Learn to let go

Humans are restless…literally. The achievers, the creators of their own destiny, the classroom-conditioned go-getters and the never say die kind of species. They would rather make things happen to their satisfaction than holding back and accepting the natural outcome. Making things happen is a more acceptable behaviour in our societal circles.

And such zeal for productive action and perseverance is the very reason behind our greatness, behind all innovations and amazing creations. Taking charge of life and taking preemptive actions guarantees affluence. Successful people are known to exhibit control over their surroundings by making tireless efforts and thereby create their dream lives. We all want to be one of them or we are one of them. So far so good.

But there’s a catch. There has be a price to be paid. This ‘desirable’ hunger for accomplishment and the never-ending thirst for success is addictive and compulsive in nature. Once you care about it too much, it starts to build upon you, an enormous obligation to achieve more and more, a phenomenon similar to peer pressure. You are expected to deliver at all costs and you yourself don’t want to lose, even a slightest portion of it. If you are left behind, you are grappled with the fear of rejection.

Take example to an oblivious author who once wrote a masterpiece and springs to overnight fame by hitting a chance to write for a famous website. Liked and admired by millions, the writer suffered self-doubt while writing the second time due to unduly pressure to deliver even better. And it kept on mounting every time he wrote something more worthwhile. It was all in his own psyche, not that his writing plateaued. That’s the reason so many renowned experts in their fields end up in depressed and resort to alcohol and drug abuse.

Its understandable that we all have limitations and imperfections. And we struggle to accept the fact that we cannot be everything that every other guy expects us to be. When we try to set the bar too high for us and have unrealistic expectations, the only obvious outcomes are frustration, guilt and anger.

This is the problem many of us face today especially in the corporate environment. Guided by the superfluous ambitions, you build on your mind, a constant pressure to perform at a certain level and keep improving. This can result in unwanted stress and insecurity. There are occasions when things don’t fall in place even after putting all the efforts. Under such scenario, you shouldn’t allow yourself to be discomfited. Know your limits and take a balanced approach. If you allow your surroundings to dictate you in your decision-making, your personal well being is bound to be compromised.

Now having said all that, the intent is not to advocate passivity, inaction and laziness. Neither should one stop attempting and pursuing higher purpose in life.

Just that you need to differentiate between what ‘you’ want and what ‘everybody else’ want you to be. You’ve got your own life, don’t make your decisions based on what others expect from you. Do what makes you happy and let go of actions and situations which your conscience resists.

The same applies in personal relations. A relationship (especially romantic) to say, doesn’t work in the environment of insecurity and fear. Generally, one of them (called the weak person in the relationship) feels unloved and demands for something like love or affection which is not available from the strong person. Distances start to build and things head for destiny. But the weak person doesn’t let go and use force and intimidation as tools to find and grab the non-existent love. This way, things only get worse. It’s far better to let go and give freedom to whoever don’t love you back.

Here the old school premise plays well – “The more you squeeze your fist, the more it slips away”. Love unconditionally without the expectation of being loved back. Force is the opposite of love, so don’t force. Love will find you where you let go of the force. Although it’s better said than done, as it doesn’t come naturally to us because of our perennial illusion that we are in control when we are actually not.

A vast array of sources of our grief stem from this single trait of ours, of not ‘letting go’. And this is something to learn and practise. In troubling situations, where we are not in control, we must strive to accept the spontaneity of the universe and let things unfold the way they are destined to. When that is learnt, it’s easy to forgive, easy to admit mistakes, easy to reach out to people and easy to show kindness. Basically our perception of the world changes and we find ourselves better placed to experience happiness.

The pursuit of 'elusive' wellness

All is not well. We, as a society, are in a state of poor health. Diseases, unhappiness and stress are the order of the day. Instances of obesity, feeble achy bones, ballooned bellies and chronically depressed minds are commonplace. More than ever, people are lazy, broke and ignorant.

