Why be so negative??????

I had a very odd experience yesterday. I was sitting at work when one of my colleagues asked me if I enjoyed doing "risky" things like running and trekking. I didn't quite understand him at first cause I never thought of running as ever being risky and trekking is a fun activity that pushes you to face fear and enjoy nature. I never thought that I was going out of my way to put myself in danger, just that I was enjoying my life the way I want to enjoy it.

I smiled at him and told him that I enjoy what I do and running is one of my passions and I love pushing my body to its limits. He further probed about what would happen if I broke my leg. I was once again nice and told him I would let it heal...he didn't stop! He kept on asking me if I thought it will still be worth it if I spent  my life limping after a terrible tragic accident wrought on by my running. And the whole time he had this smile on his face like - "oh I am so superior for playing it so safe...you definitely are going to injure yourself."

I just wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face with a swift punch but I controlled my anger and told him that even if I could never run for the rest of my life, I would still find a way to be active and would never regret taking up running because it has given me some of the best moments of my life and has made me a stronger person mentally at least.

But I spent the whole night feeling irritated. I don't know about you guys but when someone says something negative before a run and I am generally in a bad mood, I have TERRIBLE runs. I either injure myself or something or the other goes wrong and I hated this man for smiling about it and it made me even more irritated. My parents know not to say anything bad before a run because when you are running for over an hour, you have nothing to do but replay that bad moment over and over again and running for me is my zen. I find happiness here. I just don't understand why people have to pull others down in life. I mean, if you can't run or you think you will injure yourself, then don't run! Why spread your shadow of negativity on someone who is just trying to do something that's important to them? Anyway, today I could not run (my knee is locked from yesterday's run). So I spent an hour stretching with the therapist and my IT band feels terrible (hence the knee pain). But am doing much better this evening. I even biked for 40 minutes straight. There was a time when I could not even do 10 minutes on my exercise bike without my legs absolutely caving and I did 40 minutes! I think I will hold onto to that today rather than a petty man's petty words. We push ourselves because if we don't, no one will. And if we are not doing what we love in life in fear of what might happen, then we might as well not live. So I am off this Sunday running another 11-12k. (STRETCHING religiously this time!) and I am going to love my life.

Happy running! :)

Running on a 11k budget

This morning I woke up at 6.30am with minimum fuss and decided that it was time to scale up beyond 10k. The reasoning behind this is the fact I am running 10k on July 7th and have done that distance or similar distances quite a few times but I have never gone beyond it. So I thought if I logged in a couple of 11 and 13 ks before the run, my body would get acclimatised to not only running 10k easily but also prepare itself half marathon in September.

Side note: The registrations for Kaveri Trail Marathon are up! http://www.kaveritrailmarathon.com/. It's happening on September 14th (10k) and 15th (half and full marathons). I will be running the half marathon depending on my knee sitch. Either way I am running it :P You can register till mid August so there is some time left!

Anyway I was determined to avoid the mistakes I made during my 9k run earlier last week. This morning I woke up and ate an entire banana a good half hour before my run. I took my water bottle with me and it looked rather ideal.

To be honest it rather was for the first half hour but around the 7k mark my knee started aching. Like shooting pain. So I stopped and stretched my leg out for a bit and I realised I could easily keep going. My wall hit me the second I crossed the 8.8k mark. I immediately felt drained but I figured I had already completed so much might as well go the distance. That last 1k was weird. Because I stopped for a few minutes after 10k and stretched a bit but when I started running again both my knees and my legs felt like they were on fire for about 15 seconds and then it became alright again. This muscle strain is definitely making my life miserable.

I stretched the moment I got back home (about four to five minutes after the run) and had a bowl of rice and curd and a glass of banana milkshake. To be honest, the rest of my body is just fine. A bit battered but perfectly fine because I took in proteins and carbs and immediately fueled my body. But my knee? Well I was in pain for at least 3 hours after the run and right now my right knee feels brittle. I am off to physiotherapy when I am done with work and hopefully it sorts out.

I need a foam roller this very second! But other than that I am excited. I am going to cross train tomorrow and either Saturday or Sunday I am repeating another 11k. My goal for next Wednesday/Thursday is 13k and then the Chennai Half marathon. I want to log in at least two weeks of 15k next month before scaling up again. I want to do a couple of 19/20k runs before Kaveri and I sincerely hope my knee does not let me down.

