For those of you who followed this blog when it started, it's obvious that it fizzled out pretty quickly - maintaining it beyond week 13 was a task! The reasons are fairly simple - building my new company has been more than a full time job than raising my kids and as always the one thing that ends up going on the back-burner when there's a time crunch is - running!
Don't know how it looked to you folks, but my blog started looking like an update of excuses of why I couldn't keep up with my training... And yes, there wasn't any training to update the world on anyway!
But guess what?
I completed my first full marathon - precisely on the target date.. the very day I turned 42 years and 42 weeks old... exactly! And, I am about to share with you all, my ultimate learnings that can help anyone run their first marathon..
1. Tell the world: Once you share your goals, the entire world - including your coach (if you have one) will keep asking you about how you are progressing towards your goal. Sharing your goals is like building a sub-conscious that will keep poking you and reminding you and making you nervous - which will push you to save your face - especially when you get these questions from your circle of friends outside the running circle (who think you are a super-hero)! Every time I met some friends I was faced with this question, and I would go 'Gulp, I better get my act right at least NOW and get started'! I started this blog, flagged it off with a big party on my birthday and all that blah, blah.. You can get creative and start screaming from the top of your roof - or whatever works for you!
2. Surround yourself with believers: Like with anything else in life, you usually need just one person to tell you that you CAN do it! I was incredibly lucky to have more than one.. Even when others would raise questions on my lack of training - they would tell me to NOT listen to anyone but believe in my head that I CAN DO IT!
3. Find an amazing pacer: Apart from being someone who believes in you and supports your effort throughout the pre-race weeks, it helps to have a super experienced marathoner who runs sub 3.20 hour marathons. Here is how this will help: when you want to chicken out, like I wanted to a few weeks before race day, and your pacer tells you that he is running only YOUR race - it fills you with tremendous guilt for taking away an amazing runner's chance to run a great race and generally that will make you kick your own ass - like instantly! Now, you do have to depend on luck and your good karma to find such a pacer! I was blessed to find the very best that one can get... Brijesh Gajera...
Another reason a pacer helps is because when you choose to run with a pacer, your race is actually his / her problem. You use your body but THEIR mind... so it's like passing on your running worries, pace stress and strategy planning to someone else: Everything about your race, including you, is their problem! ;p
4. Train with a non-competitive group: Much of the running space I am connected with is super competitive and for a long time I was just complexed about not being 'good enough'. Then I started training with an amazing bunch of guys - the Ultra Warriors - who made me see that your first marathon is all about crossing the finish line - whatever it takes. You have your whole life to set PBs ('personal best' timing record for those non-runners reading this) and no matter how long you take to complete your first marathon - you are still a finisher! (And oh yes, the less competitive the group, the more awesome the food when they train!)
5. Share your pain and doubts: People understand that you are human if you behave human.. The universe can offer support and a shoulder to cry on if you talk about your pain. It was opening my heart out (and whining) that brought me in touch with people who could help me get the mojo back in my running and find simple solutions to my running problems - be it bras that don't leave you totally chaffed around your rib cage, or finding Endomondo as a replacement for the Garmin that doesn't work.
6. Check that playlist: Lots out there on whether one should run with music or without it. The last 10 kms become pure joy with a playlist that makes you want to dance - I mean why walk the last 25% when you can dance to the finish? Rock it baby...
So there, you have all my secrets...
Finally, about my training - I fit in just 2 long distances a few weeks before the run. One 30 km and another 32.5 km - both were run and walk and took over 5 hours each.
Finally, about my training - I fit in just 2 long distances a few weeks before the run. One 30 km and another 32.5 km - both were run and walk and took over 5 hours each.
I had no opportunity to cross train, for weight loss, speed train or strengthen for 5 months before the race (3 of my lower discs are herniated) and I barely even ran till a month before race day. Plus one week before the race - I did absolutely NOTHING! In fact I had a migraine the day before the race and I didn't get out of bed the entire day...
Nutrition: I ate a Nutella sandwich and a couple of tiny bananas on the morning of the race day. A sour orange on the race route made me terribly nauseous after which I consumed only water and energy beans throughout the race! For three days before the race I consumed 3-4 litres of fluids everyday!
Run: My Half Marathon PB (which is more than 2 years old) is 2h 22m but with lack of training and excess weight, my pacer's strategy was that we complete the first half in 3 hours and walk the next half in sub 4 hours. We were on the dot at 6:44 including 3 puke attempt breaks, about 5-6 stretch breaks, and navigating through traffic that had filled the streets.
Whatever time it took, I got the same finisher medal as the others who ran their full in 3 hours. So there!!! ;p
Note: I have run at least a dozen half marathons, two 25K races and innumerable 10Ks since I took up running around 4 years ago...
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