Pain in the butt

My recent strain in the glutes  has taught me a lot about the muscles in our butt and hips.  Apparently, our butt muscle is the strongest muscle in our whole body. Who would've thought of that? I would've gone for the thigh muscles.  There are generally two forms of pain that occur in the butt. The first one is at the low end of the butt muscle where the hamstring muscle connects with the butt muscle. This is called the proximal hamstring strain.  This comes from pushing the muscles too hard or weakness in the surrounding muscles. Speed work and uphill running can worsen the pain. You may also experience the pain just sitting on your 'sitting bones' throughout the day. This area has low blood supply which means it will take this pain longer to heal.


The second kind of pain results from a strain to the piriformis muscle that runs behind the hip joint and helps in hip rotation. The pain may feel like it is deep inside the buttock muscles. It may also radiate down the back of the leg due to rubbing against the sciatic nerve.  The piriformis can get tight due to too much sitting causing it to get stiff and not allow enough hip rotation.  There is a multitude of other muscles within the glutes and around to the front of the hips all of which need to work together to propel the body and rotate the hips as you lift off one foot, land on the other, lift off now from this foot and land on the first.  The key is that the glutes should be strong and the hips flexible.  So it is important to perform exercises and stretches to open and stretch the glutes and hips.

It goes without saying that these problems may or may not show up when running a couple of miles. As you increase the mileage and intensity the imbalances and weaknesses that do not show up in lower mileages get amplified - a bit like your car which may run fine at 30 miles an hour running groceries, but when you go on an eight hour trip on the highway you start noticing vibrations and noises which showed no signs of their presence during short trips at low speeds.

Here are a few stretches for better hips and glutes.

Standing hamstring stretch


Stand with the right leg on a stool or chair. Bend the left knee slightly. Holding the back straight lean forward slowly until you feel a good stretch on the back of your right thigh. Hold for 15-20 seconds. Repeat with left leg. Do six sets.




Lying glute stretch

Lie on your back with your legs raised with thighs vertical to the floor and knees at 90 degrees.  Slowly cross your left leg over the right to rest the left ankle on the right thigh. Grab your left knee with both hands and pull gently towards chest. Pull until you feel a good stretch in your left glutes and hold for 20 seconds. Repeat with right leg. Do three sets.



Piriformis stretch

Lie on your back with legs bent at the knees. Bring your right leg up and rest the ankle on the left thigh. Reach your left thigh or knee through inside with both hands and pull your left leg slowly towards your chest. Stop when you feel a good stretch in the glutes and hold for 20 seconds. Repeat with left leg. Do three sets.


Pigeon stretch

There are several forms of pigeon stretch. All share the feature that one leg is stretched out in the back touching the floor on the front of the leg and the other leg is folded and rests across the torso.  Beginners may need some figuring out to get into the basic position.  It may be helpful to kneel down on the floor with your weight supported on both forearms out in the front - not on the hands. Slowly rest your hips on the right side, bend your right leg across the torso while stretching the left leg behind. Adjust position so the left leg is fully stretched out back and the right leg is folded across the torso to a good stretch around the glutes and hips. Support the upper body on the arms or hands. Hold to a good stretch for 20-30 seconds. Repeat with the left leg.

This is a simpler form of a yoga pose eka pada rajakapotasana.


Hip flexor stretch

There are several ways you can do this stretch.  Here is one version. Kneel on the floor on one knee with hands on either side of the foot. Extend the other leg back as in the picture.  Push your hips forward or slightly down to feel a stretch on the front of the left hip. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat with the other side.  You could also do this stretch with the left knee on the floor as well as in other variations. Pick what works best for you.


They are now part of my regular regimen, as a pain in the butt can be a real pain in the butt :-)


Happy running.

If I can run, u can run

Downtime

I pulled a muscle on Sunday about half way through due to which I'm required to take some downtime.   There was a sharp pain deep in the right glute toward the inner side when I stopped to turn around during the run. Although I tried to continue to run for a mile or mile and half the pain wasn't going away as usual.  In fact, the general soreness was getting worse. Hence I walked and eventually got a drive home from a friend who was passing by.  I did physical therapy yesterday. It seems my right hip has been getting stiff - which makes sense as after the long run the last couple of times I had to literally drag my right leg. I am asked to do more stretching and hip flexing, and further exercises to strengthen the hips and legs. I didn't run yesterday. The sore muscles in the area haven't fully recovered yet but they are a lot better.

I'm hoping to hit the road next week, but before that I'll allow myself to recover fully.  I will also be doing the stretches and exercises targeted for the hips.

That's all folks.

If I can run, u can run

Long run - mind games

Things are limping back to normal after Thanksgiving holidays. I didn't get the chance to write a new post over the holidays, but I have been running.    Days are colder, surprisingly I still see a couple of runners and a few cyclists, particularly on Sundays.  The cyclists display more friendliness than ever - as much friendliness as a couple of seconds would allow two people who are working their lungs out when passing each other.  Last three Sunday runs have been at the new distance of 16.5 -ish miles. On the one hand I have been able to follow my feeling of exertion rather than heart rate well enough to complete the distance and focus more on relaxing on the run. I suspect that my cadence (steps per minute) has improved. In the last few runs I have consistently averaged 176-180 steps per minute, with the max going up to 215 steps per minute. I can only attribute this improvement to the fast hill run intervals I have been doing on Wednesdays. On the other hand, though, it has not been as easy as a relaxed pace would seem to suggest.  Aches and pains are at a new level and at different locations. There is more than the usual amount of soreness and pains sometimes on upper thigh area, at other times the glutes on one side and often right in front at the upper end of the thigh.  Due to these I am turning to the foam roller and massage stick more often. Even then, there is always a doubt if my body would be ready before the next run.  I do feel that the ankle has been holding up pretty well, and feeling better, too, presumably because of the new exercises on the wobble board.  I am also taking extra care to tread carefully on rough patches or avoid them altogether when possible.

It is interesting how the mind plays games. In an earlier post I had mentioned that if I start thinking whether or not to run soon after I wake up in the morning the tendency usually is to decide to not run that day. However, if I do not think about running but ease myself into the flow by having a cup of tea, reading the emails, news and so on, I end up lacing up the shoes and getting out much more easily.  The long runs these days are posing a similar scenario.  I do recall comments from long distance runners and coaches that it is 80% mental and 20% physical.  I think I am getting a taste of that.  Last Sunday, just five miles into the run I started thinking 'Have I fully recovered from the pain around my right hips? Perhaps I should go home and give the hips some rest." However, I persuaded myself to continue as the distance at that point was shorter than my regular run and the pain, or whatever discomfort I felt at the time, wasn't that bad. A few more miles and again similar thoughts started coming back - "Perhaps I haven't recovered fully... it feels unusually tiring today... The experts and all the books I read say if I don't feel comfortable, I should take it easy. If I take a break today I can run better next time.. Moreover, I do have work to do at home... so why not use this opportunity to take some rest and get some stuff done.."   Then I would remind myself that after this lap if I do one more I will be half way through.. then one more lap and only the last one remains..  Dangling these new thoughts in front I continued to run for some more time... Then in the second lap again the same old thoughts return - "I think I shouldn't over strain the right leg (or was that the left ankle? Whatever... I forget:-) ... I should probably go home and give it some extra rest... and while at it do that other work I need to do"..   The mind comes up with very legitimate reasons for a way out.. Anyway, I thought to myself if this is how the body and mind feel on long runs then the heck with it. I better start getting used to it.  I bit my excuses and ran all the remaining laps without any further thoughts.