Happy running! And there is no greater feeling than finishing a run and knowing you did your best.

A Savandurga trekking adventure (falling on your ass and more musings)

I know I have been a bit missing in action in the last couple of days but that's because I wanted to take some time and effort before writing my latest blog - my trekking adventure to Asia's largest monolithic hill - Savandurga.

About 60km away from Bangalore (aka civilisation), my friends - Ramya, Deepika and Ramya's sister Radha all decided on embarking on this trek. Radha was not interested the moment she found out that people had died sliding off the steep hill and I myself was worried that I might end up twisting my ankle therefore putting me in jeopardy to run the 10k in July. Deepika simply refused to believe that the trek would be at all dangerous and Ramya, well, she spent a lot of time telling everyone just how scary it could be while sounding terribly excited. But a sense of adventure prevailed over commonsense and we took off early morning on Saturday talking about water, chocolates and weirdly enough Bollywood gossip.

Me, Radha, Deepika, Ramya and Chincha!

We were to join a group from Bangalore Mountaineering Club. Ramya and I have both gone on treks arranged by this group before and I can vouch for them for being the best in the business. Thus we turned from a group of four to a group of 20 by the time we touched base at Savandurga.

So here's what you need to know about that hill - it's bare, it's steep and you are essentially screwed if it rains because it is bare with not too many plants to latch onto. One look at the hill and Deeps finally realised that this was going to be both fun and definitely challenging. And at around 10.30am the group started trekking up the hill, which fortunately offers panoramic views right from the beginning.

Radha, was scared not of climbing up the hill but she kept talking about how scary it would be on the way down because one slip of the foot and you might as well be history. Only hours later did we realise that Radha was more on point than we would have liked to have believed in the beginning.

For one thing, poor Deeps had the first misfortune within the group when the soles of her shoes started coming undone. We thought little of it in the beginning, just asking her to come slowly. Ramya, who jogs nearly every day, was incredibly fast and was right there with the top of the group. I decided to keep up with her, so Deeps and Radha fell behind. Only after a while did we realise that Deepika was actually climbing the hill barefoot! Our guide Swamy, was also nowhere to be seen because apparently he was helping up some poor teenager who had decided that she was simply not up the trek. His assistant Chincha (we called out his name at least a million times between all of us) was there to usher us all in to the peak that stands at 4,000 feet. The last part is perhaps the most adventurous because you sometimes even have to crawl through small arches to get to the top. Of course there is also a 70 degree sheer fall you climb using crevices and praying that your body does not fail you. I have no idea how Deeps did this barefoot but if she was scared, she didn't let on and remained cheerful till the very top. Ramya and I had reached a good half hour at least before Deeps and Radha, so we just lay on top of the peak feeling the wind hit us with force and enjoying it.

The peak itself was a haven to all those who love amazing views and high speed winds. The four of us took a ton of pictures between us and also with the rest of the extended group and decided that it was time to go back. Of course one of the members in the group wanted to stay further but common sense prevailed and a little of bit of whining and complaining later, the group was ready to go back to ground level. And this is where the true adventure begins.

For one, Deeps was climbing down barefoot. We were all scared for her. Radha was also scared of slipping and falling (a fear I generously shared along with her). Ramya on the other hand was one of the first to start climbing down which she did with the ease of an experienced trekker. Before I knew it, she was nearly in the bottom waving at us cheerfully. At that second I thought to myself - oh this looks like fun. Maybe we will be down in no time How WRONG I turned out to be.

I slipped down the 70 degree fall. I caught myself on time but it was enough to tear across my track bottoms and scrape my skin through and through. You see the soles of my worn out shoes had become completely flat. The other reason being? Well, it started raining....pretty badly. Which meant I had to hold onto someone else (I borrowed a sweatshirt from Deeps and wore it around my waist to cover the tear) all the way down. It also meant that I went on to fall another five times, scaring the bejeesus out of me. I refused to take off my sneakers because I wanted to cushioning on my ankles, so I can keep running (the things runners worry about!). And we were all pretty drenched.

