.13
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10 miles of love affair with the trails

San Antonio Rancho park trails continue to amaze me, every time I go there. I find new routes, and new climbs, and new friends !!Image

Being a memorial day weekend, when most people are either traveling or getting their skin tanned. I had a nice affair with the trails today. 

Good sunny day, yet cold, I was planning to log double digits mileage. Still getting my fitness back. Started off slow with tight hamstrings and thighs. Plan was to go slow, and cover the hills and unpaved trails, enjoying the weekend in the runners style !!

Took the trail path, where there was no rush, and I just saw in total 6 hikers, and 3 runners coming down. 2 miles of climb, with few steep ones, and the 5th mile was a steep climb, which for the last part, I had to literally walk. Check the Strava stats.

The best part of running uphill is that you get to relish the downhills. And the downhill part always gives me more energy, and a boost to run another mile.

Today I wasn’t worried about the pace, or the total time. I was there to enjoy my sunday run.

Go slow when you like, and pick the pace when you like !! 

05.19.13
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The attention my beard gets when I run and bike !!

photo 1

‘Dude! can I borrow that beard, please !!’ – just some athlete, at the beginning of the swim.

‘doesn’t that beard make you feel hot ?’ – another athlete, during the run part of the Triathlon course. The day was actually quite warm. I told him- ‘No, I actually pour water on it, and it keeps me cooler longer :)’. He just laughs !!

Other things that I have been told during my rides- ‘that beard and golden glasses look awesome’.

‘does it not cause an air-drag when riding ?’. photo 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, my beard causes no drag :), it provides coolness, protects me from sun-burn, less usage of sunscreen lotion. And I stand out with my own fashion statement 🙂 !!

Life is happy so keep it flowing !!

 

04.29.13
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HITS Napa 70.3 Triathlon – My race report

All the best for the swim !!

All the best for the swim !!

Went into the race nervous, excited, and a bit scared!! Normal isn’t it?

Had trained hard, but never kept any time goals, except for finishing the race within the cut off time.

But based on my training, and my nature, I made up the following time goals.

Swim ~50 mins

Bike ~3h: 45mins

Run ~2h

Arrived on the pre-race day for the packet pick-up, and look for the parking areas, and understand the logistics. I had to be clear on this, as I did not had the luxury of anyone driving me around.

On the race day, first thing I did waking up at 3:30am was to eat my bowl of grainless cereals, with berries, and a banana. Would have loved some coffee, but had none. Drinking and eating early helped me clear out my bowel movement. Prepared my water bottles with nutrition drinks. Set up the car, with my bike, and all the bags.

Driving up to the race site was crazy, because of the windy road and race-day traffic. Funny thing was, that my friend Jeff arrived to support me way earlier than I was in the parking lot. Took me around an hour to reach the race site, I had to park my car away from the transition area, and then carry all my gears, packets, bike, bike pump. Doing this I ignored the fact that my stuff was scattered in two different bags, especially my race tattoo, race number on the helmet, even my towel.

Still reaching the transition area, with all the important things in hand 40 mins before the start, was good. But for all future races I will keep atleast an hour in hand.

30 mins before the start of the race, I put on my wet suit, using good amount of body glide.

Prior to swim start

Prior to swim start

The swim start was pretty haphazard, and even though I knew what it would be like, I did panic for the first 50m or so. Water was not that cold, but I kept popping HITS703my head up and down, rather than moving ahead. Controlling my nerves, I started with breaststroke and kept doing it for a good 25m or so, till I understood the brawl going on in the water. Though I had no thoughts in my mind of winning the race, or beating anyone in the swim, but as I started passing some of the swimmers, I gained confidence. Now it was just the regular spotting of the buoy, breathing every two strokes, and getting good thoughts into head. End of the swim was a little funny, the support boats and the buoys both were in orange color, and I took one of the boats as the buoy, and assumed that to be the last buoy to be touched. Did realize it soon enough, and finished my swim strong in 46 mins.

Asked the strippers (they are called ‘wetsuit strippers’ 😉 ), to rid me of the wetsuit.

The first transition into bike was awful. I realized that I forgot my towel, and so picked up the socks to dry my feet. I was totally blank at that point figuring out what needs to be done next. Eat or not to eat, drink or not to drink. Ate some nuts, and dark chocolate, they provide a ‘feel-good factor’ to me. Took a leak, just before exiting the transition area. I guess that did cost me 2 mins ;), so a total transition loss of 10 mins. Not to mention that I did not put my Garmin into Multisport mode, and did not start it way beyond the bike start line.