One of the days I look back occasionally during my runs and remember is the first day I ran up the last hill on the way back home. Boy, that was a good day. Working up that hill my lungs would be bursting and heart pounding.. body would be screaming STOP STOP STOP, and mind would be tired working against the forces. I would then stop about 200 feet from the top to walk up that distance. Once on the top there is no more climbing for a while, so I would resume running. On that day working my way up the hill breathing hard and my heart beating so hard I could almost hear it, instead of stopping I thought why not turn this around on its head.  Does this hill want to push hard on my lungs and heart and my body? ME TOO!!.. I too want to push my heart and lungs.. Let's see how far this will go... Granted, I wasn't racing uphill that day.. I was running in short steps.  But I was running. As my lungs expanded and contracted like a balloon and the heart pumped and pounded.. the body felt like an engine on high gear..  That day I wasn't trying to be easy on myself. That day I was partnering with the hill, or even challenging the hill, to push myself as far as it was willing or able to push me!  I was still running when I reached the top, and I ran all the way home nonstop.  That day was a turning point. I never stopped at that climb, again.

That was a good day.

If I can run, u can run

Milestone - 1K

My long run on Sunday went pretty well.  I controlled all the controllable factors that were listed in dissection post  - got good sleep, started hydrating early, adjusted the fuel belt, ran to my feeling of exertion rather than to heart rate, etc. etc. and I actually ended up extending the run to about 16.5 miles - which was the plan I had in mind if everything was going well.  I did end up with a lot more soreness and tension in my upper thigh area, but I think that is probably due to the longer distance and the additional elevation changes involved. The elevation change - up and down - was an additional 340 ft (about 110 meters) which may not sound much, but I think doing that after 14.5-15 miles with an up down change of about 1650 ft (550-ish meters) was taxing to my legs, indicating that they need to get stronger. Incidentally, I have recently added a couple of routines of leg exercises. We'll see how that goes.

Taking a step back and looking at the overall picture, I am happy to note the crossing of a nice milestone today.  I started tracking my runs using MapMyRun app last November.  The first run tracked was a 7.7 mile run on Sunday Nov. 30, 2014.  During my 6.2 mile run this morning, nearly a year later, I crossed the 1000 mile mark (Yay!!) According to the app I have covered a distance of 1003 miles over 136 individual runs taking 161.16 hours  (6 days and 17 hours) in total burning close to 138000 Calories in the process.  The app also records that my feet took about 2 million steps to cover the distance.

Thank you all for keeping me going with your cheers and by following my runs here on this blog. I am lucky to have you all.

If I can run, u can run

Dissecting a bad day

My long run on Sunday the 8th wasn't good. I ran very sluggish, felt low on energy, was fatigued by about the 9th or 10th mile and had to walk the last mile back home due to a feeling of tightness of the hips and some pain in the area. This is only the second long run since the week long break after the half-Marathons in October. As the first one on the 1st of Nov went pretty well  I have been working on listing out all the things that were different this time in an effort to isolate the cause or causes so I can do better on the coming Sunday.  The last time I had a bad day and walked the last mile was in summer when I started pretty late and found myself running my later miles at high noon in the scorching sun.  This time around heat can not be the issue as the temperature was a pleasant 50-52 F (10-11 deg C) which felt in the low 40's (5-6 C) with wind chill.  Here is the list of possible suspects I have -

1.  For some reason I was up till late in the night so that my sleep was under 5 hours according to my Fitbit.  I didn't think sleep would have such an impact, as I've run many 10K races and even a half-Marathon with similar short sleep, but perhaps it did play a role as this distance longer than the half. Every day is different. Moreover, running at a slower pace I was spending a lot more time on my feet than in a race. Whether or not sleep was a factor, it is always good to sleep well. I will try to get good sleep Saturday night so I can feel well rested and fresh for the long run in the morning.

2. My new hydration belt was low on my waist and felt quite tight. The reason this might have been a factor is that the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back was that I felt very tight in my hip area both outside and inside, and even felt some pain on the outer side of the right hip. That was when I decided to stop and walk. Next time I will make sure to get that hydration belt around my waist rather than low on the hip. On the positive side, the walk did feel great and I felt strong walking uphill the last mile. Clearly, I wasn't zapped out.

3. A third reason involving the hip is that I've been doing some new exercises aimed at improving the strength and flexibility of my ankles using a wobble board. I think it's been doing some good to my left ankle, but since the condition has been around for a long time it still has ways to go.  Some exercises with the wobble board do cause rotation of the hips, in addition to which I've been doing some hip rotation separately as well. So the pain on the right hip appears to point in the direction of the new exercises. It is right where the bone that protrudes out from the thigh at the hips, but not on the bone itself, but probably on the iliotibial band (ITB) or so caused by excessive rubbing on the protruding bone (bursa).  Anyway, I plan to continue the exercises as they should be of help in the long run. If they cause some inconveniences in the short term I will just have to deal with them somehow. I will do more of my usual stretches this and this for the ITB .

4. Another thing I suspect that could've caused discomfort around the hips is that for a short period I was running across the road at about 30 deg angle or so, looking backward for any traffic that may come from behind.  I was doing that in order to give some space to a couple of police cars and an emergency vehicle attending to a car or passenger that needed help. I had to do this kind of partial sideways running looking backward and forward uphill around mile 8 or so and again a mile and a half later on my return as well. Again, can running uphill with a sideways orientation cause stress around the hips? Your guess is as good as mine. In any case, I don't think I'll see cops and emergency vehicles on the course too often.

5. Usually before the long run I start hydrating with Gatorade about 2 hours before the run and stop drinking about 1 hour before. I did not do it this time, and I don't remember why. For long runs the loss of electrolyte can cause all kind of issues such as muscle cramps, fatigue, etc. During the run I don't take my first sip until six or seven miles into the run. So I suspect that missing my usual hydration could've played a role. I'm going to stock some Gatorade and make sure I don't miss it on Sunday morning before the start.

6.  My long run is normally run at or below the pace where breathing would begin to get deep. Of course, when running uphill I will allow the breathing to get deep but it would still be comfortable - or the easiest pace I can run up that hill.  This time I was focusing on hear rate trying to stay at the 60-70% of my max heart rate. At several paces I felt this was too constraining and it was like I was holding myself back too much. This became clear when I analyzed my split pace for various miles in previous long run and the current one. The current one was almost always slower than the previous. So next time I will be going back to focusing on breathing rate and feeling of exertion than going by heart rate.

Those are the possible culprits. I don't think I've missed anything.  Other than the Sunday debacle, running has been going well. Odometer has risen to 975 miles. Looking to break the 1000 mile mark next week - Yay!!

Have fun.

If I can run, u can run

At TCS New York City Marathon 2015 - A Spectacle Like No Other

We were at this year's NYC Marathon last Sunday, the 1st of Nov.  I had never seen a Marathon so far and decided that the best way to watch it would be to sign up as a volunteer for the race.  I picked the fluid station at mile 22 which is on 5th Avenue and 117th Street just 4 miles north of the finish line in Central Park.  The course that comes along 5th Avenue is broken by Marcus Garvey Park from 124th and 120th streets. So it goes around the park and the runners get back on to 5th Avenue from 120th Street just three streets from our fluid station. I thought it would be great to see as the runners turn from 120th on to 5th Avenue.  The reason I picked this spot was that I wanted to see how the race looks after many people hit the dreaded 'wall' after mile 18 or 20. I also definitely
wanted to see how the elites handle themselves at this advanced stage of the race.  Moreover, what better way to accomplish this and experience the race from the outside than performing some useful function while I am at it?  I had signed up for the first shift at the fluid station which was from 8:15 AM to 1:15 PM.  Geeta and Tara also joined me wanting to see the Marathon as a way to get a sense of how things may look when I will be running next year if all goes well.