Deeps however was the one who gave us the biggest scare. We were all huddled at one point under a rock to shield ourselves from the rain. Deeps decides she does not want to wait and starts walking down. PLOP! She slips and falls pretty badly on her back. Thankfully she was ok but I think I hugged her five times because she slipped right before an area that looked like a freaking cliff. Swamy thankfully managed to get both me and Deeps to the ground. My right elbow by then was generously bleeding and the stupid Sun came out blazing which meant my knee was burning.

And Deeps? Well, she had to walk through rocks that were still moist and wet and rocks that were scorching thanks to the Sun. I swear I still don't know how she found the humour to do this with spirit. The biggest surprise? Well Radha climbed down without much incident and helped Deeps through a lot of the tough times. I clung onto one of the trekker, Steffy, who listened to me patiently talk about Hrithik Roshan and marathons (I tend to ramble when scared...go figure).

So, the four of us reached the base, Ramya had reached ages ago and was sitting like a rockstar drinking some coconut water. She lent me her rain jacket to cover the two big holes on my track pants! That's when we as a group decided we would also go rappelling in Ramnagaran, which is also a hill en-route to Bangalore.

You might be thinking why me or Deeps or even Radha, who were pretty scarred from the trekking decided that rappelling made sense - well, adventures are like that, when you get even a little whiff of it, you want more and more.

Deeps and I made a small detour however on the way to Ramnagaram where she bought slippers and I bought pants and suddenly we were strapping the ropes for rappelling! As everyone in the group was a bit apprehensive, I volunteered to go first...I mean no one wants to walk off a cliff and hope the ropes are tight enough but I had done this before and I was sure I could take it. Unfortunately on my way down my hair got caught in one of the knots which turned out to be quite hilarious. No great damage but I have to get a hair cut now :P

Ramya came right after me and she climbed in true Ramya style - which is essentially doing it without any fuss and just doing it. Deeps and Radha went later. From what they told me, Deeps froze by the time she reached the top of the rock and tried to call it off but Radha and Swamy helped her through and she had also done it! Radha followed shortly. After that, we were all more than ready to go home. So we filed into the back of the bus, each trying hard not to fall asleep on the other and talking about the day that we had been through. I just want to take a moment and talk about the four of us as we were on Saturday:

The rockstar: That title belongs to Ramya. She looked effortless while climbing up and her cheeks were flushed red, so she actually looked fresh! She was the first girl to reach the base and honestly you would have never known that this was her first time rappelling, she was so good!

The sport: Deepika's sportive nature throughout the trek was unbelievable. This is a hard trek on good shoes and this woman climbed up and trekked down barefoot in the rain. And she did with grace and humour and at the end of the day she was talking about doing it again.

The brave one: People might be surprised that I anointed Radha the brave one but honestly like they say in all movies - courage is not the absence of fear but rather the realisation that something is more important. She was honest about being scared but she was brave enough to keep taking the next step.

The painkiller: I think it's because I am a runner but I can take pain. I am used to it. I was not great like Ramya and I don't know if I was sportive enough like Deepika but I took the blood and the scratches and shook them off. One of the girls saw the extent of skin damage on my back and wondered why I was even thinking about rappelling or why I was not making a bigger fuss....I think it's not because I was not scared or that I was brave but I am used to running over 10k with an injured knee, this was really nothing.

The final note:
We were four average girls and we had to deal with a scary trek during monsoon season. A lot of people chicken out of great experiences in life because they are too scared of what might go wrong...well the truth is even when things go wrong, you can still have the time of your life. Oh and make sure you go with great friends. So I raise my glass to average Joe adventurers. You might not recognise that you are sitting next to one....hell you might not even realise that you are one! So go out...take chances...make memories and have an adventure.

P.S My running schedule has taken a hit but I am doing a 11k tomorrow!

Ran 9.5k!

Today was both a great day and a bad day for me. How you ask? I did not want to run and hence got bored of it after crossing 28 minutes. It was also the day when I had decided to run 9k. So you can imagine how terrible the next half hour was spent. I just kept mentally pushing myself until the run became as natural as sleeping.

The weird thing is that I started feeling some pain around 15th minute and that came and went throughout the run. My right knee when adjusted felt okay enough for me to keep running but from 35th minute to the 45th minute it felt like my knee was strapped to weights because it felt brittle and hard.

