The pursuit of 1:29:xx

As I anxiously stood at the start line of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) 2016, a myriad of memories flashed through my head. I thought about several occasions on which I missed the sub-1:30 mark, I thought about the 4:00am wake-up routine over the last several months, I thought about the fun training moments spent with my close friends over the past few weeks, I thought about the final taper week, I thought about the pasta lunch I had with my close friends a day ago…It felt like a lot passed through my head. Before I could think of anything else, the ‘mad-rush’ started..

The background

Before I describe the journey (or the pursuit of 1:29:xx, as I love to describe it) a bit of a background on how it started. About two years ago, when I had started running I had very limited understanding of what half-marathon is all about. It had started almost out of my whimsical desire to try something new. Why? Because, I had known a few other people doing it. At that stage, I had a simple discussion with a friend at work about what a good finish time looks like for half-marathons. The discussion progressed like a typical conversation between strategy consultants:

Sundeep: “What’s a good finish time for a half-marathon?”

Friend (after a bit of thought and consideration): “It depends.”

Sundeep (with visible exasperation): “OK – that doesn’t help much. Go on...”

Friend (unperturbed): “It depends on factors like your age, body conditioning, how long you have been running etc. etc.

Sundeep (still not happy with the answer): “OK – so for a physically fit runner who has been running for a few years and who is around as old as me…and you can make some intelligent assumptions...– what would be a good half-marathon finish time?

Friend: Officially, if you do it in 3 hours, it is regarded as a formal half-marathon finish; Kenyans can do it in 1 hour. If one does it in within 90 minutes it is considered quite a decent pace”

Grossly overestimating my physical abilities, I told my friend that I intend to do my first half-marathon in 1 hour 29 minutes and a few seconds. The friend had an amused smile. Without saying anything explicitly he dismissed what I had said as an ignorant remark. It didn’t take me long to understand why.

• On 12^th October 2014, I did my first half-marathon in 1:47
• On 23^rd November 2014, I did my first ADHM in 1:43

About a year later, I was able to finish three half-marathons where I came within striking distance of my aspirational timing:

• ADHM 2015 (Nov 2015): 1:31:20
• NDM 2016 (Feb 2016): 1:31:00
• Fastest running and living HM (Mar 2016): 1:30:40

 The gap may have appeared just about a minute or so. However, it was good 60 odd seconds which would just refuse to go away. With that started a serious desire to do 1:29:xx. 

3 months training period: Sep – Nov 2016

It was around September 2016, when the training for ADHM 2016 started in all earnestness. By this time, I had gathered sufficient understanding of what a typical training cycle looks like. However, there still were a few gaps which had to be addressed. In particular, there are three things which I was not doing correctly. I am sharing the same below and hope that it might be helpful for runners with similar aspirations.

Mileage is not everything, but it still matters – probably more than most other things!

I have always been a firm believer that strength training has a huge role to play for any long distance running (and I continue to believe that). However, earlier I often underestimated the importance of clocking mileage and my typical weekly workout schedule would look like 3 – 4 days strength training and around 2 days running. The turning point in my understanding came when I had a chat with Shiv Gahlot, our local Boston Qualifier (once again, if you are reading this – thanks buddy!). Besides sharing some serious training tips, Shiv suggested reading a book on Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger.

This has been massively helpful and I highly recommend this book to any serious runner. Since reading this book, my weekly workout schedule comprises of 1 – 2 strength training sessions and around 4 runs. Once again, in no way undermining the importance of strength training (and it is critical to avoid injuries), but just highlighting how running is important to improve as a runner!

Each training run has a purpose – got to respect it!

My weekly workout schedule now comprises of 4 runs a week – an interval run, a tempo run, a medium long distance run and a long distance run. The beauty and finesse lays in understanding what is the right pace to run each of these runs. Earlier, my tempo run used to be an effort to run 10K as fast as possible. The interval run used to be an effort to do some sprint repetitions. Occasionally, I would also do a 5K and try to achieve my PB without realizing where it really fits into the overall training plan for half-marathon. A lot of these misunderstandings got addressed after reading the book by Pete. The three months leading to ADHM days comprised of very specific runs – to be run at a particular pace (not faster, not slower!) with a specific objective. More on this subject on some other day.

