The above title is not a competitive exam question asking you to find the next number of the series. I myself don't know the answer. But I definitely know it would be an improvement than previous.
This is how I have managed to improve myself over a period of 8 months to be precise from 12th March 2009 to 8th Nov 2009.
This improvement has not come just like that. Definitely it had strong commitment and consistency. And the one single motivating factor to achieve this commitment and consistency have been the CHENNAI RUNNERS.
This commitment had made me to run a total of 872 kms in 113Hrs:43Mins in 97 training days before I broke my mental barrier to go beyond 21k mark at the ECR # 11 to run my first ever 30k.
I would not have achieved this mammoth task without the Chennai Runners. My hearty thanks to all the Chennai Runners who have been part of my success story. Special thanks to all the volunteers who kept me keep going.
Experience of my first 30k:
Everything was going as planned until three days to go for ECR # 11 and suddenly the low depression formed in the Bay of Bengal started giving worries to most of them including me. Unlike others the worry was not about the cancellation/postponement of the run but How to run in the rain? What should I do if it rains heavily? Is there anyway to avoid shoes getting wet if there is downpour?
At the same time my conscious told me a day before that it is going to be a wonderful event without any disturbance due to rain. That is what happened as we all were witness to the that. I believe this is the power of Positive Energy. We could not have expected better climate than this at Chennai for ECR # 11.
I reached MGM Resorts at around 5:20 am along with my nephew,Kishan, his friend Navin, Anbu Chembiam and Sudha Mani.
After reporting at the registration counter collected the BIB (158) and was ready to do some stretches. Met few of the first time 30k runners Bharani, Manish, Shameek and Purushotham. Many were asking my time target to complete the 30k and my only answer to them was "I just want to finish, No time targets".
At around 6:10 am there was a call (roar) from Tiger for the 25k and 30k runners to assemble at the start point. Listened to his genaral & safety instructions and at around 6:18 am was the Green Signal to start the run with the countdown to Zero. And there I go running... on the way to complete my first 30k.
I had set my Garmin for interval training mode with the 5min Run and 1min Walk of 51 Repeats. Thanks to Rajamanickam who taught me this setting over phone a night before going to the Delhi Half.
I stuck to the 5:1 method until I reached 15k. Till then I was feeling great. On the return I could manage to follow the 5:1 only till the next water point at 17.5km mark and after that I stopped listening to the beeps from the Garmin and listened to the beeps from my Body and Mind. My mind started giving me signals to stop running and do more of walk and then I had overcome this by self-talk to keep my rhythm but I could manage this only upto the 20k water point and the next 5k from there was more of walking than running.
At around 23.5k mark I could see someone with yellow t-shirt running towards me and then I could recognise it was Shahid who had run towards me to keep me running. He made me to get back my rhythm. After the 25k mark and final 5k to go I was feeling great since I had finished my first 25k mark but my target was 30k. I saw Balaji clapping at 27k mark and ran with me till 27.5 mark water point. I stopped there for couple of minutes and Ms.Savithri and Balaji had decided to run with me till the finish. I started running along with Ms.Savithri and later Balaji joined with us. In between I had to stop running and walk and Balaji went on encouraging me to keep my rhythm and we reached the final water point and now the final stretch of 1.5km to go and Balaji made me run at my own pace and restricted my walk.
He went on motivating me by talking in positive tone and the above subject line was his motivational sentence asking me to imagine with 5k in ECR # 9, 21k in ECR # 10 and this would be your 30k in ECR # 11. When we reached the MGM Resorts entrance he called someone at Finish Point to get ready to receive me. Thanks Balaji for the special efforts and support. The final stretch to go and there I saw Ram with his camera and the Race Director Senthil Kumar with the medal for me and many other Chennai Runners clapping for me. That was a red-carpet welcome at the finish point. This was a very special moment for me.
Had a good brunch, collected the certificate and goody bag and came back home and had a nice five hours of solid sleep. This is the best part I like after running.
Analysis of my First 30K in 4h:35min:
I had good time running the 30k but still I found something went wrong after 17k mark. To analyse this, I checked Garmin Data for 5k Splits.
| Distance in Kms | Time Taken | ||
| Split | Cumulative | Split | Cumulative |
| 5.46 | 5.46 | 00:35:00 | 00:35:00 |
| | | | |
| 5.04 | 10.50 | 00:36:00 | 01:11:00 |
| | | | |
| 4.51 | 15.01 | 00:37:00 | 01:48:00 |
| | | | |
| 5.28 | 20.29 | 00:53:00 | 02:41:00 |
| | | | |
| 4.76 | 25.05 | 01:00:00 | 03:41:00 |
| | | | |
| 5.17 | 30.22 | 00:54:00 | 04:35:00 |
As mentioned by Ramesh Seshadri in his mail, just like him, I too was pulled and pushed by the other runners until 15k mark not realising that pace was higher for a 30k distance would take a toll on me at the later half. The first half was done in 1h:48m and second half in 2h:47m which is 1 hour more than the first half. I think this was the only mistake I have done. I know only by practice I would be able to make my pace consistent. I would try to keep my pace consistent.
Once again thanks a lot CHENNAI RUNNERS, friends and well wishers for the support.
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