But the last 15 minutes was fine. This is the longest I have run since April and while that may not seem like much, my body and my muscles have gotten used to not running that distance and hence protested a bit. Rest of the day has been quite tiring and I have been sooooo hungry. I had snacks and biscuits to keep me going through the day. To be honest I want to curl up and sleep right now but I can't. I have to work. Tomorrow I get my ass to the gym and work on my core. Today I just have to resign myself to the fact I look and feel like death warmed over...(I am laughing right now cause I know I sound uber dramatic).

I need to figure out a more potent diet to keep me going maybe even look into supplements to keep the energy up because next week is me doing a couple of 11ks. This Sunday again I am going for another 10k run.

And  my knee? Well, the pain keeps coming and going but my right knee has taken it better than it ever has in a long long time. I am extremely optimistic because of just that. I am excited for July 7th when my body would have completely gotten used to running more than 10k and hence the 10k run itself will hopefully feel like a walk in the park. Alright guys. I am off now. I have work and that's not stopping for anyone.

Happy running and happy feet to you all!

Running a lot lately

Today was a good day. Actually it's been a good week. Even though I took a good two full days off and did zilch on Friday and Saturday, this week was really good. Because on Thursday I logged in 6.6k in 45 minutes. I started feeling pain at around 23 minute mark but it was really manageable. I was however in pain by the 35th minute. I however finished the run and never stopped to walk. I stretched in between but I could run.

But by the time I made it home, despite the stretching my right knee was in pain - manageable but very much existent. So I went to the gym where my physiotherapist stretched my right leg so badly that I was nearly crying at the end of it. But my leg felt so much lighter by the end of it! Not going to lie though that last stretch that he had me do (he lifted my leg up in the air and twisted my ankle outwards and pushed my leg further up), was pure agony and I actually screamed out loud.

But no pain no gain unfortunately and by the next day I was fine. But since I was living in the land of comic books and comic book movies, I ditched Friday AND Saturday. So this afternoon I felt really guilty. So I put on my running shoes and went out running. Here's this great thing I have recently discovered. There is a relatively straight road right outside my house and the road runs exactly 1.1km (actually it is little bit more but it's just a few extra metres). So when I do one round (which is running it back and forth) I complete 2.2kms. So I run 3 rounds today and came to 6.6km again. And the best part? My knee pain did not kick in until 30 minutes into the run and even then whenever I adjusted my feet, it went away! So I finished that run in 42.46 minutes and figured I might as well go for a run inside my apartment complex to round up to an even 7k. In the end I ended up doing 7.1km in 46.29 minutes. And I stretched and while I did experience that horrible pain shooting up my right knee, it was not excruciating like it usually is. And in about two hours it also went away!

I can definitely feel my leg getting better and stronger. By the end of this week, I am going in for 9k and now I know I can do it without causing myself too much pain. I really feel like I am going to do 21k come September. I am happy. We need to treasure the good days when they come along and really really appreciate them. I am off to stretch now again before sleeping and tomorrow is gym. Back to the grind and I would not have it any other way. Happy running!

I ditched everything today!

I mean yeah I showed up work. Wish I could have ditched that too. But am too excited. Why you ask? I mean I barely did my stretches. Didn't go for a run and completely bailed on my physiotherapy and gymming. But am too happy! I am going for Man of Steel tonight! I got the tickets and I convinced my  superhero genre hating friend to go along with me. Am too excited. Today my friends is my ditch day. And no I don't feel guilty. It's the best ever :D

This is about the best reason I can think of for ditching everything in the world. Can you say drool? Sigh...

P.S I am both a comic book fan nerd and a total girl. I like video games but I can't help but absolutely lose it when I see Henry Cavill. So it's a cheat day for me. For the rest of you...keep running guys...have fun and a great weekend!

Surya Namaskara

If anyone knows how to execute the Surya Namaskar (and there are so many good instructional videos out there on Youtube), then I would say that it is the perfect warm up and stretch before running (that is if you don't have any injuries. I have to stretch quite substantially because of my knee problem).

I have always noticed that doing Surya Namaskar more than once actually gets my heart rate up and not just that, it's one quick fix to stretching your calves, your thigh muscles, your arms, your back and your core.