Race day planning matters - Break it into smaller components.

21.1K is a fairly long distance and a lot can go wrong if one doesn’t plan the run. This is where an honest introspection of one’s own physical abilities (body conditioning, nature of flagging during training runs, level of fatigue, typical pace limiting factors etc.) close to the race day is critical. Equally critical is to plan the big day race based on a clear understanding of these factors. A simple race day plan could look like:

For me to finish 21.1K in a given time, I need to do 14K in x minutes. For that to happen, I need to finish 10k in y minutes. For that to happen, I need to do 5K in z minutes…

...and more importantly - understanding if x, y and z are really achievable with the current level of body conditioning.

It often helps to have a close friend critique this and keep you honest in such an assessment. This is where my running buddy Rahul Dhanda really helped me through innumerable discussions close to the big day. The plan for me was simple:

21.1K in about 89 minutes, 14K in about 59 minutes, 10K in about 42 minutes, 5K in about 21 minutes – and yes, we did believe it was achievable.

The big day: 20^th November 2016

When one attaches too much importance to something, it is bound to put undue pressure. I was no exception. The race day almost felt like JEE day or like CAT day for me. Standing at the start line, I was not sure if cracking JEE / CAT was more difficult or if finishing 21.1K in the next 89 odd minutes would be more difficult.

As I anxiously stood at the start line, a myriad of memories flashed through my head. I thought about the previous edition of ADHM, I thought about several occasions on which I missed the magical sub-1:30 mark about a year ago, I thought about the 4:00am wake-up routine over the last several months, I thought about the fun training moments spent with my close friends over the past few weeks, I thought about the taper week that had just gone by, I thought about the pasta lunch I had with my friends a day ago. It almost felt like an eternity before the race started and each passing moment was adding to the anxiety. I kept casually jumping on the spot to keep the body warm.

At 7:10am the race started, and how relieved I was to be able to switch from vertical jumping motion to the linear horizontal motion! The race commenced as per the plan: 5K in 20:10, 10K in 41:09, 14K in 58:30…and finally, yes finally 21.1K in 1:29:39.

It was a moment of joy, joy that can be felt but not expressed..

What next? - Time to briefly cherish the moment and start a new pursuit!

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Sundeep Singh

+91 - 98181 19794

About the Author: By background, Sundeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Given his flair for mechanics and passion for running, he loves to analyze and write about the finer nuances of running techniques / strategies. Sundeep’s best run till date is ADHM 2016, which he completed in 1:29:39.

ADHM 2014 to ADHM 2015 - a memorable journey!

With its international status, Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) is probably India’s biggest running event (or should I say a running carnival!). Anyone who ever participates at ADHM, takes along fond memories and experiences worth cherishing forever. This year’s ADHM was no exception – and having participated in ADHM 2015 (my second participation at ADHM), I have my own share of experiences. However, instead of focusing solely on the race day, I intend to share the build-up to ADHM 2015 culminating into the sweet memories on the race day.

Flashback at ADHM 2014:

There is a bit of background context that I need to share before coming to ADHM 2015, so let me take a step back and take you back to ADHM 2014 (i.e. last year), which happened to be my first participation at this grand event. I had gone into the event with a timing target of 100 mins (i.e. 1:40:00) – I had prepared hard for the big day and was very keen to achieve a sub-100 minutes half-marathon. After a bit of struggle and drag, I managed to complete the run in 103 minutes, missing the target by good 3 minutes. After crossing the finish line, I experienced mixed emotions – joy and despair - at the same time; joy for having completed the run, despair for having missed the target.

