Throwing caution to the winds!

I received a call last night from Mahesh informing me that he was scheduled to leave for Kerala (he works with a travel agency) and would be away for 2 weeks. He was checking whether he could do a 20 miler on Saturday ie today and also whether I would be kind enough to come along. I told him I would call him back cause this required careful thought. Here is the predicament: Mahesh has done two 20 milers on two consecutive weeks and this would be the third one; he was reduced to a shuffle in our 20 miler last Saturday; I had done a 20 miler, followed by speedwork on Thursday and felt it would be insane to do a 20 miler with just that one day gap. What do I do?

I analysed that Mahesh is young and has been a state level athlete, and would probably handle the load. Besides, if he is going to be away for 2 weeks, he would have enough time to recover. I, on the other hand, ol' chap, am still battling sleep deficit and the combination of training load as well as work stress may prove to be my bane. Well, again on the other hand, (reminds me of the "My Fair Lady" dialogue) I just might get rewards for pushing the "envelope":-). The call back to Mahesh was a resounding "YES!"

I reached Aarey, after bidding Monsoon and Bryan "Bon Voyage" for their trip to Gauhati. As I ran the first loop, I didn't see Mahesh and wondered if he woke up with the "dead legs syndrome", and decided to quit. I know he is not the type; if he says he'll be there, he will! I wasn't wrong cause I met him on the return leg of my first loop. A quick calculation told me that if I didn't see him pass me by and he started his run late, he was covering distance at a bloody good pace. But then this is Mahesh, my favorite marathoner that has done a 3:17 (based on my coaching - Ahem!) - burnt the bloody marathon route, didn't he:-)))) He wanted to turn and join me to run alongside, but I declined cause he would probably end up making me train like I wanted a Boston Qualifier:-)

We went our own ways, nodding encouragement everytime we passed each other. On my third loop, I felt my calves had turned to lead and when I met Mahesh, I saw the exhaustion wearing him down too. He gestured that he would call it quits on this loop - which meant abandoning the 20 miler! I was running extended loops and my third loop plus the run back home would give me my 20 miler. I told this to Mahesh and he nodded a congratulatory gesture. When I was returning from my third loop, I bade him "bye" and he sent me this shocker; "I am coming back for one more loop". So you see my dear friends, it works perfectly when you have two passionate runners that respect each other and vow to follow each others' footsteps (pun intended). In my utter exhaustion, I was only able to gesture weakly to Mahesh, "way to go man!" but my eyes must have shown admiration cause he went by with dogged determination.

I finished my run with the lead (which is maleable) having turned to cast iron, in my calves - they would have torn if I'd dared to stretch after the run. I realized with trepidation, that this year my training had taken a big hit in terms of mileage. I dare not even calculate the percentage loss! The only hope comes thru' such runs that are a God send thru' my dear pupil, Mahesh. Race day approaches and I feel that there are many elements missing from my training. But then, I'm in it for the long run:-)

Proprioception!

When I awoke this morning and went to the washroom, I heard a muffled "woof" from Dojo, which was actually his way of stating that based on his "chowkidari" there is an intruder in the house. I quietly admonished him about his inability to distinguish between "da-da and an intruder":-) He promptly gave a soft wimper and turned over on his back for a customary tickle on the belly. I laughed at this cheeky gesture of his; actually extracting a truce from me, when he was the one that displayed insolence:-)

My "speedwork" was being done a day late because I'd found that I was coming down with a cold which I attributed to a combination of sleep deficit, stress and the 20 miler I'd done last weekend. My cautious approach actually worked cause I felt a bit stronger today and the "sniffles" had reduced. I wore a double vest; something I'd picked up when I was in Malaysia and set out for another "rock-n-roll" session:-)

As I jogged slowly to Aarey Colony in the dark, I realized with dismay that my stop-watch was not on my wrist! I stopped and contemplated walking back to look for it in case it had fallen off my hand. I realized the futility of this time-wasting notion and dejectedly jogged to my starting point. Damn!! I hoped that I'd forgotten to wear my watch cause I would be very depressed if I lost this particular one. It has helped me track 11 marathons! This was the first time in probably 8 yrs, that I'd have forgotten to wear my stop-watch. How does one do speed-work without a stop watch? "Elementary my dear Watson"!

I have been doing distance running for a while now and have come to understand the "feel" for various paces. The body learns this thru' a process called "proprioception" - kinesthetic awarness of space, direction and velocity (gymnasts, figure-skaters and ballet dancers have a special gift). And so my dear friends I ran 9.6K at what I think was a 99% approximation for my "tempo" pace:-))) It is amazing how, over the years I've learned the fine art of tailoring work-outs at the last minute! Dan, stop it now; you are supposed to be the modest type:-) Well, I reached home with heart palpitations that had less to do with my tough work out and more to do with the prospect of not finding my beloved watch. I entered my home and went straight to the bed-side table and Voila!; there it was lying just as I'd left it the night before. Lucky Dan! I wish I could call myself "Steely Dan" cause its my favorite Jazz group.

Dojo - my baba!

The beep of the alarm going off at 5:30am on Saturday coincided perfectly with my waking up from a peaceful sleep. I felt the warm furry form of Dojo at my feet and I felt a surge of happiness suffuse thru' my being. A grey dawn was just breaking and it happened to be Dojo' birthday!! The first thing I did was give him a kiss on his long snout and a whisper of "happy birthday!".

As I wore my Reebok (Blue Suede?) shoes, I thought, "time to rock and roll, Dan:-)". I had planned a run that was definitely not for the faint-hearted but certainly a celebration for Dojo. As I set a scorching tempo for the first 6K, my being pulsed to the rhythm of Elvis' 12-bar blues song, Blue Suede Shoes;

One for the money,
two for Dojo,
three to get ready and go man go
..............you can do anything but don't step on my blue suede shoes

Well you can knock me down
Step on my face
slander me down
all over the place......uh uh honey lay off my blue suede shoes

Just as I finished the circuit on target pace and was breathing hard with arms akimbo, Mahesh came along and executed his Guru-Shikshak gesture of obeisance. I was thrilled cause the rest of my run was a 2hrs 45mins easy run and what better stimulus than my dear friend Mahesh. We had veritable grins of deep satisfaction when we both saw Pankaj running towards us and heard him hail, "32K?". Yes sir, its going to be a 20 miler for Dojo.

We felt the pace and distance telling on us: Me, because I had gone three days without lunch in Ludhiana and "glycogen-depletion" is a sure hazard, and Mahesh, cause he had done a 20 miler last Sunday in Kharghar (of all the places:-))) For the first time I saw Mahesh reduced to a shuffle but the run was completed - no doubt about that, especially as we had a promise to keep to Pankaj that we'd see him on the following circuit:-)

A well earned breakfast of eggs and toast, a multitude of chores involving buying Bryan Jeans, to ordering Dojo' cake to arranging "veg snacks" for some of the invitees to Dojo' celebration, and a nice appertif to prepare myself for a much needed snooze.

Evening was a hilarious event with Som' family and their Cocker-Spaniel, Toby, and other people going into fits of laughter over singing "Happy Birthday dear Dojo.........":-))) Then there was the cake cutting, distribution to all - even to the watchmen (who found it ridiculous that we spend money on a Black Forest cake for a dog' birthday) -, and a veritable goan cuisine. Dojo realized that something special was happening on his behalf cause there were some "Poodle Puppies" that were brought to join the celebration. I donated money for care of strays and gifted the maid too. When the maid asked me as to what I had given Dojo, I replied that God will take care of him cause we are taking care of dogs that are not fortunate enough to have families. She was dumb-struck by this reply and retreated into a contemplative mood.