We got there just in time. The coordinator was beginning to brief the volunteers on what to do, what not to do, how to handle various situations, etc. etc.  The fluid station was about one block long on either side of the street.  We were to provide Gatorade to the runners and there was a banana station at the end also. In addition, on the opposite side of the street there was a medical aid station as well.  After the  brief I checked in and picked up my volunteer ID badge, a beanie to protect my head from the cold and a green poncho.  The ID badge was pretty rugged and waterproof, and also had additional leaves with essential information to cover all kind of contingencies that one may encounter showing the meticulous planning that the organizers New York Road Runners is well known for.  The list showed that for the total race distance of 26.2 miles, there were 25 locations with fluid stations and several with snacks as well. In addition, at each of those locations there were medical aid stations. If our station is any indication, there must be fluid stations on both sides of the course.  Our station also had a row of toilets for the runners. I assume several, if not all, of the 25 locations had them as well. I estimate at least 70 people but may be up to a 100 at mile 22 on my shift. There are two or three shifts at the station. That gives you a sense of the number of volunteers along the course. In addition there are course marshalls, and additional people at start and end as well.

We got about our business pretty quickly.  There were tables to be set up, Gatorade to be mixed, filled in cups and kept ready for the runners. Before I started off with the fluids a NYPD cop requested if I could help him set up a barricade across the 117 st. which is across the course along 5th avenue. Of course, I always wanted to block traffic in NY without getting a ticket!!  We erected a

barricade across 117th st - "Thou shall not pass!"  After that we started mixing a gallon of Gatorade Endurance with five gallons of water.  Like an army of ants each of us automatically fell into different functions, occasionally shifting as well, into mixing, filling, removing empty cans and boxes, etc. etc.  In the next hour or so we had three stories of cups (this is New York - everything is multistory here) with Gatorade and had them covered with thick cardboard sheets with cans of water or Gatorade on the cardboard to prevent it from getting blown off by the strong breeze in the morning.  We were ready for whatever forces of thirst may come from around the corner about 1500 ft from us in the north. We will hold our position with a smile, cheer each and every one of them and make sure their thirst is quenched no matter at what speed they may be coming at us.  Strong or week, they will leave us energized. No exceptions.

Next half hour was quiet, like the calm before the storm.  A fellow volunteer, Andreyer Tripp, who was a leader at our station, had struck a conversation with me. She had her granddaughter and her friend both running this year. She was going to cheer for them.  About 200 feet ahead of us (up stream along the course) was the fluid station for elite runners. They are the royalty of the race. These guys have their own bottles with their names on it.  There were ten tables each with two or three bottles.  I recalled how Meb was saying that you shouldn't do anything new on race day. He always brings his own drink whatever he is accustomed to during training. Geeta and Tara had found a nice bench right across the elite fluid tables.  Andreyer said she was working at the elite fluids tables last year. I used to think the elites may have their friends or partners passing on their bottles, but she said it is just the volunteers. She said someone picked up the wrong bottle once and how the right guy didn't get his. Incidentally, Meb had also mentioned that it had happened to him that someone wrongly picked up his bottle and how that messed up things for him.

My volunteer friend got a call that the wheel chair guys should be coming in pretty soon.  First came a couple of cars checking the course and the stations, and about 15 or 20 minutes later the  cyclists

Van Dyk

who lead the wheel chair racers closely followed by the first wheel chair (or was it two, I forget) came along like an express train.  I suspect it was Ernst van Dyk from South Africa who won that section. Man, these guys are F-A-S-T!   A few men and women followed on various models of wheeled vehicles - some were push rim style, and others were 'pedal' pushing type.  No matter what they came in, they all came in faster than you would imagine.  They all looked strong and great!  One look at their faces and  whatever stereotyped images I had in my mind of what a 'handicapped' person on wheelchair may look

McFadden

like got a make over.  In fact, I don't think I can ever again think of these people as handicapped as in weak and in need of some kind of assistance.  Such high were their spirits, such radiant were their faces with confidence, so powerful were their thrust that I seriously think a lot of able bodied people can benefit from a few lessons from them.  I simply watched in amazement as many of them just whizzed past us.  The finish time of van Dyk was about 1 hour 30 minutes - just imagine 26.2 miles in an hour and half on a wheel chair!  We cheered each and every one of them right from the moment they turned the corner til they were well on their way leaving our stations behind.  There were a lot of spectators cheering bringing in more energy. A band playing just after our stations added to the festive atmosphere.

Next came the elite women.  As a helicopter was following them it was easy to tell when they would show up.  As we watched the chopper come along southward and make a right turn and then a left and one more right we expected the women at any moment. Then came Mary Keitany, last year's champion, all by herself.  I couldn't imaging someone would be running that fast at mile 22! I just watched her stride in and stride away in amazement.  There was no contender anywhere near her. As she approached us I could see that her skin was shining probably due to the sweat working its way out through the millions of micro pores, or perhaps her extra large forehead was reflecting some of the skylight.  I really felt there was a certain beauty about the way she looked as she worked her way towards us before speeding away.  She was followed by the other elites and each of them was a treat to watch. Moreira of Portugal and Mergia of Ethiopia were a beauty as they strode away elegantly in

Moreira and Mergia

their own characteristic styles. Thweatt, Tufa, Kipyego, Jeptoo, I wasn't keeping track or count. It was simply amazing to watch each one of them.  Somewhere in between, suddenly I noticed that one runner was coming close to our side.  Everyone was cheering as she came closer and closer but then I noticed that she didn't have a bottle with her like most other runners who were drinking from their bottles and throwing them on the side, which were then promptly picked up by one of us and returned to the elite station.  I suspected that she may be looking for Gatorade and quickly took a cup from a side table and held it out for her.  She came straight at me with an expression, "Yes, Yes, that's it... Thank you!" and grabbed the cup from my hand as she continued. I went "Yay! She took water from me!"..  From that point on we made sure that if anyone was even looking at us we had cups in our hands in case they needed it.  The girl who took the cup from me was Ding Changqin, a pro athlete from China who represented her country in World Championships and Asian Games. She finished first in her age group and 17th among overall women clocking 2 hours 44 minutes 2 seconds. Of course, with a bit of help from my Gatorade:-)

I could go on and on at the risk of making this inordinately lengthy.  But then how can we not talk about the pro men!  I was somehow expecting to see Wilson Kipsang, last year's champion, turn around the corner and show himself among pro men.  But then, last year was last year.  There were three men who were in a bunch perhaps a half step or one step behind each other. Kamworor was leading followed by Desisa and then Stanley Biwott.  They were moving at a blistering pace, perhaps 4 min 30 sec per mile. It felt like they were barely touching the ground as they passed. What a sight!  Later I read that around until about mile 21 or so there were many runners all together. At that point Biwott decided to make his move and set off at a blazing pace of 4:24 per mile. The next few miles were 4:25-4:30 as they shed the other runners like discarding layers of clothing.  As they turned into 5th Avenue from 120th, it was Kamworor, Biwott and Desisa. You can't do anything except watch in amazement and scream at the top of your voice.  The crowd went into a frenzy. The trio were moving like wind.  Kamworor and Biwott had their typical forward lean and mild swaggering left and right as they  took their long strides. Although Desisa was ahead of Biwott at that point, I think you tend to notice the 25 year old a bit less in the presence of his taller adversaries. The footsteps of the trio appeared to be quiet - perhaps due to the loud noise the crowd was making..  Biwott would eventually take the lead and win. It appears that Kamworor missed his water bottle at our station. If so, he paid for it dearly - he still finished second.  He is only 22, so something tells me we will be seeing more of him in the coming years. Back to our station, as the lead pack of the trio moved ahead, Wilson Kipsang appeared a somewhat distant fourth. He looked strong, but looked somewhat disappointed as he fixed his gaze out front on the trio that was leading him. I gave him a good cheer - "Go Kipsang" as he sucked his drink out of his bottle and flew off.  It is surprising that when you look at each of these runners it is really not possible to tell who is running faster or slower.  We are talking about differences in speed of one step or half a step over a span of something like 1800 or 2000 steps - my rough approximation.  Then came Tsegay