A few days later when I looked at the race day pics, the feeling of mixed emotions had primarily transformed into pure despair. It seemed like a sight of misery and struggle – far from what one would expect from a strong finisher. For the first time, I understood what people really refer to as “skeleton dance” towards the ending stages of long distance runs – dropping shoulders, loosely hanging wrists, unsteady head, fatigue written all over the face (see a snap from closing stages of last year's run).

Journey from ADHM 2014 to ADHM 2015:

So, with the dual disappointment of missing the target and a miserably “weak” finish, started the endeavor to improve for ADHM 2015. In my hope to raise the bar, I gave myself a timing target of 95 minutes this year (i.e. 1:35).

I realized that to improve as a runner, I had to focus not just on running skills, but the overall body conditioning – i.e. upper body strength, lower body strength, core strength and cardio-strength. I soon discovered that some of the best work-outs to improve overall body conditioning (for runners) are body-weight based workouts. After all, running is all about carrying body weight – possibly for a longer distance, at a faster pace!

What followed in the six months leading up to ADHM 2015 was a period of intense body weight work-outs - mostly focused on squats, lunges, burpees, pull-ups, chin-ups and push-ups. 

Primary work-outs for ADHM 2015: 

After about six months of grind, I was confident that I had a reasonably good chance of not demonstrating skeleton dance this year and also meeting the target of 1:35 (even though the best I had done till date was 1:39).

The night before the run, I was fairly anxious and couldn’t sleep till very late. I kept wondering how different scenarios might play out on the following morning. The last thought that probably crossed my mind before sleeping was that - previous year I had missed my target by three minutes, it would be nice to have my target miss me by three minutes this year. I decided not to put additional pressure on an already anxious mind and tried to stop the chain of random thoughts.

 29^th Nov 2015 – the race day

The day started with the usual race day rituals – early morning peanut butter sandwich, Enerzal, banana, energy bar etc. I had a clear view of what needed to be done at what time leading up to the 7:05 am start at Nehru Stadium Delhi. Once the race started, I kept reminding myself that it is a long distance run – and not a short distance sprint, so kept moving ahead at the planned pace and curbed the urge to go faster. I was cognizant of the mistakes from last year where first 5 K sprint played its part in last 5 K skeleton dance.

Out of habit, I kept glancing at my watch as I navigated through different KM marks:

• 1 KM 1: Time taken 4:30 mins
• 3 KM: Time taken 12:38 mins
• 5 KM: Time taken 21: 09 mins
• 10 KM: Time taken 42:36
• 14 KM: Time taken 59:45

…the timing at 14 KM mark for some reason triggered the same thought which I had the night before while sleeping – having my target miss me by three minutes was indeed a possibility! I decided to continue as per the pan for a few more KMs and really give it everything in the final 3-4 KMs.

By the time, I finished the race I had clocked a timing of 1:31:20 which was good 3 minutes 40 seconds faster than what I had targeted for the big day. What is more, I was able to wipe out the bitter memories of “skeleton dance” from the previous year’s ADHM. 

Sundeep Singh 

+91 - 98181 19794

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About the Author: By background, Sundeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Given his flair for mechanics and passion for running, he loves to analyze and write about the  finer nuances of running techniques / strategies.

One year down - a life-time to go!

Last year, on 12^th Oct 2014, I had participated in my first running event (CRPF HM). As such, I am on the verge of completing my first year in the world of running. Given this context, the current edition of my Running Reflections holds a special significance for me. In this edition, I intend to look back at the year that just went by and share the learnings / experiences which I value the most.


During the course of last one year, my outlook towards running has assumed different shapes and forms – at different times during this short timeframe, I have viewed running as recreation, crazy passion, potential long-term profession, compulsive obsession...the list goes on. After all these fluctuating perspectives, I seem to be finally happy at just trying to be an ardent student of this sport for now. Like a typical student, I am starting this blog with three most important learnings I have had with respect to running. I am sharing these as I believe these are the areas that most beginners tend to get wrong.

My learnings from the first year of running

Learning 1: Technique matters!