No matter how fervently you chant that much revered dialogue 'All is well' from a famous Bollywood hit, you come to accept sooner than later that a complete human wellness at individual and society level eludes us. Well, Most of us!  Including the richest and most privileged. 

Seems like quite a negative note to start with. Well...It's imminent to be put like this, unfortunately, for the intensity to be known. Let's face it head-on to understand it better.

"Wellness per se characterises our ability to fully achieve and experience all pleasant, beneficial things life has on offer and keep all detrimental and negative things at bay".

 The pursuit of wellness is something very primal to our existence and everybody is so at it. It begins at birth, when we realise that amniotic fluid is no longer available and we will have to find food to eat. Most of the times, most of our actions are (theoretically) intended to achieve wellness.

Eating nutritious food, exercising, resting, sleeping, working, earning, socialising and are all part of remaining well off. Why then, it is so difficult to achieve. Food for thought.

The evolutionary ballgame

Over last thousands of years entailing breakthrough discoveries, mankind's interaction with nature has changed dramatically and has led to radical changes in diet, activity levels.

We no longer hunt. Access to food and transport is far more reliable and a staggering amount of automation has made us void of any left-out physical activity.

Resultantly, strength and vitality are in a downward spiral. The body composition has drifted from 'muscular and tough' to 'fatty and tender'.

But all this is part of the evolutionary process and there is hardly anything we can do about it. Nature will take its own course in keeping us alive and kicking. 

Does moon landing guarantee happiness?

More than ever, we humans have become obsessed about the economic activity. Things now revolve around profit, GDP and asset creation. Passion, hard work, inventions, projects and programs are the things we live by and we have touched the surface of the moon and the mars. Nothing bad at all!

What’s dangerous is the marginalisation of the actual essence of living as a result. Health has taken a back seat in our conscience and slid further down our priority lists.

To do what we can

Notwithstanding the game of evolution and economics, on which we have little control, there is a general lack of health literacy, the capacity to obtain and understand information needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Our doctors are trained in pathogenesis (treating illness) only. They offer little to no help in achieving holistic wellness at society level and we are left clueless.

And in the wake of our cluelessness, there is too much left to guess. And to fill the void, doctors, trainers, yogis, gurus, nutritionists and who not in the world have queued up to claim the secret elixir of wellness, in turn trying to push us towards buying products and services of multi-billion dollar vested interests. 

Just a small example. There seems to be an ever-lasting confusion about the workable ratio of macro and micro nutrients with fad diets asking you to eat different uncanny portions of meat, dairy, greens and nuts. Paleo, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, fat-free! And everyone claims to make you healthy. Whom to believe?

Fed up of the incessant cycle of random advice and information, we tend to believe the layman's words coming from the trusted friend or the random neighbour only to hear a completely opposite advice after some days from someone equally trustworthy.

The result! Bingo... As good as it gets, we are gullible enough to fall prey to the seemingly great health advice and products. Still, we never come out of the vicious cycle of poor health.

Go get your arsenal!

Knowledge is power. Getting a little conditioning by reading, community talks and searching internet for unbiased, independent information and research will go a long way to arm you with the required wisdom. 

I know such learning might not be something of interest for people who love to spend their time pursuing other passions. But my belief is, all wealth, luxury and physical possessions that you achieve in life, are inconsequential if not supported by optimum health. So, you don't have an option here and must take time out for your physical and mental self in order to lead a happy life. You are missing out on something big by not learning about how your own self functions.

Imagine yourself as a car you drive all the time. Now go for a long drive without knowing basic things like how to change your Stepney or to check engine lubricant level. You are headed for disaster. The greater your knowledge about the functionality of the car, the greater the efficiency, speed and comfort you will be able to derive from it.

So, when next time you watch that ad where a refined cooking oil is claimed to make your heart stronger or when a single capsule is claimed to have everything meant to revitalise your life, your senses tickle and you raise the alarm to rescue yourself. Just a stepping stone in starting to make all lifestyle decisions better and informed. Keep at it.