Tsegay grabbing his bottle

quickly followed by the american hero veteran Meb Keflezighi and Yuki Kawauchi. I was so thrilled to see Meb show up from around the corner.  Looked like Yuki was right along on his hips on the left side, it was hard to tell, but a picture take by Tara shows Yuki slightly behind at that point.  As they both came in together, it seemed like Meb reached out to a bottle without even breaking a hundredth of a step and kept drinking from it through the side of his mouth - in his characteristic style.  I kept shouting "Go Meb.. Go Meb.."  This time I was hearing the runner's feet thumping the road, "phut..phut..phut..phut..phut..phut.." at a very high pace. It felt like

Meb and Yuki passing the fluid station

their feet were turning over something like 240 times a minute. And, drinking from the bottle at the same time. I was simply amazed that how someone can drink and run at such a fast pace..  It is not for nothing that Meb is called the "master of small things".  He is definitely a talented runner, but what makes him stand out is the attention he pays to every small thing and little detail, the meticulousness of his practice and training handling the small things to make sure everything comes together when you need them - on race day.  I recall he talks about the importance training to drink your water without breaking speed.  To Yuki's credit he was doing the exact same thing as well, and the Japanese runner appeared to gain an edge over Meb as they passed me causing me great heart ache. I shouted in even louder voice, "Go Meb.. Go Meb.." as they passed hoping Meb would hear and know that there is someone who knows him in the crowd which may be all he needs to dig a little bit deeper to help him prevail and overcome. I learned later that Yuki Kawauchi and Meb had been using each other to push themselves harder and harder. They were switching positions 6th and 7th from mile 21 onwards or so. The young Japanese is a hero in his country. His training regimen and the extremes to which he pushes himself is kind of folklore in Japan. He is a very consistent runner, competes in a lot of Marathons,  and has finished under 2:10 several times - more times than many american runners put together! Eventually, Yuki finished 6th ahead of Meb by a couple of seconds, who was himself very happy to break two Master's records in this race. Yuki had pushed himself so hard that he came down on the ground just after the finish line.  One could see Meb walking up and congratulating him.  A video posted by a Japanese blog seems to show Yuki in great pains lying on the hood of a car.  Yuki's performance was the best Japanese performance yet in New York. He thanked Meb for pushing him so hard, and the 40-year old American hero on his part was talking about how he latched on to and used the young Japanese runner to help him push harder to get to the pace he needed in order to finish fast enough for the records.  More pro pictures here.

Other pro runners trickled in and dried up over the next several minutes at the end of which opened the flood gates!  It felt like a stampede scene from movies but one without panic and more orderly, as
hordes of runners turned on to 5th Avenue from 120th.  The New York Marathon this year fielded a pro line up that is arguably stronger than the World Championships or the Olympics race, but the Marathon is truly about the tens of thousands of regular people who are running it.    These are people running the 26.2 for their own motivations - 50,000 people running for 50,000 different motivations

united by the one race they all are running. It was an amazing spectacle. Here are a few great moments captured during the race. As the crowd came in an endless flow the atmosphere filled with energy.  Every face had a different story to tell as each one was running his or her own race, for their own causes or goals overcoming their own individual challenges. At this stage, for a lot of people the race looked at least as much mental as physical, if not more. However, there seemed to be a collective energy to the flow of the crowd itself. It felt like while each runner was drawing from his or her own energy was also adding to the collective and drawing from it as well.  The runners were not in the race in isolation - the volunteers and the spectators were very much part of the race. If any runner looked in need of a bit of inspiration or motivation, we went, "Awesome job! Looking great! Central Park is just around the corner.." and pointed forward.. If someone seemed to be working at it, "Looking great! Keep going!"... Everyone got a cheer, regardless.

We got busy, very busy, very quickly, as Gatorade cups started moving out at a fast pace.  The crowd cheered on and the band played louder.  Runners kept coming in an unending flow. The three stacked levels of cups we had filled in the morning were all but gone. Volunteers behind the tables worked harder to mix and fill new cups so runners won't have to wait. I was only looking at cups and hands for a long time as runners kept coming in.  The course was looking like an ocean of runners, each one running at his or her own pace. Stopping to grab a drink, a banana or whatever. Some had their family or relatives on the side. The runners would wave, give a shout, or stop for a quick hug and move on with that extra kick you get when you see a loved one.

Brett with his finisher medal

As I walked in to the office on Tuesday I was greeted by a TCS NYC Marathon 2015 finsher heat sheet on the wall nearby. To my great surprise, my colleague Brett Mahy had run the Marathon on Sunday!  Apparently, he had got one of the few sponsored spots I had mentioned in an earlier post. Great job, Brett!  A non-runner, Brett started training in March and slowly built up his endurance over the course of the next nine months.  Speaking of his experience at the race, he said around mile 20 or 21 things were so tough he was cursing himself for getting himself into this. However, the crowd and the energy kept him going. His eyes were glittering as he narrated how he was grabbing a cup or two at every fluid station and kept pushing himself against all the pain. How he was mentally segmenting the remaining distance and focused on tackling one part at a time, and finally about the exhilaration and the feeling of accomplishment when he crossed the finish line.  He said that at that point he forgot all pain and was thinking of signing up for the next year's event! Even though he was still recovering from soreness and was walking down the stairs backward due to his tight quad muscles, Brett's confidence is sky high. The confidence that one can do anything - the confidence you get when you do the Marathon.  Go Brett!  What's next? Mt. Everest?  We are with you!

If THEY can run, WE can run.

Pictures by Tara: Volunteers, Moreira & Mergia, Tsegay, Meb & Yuki
All other pictures except Brett's: NYRR

50000+ Pheidippideses in New York

Tomorrow, Sunday Nov 1, New York City hosts the annual Marathon, famously known as world's largest Marathon.  Ever since Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens bearing news of defeat of the Persian army more than 2500 years ago there has probably never been a bigger line up of Marathon runners. Pheidippedes supposedly ran about 40 km nonstop, with no aid stations on the way, upon arrival at the Athenian assembly announced "We have won" and then collapsed and died. Since that time the Marathon has been a singular touchstone of human endurance. No wonder, Marathon has been a part of the Olympics  from its very first modern version in 1896.

The distances in early Marathons tended to vary around 40 km.  The current standard is 42.195 km which came into being in a somewhat arbitrary fashion. This distance was born in the 1908 London Olympics when the royal family wanted the race to start at Queen Victoria's statue at Windsor Castle and to end at the 'Royal Box' in the stadium.

Tomorrow is the big day in New York City.  Last year there were 50,530 finishers with an average finish time of 4:34:45.  Here is some useful information if you would like to watch or check out the status. The race will be telecast on the web http://abc7ny.com/ and on broadcast channels ESPN, ESPN3 and possibly others. Race starts in multiple waves with wheelchair division starting at 8:30 AM, pro women 9:20 AM, pro men and wave 1 at 9:30, and ending with wave 4 at 11 AM. Live tracker for all runners and the leader board will be available at http://liveresults.nyrr.org/e/NY2015#/tracker

Some big guns to watch  -

Men: Nick Arciniaga (US), Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico), Stanley Biwott (Kenya), Kevin Chelimo (Kenya), Lelisa Desisa (Ethiopia), Gebre Gebremariam (Ethiopia - past champion), Geoffrey Kamworor (Kenya), Meb Keflezighi (US - past champion returning in Masters this year), Wilson Kipsang (Kenya - defending champion), Daniele Meucci (Italy), and Krishnadas Kootale (okay...not yet :-)

Sponsors TCS have flown in two runners from home country India. Karan Singh and Arjun Pradhan, the top two Indian finishers from Standard Charterd Mumbai Marathon. Karan will be targetting 2:17 to qualify for the Olympics. Arjun has set a goal of 2:22.

