Jocund company

New year' eve started off with a pretty decent speed workout that left me with a buzz in my head - quite unlike the one that I get with my appertiff:-) I felt elated that at least my training for the year was ending on an uptempo note.

We had a schedule to be at MTDC Karla by noon and we were to be joined enroute by Som and an Assamese couple. Som as usual delayed us a wee bit. This was way better than his usual tardiness; turning up a little before midnight on new year' eve with ridiculous excuses such as bad traffic, being held up at work and of course "there was too much work at home". We checked into our cottages and the two dogs (Dojo and Toby) went about their exploratory expeditions oblivious to the fact that they were giving the owners an unwelcome walk on strained leashes, thru' the Karla underbrush.

Som and I quaffed beers and included everyone in our conversations regarding the latest developments in the mid-east and of course short discourses on the life of Swami Vivekananda, courtesy Som. I then went about my routine of making the "old man" and filled him up with fire-crackers. Come dusk and we were set with our bonfire and "fire-water". We rang in the new year with some briliant fire-works in the sky and the old man defiantly putting up a valiant effort to hang on to the old year but was subdued to ashes with some pretty loud explosions that had the dogs scurrying for cover. Then I got Bryan to say a "New Year Prayer" that I had composed and we wished everyone the very best in the New Year - we all need it - especially yours truly:-)

Running with wolves

Thats exactly how I always feel when I step inside the dark and sinister looking environs of Aarey colony for my weekend long runs. It is not unlikely nor is it surprising to find a wolf or a leopard lurking in the thick foliage:-) When I woke up at 3:30am this morning, I realized that my chances of a strong "target pace" run were slim. I tried going back to sleep but kept tossing and turning with thoughts of my rotten work life occupying center stage.

At 5:30, I dragged my sleep deprived body to the kitchen for a cuppa coffee. There was even some vacillation on whether to postpone the run to tomorrow but then I know that tomorrow will have its own surprises. So off I go and can feel the "ventilatory threshold" not very far away, as I jog to the start of my measured route. I decide adhoc that I will do a certain loop at my race pace. All goes well until the 19K mark when I suddenly find my legs have gone lifeless. There it is, the effect of sleep deprivation, lackof recovery and low endurance. I hang on for another 6K and then call it a day. I resolve to come back tomorrow and do a medium long run so that the endurance does not take a back seat. I hope to meet up with two ex-IITians that promised to come to Aarey for a run on Sunday. One of them is a guy in his mid 50s who runs a mean half Marathon.

I jogged home with mounting tredipation at the prospect of not being able to hit my target pace on Jan 18. Well, I had similar apprehensions before the Lausanne Marathon and look what happened; I beat the goddamned wall!!!!!!!! So, I guess I have to analyze what I did right there. Ahem, the only thing I can remember is the one too many tippling sessions and I certainly won't allow myself to think that they helped - or would I?:-)))))

Christmas spirit

I woke up this morning (and got myself a beer...:-)) to a stiff and achy body. The post work out micro-trauma had reared its head with a vengeance. I had promised Mahesh that I would drive down to Aarey and we could meet the others for a discussion on status of training for the Marathon. My body complained as I dragged myself to the washroom. I called out to the maid that I need some coffee and to prepare the bottle of milk and bread that I was supposed to carry for the strays in Aarey.

I cruised in my car listening to the soft strains of "I found her diary underneath the tree..." by David Gates. I love this particular album by "Bread" that I'd pidked up at Planet M. I arrived and waved to walkers that I know and headed straight to our rendevous point but there was no one in sight. "I've been had!," I complained:-) I went off to feed some puppies and strays; 17 in all and they really really enjoyed the meal. I cruised around some more and now switched to "Carlos Santana". Many of the walkers nodded appreciation to the stacatto of drums and the electric wailing of "Black Magic Woman" - I like raising the volume when playing this track. Still no one, so I headed home.

Evening and I found that I have nothing to do so I decide to set up the Christmas tree as a pleasant surprise for the wife and son. I play Jim Reeves' Christmas Carols and hum the one about;
Dear Senor Santa Claus I think I'll tell you what
I would like for christmas and I hope you won't forgot
I only want some peso that I want for mine
to get my senorita something for christmas night

I patiently set about tying & hanging the bells, whistles, angels, holly, stocking and drape colourful lights so that the christmas tree looks bright and cheerful. There is now that veritable mood of christmas in the house and I can see that Dojo too senses the festive spirit. Talking of spirit, I realize that I have been working hard and find the need to celebrate my selfless effort in brightening up the home:-). I pour myself a cuppa to stay in sync with the warm atmosphere I have created, even as I am consumed with emotion of past christmases with my family to the tune of,

There' an old christmas card
in an old dusty trunk
and it brings back sweet memories dear to me

Tho its faded and worn
its as precious as the morn
its the memories of an old christmas card

I'm filled with so much love everytime
yes I'm always sentimental round this time

I retire to the sofa and muse about the coming race and my preparedness or lack of it. The "salutary"(:-)) effects of the "christmas spirit" I was sipping over-rode any despair I felt about the lack of "zing" to my training:-) I must have displayed a laconic smile on my face as I wondered whether I oughta' tell ol' chap santa claus to fetch me a sub 3:50 this race, cause the maid gave me a look that implied she thinks I'm losing it:-)))))))))

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.

Joie de vivre!!

When I wrote "Viva Lausanne", my ex-boss in Switzerland was very moved and sent the mail to most of the employees that knew me then. He told me that it was nice for an Indian to run a Marathon in Lausanne and write so nicely about the people. The title of my post, though serving as encouragment to living a full life, there is less to cheer about nowadays and thus the sarcasm - si'il vous plait!!!

I am happy with the run I did on Sunday as it more than surpassed my expectations. I also met my dear Aarey friends and I found that they have scheduled a race of 10k/21k on 4th Jan. They want me to be taking the "lead" in some way but I am wary about these things nowadays for reasons best kept a secret. My friends from IIT that ran the Pune Marathon had a lot to write about the race and I feel excited that they had the same experience that I did almost 10 years ago - I feel vindicated cause "I told them so!"

I am also happy that I met one of the runners in Delhi, from RFL, that seems lost but has a sure fire passion. I do hope that the fraternity grows as the years go by. I feel that disparate groups are existing but there is no "connection" that binds them. I have also a sense of......dunno what it is. But who cares - Viva Goa! (stated with a raising of the toast!)