By nature, running is simple – all it requires is moving quickly on the feet, something that most of us have done at some point in life. However, for someone who aspires to evolve as a runner and stay injury-free, this is slightly more nuanced. There are several finer elements that one needs to be aware of. For instance, there is so much to be learned about aspects such as stride length, cadence, arm swing, foot strike, body poster, pelvic rotation etc. Getting these finer nuances right is critical to running efficiently and expending minimal possible energy, which is important for running long distances.

This is one area where I have made maximum progress over the past year. Not because I have mastered the technicalities (in fact far from that), but only because I have started identifying these inefficiencies which is probably the most important step to start improving. For instance, as it stands today there are three areas that I am working on:

1. Instead of back and forth arm swing, my arm swing tends to be all over the place.
2. Shoulders should be kept steady (like headlights of an automobile) - for me shoulders tend to swing as I run.
3. Lastly, my foot-landing tends to be a heel-strike as opposed to a mid-foot strike. This is a common cause of knee injuries for runners.

A simple visual comparison with an accomplished runner can help elucidate these points. For example, compare the position of shoulders, elbow and foot-strike between me and Shshank Sir in the visual below (thanks to Coach Jatin for this analysis). Interestingly, both Shshank Sir and I are running at just about the same pace in these pics. It’s a different matter that I seem to be exhausted as if sprinting and Shshank Sir seems to be relaxed as if just brisk walking – that’s what proper running technique can do!

Learning 2: ‘One size fits all’ approach doesn’t work

Many of us have at some point entered search strings like – ‘sub-2:00 training plan’, ‘sub 1:45 training plan’ etc. in Google search bar. It certainly helps to understand what these typical training plans look like. However, over a period of time I have realized that these standard plans should not be adopted without appropriate customization.

The reality is that each body is unique and has its own training needs. Personally, I realized that there was sufficient ‘homework’ that I had to do even before something like a standard plan might be useful for me. This homework was required in the form of building the basic capabilities required for running (strength, cardio etc.). Even today, almost 70 - 75 percent of my training comprises of strength workouts and my average weekly mileage is relatively low compared to other runners (it tends to be around 25Kms per week).

The other important thing to note here is that training needs would differ by the type of race. For instance, the training focus prior to a race such a Hyderabad Half-Marathon (hilly terrain, high humidity) could be on building strength, endurance workouts etc. On the other hand, an event such as ADHM (flat course, cool weather) may require more of cardio workouts, interval runs etc.

Over the past few months I have tried hard to build different elements of workouts (other than running, of course) in my training regime.

Learning 3: If you have a race-day plan, stick to it!

The only mistake I consider bigger than ‘not having a plan’ is to ‘have one and not stick to it’. This is something I still find difficult to execute and till date AHM has been the only event in which I managed to stick to my race-day plan. On most other occasions, I have been guilty of deviating from my plan and eventually ending up with an inferior timing (compared to what I had planned for).

Moreover, it is interesting to note the factors that can lead to deviation from the race-day plan. On some days it tends to be the race day adrenalin which prompts me to run faster in the beginning. On other days it would be over-ambition or probably just lack of focus. Worst of all, there have also been instances when all it would take is an ‘unknown’ runner overtaking me and my petty ego prompting me to run faster, thereby screwing up the overall plan!

My most treasured moments from the first year of running

The journey over the past year has been full of magical moments / experiences. As I look back at the year and recollect the most treasured moments, can’t help think of the following moments.

There couldn’t have been a more auspicious start to my running journey than to meet my all-time idol Sachin Tendulkar minutes before my first run (CRPF HM). I recall how tears continued to trickle down and I kept staring blankly at the great man even after the race had started.

The journey was made special as I met some inspirational coaches, mentors and buddies along the way. Special thanks to Jatin Sir, Shshank Sir, Coach Ravinder Singh, Ash Nath and Aby Dee.

Finishing every race (big or small) was special, but none more so than finishing first Full Marathon at SCMM, completing Airtel Hyderabad HM and winning Rookie Runner of the Year Award in 2015.