Embracing mountains - a runner's perspective

As I am leaving for Shimla tomorrow for a 25k road race on sunday, I had some thoughts about mountains and my love for them...what are the things that pass your mind when you think about them.

- beautiful green scenery
- fresh air
- Virginity
- Gigantism
- Quietness

What else? Actually these adjectives are very small to describe them. They are truly magnificent, they are so tranquil and they give unconfined gazes of heavenly views. It is typical human outlook of mountains. People have found solace and spirituality there since time immemorial and accepted them as their home in isolation from civilization. Most of the modern sapians too crave for taking a break from their lame rat race and visit mountains to experience the serenity, lack of stress and the sheer vastness of the universe on display. There seem like no better place than mountains to see so much enormous terrain in one stare. The huge mass has such grandeur and supremacy that it is respected by one and all and it make us humans realize how unimportant and small our existence is, compared to these colossal structures.

But aside from above spectacle of watching things, there is also a second breed of creatures who are not much impressed by the breathtaking panorama of peaks, nor do the lack of chaotic surroundings score high on their pleasure buds. They rather find the monstrous enormity of the terrain challenging and intimidating. All the grandiose of mountains makes them feel the need to conquer them and establish human superiority. It is this very virtue of restlessness and pride that see them take over the mission of winning the mountains by climbing, running over, hiking, jumping from or whatever other way found most unachievable to reach the top. This way, they apparently prove the hills ordinary.

For such ego trippers, one of the ways to satisfy their conscience, is through endurance sports. Running events are one example. There are many in mountains proclaiming tag lines like 'world's most grueling' and with all the braggadocio about the difficulties on course. Participation is seen from all kind of loonies (including me, for upto half marathon yet😜) seeking to quench adrenaline thirst. Ultramarathon events see people running hundreds of miles crossing most extreme conditions only to finish a seemingly pointless pursuit on feet. But, Howsoever meaningless, a sort of contentment is felt from surviving the challenges posed by mountains in the form of isolation, connectivity (lack of it), extreme weather, rough terrain, vertigo and the continuous physical demands required to defy gravity. The uphill tests your endurance and leave you with only two choices: reach the top or turn around. Reaching the top only requires the perseverance to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is a life lesson which tells us to keep taking one step at a time so as not to break in difficult situations.

My personal reasons to embrace mountains are a mix of above reasons.

First, I don't proclaim to be a very profound nature lover. Infact, I am yet to take a first hand experience of hiking or backpacking trip. But I do respect and admire what little I could see till date and I advocate to preserve the aroma and silence of these pristine lands.

Second, I do not qualify on the scale of lunatic challenges taken by climbers, ultrarunners and other champion combatants who take the nature head on and accomplish impossible looking tasks. My only achievements in the context are running (or jog walking) a few half marathons in hill towns and surviving some semi-long runs whenever I go vacationing these places on a weekend. I have attempted a meekly half marathon at leh Ladakh in 2014 and could barely finish it in cut-off time walking all the way 10 km onwards. But, I find pleasure in trying to learn from these humbling experiences, to improve myself and try new and more challenging hilly chores. I think, running the hills pose quite a challenge and it's satisfying at the finish.

Running exotic races make a good excuse to come to the mountains. It's meditation. Letting your muscles work while resting your brain from the steady stream of demands modern society brings, a calm that is hard to find in civilization. I am lucky enough to be living at the Himalayan bottom with some really breathtaking and gruelling terrain to cover.

It's also healthy. I live in Delhi's less than optimum air quality, and 'pollucationing' gives some temporary respite to refreshen your system. So, I frequently take the opportunity to tour places and run them over to soak as much of the mountainous aura inside me as possible. 

Strava feed for some of my mountain runs:

Quest for a faster me

Here I am sharing my thoughts about my 3 year running journey. I wrote this for publishing in my company's in-house magazine. 