Women: Christelle Duanay (France), Buzunesh Deba (Ethiopia), Priscag Jeptoo (Kenya - past champion), Mary Keitany (Kenya - defending champion), Sally Kipyego (Kenya), Sara Moreira (Portugal), Jelena Prokopcuka (Latvia - two-time champion), Caroline Rotich (Kenya), Laura Thweatt (US), and Tigist Tufa (Ethiopia)

Interesting Marathon trivia:

The oldest marathon finisher - Fauja Singh (British - age 100) finished the 2011 Toronto Waterfront Marathon taking 8:11:05.  Because he could not produce his birth certificate from his rural birthplace Beas Pind, Jalandhar (from 1911) his age could not be verified and his record was not recognized by the governing body World Masters Athletics.

Youngest Marathon finisher - Budhia Singh (Indian - age 3) ran 65 km from Bhubaneshwar to Puri in 2006. Apparently, he had completed 48 Marathons by the age of 4. He was temporarily banned from running by child welfare due to risk to his life.

If THEY can run, WE can run!

Have a great weekend.


P.S. I took a break last week to recover from three half Marathons in the three prior weeks and to give some well-earned rest to my left ankle. I am back to my three runs this week.

Let's science the sh*t out of your breathing

Okay, now that some of you may have seen the movie The Martian I'll level with you on the title.  When the buzz was on about the movie, a friend forwarded a clip from director Ridley Scott's storyboard which was a simple cartoon with a sphere representing Mars and the words 'Science the shit out of Mars'. I thought that phrase would make an excellent title for a post I wanted to write here analyzing breathing, of course with the hope that most of you would not see that cartoon and take the title as original, not a copy which it is in reality.  Last week I watched the movie, and to my dismay I saw that Ridley Scott actually used the phrase in the movie also -  Matt Damon (astronaut Mark Watney) who was abandoned by his teammates thinking he was dead collects himself after the initial shock and is determined to survive in the hostile martian environment.  After a quick survey of the situation, he goes 'I'm gonna have to science the shit out this.'  It seems like that phrase is the most popular line in the movie.  Even so, at the risk of being utterly unoriginal, I will still use the line here anyway.   By the way, if you get a chance, do see the movie. Jim Green, who is Director of Planetary Sciences Division was so impressed with the book and the movie that the movie received a lot of NASA 'support' and involvement throughout its production. Jim held a science conference call on The Martian this Tuesday, which I missed because it was during regular working hours. I plan to watch the recording. I must admit, just for the record, that I didn't find everything in the movie palatable. For instance, the atmosphere looked too dense for Mars, and the gravity also looked much stronger, more like Earth's. You can nitpick even more, but in spite of these, I found the movie very enjoyable. Tara was with me and, even as a self proclaimed science hater she thoroughly enjoyed the movie. In fact, she was mad at me, she still is, that we missed the first two minutes where the exact set up of the accident was shown which led to Mark getting separated in a sandstorm and the crew taking him for dead.

Alright, enough of the movie. Let's get back on track and start sciencing the sh*t out of your breathing.

Of all the parameters that signify endurance, probably the single most important one is known as VO2Max. This is just geek speak for the Maximum (Max) Volume (v) of Oxygen (O2) that one can consume in a minute. The higher your VO2Max the higher your capacity for long duration hard work - that is, your endurance.  They use this metric to study physiological response of astronauts to long stays in space to understand how their ability for hard work is affected when put in a weightless state for a long time.  The same metric is used by coaches in various sports, and especially in running.  There can be some variations depending on the situation. For example, a lighter runner can work as efficiently with a smaller VO2Max as a heavier runner who has a higher VO2Max because the heavier runner needs to carry more weight because he has a heavier body.  So in the context of running, usually the metric as it relates to body weight,  VO2Max per kg of body weight, is used. In contrast, in the sport of rowing where the rower doesn't have to carry himself like a runner, it is the absolute volume that matters.  In any case, the amount of oxygen you can intake and transport to your muscles is the key factor in long duration endurance sports where you spend a lot of time working aerobically.  When working aerobically, you continually produce energy by taking in oxygen using your lungs which is then pumped out by your heart through the arteries and transported to the capillaries that reach your muscles. The muscles then use the oxygen to generate energy to do work. In anaerobic work, on the other hand, you are using stored energy in your muscles. Stored energy is limited, but when you have it you can use it for powerful or short duration bursts such as sprints. You won't be able to sprint for a long time because your are withdrawing from stored energy which is limited.

When you train yourself for endurance, your aerobic capacity increases, which is to say your VO2Max goes up so that your capacity to perform long duration work (e.g., long runs) increases. When we run, do we always consume the maximum volume of oxygen? No. Typically, people run at a certain fraction of their VO2Max.  We can run harder or easier by working at a higher or lower fraction of  our VO2Max, but generally at a certain level of effort we are performing at a certain percentage of our VO2Max. Your running speed has a linear relationship with the fraction of VO2Max you are working at. Let's say your VO2Max is 50 ml / kg / min (50 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute) and your running speed is 300 meters / minute when you work at VO2Max. Then at 90% of VO2Max, which is 90% * 50 = 45 ml/kg/min, your speed will be about 90% * 300 = 270 meters / minute. When you run at 50% of VO2Max, you attain a speed of 50% of your speed of VO2Max. This is a direct linear relationship.

So what happens when you train and improve your VO2Max? Let's take an example. Let's say your VO2Max is 50 ml / kg / min and your comfortable effort level is at 80% of your VO2Max. At that effort level you will be consuming 80% * 50 = 40 ml of oxygen / kg / min.  That corresponds to a running speed of 80% * 300 = 240 meters / minute.  Now, let's assume that by training yourself you've raised your VO2Max to 60 ml / kg / minute.  Your comfortable effort level would be 80% of your new VO2Max, which is  80% * 60 = 48 ml / kg / min. That is a 20% increase over 40.  So now at 80% VO2Max your running speed will be 20% higher at 288 meters / min.  Alternatively, when you run at 240 meters / min you will achieve that speed at a lower level of effort.  Makes sense?

What does all this mean to your breathing when running?  Simple. You should breathe in such a way that you maximize the volume of air you intake in a minute.  Oh, by the way, as an interesting side note, the body's urge to breathe is more an attempt to get rid of the waste product Carbon Dioxide (CO2) than an urge to intake oxygen.  The body is quite comfortable with about 4-5% of CO2 in your lungs. But when you start running, your muscles produce much more CO2 than when at rest. When the body senses an increase above the normal 4-5% range you breathe harder to get rid of the excess CO2. It is the increase in CO2 that makes you breathe harder. Not the drop in the amount of oxygen. In fact, if oxygen were to be insufficient, you will simply pass out. We are fortunate that before that happens, the increase in CO2 drives us to breathe harder reducing CO2 buildup and increasing the O2 content in our lungs.

