My tryst with God

At the outset, I would like to appropriately qualify this blog. “My Running Reflections” is supposed to be a running blog, but this one qualifies as something far more sacrosanct for me - something that extends beyond the boundaries of running or any sport for that matter. It’s about an ephemeral moment when I revisit some sweet childhood memories – all within a matter of few seconds!  

IDBI Federal Life Insurance – New Delhi Marathon (26^th Feb 2017)

It was around the end of 2016 when I learned about Sachin Tendulkar’s association with the NDM event. For the first time, a running event was going to be more than just a running event for me. I was charged up to give my best performance on the big day. The months of January and February were largely focused on speed work with tempo and interval runs forming a significant share of weekly running mileage. 

The days passed by and then comes the big day - 26^th Feb, 2017.

The excitement was in the air. As I entered the Stadium, I continued performing my ritual warm-up drills, but my mind was elsewhere. I kept scanning the sea of people to catch a glimpse of my childhood Hero – the Master, the Blaster, the God – the One and Only, Sachin Tendulkar.

All warm-up drills performed, pre-run banana eaten, pleasantries with fellow runners exchanged – still no sight of Sachin Tendulkar. I was disappointed at the hype I had created in my own mind. For the last two months, all I had thought about during my personal time was the sight of Sachin Tendulkar flagging-off the race and I achieving my best ever half-marathon time on that magical day!

But, alas - that was not to be.. 

With a feeling of despair and utter disappointment, I accepted the fact that Sachin had not come. I bent down to tighten the shoelace for one final time before the run commenced. Just as I gingerly tied the shoe-lace knot, I heard a loud boisterous eruption. Even before I got up to see what it was – a broad smile had flashed on my face; I knew the master had arrived.

What I saw next was intense, emotional, nostalgic and beyond words. With a large flag in his hand, Sachin stood just a few meters away from me (the fact that I made it to the first few rows from the start-line helped!). 

The first thing that struck me at seeing Sachin was the radiant glow on his face – a glow that one cannot be born with, a glow that certainly cannot be acquired through the use of cosmetic creams – a glow that one attains through single-minded focus and dedication and going through the grind for one’s quest for excellence day after day, month after month – for almost 25 years! 

A few moments later, I felt a sudden turbulence of thoughts and flashbacks from my childhood days. It was almost like the sight of Sachin had nudged a few blocks of nostalgic memories that were comfortably placed beneath the layer of sub-conscious memory, and were now trying to regain equilibrium. Some moments that instantly crossed through my head:

• IIT Delhi second year, Karakoram hostel (2002): We were watching a one-day international match in the Hostel common room and Sachin got dismissed cheaply. The gentleman sitting next to me (an M. Tech student three years senior to me) was visibly disappointed and started abusing Sachin like crazy. After exercising restraint for a few minutes, I decided enough was enough and beat that senior like a mad man. Subsequently, I was banned from the hostel common room for six months. Well, I was a kid back then with limited maturity (but in no way suggesting that with the advantage of maturity that I have gained over the last 15 years, I wouldn’t do that again – I still believe that the gentleman got the treatment he deserved!)
• The day of my Roka ceremony (2^nd March, 2008): I was getting engaged to my would-be wife! Everything was great – all relatives were ecstatic, grand preparations had been made at a Banquet Hall. The only little bit of a concern (at least in my mind) was that the day coincided with Common Wealth Bank Series, 1^st Final – India vs. Australia. As the function progressed, I kept furtively escaping every few minutes (on the pretext of feeling hungry, nature’s call, need water and what not) to catch a glimpse of Sachin on a large screen where the match was being telecast in an adjacent restaurant. The master scored an unbeaten 117 and the auspicious day became a little more auspicious.
• Sachin’s retirement day (15^th Nov 2013): As a kid, I always feared what would I do when Sachin retires. It almost felt like I would not have anything to look forward to. But of course, those were thoughts as a kid. Now, I had grown up – in fact, I was a father of a 3-year old kid. When Sachin walked back after getting dismissed for 74 for the final time, I just couldn’t hold back tears. Yes, I cried like a kid (yes, it was embarrassing, but so be it!). My kid was visibly concerned to see me weeping and looked at his Mom to explain what was going on. My wife explained to him that Papa is sad because he will not be able to watch Sachin’s batting anymore. The three year-old kid came to me after a few moments and said – Papa, Youtube pe dekh lenge (we will watch him on YouTube). As innocent as it may have been, it did give me a lot of comfort!

There were many other spontaneous flashbacks, but these were the prominent ones – all within a matter of few seconds.

The run started..

Sachin was cheerfully looking at the passing cavalcade and cheering the runners. What happened next was magical. There was a brief moment when Sachin and I made an eye contact. Sachin smiled and showed me a thumbs-up. Of course, he was doing that to the crowd but for that brief moment it felt like it was a personalized good-luck gesture for me.

The energy level went through the roof. After that magical moment, there was no way I was going to settle for anything less than my personal best.