As a child, I always had an affinity for sports and fitness in general. From watching and relishing all things cricket (as do any middle class Indian child) to making role models in the likes of Ganguly & Yuvraj, all I fantasized was being a star sportsperson and shine to make my family and country proud. That never happened though as evident, despite being born and brought up in Haryana, the cradle of sports in India. Things don't always go the way you would have wanted them to. Thoughts evolve under the influence of your surroundings and we change our course pragmatically. So I grew up, went to college, life took many turns and I ended up chasing deadlines in corporate world for over 9 years now. 

But the affinity for something you are passionate about always remains. I tried to balance things out and played sports like basketball, football as an amateur but still consistency and competition were always lacking and the vacuum couldn’t be filled. Team sports required logistics and companionship which was difficult to maintain especially at project sites where I worked for quite a while. Also, time for leisure activities became scarce and it started to become all work and no play. 
Fortunately, the circumstances couldn’t stop me from following my heart and I decided to opt for the most minimalist kind of sport 'long distance running' which neither require huge apparatus nor mandatory companionship / team. All one need is a good pair of shoes and even not that if you opt for barefoot running (very popular these days). Having a group or mate to train with is a big positive but not a necessity. So, running seemed like the most practical sporting option for me.

Finally, the idea to run a marathon someday struck a chord with me after reading an articles about a corporate honcho Amit Sheth, a Mumbaikar, taking up marathon running in his 40s, improving and ultimately transitioning to being one of the Ist Indian ultra-marathoners to have finished "the comrades" in south Africa, a race also known as ultimate human race where one covers 89 kilometres encompassing rolling hills en route Durban and Pietermaritzburg within a cut off time of 12 hrs. The very thought of surviving such distance on foot filled me with adrenaline and the idea of racing against time and against yourself seemed challenging, raw and cold blooded. Apart from just the idea of completing the distance, the blunt numbers in the form of your race times attracted me as they tell you your potential. Unlike other games where you can claim to be a very good player without numbers putting you down, race times give zero possibility of ambiguity where you stand. The numbers speak about the level of fitness and there is infinite possibility of improvement irrespective of your current fitness level and age.

The fight, as it comes out to be, is with your own self with all your limitations and weaknesses. You get the opportunity to test the limits your body and mind can push you through. Human body is such a wonderful machine and is capable of much more than we can think of as put by philosopher Socrates in one of his work:

"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable of".

Journey till now and future goals

I eventually decided to start training to run a marathon distance.
For those who don't know, Marathon is a running race with an official distance of 42.195 KM. Half marathon is exactly half the distance. These are mostly run on roads but there are races on trails and tracks too, some on very difficult hilly or desert terrain. 
After training for it for around 5 months, I ran my Ist half marathon in Mar'13 in 112 minutes, no so bad for a beginner. Then, there was no looking back and I ran many half marathons including events at exotic locations like Ladakh, Shimla, Musoorie, Jim Corbett national park to name a few. My best performance came in ADHM, Delhi in Nov'14 where I was able to finish the half marathon in 90 minutes. There was something magical about finishing these races, the feeling of accomplishment so predominant that It brought me to the start line of races one after the other to test my waters repeatedly. It very nearly became an obsession, the quest for a faster me.

Now once long distance running base was built, the next step was to run a full marathon. I took the challenge and ran my Ist marathon distance in Jan'15 at Mumbai, more than 2 years after I started running. Doing the full marathon only after building a good base turned out to be a wise step and I was conditioned to take the physical toll marathon training and race takes on joints and ligaments. It helped me remain injury free in long term. Doing it too fast too soon is one of the common mistakes many of my friends did and got themselves injured. I did my first full marathon was 3 hr 42 min which I bettered this year in January with my personal beat time of 3 hr 15 mins. My experience of that ultimate race can be seen in the write-up I shared in Feb ‘16 edition of enlightenment titled 'Striking balance, the running way'.