The air we breathe has plenty of oxygen. So all we need to do to deliver the maximum amount of oxygen to the muscles in a given amount of time is to intake maximum volume of air in that amount of time.  How does this translate to a breathing rate?  Let's again take an example of a runner who takes about 180 steps per minute (if you take fewer steps per minute, you should practice and get it up to at least 180 - probably a good topic for another "science the sh*t out of" post in the future :-) Let's say you breathe in for four steps and breathe out for four steps (a 4-4 rhythm). You are taking deep breaths and you'll probably move about 4 liters of air in and out of your lungs in every inhale-exhale cycle. How many breath cycle do you take in a minute?  That would be 180/8 = 22.5 cycles moving about 22.5*4 = 90 liters of air in and out of your lungs in a minute.  If you are working hard that is not very much.

Let's look at a 3-3 rhythm. Now you are breathing a bit faster and so the depth of each breath is a bit less. You'll probably move about 3.5 liters of air in and out of your lungs in every cycle. That would translate to 180/6=30 cycles yielding 30*3.5=105 liters of air in a minute. This gives you a lot more oxygen than the 4-4 breathing rhythm. Now let's look at a 2-2 rhythm where you inhale for two steps and exhale for two steps while taking the same 180 steps per minute. You are breathing a lot faster now which will reduce the volume of air further to about 3 liter per breath. At the 2-2 rhythm you get 180/4=45 cycles of breath in a minute moving 45*3 = 135 liters of air in and out of your lungs, which does an even better job of ventilating your lungs, reducing CO2 buildup and increasing oxygen intake.  A faster breathing rate of 1-1 drastically reduces the volume of air you can take in and also increases the portion of breath that moves through your mouth which doesn't get involved in O2 and CO2 exchange,  further reducing the efficiency.

You can now see why a breathing rhythm of 2-2 is most beneficial.  Most elite runners automatically switch to the 2-2 rhythm when running at sub maximal speeds. Practice breathing the 2-2 rhythm by mentally saying "in.. in.. out.. out.." to synchronize your breathing with your steps. Even when running easy try to get into this rhythm and make it a habit. You will deliver the maximum amount of oxygen to your muscles, helping you go farther and stronger.

Happy running.

If I can run, u can run

Do Women Outnumber Men?

If you are talking about half marathons, apparently in many races the answer is yes. Yesterday's race is a case in point.  Women - 741; Men - 462!

To put this in historical context, for the first time in Boston Marathon history, Kathrine Switzer entered the race in 1967 when it was considered a men's only race.  Mid race, a race official noticed that a woman was running and he tried to physically remove her from the race. The effort was thwarted by her boyfriend who was running with her, and Kathrine successfully finished the marathon heralding a new era for women. Ever since, women's participation in endurance races has been on a growth path, with the half-marathon being a special favorite. Running USA's annual half marathon report for 2014 states -

For the first time in history, 61% of U.S. half-marathon finishers were females (approximately 1,196,000, a record), the highest proportion of any race distance.

Way to go, women!

We had a cold day very uncharacteristic of mid-October. Mercury reading  32 F (0 C) with winds in 10-15 mph taking the chill factor to 27 F (- 2.5 C).   However, the day was bright and sunny and seemed to take the bite out of the cold.  Due to the Halloween theme a lot of people showed up in various costumes from spider man and batman to tooth fairy and easter bunnies.  Historic Morristown is a very charming and beautiful town. The race was organized by Superhero Racing.  Overall, everything was managed pretty well by the organizers.  Tara joined me to cheer for me at the finish line.  We met up with our friend Prathap who was also running. We looked for my colleagues Kshitij and Yan who couldn't be found in the crowd. I left a voice message for Yan.

Left to right: Prathap, me and Tara

The race had a finish line about two miles away from the starting point. The organizers had arranged buses to transport finishers back to the starting area.  I gave a call to Morristown Running Company who were managing the arrangements to enquire if family members will be allowed on the bus, and more importantly, if they can get a ride from the start to the finish line.  They confirmed that family members can use the bus either way.  However, on race day morning the volunteers we saw on the site had no information about buses going from start to finish.  So I advised Tara to look for the buses after the race starts, and take the bus if they allow her. Otherwise, she can stay at the starting area where I will meet her after the race - after a long long wait for her.  Anyway, things didn't go well as we hoped with the bus. After the race started, Tara was told by a volunteer that buses were only for runners.  But instead of waiting at the start area, Tara surprised me by walking her way to the finish line using Apple maps on her phone!  Of course, as all this happened after the race started I wasn't sure where I would find her once I finish - whether at the finish area or at the start area. However, as she is very mature for a tenth grader I was confident that she would be fine.

Kshitij (R) with a fellow superman 

The mood among the runners was very upbeat and joyful despite the cold.  The orange color race t-shirt and the various costumes loosened up the environment unlike in some other races where  most people would seem to be having their minds focused on their own races,  In contrast the atmosphere was very jovial and a lot of chatter and laughter in the air lightened up everyone.  The race organizers had arranged pacers. I could see 2:00 hr pacers a bit ahead of us as Prathap and I waited for the start, and the 2:10 or 2:15 pacers behind us. I was wondering whatever happened to Kshitij and Yan and right about that time Kshitij showed up with a beaming smile! He also had news from Yan that she was still on the road.. oh, well..

The race started in two waves. The first 'wave' was for one elite runner, and the second wave for the rest of us lesser mortals a couple of minutes later.  I was considering two strategies for this race. One was repeating my Staten Island strategy of running easy for half the distance and then taking it up to a moderately hard level for the rest of the way. The other was to attempt to run about five seconds per mile faster and hopefully shave one minute off my Staten Island time of 1:57:54.  In order to do this, I should try running harder from the get go, because if I were to go easy for the first half I wasn't sure I could make up for it in the second half.  I wasn't too afraid to run a bit harder this time as I don't have another race coming up next week.  On the other hand, I thought if I ran too hard early I might run out of steam before the finish line.  Hence, I was split between these two options, but leaned a bit towards running harder, but hopefully below my lactate threshold and also hope I can hang on to that pace for almost two hours. I haven't run a threshold run in a while, and even when I did it was for less than an hour.  I finally decided to stop thinking and let myself loose a bit - in the sense run without holding back too much. That would mean I was going for saving about five seconds a mile.  While these thoughts were going through my mind we had already begun running. It was a bit too crowded when running around corners of streets one after another. I felt like I was running faster than my easy

pace, but I could see the 2:00 hour pacers ahead of me. I wondered if they were going too fast, or I was running too slow despite my feeling that I was running faster than usual.  I decided to continue at that pace for at least a mile to allow the body to warm up and then reposition myself relative to the 2:00 hr pacers.  After a mile or mile and half I started feeling warmed up and the body wasn't feeling like I was moving too fast.  I started feeling stuck behind a large group of folks who were following the 2 hour pacers. At some point just before the two mile mark, taking advantage of some extra space outside the paved road I passed the crowd and the 2 hr pacers. Once past the pacers, there was no congestion and there was a lot of space around the few people in that area. Right at the two mile mark the course took a sharp right turn and things took a bad turn for my ankle. The road was cut and uneven at that location and my left foot got caught in one of the uneven patches pushing my ankle outward. That hurt. It was the same ankle as I have been tending to for a while now. I watched it for a few minutes to see how it was doing. The pain seemed to reduce a bit, and I so I decided continue running.

You'll never catch me like this anywhere else!