The challenge for me was to hold the nerves and run as per the plan. I often make the mistake of running the first few kilometers faster than the desired pace. I had planned to take at least 20:30 for the first 5 kms. At the end of 5 kms, I realized that I had deviated from the plan by good 45 seconds and finished it in 19:45. I did manage to get back on the plan after around 8^th km mark and by the time I finished the race, I had managed to achieve a new PB for half-marathon distance – 1:28:33 (bettering my previous best by 1 min and 6 seconds).

Clearly, it was a race that I would remember for reasons bigger than just my personal best timing! My tryst with God was magical and the lucky charm seemed to have continued into the next big event too.

Urban Stampede 10km run (5^th March, 2017)

Managed to secure second rank with my personal best timing of 40:47 for 10 km run.

So, back to the original topic - The Tryst with God. 

What next now? The desire to meet Sachin remains and meet in a more personalized manner. But, it should feel like a meeting earned through hardwork, discipline and elevation of self to a level where the meeting makes sense not just for me but also for Sachin - and, I have miles and miles to go before even remotely  entertaining a thought like that!  

Sundeep Singh

+91 - 98181 19794

#TomTom

#GetGoing

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 NDM 2017, which he completed in 1:28:33.

Ace your Race at the right Pace!

The month of November is here, and so is Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM). On the 29^th of this month, runners of different ages, professions and nationalities will get on to the roads of Delhi to experience the eighth edition of this vibrant high energy running event. Different runners would have their own reasons to participate in the event. There would be some who would be there to experience the joy of running, some others would be there to experience the euphoria and intensity associated with this mega-event, there would be still others who would be there to achieve their personal timing targets. In case you happen to belong to that last category of runners (with aspirations to achieve your timing target), this article is probably going to be helpful for you.

Over the past few weeks, several running friends have approached me to discuss the best way to pace a Half-Marathon. Incidentally, many of them aspire to achieve a timing target of sub-2 hours at ADHM. Well, the reality is that Half-Marathon is a long distance and a lot can go right or wrong depending on how one paces the run. Additionally, there is no unique way in which two different runners can approach a race, even if they are gunning for the same target! In this article, I intend to illustrate a simple approach in which one can break the 21.1 Km (seemingly long and unmanageable stretch) into somewhat simpler and more easily manageable segments. For the purpose of illustration, I am taking the example of a timing target of 2-hr finish for the half-marathon.

Step 1: Assess the overall objective

If you are planning to achieve a timing of 2 hours for a half marathon, you need to achieve an average pace of 5:41 (mins:seconds) per Kilometer.

Average pace for 2 hr finish = 120 mins / 21.1 km = 5:41

The first question to be answered even before we get down to crafting a pacing plan is to ascertain if this is the right timing target. This is more of a subjective introspection than anything else. For instance, if you have recently clocked sub 2 hrs 10 mins then probably with a little bit of stretch there is merit in targeting 2 hours at ADHM. However, if your latest timing has been upward of 2 hrs 15 mins then probably 2 hrs target for ADHM is too aggressive.

Step 2: Understand the constraints and race-day conditions

This is probably the most critical step to appropriately plan a run and primarily involves two aspects – (i) understanding the race day conditions, and (ii) Understanding the current level of body conditioning (and pragmatic expectations of one’s own abilities). These are explained below:
  

Understanding race day conditions

There are several aspects that one needs to look at to understand the race day conditions. For instance, some of these could be (non-exhaustive list below):

• Negotiating crowd: If you are targeting a sub-2 finish, chances are that you have been lined up in sections B, C or D in the race start sections. This means you would have to negotiate crowd in the initial few kilometers, which means you will essentially run at a pace slower than the average target pace (which is actually not a bad thing as it allows the body to warm-up and is a desirable thing to do – crowd or no crowd).
• Race timing: Most of our local running events are designed to start the race at around 5:30 – 6:00 am. However, the Half-Marathon run at ADHM has a staggered start with section A starting at around 7:10 am, and then other sections starting with a time offset of around 5 mins. Hence, you will likely be running till around 9:15 to 9:45 am, and by that time sun would have assumed full effect. If you are one of those who does not necessarily enjoy running in the sun (like me), this may have an implication on your running pace in the last 4 to 5 kilometers.
• There may be other race day considerations such as elevation, humidity level, availability of hydration points etc., which may need to be factored into your running plan (some of these may not be big considerations for ADHM, as the course is fairly flat and the weather conditions are the best that one can expect for a running event; however, these would be big considerations for an event like Airtel Hyderabad Marathon).

Understanding current level of body conditioning
This is critical so that one can appropriately plan a pace for different segments of the race. Again, for the purpose of illustration, some of these considerations could be:

• Split timing: Unless, one is an elite runner, chances are that we are not gunning for negative splits (second half faster than the first half). During my training runs, I have found that I tend to take approximately the same time for the first 11 km, as I take for the remaining 10.1 km, i.e. in terms of timing, my time at 11 km mark tends to be the mid-point of the race. This could be an important input into my racing plan.
• Pace towards the end: Similarly, during the training runs one may observe that in the last 4 -5 km, average pace is around 20 – 25 seconds slower than the average target pace for the race. This is a common observation as by that time fatigue has already set-in and it adversely impacts the pace.