Now, my immediate aim is to run an 80 minute half marathon and sub 3 hour marathon. That is no mean task and will require unprecedented dedication and discipline in training. Still, I am up for it and looking forward to the challenge in the coming race season. The next big races on cards are Shimla ultra-half marathon in September, Airtel delhi half marathon in November and Mumbai marathon in January'17.

Training for it

The training for running such gruelling distance was a journey in itself. It was filled with all kind of emotions like happiness, joy, frustration, sacrifice & pain. But it made me a stronger person mentally and physically. It taught me to endure pain and utilize body's energy optimally to reach a far distance in limited time. It required a lot of discipline and taught many life lessons. I would say, training for a marathon will make a person a better human. 
Once you decide to prepare yourself for a long distance running event, training happens in phases:
- Base building (to build a strong foundation of stamina and strength)
- Peaking (to reach your best shape at right time before the event)
- Tapering (resting and storing energy before the D-day finally arrives)

Though I never followed any professional coach for my workouts and diet, material available on web from professionals was very helpful in customizing workouts and maintaining nutrition. I mostly trained 5 days a week with 4 days running and one more for strength training. Every workout was unique and aimed to meet a certain objective.

- long and slow run (for stamina)
- tempo run (comfortably hard pace to mimic race conditions)
- interval run (fast intervals with rest in between, to improve speed)
- easy run (short and slow run, recovery run to give your body time to recover)
- Strength training (exercises to improve strength in leg and core muscles, helps to run efficiently and injury free)

Along with following the workout plan, proper nutrition is equally important so as to maintain active metabolism and maintain lean muscle. Long distance runs are pretty hard on the body and body tend to fuel itself by breaking lean muscle if not aided by proper diet. Protein intake is the single most important nutritional requirement that is often overlooked in Indian scenario because we traditionally tend to eat less protein and high carb food at our home. So adding eggs, lean meat & whey can give that extra edge in training.

Another important part of training is mental conditioning as it is said that running a marathon is more mental than physical. Your mind tend to send pain signals to the muscles and force you to stop or slow down in a race even when you still have some fuel left. There, your willpower comes into play. Willpower is earned through years of conditioning and rigorous training. It is well put in the bestseller book 'Eat and run' by champion ultra marathoner Scott Jurek like this;

'Its a hard simple calculus. Run until you can't run anymore, then run some more. Find a new source of energy and will, then run even faster'.

The social angle

Running is as individualistic a sport as it can be. It is only you and your conscience when you are out on that long training run. Race competition is also at individual level. So one might wonder how come one not get bored training and racing alone. I have also come across similar sentiments. In the first year of running, I always used to train alone nearby home and sometimes it became too difficult to get yourself moving alone. The answer to this, for me, was the fabulous running group I became part of, the 'Sunday Run Club'. All major cities have open groups of runners that provide the platform to interact with likeminded athletes. They use social media to get in contact and organize group training runs every weekend on various locations in Delhi NCR. And it was an altogether different experience running and training in a group. I found it much easier and enjoyable to do running in group as members push and motivate each other whenever someone is getting behind. Also, they share expertise, training strategy and experiences which makes everyone wiser. You interact with people from different backgrounds and professions and it widens your world view. Also, it develops a unique friendship and bond away from your usual friend circle of college and work which is a boon to your social life.

In the end, one message that I would like to give to all is

Try getting outdoors often and play at least one sport of your choice, running or not. It will give you a primal sense of belongingness to your physicality and you will feel and work better because we humans are intrinsically programmed to move. Lack of movement and long sitting as part of our busy corporate life make us unhealthy. Sports are the best remedy to offset this.

Mumbai diaries...

Recently, I get to write about my marathon running stuff for my company's in-house magazine after insistence from my manager. I drafted after initial reticence and it is yet to be published. I thought it would not be a bad idea to share my thoughts on a blog as well. And in the process of doing it (for the first time), I am realizing how good it feels to actually reflect upon your life, thinking about it deeply and differently. I enjoyed it thoroughly and look forward to continue it. As it is the maiden post, I might be writing way too much trying to collect it from the start. So, get the heart to handle the blahs and read on. 