All along the course, there were a lot of families and children cheering the runners.  Young kids looked very excited to see their superheros running in the neighborhood.  The course took us through some very nice views of Morristown and neighborhood. The scenery varied from downtown Morristown to residential areas and finally a very beautiful few miles in the Loantaka Brooks Reservation.  I kept chugging along at a harder than usual intensity.  After the residential areas which had some ups and downs, and of course a lot of residents who were cheering the runners, the course took us along the railroad tracks. I
wasn't sure where exactly we joined the tracks, but the course took us across Convent station and eventually left the tracks on its way to the very nice Giralda Farms area.  After Giralda Farms we entered Loantaka reservation which was quite a change of scenery.  The change from a suburban view to the thick wooded surroundings was very striking. Fall colors had already arrived and the course was paved with colorful tree leaves. The course here  looked like bike trails.  Miles 11 and 12 were in the reservation winding through the woods. I was feeling the miles by this time, and wondered if my decision to run a bit hard from the get go was a good idea. I was feeling fatigued, and felt like I was struggling.  Right around that area, I thought I didn't see the marker for mile 11 so I wasn't sure if I was running mile 12 or still on mile 11. I came across a fellow runner and asked if we passed mile marker 11. He seemed to think he saw it.  I had no reason to suspect he didn't, and that means two more miles to go and I kept at it.

I was only occasionally paying attention to my running form and breathing, for some reason. I was feeling tired, perhaps due to the hard running or perhaps I was running and breathing sloppy. Since I was still able to talk to a fellow runner, or crack a joke to some volunteers who were guiding us in the right direction through the winding course in Loantaka, I presumed I must be doing alright. Oh, by the way, to add some fun to the race, the organizers had arranged for 'zombies' to hide in the woods. Some of them tried to throw a scare as unsuspecting runners passed by.  There were several zombies, both male and female, hiding in the woods. I kept looking for them and whenever I spotted one, I made a shotgun with my hands and fired a shot at them making a loud pop with my mouth. That was fun.

Eventually, the course left the zombies and Loantaka Reservation. We could now hear the public address system at the finish area.  It was still probably one more mile to the finish line.. the longest mile of the race.  I kept at it.  There were people at street corners cheering the runners, instead of zombies trying to scare.   As we entered the finish area there were lots of people - families and friends, cheering their loved ones who are coming to the finish line. I started wondering if Tara made it to the finish area or she was still at the start area. I knew that I must've made good time . So instead of pushing still harder toward the finish line, I decided to look for Tara behind the ropes where families stood on either side.  Finally, I heard her voice call out 'Dad!! Dad!!' just moments before I crossed the finish line.

Yan after finishing her  first half marathon

I tried to catch my breath as Tara ran towards me.  We walked back and picked up the finisher's medal.  That was three half marathons in three weeks (Yay!) My legs were feeling stiff, but not as bad as last week. A banana, a bagel and a bottle of water later I did some stretches as I waited for my friends.   Soon, Prathap joined us, with all the excitement of finishing his first half marathon. Tara and I were so happy to share that moment with him.  We missed Kshitij at the finish line, and were not sure of the whereabouts of Yan.  Since my phone died along the way I had no way to contact either of them from the finish area, nor did I know if either of them had called.  After waiting for a while, the three of us took the bus back to the start area where we had parked our cars.  The bus was full of superheros and other characters who were happy after finishing a good half marathon. Later in the afternoon I learned that both Kshitij and Yan successfully finished the race. On the right is a happy picture of Yan after her finish,

I did good on time - 1:55:33 which was 2 minutes and 21 seconds faster than last week in Staten Island. Pace was 8:49 per mile as against 9:00 last week.  That is definitely faster than I wanted to run. No wonder I was feeling more exhausted than I was prepared for!  I should really consider running easy and relaxed next time.

If I can run, u can run.

Morristown half

Just a quick line to let everyone know that two of my colleagues, a friend and myself successfully completed Superhero Halloween Half Marathon in Morristown today (Sunday). Need some rest tonight. I'll post more details tomorrow. Hang tight, till then.

Looking forward to tomorrow's race

I skipped Wednesday's run after Sunday's race as I didn't want to put too much stress on the body before the third half marathon tomorrow. That is three in three weeks. Sounds cool. I did go for a run - the usual 10K - yesterday, though.  Did that at a higher intensity than usual. I wanted to check my maximum heart rate. I ran at a fast pace for the first 2-1/2 miles and then ran hard every uphill in an attempt to see how high I can get my heart rate. The highest I got was 179 which was much lower than what I was thinking I would see. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough. I will try again. But 179 does seem like some sort of benchmark as I got the exact same number in the previous race also. May be that is my max rate. I intent to make one more attempt.

Otherwise, I'm taking rest before tomorrow's half marathon in Morristown.  Tara wants to come along and watch.  It'll be nice to have someone from the family watching or cheering at the finish line.  Two of my colleagues and a friend are also planning to run tomorrow. That'll be fun.  The weather is going to be somewhat cold at 34 F (1 C). There is also a freeze warning. I hope there won't be any ice on the road.

The race is expected to be very colorful with lots of costumes and all due to Halloween. I will post a report after the race. Stay tuned.

If I can run, u can run

Staten Island: My Second Half

View across the Hudson as the runners waited

The Staten Island Half Marathon was an entirely different experience from Central Park.  Beautiful scenery across the Hudson river of Downtown Manhattan, gorgeous view of the Verrazano Bridge, and an excellent segment on the boardwalk.

I had a busy Saturday.  I had to work on something all day, and then had volunteer work at the observatory during the night.  I left the observatory a few minutes early in the night and got home around quarter past eleven. Staten Island doesn't have a lot of parking spots. So my first task was to make a list of parking lots and garages in the area.  I also quickly checked NYRR's website for any last minute announcements. There was indeed one - that the race will start 15 minutes late at 8:45 in the morning, and an extra ferry has been arranged at 7:45 AM from Manhattan to St. George Terminal Staten Island for the runners. That is the last ferry to take if you are coming from Manhattan.  My worry wasn't the ferry. It was car parking.  Last year there were about 10000 participants. When I did a quick search of the number of parking spots in the area, that came to about 2100. That right there was my worry.  Even if I assume that about half the people come from New York, that still leaves about 3000 people potentially left without parking spots!  I figured that driving all the way to Manhattan, finding parking there, and then taking the ferry to Staten Island is a bit too much to do and decided that I will drive straight to Staten Island and look for parking. If I am able to find parking then I will run. If not, I will return home. That was the plan.  And so I went to bed at around 12:30 to catch some shut eye and wake up at 5 o'clock or so for a start at 6.

Beautiful view of Verrazano bridge along the course

Long story short, I got one of the last few parking spots in St. George Courthouse which was about 10-15 minutes walk from the Ballpark where I needed to pick up my bib.  NYPD officers had blocked all traffic in and around the area. So the walk was easy.  Once I picked up my number and t-shirt, I did what every other person did - joined a long line for the urinal!  Thirty minutes later I was at the start.  Since there was a 5K race at 8:30 I had a 'front row' view of the race start. This was a smaller race of about 1500 runners, as against about 8600 for the half marathon.  Since I was right in front, I got to see the young fellow who sang 'God bless America..." in such a lovely voice.

After the 5K start I went off looking for my corral.  Due to the large number of runners and the relatively narrow street at certain points the race started in multiple waves. I think I was in the third wave, or it could be the second.  There were pacers like last time. The 1 hour 50 minutes pacer was at the front of my corral. That time is a bit fast for me according to my calculations. However, since this course is flat I thought I might make it and toyed with the idea of keeping up with the pacer.  Finally, I decided to stick with my own plan, which is to run at my own pace and see where that takes me. I planned to run at a moderate pace most of the race as I didn't want to get too exhausted at the end. I figured I will run at a moderate and comfortable effort at least for half the distance and then switch to moderately hard to hard for most of the remaining distance if not all of it. I didn't want to push too much as I haven't really done a tempo run after I hurt the ankle more than a month ago. So my hardest during the long part of the course after the first half would be at a level of effort which will allow me to talk, but it would be hard to do so - which is the definition I use for the range moderately hard to hard.   Oh, and by the way, this time I am armed with a hi-tech gadget - a running watch and heart rate monitor. I had only run one short run with it, but decided to take it along anyway. I also set heart rate zone alerts on the watch to alert me when I fall below zone 2, or go above zone 3 based on my maximum heart rate (Max HR). There was an element of guess in this calculation as the gadget was using a calculated rate for Max HR as I hadn't measured the actual rate for me.


