The blues have hit me hard

If yesterday was a high for me for having run over five kilometres in one go after a long time, today is all about hitting rock bottom. My body is in pain and my muscles are aching so badly. Thankfully my doctor has promised me that I will be up and running (literally and figuratively soon) and my physio starts tomorrow, so I am trying to psych myself up and get excited.

But I got the blues. I am walking like a crystal mannequin afraid that I am going to break very soon. My legs feel like iron rods and my body just wants to collapse (it does not help at all that I have cramps). My right knee is doing me no favours as well. Why haven't I ever read about these blues anywhere online? Am I the only one who gets this way or are people not willing to talk about times when they have stumbled and fallen? I can understand people not wanting to talk about their apprehensions because I barely want to admit I feel shitty today. I keep thinking if I admit that I feel shitty today, I will simply give up on this and walk away from torturing my own body with rigourous exercise and running sessions so I can run 21km in September.

Seriously what am I thinking? 21km is the kind of distance you flag a cab for! I sometimes think I am absolutely nuts for being so passionate about running. But then I feel so alive when I am able to push my body beyond its limits. So, I am letting myself feel pathetic today. I am going to wallow in the blues. Tomorrow I will wake up, shake this off and grab my workout clothes and head off to the gym for physiotherapy. Yes, I am injured and no I don't always love running because the pain gets you mentally and physically. But tomorrow I will run. Because you have to push your body and your mind. That's how you get stronger. And the dream of running a whopping 42km is still alive.

I ran! I ran!

Ok so it wasn't the best run in the universe and I hurt after 27 minutes. But then a funny thing happened - I changed the way I ran to a more aggressive way where I ran from my thighs. I think it loosened up my thigh muscles but the pain actually subsided to a slow burn! I got home after a glorious 35 minute run (yes I am celebrating 35 minute runs now) and I was sure I could have at least run 10 more minutes. Next goal is to run 40 minutes the way I ran today in the last 10 minutes. I may not be totally back but I am getting there baby! Happy day today. As weird as it sounds I am actually grateful to my injury because I would have never kept such good care of my body if it hadn't been for this wake up. Hate to admit but everything happens for a reason. Happy running to all of you :)


P.S Oh and I stretched. I cannot emphasise how IMPORTANT it is to stretch. But it might be the reason I do well at the Chennai Half Marathon in July. My dream is alive! Hallelujah! 

Jillian Michaels to the rescue?

Ever since my last run (which was on Thursday I think), I have shied away from running because I am scared I will end up with knee pain again. So instead I have contended with long brisk walks, cycling and yes, doing exercise videos.

Jillian delivers alright!

Here's the thing I like about exercise videos - you can workout with minimal equipment at the comfort of your home and you are still keeping your body active and working the muscles. The videos are cheap and frankly I saw a lot of change when I started using Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred. I did it for a month last year and lost visible weight.

Here's the reason why my doctor has told me to keep away from exercise videos - without personal supervision, you could be doing the exercises all wrong! You need to be guided by a professional as to how you are supposed to position your body. I completely understand what he is talking about, which is why I have joined a gym and will be starting from this Saturday but until then, I don't want my body to feel wasted either.

I have so far done Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 30 and of course the Ba
nish Fat Boost Metabolism videos of hers. The 30 day shred is extremely effective to anyone who is used to exercising but wants to see results. The videos are less than 30 minutes!

But my favourite has to BFBM video. It's close to one hour and it's a great cardiovascular workout. My face turns beetroot red every time I try it and according to my HRM watch (it's one of those cheap ones which are not entirely reliable), I burn up to 800 calories! It's a win win in my book. But none of those have helped me with my running, which remains my passion. If weight loss was the goal, then I would have stuck to working out but I love how I am when I am running. It's like I can watch and experience the world go by at the same time. My mind goes blank at entire stretches and then at the end of the run, I feel like I have truly accomplished something.

So here's hoping Saturday brings forth everything I hope for my marathon dreams. Will update with pics later on that front. But I want to thank Jillian Michaels before that. Jillian....you are great woman who changed the way I viewed fitness and delivered me with results which I loved. Thank you babe.

P.S Even though she promises that you can lost up to 5 pounds a week, let's face it...that's not happening!

P.P.S Only use these workouts if going to the gym is not possible and you are already active. Because BFBM is quite hardcore and definitely not for the weak-hearted!

Running outside is a pain!

I have decided to take it slow with my recovery and not push myself. Which means I run on the treadmill and smooth surfaces and am not going to be running on the open road for a while. The reason being the roads are so hapazard in Bangalore that I am constantly either dodging a car from hitting me or I am setting over annoying potholes and jumping from pavements because some bike is riding there...

The toll on my knees because of running on Jayanagar 4th Block is terrible and I am giving them a break until they heal. Which is good because I start gymming from June and therefore have access to the treadmill there. Until then I think I am just going to force myself to use the stationary bike at home....

Today my goal is to do is for 30 minutes at a good enough speed that I have worked up a considerable sweat. I still am optimistic about running 10k at the Chennai half marathon being held on July 7th. In fact I want to squeeze in a couple of 10k runs in June (4 to be specific). July I want to move onto 15 and 17 and by September I should ideally be ready for 21 whopping kilometres.

I am also planning on increasing my milk intake, adding more curd and figuring out a more nutritious plan. Currently I eat everything that is vegetarian but I need to add more nutrition if I plan on running further. Mulling over whether or not I need to visit a nutritionist but I think what should be best right now is taking things one thing at a time. That means being able to run with no pain in the right knee, period.