The ‘Why’ mystery

As I imagine the instance I crossed the finish line at Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon'16 on 17th Jan in my 2nd marathon distance ever, the most domineer feeling I can recall is utmost euphoria and endorphins rush. Even with those numb legs, drained energy level, and sweat drenched body, something was pushing me to ecstasy. The face expression and body language manifested pain and suffering but somewhere within, I was as calm as MS Dhoni batting in the slog overs and at the same time as violently happy and gleeful as Virat Kohli catching one of the Australian openers. It was real contentment coming my way after achieving my target of finishing the race in 3 hr and 15 mins. 

Why not!!! I had sacrificed some vital sleep over countless weekend mornings to head out for those (pretty) long training runs, got up early on weekdays to execute those killing HIITs and excruciating tempo runs, restricted myself to not eating or eating stuff with Zero consideration of 'taste prospect', playing mind games with lactate threshold, VO2 Max, target pace, weekly mileage, key workouts, cross training, taper and countless other jargons to (supposedly) improve aerobic conditioning and musculoskeletal integrity in the build up to race day. 

It is precisely this particular scent of things you get as you leap past the finish line that have folks lined up at the start line next year to experience it again. Your mind is inundated with feeling of satisfaction, having broken your last personal best and you wonder how much more your body is capable of. You take up the resulting innate challenge to beat yourself and rise time and again. It was my 2nd attempt in a row at full marathon after starting to practise running in late 2012 and I find it almost compelling to be at Mumbai every 3rd Sunday of January year on year with new targets. It might seem cranky of someone living in Delhi to come over to a distant city just to run a marathon, but that perception fades away as you personally experience the charm of running the queen's necklace and worli sea link, and above all the love Mumbaiites bestow upon runners which makes it quite less of a pain to travel that far.

Some of the office peeps wonder why in hell would somebody travel to Mumbai at own expense and punish his very own body with crazy miles on foot. Kind of questions my other runner friends might well relate to have often bombarded on me too...did you actually ran all those hours without stopping? Did u win the race? What career prospects does this freakish thing offer? What prize and certificate did you get? And a lot many other preposterous questions. Well, I sometimes answer truly with a submissive explanation that it gives me happiness, I am competing with myself, I am getting better by the day, i am good among the amateurs, we get t-shirts, free bananas, finisher medals and blah blah blah... Sometimes it's just a dull smile and other times I start to wonder myself how inexplicable these questions are, even to me! The last strange incident in this regard was my father asking me about my timing when he made call after the race. I told him I took 3 hr 15 mins to finish it, and the next question was about what is the world record at a marathon. I was near stunned at his seemingly unimpressed gesture when i told him Kenyans have done it in 2 hr 3 mins. Son, you need to get better was the inaudible tweet i sensed coming out of the mobile phone. It’s a kind of near-humiliation we amateurs have to go through often while interacting with expert Non-practitioners of the sport.

Training times

Let me start with the last year's version of the race, my maiden attempt at a marathon in Jan'15. I was obviously so excited about it but cautious at the same time. Anyone with a half marathon timing of 1.30 would have aimed for a sub - 3.15 target at full after discounting 10 mins for exhaustion in late miles and 5 odd minutes for hot humid weather as a rule of thumb but i pre-emptively reined in my mental speed horses for it was my first at something as gigantic as a marathon and settled for a comparatively meek 3.30 in my head. It ostensibly was a special endeavour and was going to stay in my memory for donkey's years. The day was no less a lesson as it turned out with the swing of clock. I had underrated the distance, gave it a shot with lousy training with timing aim sky high at 3.30 (at my fitness level that time). Past mile 20, inevitably, my legs turned deadwood and the slave body simply refused to obey the master mind. The next hour to the finish line was the longest one I have ever experienced. I could barely manage to finish a sub 4 hours race with 3.42 net time, imparting me the first hand wisdom I'd implement in my future races.