The weather was gorgeous -  54 deg F and a light breeze. Bright and sunny.  Since this is mostly a flat course, and as the NYC Marathon was only three weeks away, I expected to see some serious running.  And I wasn't disappointed. As the start horn went off people took off.  I decided to take it easy for the first 10-15 minutes and then take it to a comfortable pace half the distance. As they say, the pace at which I can recite the national pledge.  If I am able to sing the national anthem, then I need to speed up :-)
The view all along was so nice and the fresh breeze so energizing that I didn't realize as I passed one mile after another.

The first few miles were along Bay Street going southward.  There were many local residents cheering the runners. At certain locations there were musicians playing instruments which made the environment very lively.  At some point I overheard someone say that he was going to walk up the hill, which was a cue that there was a minor challenge coming up. I changed my gears and got ready for it.  Tackle the hill before it tackles you, right? 

It didn't turn out to be a big challenge and I got back into my usual breathing rhythm pretty quickly. Moreover, there was a downhill just after the top of the hill which helped relax a lot as I didn't want to exert myself so early in the run. Somewhere around that section the course went in an underpass and the runners were having fun shouting and clapping making echos. Not to be left behind, I also displayed my prowess and gave a couple of coos which echoed very nicely from the ceiling above. 

NYPD officers were standing guard all along the way to make sure even pedestrians do not cross the street while the race was on. I'm pretty sure this must've inconvenienced some residents, but all the people I saw on the sides seemed to welcome and cheer the runners.   I grabbed a cup of Gatorade from a fluid station around mile 4 or so and took a bathroom break as I saw a few that didn't have any wait. That was probably after mile 6 or so. The busy street was behind us by now.  There were no ups and downs at all. This part was flat for as long as I could see. Although I couldn't see the sea, I could sense that it was close on my left,   I was also taking swigs at my bottle every now and then, and had already taken an energy gel by that time - just to make sure I don't run out of carbs. Running after a night of short sleep used to worry me before, but the last two experiences seem to show that energy is more important.  Around this time,  the course turned eastward towards seashore and the boardwalk. Things were going as per plan and I turned up the dial a bit. 

Somewhere around this time, my watch had started beeping  alarms that I was going above the limit I had set. I checked how I was feeling, and didn't find anything unusual or uncomfortable. Anyhow, I eased things a bit, but after a few minutes at that level, it didn't seem like the right intensity. So I went back up the notch again. In a few minutes the watch started complaining again. I checked the screen and it was showing 167. As I was feeling perfectly fine, I decided to ignore its complaints.  The run on the boardwalk was very very nice. I focused on my cadence and form and tried to maintain a good clip for what seemed to be two or three miles on the boardwalk, but I am not  sure as I didn't see any mile signs.

It seemed like everyone was enjoying that segment. There was a young girl who worried me a little bit that I might trip on her. She used to be behind me and occasionally she would speed up a bit and slowly move up past me, slowly, very slowly, and then drift in front of me a bit too close for comfort. I was afraid that I would trip on her. So I would move away from her, and then after a little while she would again slowly sneak up on me from behind and again drift in front of me. This went on and on for a long time. The only other thing that was going on was the constant screaming of my watch as it tried to persuade me to ease things down to the level I had set. At some point when I checked the heart rate was 171 or so, but as I was able to talk at that level I didn't want to dial things down.  I wasn't sure if I could turn off the alarm in one or two swipes, or if it really required me to go through the settings menu. Either way, as I didn't want to waste any time trying to turn off the alarm I decided to ignore it.  It kept screaming at me nevertheless like a nagging child. It did help a bit at times, as I occasionally approached another runner trying to pass him or her, the watch alarm would go off with perfect timing which worked like a signal and they cleared out of my way.

A short while after we got off the boardwalk there was a long climb up which was somewhat challenging. Interestingly, I didn't see too many people walking up that hill. It seemed like almost no one was willing to sit down and bargain with that one. It was the hardest part of the run and it was really nice to see people battling it out and conquering that challenge running rather than walking. I'm sure everyone knew that there is no shame in walking, and it is often wise to walk than run, but then why walk when you can run?

Somewhere around that point, we got back on to Bay Street where the race started.  From here it was mostly downhill. By now, my legs were kind of beginning to feel the miles they covered.  However, I kept a good pace wherever I could get a bit of 'gravity assist.'  Since this part of the road was also often uneven I was watching my steps. I didn't want to get injured and throw all the hard work away.  I did see two or three people who were unable to complete - two were limping as they suffered some sort of injury and  pulled out within the first few miles. The third one was a lady who seemed to have had cramps or something two or three miles before the finish line,  and a NYPD officer and a NYRR volunteer were helping her out.  The officer was calling for ambulance, and he shouted at the runners asking if anyone had water. One of the runners from behind shouted back that he had. That was truly nice. He was willing to give up his water and possibly not beat his personal best or whatever he was targeting. Instead, he clearly showed that compassion to a fellow runner is more important than his own personal goals in the race. At those final stages of the race when so much of his preparation running up to the race and the effort in running the race up till that point were all boiling down to the next 10 or 20 minutes that lay ahead of him, he remembered that at the end of the day this is just a run. He set a great example and sent a reminder to everyone that who we are and what we do for one another defines us more strongly than anything else.

The last half mile or so seemed unending. It was narrow and winding and at every turn I thought I would see the finish line, but it never seemed to come. My legs were feeling a bit stiff, but I didn't really notice it - strangely, though, I can remember it now looking back.  Finally, the ballpark entrance showed up after another turn and the soft turf of the ground gave a much different feel to the feet. Eventually, the turf gave way to a dirt patch before the finish line, which was the home plate of the ballpark.

I wasn't exhausted as much as stiff on the legs.  They were feeling tight in places I never felt tightness before.  I dragged my legs picking up some Gatorade, a bagel and an apple, and came down on the turf. A thousand other finishers tending to their feet and legs, or just crashing on their back. I finished my drink, ate half the bagel, and started my attempts to get my legs back in working order by doing some inner thigh and outer thigh stretches. It is more appropriate to say that I tried to do those stretches rather than I did, because the legs felt so stiff.  I think I had a taste of what it might feel like after a full marathon. I do think, though, that a lot of the stiffness and soreness I have from this run has to do with the fact that I have not run flat courses. So a different set of muscles must have been activated this time - muscles that I've not been using.

For the quantitatively minded, this is what the numbers show. I was surprised that my finish time of 1:57:54  was so close to the one last Sunday which was 1:58:16. In terms of pace, this run was exactly 9 minutes per mile whereas the previous one was 9:02 per mile!  I had another minor surprise from this run.  NYRR showed split pace for various distances. It seems like I ran almost the entire race at a consistent pace of around 28 minutes per 5 K.  First 5 K was run in 28:18, second 5 K exactly at the same pace in 28:18 down to the seconds! (I can guarantee that I don't have that much precision and control over my pace.) The third 5 K was 30 seconds faster at 27:48 and the next 5 K at 28:05 seconds. I find this interesting. Perhaps, my focus on a certain level of perceived rate of exertion combined with the mostly flat course resulted in a fairly constant pace. I don't think it can be true, as the feeling of exertion can vary based on fatigue during the run, but I can't think of any other explanation.

That's all for tonight. I am taking rest and recovering before the next half marathon this Sunday. I have some ways to go.

Enjoy your day.

If I can run, you can run