I am really not looking forward to tonight...I hate cycling but pretty much anything for my knee :)

Setbacks and running injuries

I ran for 27 minutes today and covered a little more than 4k and then my familiar knee pain started acting up again. Went home and stretched long and hard and then iced my right upper thigh (the culprit). I know it sounds weird but I almost get angry with my left knee because it gets to enjoy a painfree life. Does that even make sense?

I swear as I was stretching today, the left leg was compliant and ready to loosen up its muscles and my right leg tingled and ached and I actually got mad at my left knee. Almost like it was an actual person who had betrayed its best friend. But the truth is I had betrayed my body last year by running through pain and running without stretching and in bad form. Now the recovery is slow, painful but hopefully will be take me to a better place.

In order to supplement the lack of running, I cycled for about 10 minutes hard on my stationary bike. I hate cycling cause it uses muscles that I rarely use during running but am going to have to suck it up to strengthen my knee muscles and unfortunately cycling gets you there.

I am most excited about starting gym from June 1st. I usually hate gyms but this one is different. For one it is run by a sports physician who helped me immensely through my own injury. For another, it does not have trainers but physiotherapists. So essentially it's a place where you are not just told to run on the treadmill but a place where they focus more on stretching and flexibility and strengthening the core. Until then am going to cycle, run maybe on Saturday and hopefully by then my legs get used to the harsh Bangalore pavements. Happy running everyone!

New shoe blues

I went on a three week vacation to California recently and only ran a few times and each time on the treadmill. Even though I slept really late last night, I have gotten up at 6am and have done some stretching and am planning on running on the pavement for about 30 minutes. I am focussing now more on my own form rather than pace or timining (although I want to do a crisp 5k in under 30 minutes but don't want to get ahead of myself).

Here's something that is eating at me - I just don't want to use my own brand new shoes! Not because I don't love them but because I love them too much. I don't want to wear them outside and wear them out for a long time. Really weird cause I love running in them but today am actually going to use my old Nike kicks (even though they are past expiry date) and am planning on slowly but surely start wearing my new lovely shoes for running too. The problem is I want them to last as long as humanly possible and that's where I am hitting the wall cause they are shoes and are meant for running! Has anyone else gotten super sentimental about running shoes or is it just me acting crazy?

Update: My doc has devised a series of long stretches that I ought to be doing before and after running. They usually run up to 10 to 12 minutes each time around. And I stretch again in the night. Making it over 30 minutes of stretching a day. Take my advice on this - no matter if it's a long run or a short run, always always stretch. It may sound blase but honestly it is what that will keep you alive for months and years ahead. A lot of new runners do not stretch or warm up and that's a problem cause they end up with knee problems sooner than later. My knee problem has lasted for months (it actually started sometime in December last year) and I am just climbing out of my well and this is one thing I refuse to stop doing. My muscles thank me for it everyday. Good luck running and if there is anyone out there who just loves their shoes way too much, let me know!

Running goal 2013

Barring any major injuries I vow to the run the half marathon by the end of this year. Actually September to be exact. I have completed three 10ks this year, suffered a knee injury (twisted muscle that got wrongly diagnosed as knee bursitis) and am recovering now from that pain now and getting back to running. I want to run the full marathon either by 2014 or Jan 2015 (Mumbai Marathon here I come!) and hopefully I can.

So for now that's one of my main major goals. These are the things I have done so far to help with my running (I will be explaining many of my issues and my journey in subsequent blogposts but for now I am just laying down the bare facts).

1- Got myself running shorts. The only time I struggled was when I wore lose track pants and ran and I baked inside them and somehow ended up with more knee pain. So am letting my legs free.

2- Got myself brand new Nike kicks from the legendary Ryan's Sports Shop in Santa Clara last month. The shop deserves all the hype that surrounds it. It's amazing! (I live in India but went to Calif for vacation and quickly paid a visit to the shop and was not disappointed in the least!)

3- Am starting gym from June. This is a cool gym in Jayanagar called Attitude Prime run by Dr Gladson Johnson, a runner himself. I went to him for treatment for knee and he was a wizard. Through exercise I was able to run again and it's all thanks to him and since his gym trains runners, am going to running two to three times a week and gymming three times a week. Hopefully am able to keep up with the commitments.

4-Started running again. These days I can run 30 minutes with no pain and that's an achievement but I am so afraid of the pain that I keep expecting it at the turn of every minute. I am running 10k in the Chennai half marathon on July 7th and hopefully these issues resolve themselves by them.

5- Learning to run by putting weight on both my feet equally. It may sound dumb but that's literally the reason I ended up injured. Not kidding but I kept running putting more weight on the right knee and the mess happened.

So that's that. The shoes, the will and the urge to run are all ready. Now I just have to make it to September to run my first half marathon - 21k. The reason I am blogging about it is because I want to make it final. A proclamation on stone. Also hopefully also share tips for new runners along the way. People can learn from my mistakes, missteps and my journey hopefully.

P.S Most of the running gear I own belongs completely to Nike. I started running seriously because of the Nike running website that was hooked to my now defunct i-Pod nano. I LOVE Nike and trust it implicitly. In  the future I will also be blogging about cool running websites, books, gadgets, even documentaries I find. I love running and want to share my passion with the world and hopefully this dream of mine comes true. Happy running everyone!