…a big thanks to all who have been a part of my first year of running journey and I hope to have many such fun-filled running years ahead!

Sundeep Singh 

+91 - 98181 19794

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About the Author: By background, Sundeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi. Given his flair for mechanics and passion for running, he loves to deeply analyze the  finer nuances of running techniques / strategies. Sundeep ran his first half-Marathon on 12th Oct. 2014 and within less than a year of running, he has achieved a personal best HM timing of 97 minutes. 

Fuel your engine with right nutrients!



As a Mechanical Engineer, I was always fascinated by automobiles. I was intrigued by how a simple automobile engine converts chemical energy of fuel into motion. Now that running is my newfound passion, I cannot help draw parallels between running and automobiles. Fundamentally, the two are very similar – both machines draw upon the energy from a fuel and convert it into kinetic energy (i.e. motion). However, the choice of right fuel is far more nuanced in the case of human running. This blog explores some key aspects around the choice of right nutrients to ‘fuel’ an athlete’s body.

Recreational runners are often obsessed with the idea of enriching their diet with carbohydrates and for right reasons. Carbohydrates, after all are the energy giving food and are critical for runners, especially long-distance runners. However, this obsession with ‘carb-loading’ at times leads them to neglect other important nutrients. An efficient runner needs right amounts of all types of nutrients – proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. The right amount and source of these may vary by the training needs. In this blog, I explore (and I deliberately use the word ‘explore’, as I am no an expert in this space and am myself trying to find the right answers) the following two important questions:
(i) why is each type of nutrient critical for a runner?
(ii) what are some good sources of proteins for vegetarians (something that I struggled with before finally finding a diet that suits me)?

So, let’s start with understanding the importance of different nutrients for a runner.

Carbohydrates
We all know that carbohydrates are the main energy giving food. Let us turn our attention to a slightly finer question – how much of it can we store in the body and how much do we need during a typical running event?

When we consume carbohydrates, these are broken into glucose and glycogen. Glucose is absorbed in the blood and circulates through the body – this is the most readily usable form of energy. Whatever energy is not needed immediately is stored in the form of glycogen reserves. A healthy human adult stores around 500gms of carbohydrate – around 400gms as muscle glycogen and around 100gms as glycogen in liver. Additionally, up to 25gms circulate through blood vessels in the form of glucose.

Now, let’s look at the next part of the question – how much carbohydrates do we need in a typical running event? Research indicates that in a typical running event a runner consumes around 3gms of carbohydrates per minute. This essentially implies that a well-nourished body has sufficient carbs to keep the body running for around 175 minutes [= (500 + 25) / 3]. Interestingly, this is quite close to the official cut-off time of 180 minutes for a half marathon.

If we look in terms of energy requirements, 500gms of carbohydrates represent around 2,000 Kcal of energy, while a runner like me (78kg) running a 21.1km stretch consumes around 1,780Kcal of energy (based on standard running calculators).

Two important observations before we move to the next nutrient:

1. The amount of glycogen that can be stored in a healthy body is limited. Any excess carbohydrates that we consume gets stored as fats – so, there is an upper limit to the amount of carb-loading that should or can be done. Any excess gets stored as unwanted fat.
2. Majority of glycogen (around 80%) is consumed in the muscle tissues. Hence, longer muscles are capable of storing more glycogen – next time you hear your coach say that stretching after running helps elongate and strengthen muscles, bear in mind this can potentially also increase your ability to store glycogen.

Some good sources of carbohydrates: Banana, low-fat yogurt, whole-grain bread, pasta, green vegetables and potatoes.

Fats
Human body comprises of much more fats as compared to carbohydrates. While the amount of carbohydrates a body can store is just around 500gms, around 10 - 20 percent of body weight (for a healthy person) can be made of fats. Research also indicates that 1 kg fat can provide around 9,000Kcal of energy. For a person like me (78kg), this means that my body can potentially store around 12 kg fats (or a source of 135,000Kcal energy). Now this is much more that what I would need to complete a half-marathon or a full marathon (or even an ultra-marathon).

