DaY 22 – 28 (LaSt wEeK)
I finally had my task cut-out for the last week. I just need to get 100% fit and so I decided to give running a break and concentrated on recuperating completely from my calf injury. Now for this I decided to rely on the age old practices of Yoga and Pranayam (recently coming into picture because of the Ramdevji's controversy). Now these techniques are not at all new to me since my mom's into Yoga for years. I just introduced to Pranayam for a year now (thanks to Ramdevji and Aastha TV :). So, it was a week full of holistic healing. By the end of the week the pain in the calf had considerably subsided and it was back to normal. It was so normal by Friday that I even decided to participate in my class football match. Initially I was a little skeptical of this decision of mine but then it was always in my wish list to play football for my class which I did and throughly enjoyed. It also made me feel very good.
A day before the marathon I just thought of becoming a little nostalgic and straight headed to Prabodhan Kridabhavan (Goregaon) the ground at which I practiced all these days and which I proudly refer to as my home-ground as it was here I played my cricket. No points for guessing that I even kiss the ground as I enter and leave it.
aNoThEr wEeK In pErSpEcTiVe…
3rd Week
Time: 57 mins
Distance: 10 km
Anyone would have been surprised and shocked by the progress of the third week considering the performances in the first two weeks. Even I was! Frankly, its not the time or the distance I covered during the week but the fear of an injury to my right calf during the 11km run which troubled me and made me reconsider the training schedule. The problem I was facing was that I was unsure of the severity of the pain and no medical attention or a trainer just made matters worse with constant fears of a serious injury doing rounds in my mind.
On the brighter side there were quite a few motivating thoughts...
- Once I start running even though my legs would pain for the initial period it would be fine after sometime. The important thing here is not keep questioning oneself throughout the run and not keep querying about the condition of your muscles. Now this isn't easy but not difficult at all. Try and keep your mind busy in something like for example try revising multiplication tables. I bet this wrks and really wrks well. I tried this during the second week and so the amazing performance that you see.
- Already done 11 km...!
- After all its a mind game.. now I do keep repeating this again and again but its just for the simple reason that your muscle power would get you there but not without the right signals being sent out from your mind.
- Finally I knew if I was going to be 100% fit on the day of the half marathon then I would surely make it!!!
DaY 21
Rest Day... compulsive because of the aversion shown by me towards recovering from the jogs and going all out.
DaY 20
Time: 30 mins
Distance: 5.xx km
DaY 19
Time: 17 mins
Distance: 3.xx km
DaY 18
Time: 10 mins
Distance: 2.xx km
[Comming from 60min to a struggling 10min is really disheartening]
DaY 17
Rest Day... again
[Still trying to recover from the 11km run... getting a little tense about the condition of muscles and possibility of an unwelcome injury]
DaY 16
Rest Day
rEaLiTy cHeCk
1st Week
Time: 95 mins
Distance: 26km
Ran as much as I could and then walking for sometime and then again running for as long as I could. Started the week with around 10 min jogs which were followed by 5 to 7 min ones. I realized I wasted a lot of time just walking and taking a break from jogging which I felt I need to change.
2nd Week
Time: 190 mins
Distance: 37 km
Considerably doubled my timing but not the distance as I slowed down my pace. Also, I decided to run continuously rather than take breaks in between. I (and even the pros) now feel that I over-worked myslef. Should have rested my body a little more and given it time to adjust. Realized a few cool things though like 'finally its a mind game' and 'pain is just a sensation... (credit: Vipassana)' which one can easily happen to ignore after sometime. This is what I trained my mind to believe and this week being one of the highlights of the training schedule.