So basically it goes without saying it's my favourite form of workout on days I just don't feel like working out too much. And you don't use any other weights except for your body weight. Once I did the Surya Namaskar just four times but I was actually not only sweating but also sore everywhere (especially my arms).

Here is a great photo I found online that perfectly describes all the poses. My favourite one? You guessed it - the groundhog pose (number 5 on the photograph). It is so amazing on your calves. But honestly if you do this a couple of times before your run, you have stretched most of your core muscles and you end up burning calories and you are warm too. Win win as far as I am concerned. It may not be a traditional form of stretching but depending on how long you hold each pose, you can either elevate your heart rate (by transitioning really fast from one pose to the next) or you can give yourself a nice relaxing stretch by going slowly and feeling each and every one of your muscles truly stretch. Yoga rocks B-)

 

Some great stretches (video)

Great stretches before running (Livestrong instructional video on stretching. Click on this link!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcda3dlOd5U



Here is a video that I absolutely love. Although the last couple of years have made me really hate Lance Armstrong, no one can deny the great work done by the Livestrong website. I am on it pretty much whenever I am free and online. It provides great advice and keeps you motivated on the tough days (yesterday was particularly bad for me because knee pain came back with a force. This muscle is starting to piss me off officially). Anyway this is a great Youtube video that all you beginners can latch onto. These are some great and yet basic stretches you can do before running.

My favourite? Well, it's the groundhog. It stretches your calf so well, that you won't be in the danger of twisting your knee muscles any time soon. Here's hoping I am perfectly fine before July and happy running you guys :)

Running without pain is heavenly

Today was the first day in months I was able to run over 30 minutes and boast no pain at the end of it. Am not saying I am cured or that my knee pain will never be an issue ever again (oh how I wish that were true) because obviously this is a long road but it felt amazing to run 31 minutes on the treadmill and clock just over 4km.

I could have run more but then I didn't want to tempt the running gods. But I keep thinking what a difference a week in my life has made. Last week before the therapy had begun I was running but was in such pain that if I ran 25 minutes, the rest of the day and a half would have been a nightmare. This week I felt like I could keep on running. So what's different?

Warming up!
I warmed up well in advance. Before my actual run I walked from my home to the gym at a brisk pace for about 7 minutes. This meant that when I stretched before the run, my muscles were warm and ready to listen to my commands.

Be in the moment
I was very aware of the rhythm of my legs. While I was still hooked onto my music system, I also knew that I was putting more or less equal pressure on my right leg and my left leg. The thumping sound was even and I was not dragging one over the other. My right knee was very thankful today that I didn't ask the poor thing to take all the weight.

Core action
Here's something you can all do if you aren't doing it anyway. Make sure your arms and your stomach also come for the run. What do I mean when I say that? Well I have learnt that posture is everything, so I pull my core and straighten my back when I go for a run these days. And as for my arms, I keep them bent and close to my stomach and I move my arms side to side.

So these are the things I have learnt so far. My next goal is to push for 40 minutes and see where it takes me. Happy running :)

Getting impatient

Today I don't care I am going to run for 30 minutes at least. Will do it in my gym later tonight (been working from early morning!) and I am going to make sure I don't "drag" my right foot while running. It's such a pain to teach yourself to run all over again but annoyingly I keep putting more pressure on my right leg than my left which is why I have gotten into trouble now. But today am just going to focus on the beat on my own running and going to make sure that when I am running, I am going to be equal weight on both my feet and knees. Will update later on whether or not my pain reared its ugly head. Ta!

Why I HATE Turbo Fire and still try it sometimes

I have no qualms in admitting that in my journey to finding a fit and healthy lifestyle, I have always sought the help of workout videos. While I am a fan of workout videos by Jillian Michaels (who isn't?), I regret the day I tried out TurboFire by Chalene Johnson. It's one of the most annoying and irritating programmes ever and if you are not careful, you will like me throw out your back!

I was very excited when I first got hold of the series and thought it would be great. Chalene Johnson is a smart and very peppy instructor and you instantly like her. But the problem is that she is not a very good instructor. I made one of the biggest mistakes when I tried out one of her videos called Fire 45. It's supposed to be a straight up cardio workout where you end up burning a ton of calories. But I found it plain annoying and it ended up seriously hurting my back that months later am still struggling.