However, the challenge is that unlike carbohydrates, fats cannot be readily consumed as energy sources. Deriving energy from fats is a relatively complex process. Fat is stored in the body in the form adipose tissue. To derive energy from adipose tissue, it first needs to be broken and transported to the tiring muscle. Moreover, releasing energy from the adipose tissue requires significant amount of oxygen. Typically, while running by the time there is a need to draw energy from adipose tissue (i.e. after depleting glycogen store), body is already breathless and availability of oxygen to release energy from adipose tissue becomes a limiting factor.  

Another important thing to note about fats is that these are of two types – saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fats are the ones that usually come from animal sources and carry significant health risks (including increased blood cholesterol level). Unsaturated fats are usually derived from plant sources and unlike saturated fats these fats do not carry health hazards. In fact, unsaturated fats provide some health benefits for heart.

So, what does this mean for us, the athletes? Primarily two things:

1. Unlike carbohydrates, fats are available in abundance in human body and there is no need for ‘fat-loading’. This is an important point as many people end up consuming fats under the garb of ‘carb-loading’ prior to the race day.
2. Amount of saturated fat intake should be limited but the diet should have appropriate level of unsaturated fats.

Some good sources of unsaturated fats (good fats): Olives, almonds, walnuts, nuts, peanut-butter, tofu, soy-milk, olive oil, soybean oil.

Water
Importance of staying well-hydrated in long-distance runs cannot be overemphasized. During long-distance runs body loses significant amount of water and sodium in the form of sweat. This loss of water and electrolytes is a common reason for the occurrence of muscle cramps.

Typical dietary intakes to avoid dehydration – 2 to 3 liters water per day and Enerzal (especially during the last few days leading to a running event).

Vitamins and Minerals
If we draw the analogy to the automobile engine that I started this blog with, vitamins and minerals are like lubricant oil for the automobile. Lubricant oil is not the fuel that provides energy for motion, but it is required to prevent wear and tear and ensure proper maintenance of the engine. Similarly, vitamins and minerals are nutrients that are required in small quantities for the body parts to function properly. These nutrients also help in strengthening the body’s immune system. There are different types of vitamins and minerals, each performing a specific function. Following table summarizes the most critical vitamins and minerals for an athlete and some common food sources. For brevity, I have confined the benefits to the ones most relevant for an athlete.

Proteins

Proteins are the nutrients that help in building muscle and expediting recovery / repair of damaged tissues during high intensity work-outs or long distance runs. Some runners tend to neglect protein, labelling it as ‘muscle-building’ food more appropriate for body builders. However, this is at best an incorrect practice. I usually think of protein intake in two phases:

1. During the months leading to running events (or during off-season): This is the ideal time to work on body fundamentals and build muscle strength. For instance, it helps to develop more muscle around forearms and wrists. This helps to provide greater propulsive thrust from the swinging of arms during running. Similarly, it is critical to conduct strength training to prepare the muscles (especially leg muscles such as calves, quads, hamstrings etc.) for the stress-impact these muscles will undergo during the running season.  
2. During the running season: If one is participating frequently in distance running events (say once in a month or two months), then the body needs quick recovery to repair the damaged tissues. Hence, here again, appropriate intake of proteins is critical.

An average human body needs around 0.8gms of protein per kg of body weight (daily). For athletes trying to build strength or recovering from a long-distance run, this requirement is considerably higher and is usually in the range of 1.4 to 1.6gms per kg of body weight. For me (78kgs), this implies a daily protein requirement of around 120gms. As a vegetarian (but consuming eggs), I often struggled to meet this requirement. However, with experimentation I think I have found a diet that largely serves my daily protein requirement – sharing below for the benefit of fellow vegetarian runners:

I hope the article provides some good 'food' for thought for runners looking to improve their nutrition to enhance their running performance.

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 Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794

Miles to go before I sleep...