I started easy on the bike, ate alittle of Cliff bar and some water. The ride starts with a good climb, so it was pretty easy for me to move ahead of the pack. And as soon as I saw some downhill, I switched gears to go faster. The route had 6 cat-5 climbs, and lot of rolling hills. One thing that I did do well in the ride was, to controll my temptation to go real hard. Hammered on the flats, and kept spinning on the bigger gear while downhill, but did not let myself tire. The plan was to go all out after 35 miles. I kept myself fuelling with Roctane, and energy gels every 45 mins. In the last 18-20 miles I went all out, sometimes joining a pack, keeping myself just behind them, and using the downhills to move past. Passing riders, who transitioned into bike way earlier than I did, was quite confidence boosting. Finished a good ride in 3h:09m.

out of T2

out of T2

I did the mistake of not taking in salt capsules, which cost me 6-7 mins in the first 3 miles of the run. Suffered bad cramps, even causing me to stop. Thanks to the guy, who pushed me for the run, I actually ended up finishing around 30mins ahead of him J. The run course had rolling hills, but I kept a consistent pace. Continued to eat pretzels, oranges, and drink water, consumed only two Roctane gels on the run. Finished my worst half-marathon in 2h:08mins.

Finished the full course, in 6:18:00, damn impressive for me J. Chatted with strong people on the run course, funny that most of us were having thoughts of eating “Denny’s”.

nobody said it was easy !

nobody said it was easy !

Final times–

Swim: 00:46:05.947

T1: 00:10:15.742

Bike: 03:09:24.711

T2: 00:03:57.705

Run: 02:08:25.267

Overall: 06:18:09.372

Quick look at the mistakes that I don’t intend to do again-

  1. Always keep the things in just one bag for the Transition.
  2. Never ever forget a Towel, or a Transition mat.
  3. If using Garmin, put it in the MultiSport mode.
  4. Use a Transition Basket- it is useful to dump things.
  5. Take salt tablets before T2, not during T2.
  6. Legally you are not allowed to help anyone on the bike, which I did L. Helped a lady struggling to mount her chain. She was still on her half way mark, and I was about to finish L. Don’t even remember the face.
  7. Carry a fuel belt, for your own nutrition.

Most importantly, whatever is happening, let it happen. It’s your first, so enjoy the race moment. Will work on winning the goals in the next one, as this is an adventure, not a destination !!

 

04.09.13
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My first 70.3 Swim / Bike / Run

Just one is boring, so why not do all three !!

Here are the details of the event, and will be great to see you coming and support me-

Race Site:
Chaparral Cove
7600 Knoxville Rd.
Napa, California 94558
The swim start is at 7 am in the morning. At the above race site. Will swim around a loop in Lake Berryessa.
And then we come out and head off for a Bike Ride, the route for the Bike Ride is:
Distance: 56.01 mi
To understand the above map-  we first go up on PopeValley Road, and then come back, and go on Knoxville road, and come back to the race site again.
After the bike Ride, the run starts from the above address itself-
You will definitely be able to figure out numerous locations, best being the race site, to see me :). It will also be fun to move around, there will definitely be lot of crowd. A fitness festival to watch.
And if you guys have time, it will be great to sit for a dinner post race, somewhere in Napa or Vacaville.
See you !!
09.27.12
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Any time Foot workouts

Like the rest of your body, your feet need exercise to stay in great shape.Your feet are like the wheels of your car, if they go wrong, whether you have a BMW engine or a Honda engine, its useless. So why not spend just 5 – 10 mins of your day, strengthening your feet. You really don’t have to dedicate special time, rather you can do it at your workplace anytime.

While working, while reading, sitting in a meeting, or at lunch.

And the below exercises are just those which you can do at work, without any prop or easily available prop. There are more foot strengthening exercises, but you need to get into awkward positions, which your colleagues might find funny :).

1) Toe Curls / Toe Pick Ups – Strengthens the foot, Improves flexibility, Improves push off power, protects against Plantar Fasciitis and shin splints. 

If at home, you can use a towel, put it on the floor, and start collecting the towel using your toes. Use one foot at a time. 

However you really do not need a towel. I do it without the towel, at work.

Toe-pick ups are similar, imagine you are picking up a dice on the ground with your toe, and putting it aside.

 

2) Toe twisters – Now what I do with the foot is. Keep it flat on the ground, and twist it to one side, without swaying your leg much. Do the same on the other side.

3) Ankle Pump-up – This exercise helps strengthens the muscles in the front of your lower leg (shin). Keep your feet on the ground, and start by pulling your foot up like you are trying to touch your toes to the front of your shin. Hold this position for 10 seconds, and relax down.

[You cannot do Ankle Pump-down, which is the reverse motion of the pump-up, because you need your legs in the air, might be a little weird if you are doing it at work 🙂 ]

4) Plantar Fascia Massage – Lets say you need to read something at work, so this exercise can be done then. Sit down and cross your leg over your knee. With one hand, pull your toes back toward your nose. With the other hand, massage the area on the bottom of your foot just in front of your heel.

5) Ice Bottle Massage – Fill a bottle with water and freeze it, if your workplace has a refrigerator, then great. I label my bottle, so that nobody else can use it, and won’t throw it when the fridge gets cleaned.

Roll your foot on the bottle for 10 minutes three times per day. This reduces any inflammation on your sore foot, caused from running, long-walks. Its a must do I believe.

6) Using foosball– I also use a foosball and start rolling it under my foot. It helps to relieve of any foot pain, and gives a great massage. Being hard and small, it spots the pain areas.

Also don’t forget to check out these everyday leg workout in 5 minutes.