This year, it was kind of a revenge run for me after the erstwhile fiasco. Determined to train hard, I had promised Mumbai that I'll come back stronger than ever. Things went fairly well all year with all support and camaraderie from Sunday run club friends who have become an extended family to me. Participation in SCMM have become an yearly picnic for us and post-race time in Mumbai before we head back home is all beer and skittles. Also had the opportunity to execute some killer training runs with Aman Yadav, a good friend and an avid runner. It was him who insisted to add a gps watch to my training arsenal to monitor training pace and other metrics and honestly, that has had an enormous impact on my rate of improvement this year. Kudos to you bro.

It all went superb with some hiccups like the shin injury around October end after Musoorie half and the chest infection in November that compromised my performance at Airtel Delhi half marathon. But the turnaround happened quickly with strong show at Grand Prix run and Adidas 12 hr relay run in December. These two races turned out to be big confidence boosters as i could maintain sub 4.30 pace with ease for around 30k distance. 

Race experience

Given all these equations and the big deal I had made out of this race in my head, pre-race jitters were inevitable. I felt quite anxious on Saturday after reaching Mumbai and could sleep for just 5 hrs the night before race despite trying hard to make it more but that actually had meagre effect, may be the last moment nerves are helpful to alert you and improve brain function, hope somebody hunts for a scientific probe on this. At the expo, I happened to meet Nakul whom I acquainted just a week before at the Manger trail training run. With about same targets in pace, we decided to start together at the start line to pace each other as any distance runner would be able to tell, how much great mental help is it to have someone by your side to push you as you transition into a devitalized state. Fortunately we could find each other in time amid the chaotic start line scene. 

The race started past the start line at Azad Maidan well in dark at 5.40 am and quickly proceeded alongside sea as everyone fought their way zigzagging through runners full of blazing energy. It wasn't long before we could spot the profuse sweat on the faces of non-coastal denizens, runners like me who travelled to the place last night and were far from getting acclimatized to the humidity levels. It's difficult to train for it with 100% of your training runs happening in rough Delhi winter. I'd tried it by running 3-4 times in the hot afternoon with 2-3 layers of cloths on, in past couple of months assuming that I am simulating hot Mumbai weather. Don't know how much of physiological stimulus I was able to get out of it, though mentally It was a comfort. So to cut short, I was able to maintain the target pace 4.30 without much lactate burning my legs till 28-30k. As the innocent legs started to protest against the evil mind and it grew louder with each passing step, it was the time for mind to show the stubbornness it has attained over training against the unsavoury acts of sundry body parts. Amid fierce altercation, heart and legs had no choice but to scream and follow their master. In last 10k or so, no specific plan works for me. It just becomes how not to stop putting one step ahead of the other. Unlike last year when I hit the wall around 32k, I didn't take any walk breaks till the finish though my pace dipped significantly. Negative splits, perhaps a good thing to practice, never comes to me in a race howsoever keen I am to practise it...something on my learning agenda. 

Closed for repairs?

Resting is considered an important part of the train-race-recover cycle. But in my case, I am a little puzzled at the state of things. Whether I am recovering from the hard effort yearlong! May be or maybe not. My weekly mileage has not gone beyond 50 km barring a few weeks whereas there exist some monsters who hover around 80~100 and still indulge in no whining about it. This is actually a mild amount of training vis-a-vis grand marathon preparation plans doing rounds in running circles. Three weeks past the race, I am yet to start some tangible workout apart from some daily chores turned workouts like deliberate stair work at office and society building, hill (stair) sprints at metro stations and whatever other opportunity I get to pump my heart. As Aman put it rightly during a conversation after Mumbai....' tune kiya kya hai jo rest chahiye'. I perhaps don't require such long snoozing, it's just a fading aimlessness which will subside as I set goals for the year ahead. I will think about it soon and clear the haze.

For time being, let’s chase around. Happy running!!!