Cons:

Johnson's instructions are just not good enough and while she is very upbeat, what's good about a great attitude when your cues are terrible? There were just times when she would just start a whole new routine and I would have no way of knowing how to do it. Why is this a problem? Because when you don't know how to position yourself and how to properly execute a routine, you end up hurting your body. Simple.

There were just times when I was really bored with the workout. I mean sure you spend a lot of time continuously on your feet and you are active but most of the time I was gaping around wondering what in the hell's name I was doing and how that could possibly help me.

The worst is how there are SO MANY exercises that have you hitting the ground. It's annoying and it's how I ended up hurting my back.

But if it works out for someone, I am happy for them but honestly I don't see any good reason why anyone would want to spend two to three months following a programme where the instructor does not take the time to instruct.

But even though I hate the Fire programmes, there are a few videos I really like about this workout and which is why I have not deleted it from my hard-drive forever.

What I like:
It has an amazing 10 minute stretch routine and an even better 40 minute stretch routine. So if you are in the mood to do long and soothing yoga poses and stretches, then this is heaven. But you must take time to review the video much before you attempt it, so you know what you are getting into.

Another set of videos I quite like are the HIIT videos (High Intensity Interval Training).
You get to choose from 15 minute HIIT video, 20 minutes, 25 and 30 minute HIIT videos. These are fun, heart pumping, cardio exercises. What I like about them apart from the fact you are done in no time is the fact you spend one minute learning the routine. Then you blast that routine in high speed and high intensity for a minute or more. Then you take a break for 45 seconds to one minute. So you are constantly getting breaks, getting good cues and you are still burning calories. I still would much rather do an Insanity video rather than TurboFire but if you have to do it, then I recommend just sticking to stretching and the HIIT videos. They are fun.

Happy running (btw no workout is ever going to be as fun for me as a good healthy run).

Gymming!

So my physiotherapy has started and oh my god I did not know how completely out of shape I was until my first day of gym/physiotherapy. I mean yeah I can run for as long as I want (I cap out at 76 minutes when there is no knee pain but that's relatively good right?) but I have never paid attention to my shoulders, my core and my hands.

BIG MISTAKE!

Turns out runners in general tend to tighten their muscles because of all that running and because of that it's imperative that we "service" our entire bodies the way we service say our cars. My physiotherapist/trainer said that when you go running, it's not just your legs that are invited to party but also your hands, your arms and most importantly your core.

So in the last couple of days I have been made to do a TON of stretches (the ones focussing on my right thigh just about kill me) and doing a lot of exercises that focus on the arms and back and of course my stomach.

What's weird is that I have lost weight. Hear me out. It's not like I am a supermodel but my body has sorta settled down to its weight recently.

(Diverging but need to give my history - I put on a lot of weight early last year and in June 2012 I decided to take matters into my own hands and take up running again the way I used to when I was a teenager. Lost weight but hurt my knee and we are where we are right now).

In the last seven months I have gone from 132 pounds to 123 (last week) on my frame of 5'4. I have lost about four kilograms which is not bad. I have what you would call a totally average body shape. It's not skinny but am not fat either. And lately (although it does goes down when the stress goes up), my weight has settled between 125-123 pounds totally and I am fine with it. As long as I am fit and running, I am fine with my weight and I refuse to lose starve myself to fit someone else's ideal weight. (Also, how stupid is it to starve yourself when you should be adding up on the nutrients and the carbs to have enough energy to run? )

But in the past couple of days I have noticed that despite everything my weight has gone down by a bit and is threatening to do more than that in the weeks to come. But what's got my really happy is that my arms are slowly toning up and my core is getting streamlined. Once again I am not skinny but I can feel myself getting stronger and what I love about my gym is that no time during this week did any of the trainers say - "hey let's check your weight and see how much you have to lose". I would have lost it had it happened. My BMI is fine and I am fine the way I am. I want to get more fit and my goal is not weight loss and my doctor and the gym understand that. Which is why I am even more hopeful than ever that my dreams of running a marathon are not too far away!

P.S I know my last post was terribly depressing but I think one has to be honest about their own doubts and pitfalls and accept that life is not always about overcoming adversity but also admitting that  yeah...sometimes, shit happens. Happy running everyone and remember cross training is so important if you want to be a serious runner!