Before I start writing my first blog, I have to confess that I have been planning to do this for over a year now. Now that I have finally mustered all the courage to get this rolling, there is almost a year-long backlog of running experiences that I have to share. I kept wondering for a while as to where to start and then decided to start from where it all actually started.

Jan 2014: It was another usual day in the office for me and I was interviewing a candidate for a strategy consulting role. Towards the end of the interview, I asked the candidate about his hobbies and he passionately talked about running half-marathons. That was the first time I heard about something called half-marathon, which is equivalent to running a stretch of 21.1 km. I found it intriguing to know that humans just like me are capable of running that much. I was pretty certain that even with an all-out effort I wouldn’t be able to run more than 5 km. That same night I decided to run and actually test my physical limits. I was disappointed to discover that I had grossly over-estimated my physical ability – I managed a little less than 2 km.

My dismal performance in that inconsequential late night run did inflict some ego wounds. I kept brooding over it for a few days hoping that the feeling would slowly fade away into the log of junk files in my unconscious memory. However, that was not to be – the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do something about it. In the hope to resurrect my crushed ego, I gave myself a target to run a half marathon within the next 12 months. A rubbish target if you ask me now – rubbish, as it was purely based on my petty ego and whimsical idiosyncrasies.

Whatever it was – it was what it was and that was it. What followed was a period of fairly disciplined and highly unfocused training.

Disciplined - because there were no half measures. I made sure that I stepped out to run / jog every day without exception.  Often times it meant running on Gurgaon roads well past mid-night. There were times when stray dogs chased me, there were times when security guards checked on me, there were also times when the odd passer-by would just stare at the watch and discard it as another instance of Sardar gone crazy at the magical hour!

Unfocused - because there was no method to the madness. All I did was run, run some more and then run just a little more.

Thanks to the discipline, I did achieve a steep improvement in my mileage in the first few months. I quickly reached a stage where I was able to jog around 14 – 15 km. However, given the lack of focus in my training, I couldn’t continue improving for long. By the end of fourth month, I had hit a plateau and was just not able to improve my mileage any further. Every time I tried to run long distance I had to stop at around 15 km mark – for reasons such as fatigue, cramps, heavy breath etc. I soon realized that there was something fundamental missing in my training – the next task at hand for me was to identify that missing element.

Anyone who has ever taken exams such as JEE or CAT at some point in their academic career would tell you that when these people face a problem (especially a problem involving some measurable indicator), they start thinking of variables, equations and that kind of crap. I was no exception - I had a problem at hand and the problem was to maximize my mileage (i.e. kms I can run). So, on another fateful night, I sat with a piece of paper and a pen and started thinking about ways to improve my mileage (i.e. km or meters that I can run). I vividly recalled how as a kid, my algebra professor used to say that multiplying a given number by some other number in both numerator and denominator doesn’t change its value. I never thought that I would think about that seemingly futile algebra point in real life. However, I was wrong – that same learning was about to give me a ‘Eureka’ moment. After a little bit of editing and iteration, I had the following equation on the paper:

The equation looked simple, but it was powerful. It immediately told me that I could improve my mileage by improving on three aspects:

I immediately knew that the way I was training had absolutely no element of strength training and that was probably the reason for cramps and fatigue. This simple analysis gave my training a new direction and I now knew that to become a better runner, I had to improve three things:

• Flexibility
• Cardio strength
• Endurance level

…and that was it! This simple yet powerful message is what I want to leave my running friends with (especially those who have taken to running recently) – please don’t overlook the importance of endurance (or strength training)! This is critical if you want to keep improving and enjoying this simple yet addictive sport for years to come.
What followed was another six months of disciplined and this time focused training. On 12^thOct 2014, I successfully ran my first half marathon (in 1:47:03). By the time I won the Rookie runner of the year (2014) award in Jan 2015, I knew that all those late night runs and whimsical idiosyncrasies were completely worth it.

...what is more, I had found the true passion that I really enjoy and care for - Running!