The
season has come to an end for all. The long dry days of summer will soon be
upon us followed by the humid months of July and August. And with that most of
us will move into a low mileage or a break mode. But for now Coach Ravinder has
sent out a note seeking nominations for the Runner of the Year award and so its
time to assess this running season. And here is my assessment of the good and
the bad :
Hits
+
Each of the previous years, I have usually gone low mileage and slow between
May and Aug, picking up with a training plan for the Autumn / Winter races.
This season was different. I came back from a hiatus in April by joining
Tanvir’s 100 day running challenge. At that time, I didn’t realize the big
difference it will make to my marathon training (more about it below). But
those 3k-10k runs all through the months of May-July helped. I had to stop at
the 86th day due to a personal emergency but by that time I had
built up a solid mileage to take me into my training plan for the Berlin
marathon.
+
With the 100 day running challenge, I also joined the 100 day no-sugar
challenge. It was a little difficult at the start, but 10 days into the
challenge, I had given up all sources of processed sugar and was feasting on
the summer fruits of mangoes and melons. This definitely helped in boosting my
fitness level. And btw, I am still continuing with no sugar Tea and Coffee.
+
The low mileage was supplemented with many strength training exercises –
Planks, Squats, Lunges, Dead Lifts etc. in the base building period and so for
once, I had followed a slow yet an efficient way of improving my fitness and
strength.
+
And with all of the above, I had a good 3 months of base building period, and
was able to transition a much stronger me into the marathon training plan for
the Berlin Marathon in September. This was my A race for the year and bettering
my marathon PB by 22 mins for a finish time of 4:06 was a result I am very
happy with.
+I
was happy to have maintained my timings for the shorter distances all through
the year. So here’s the report card.
NYRR
Mini 10K Women’s Run 54.19
Artemis
Day Breaker
21k
2:09:37
Manger
Trail Run 25km
2:58:49
Pinkathon
21km
1:57:41
Dwarka
Half
Marathon
2:05:17
Hero
Sunrise HM
21km
1:58:32
Berlin
Marathon
42km
4:06:32
Airtel
HM
21Km
1:55:00
Muskaan
Run
10km
52:37
Super
Sikh Run
10km
52:53
And now to the misses
- The strong marathon training was to be used for an ultra
or a faster HM in November – never attempted the Ultra and just maintained a
decent time for the HM
- I was supposed to chronicle my training on the blog but
the training, recovery and life in general did not leave anytime for the blog.
- Sugar binge – it started with small and not so frequent
portions but the winter comfort food of chikkis and sandesh and other sweets
had me crave for the sugar big time.
- December till date have been little or no running and with
all events registered for being a No Show.
But
“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin.
Beginnings make the conditions perfect” – Alan Cohen
So
though life in general is still busy, its time for a fresh start, a reboot…..
And you will see more of me on the roads and more of my
running rants here.