The above are some of the considerations that one may factor-in to develop a pacing plan. Please note that these are not exhaustive considerations, but just trying to illustrate what kind of aspects one can think through. Once we develop a thorough understanding of these constraints and considerations (and that really is the purpose of training runs), the next step is to put it all together in the form of actual race day pace plan. This is important as each consideration really has an implication in terms of how best to pace the race. For example, following figure highlights how each of the above considerations can be translated into a pacing implication:

No.	Constraint	What does it mean?	Pacing implication
1.	Timing at 11 km mark approx. represents the half-way mark (in terms of timing)	For a 2-hr target, need to cover first 11 km in 60 mins and next 10.1 km also in 60 mins	Average pace for: first 11 km is: 5:27 next 10.1 km is: 5:56
2.	Negotiating crowd in the first few kilometers will mean slower than average target pace	Average target pace for first 11 km is 5:27 (see point 1 above), but average pace for first 3 km would be around 20 - 25 seconds slower (let’s say 5:50)	Simple math will show that avg. pace:   for first 3 km is 5:50 for km 4 to 11 is 5:19 (this will allow one to achieve overall average pace of 5:27 for first 11 km)
3.	Fatigue and sun in the last few kms will slow me down	Average target pace for last 10.1 km is 5:56 (see point 1 above), but average pace for last 4.1 km would be around 10 – 20 seconds slower (let’s say, 6:10)	Simple math will show that avg. pace: for last 4.1 km is 6:10 for km 2 to 17 is 5:47 (this will allow one to achieve overall average pace of 5:56 for last 10.1 km)

Step 3: Put the plan together

As illustrated in the steps above, based on an understanding of race day conditions and our current body conditioning, we have segmented the overall 21.1 km into 4 segments as shown below:

Step 4: Follow the plan

Once you have done the due-diligence of identifying what formula works for you, the next important (and probably the hardest) step is to stick to the plan on the race day. For instance, the plan in the case we analyzed above is shown below: 

There invariably would be an urge to go faster than the planned pace in the initial few kilometers. However, it is important to keep following points on the radar:

• Do not try to beat your plan; after all, it is your own plan! If at all you had the ability to do better than the plan, it should have been factored into the plan in the first place.
• Having said that, it is important to listen to your body signals – if you constantly get a message that you can go faster than the plan (may be because of race day Adrenalin), conserve that energy for the last segment. Do not be lured by the desire to go faster in the initial few segments and risking your performance in the closing stages of the race. Remember you are more likely to realize your best timing potential by finishing strong (and not by starting strong).

I would just reiterate that each individual has to identify his / her own pacing plan for the race day (based on an understanding of self as well as the race conditions). The better one understands the real conditions and factors them into the pacing plan, the higher is the likelihood of beating the target on the race day.

All the best for ADHM 2015 and looking forward to meet you on the race day!

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 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 achieved a personal best HM timing of 97 minutes. 

About Boot-Camp Yellow: Founded by coach Jatin Arora (in 2013), Boot-Camp Yellow is an outdoor workout experience that redefines fitness through structured training and sustainable nutrition. Our outdoor training offers broad programs that are suitable for any level of fitness. Our program is based on Cross-Fit methodology. For more details, please visit: http://www.bootcampyellow.com/. To book a trial class, call / whatsapp: +91-99104 09992

Day Breaker HM...from PB to PW, all in 12 weeks!

19^th July: Day Breaker Half Marathon

Due to incessant rains over the past few weeks, I had been anxious over the days leading up to the event. Every few hours I would check the weather forecast for Sunday morning. I had been silently praying that the forecast of rain and high humidity would not come true. After all, this was going to be my last event before the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM) scheduled for next month and I was keen to get a good uninterrupted run before AHM. Well, part of the prayer did get answered – thankfully it did not rain, but the unanswered part (i.e. the part related to humidity) was about to offer me the toughest weather conditions that I have ever run in!

Just like in any other event, I was in my own zone prior to the race kick-off. I was warming up in a corner and silently hoping to improve my PB (personal best) timing of 97 minutes, which I had achieved about three months back at Nehru Park HM. Just then my coach Jatin Arora walked up to me and offered a coaching tip:  

“Today is not the day for timings and records. It is very humid – don’t push very hard and focus more on completing the run safe and strong” – whispered Jatin softly in my ears. It was almost as if he had read my mind.

“Yes Sir – I understand that. Today is not the day for timings and records” – I replied, without meaning a single word of it!

Shortly thereafter, the run started and I started chasing the target time of 97 minutes. The run seemed to have started well for me. I was not running very hard so that I had sufficient energy left for a strong finish. At the same time, I was not running slow either, lest it becomes difficult to catch-up towards the end. I seemed to be moving at just the right pace.

Out of habit, I kept glancing at my stop-watch at all major milestones:

• 1 km – 4:30
• 2 km – 8:52
• 5 km – 22:49
• 10 km – 46:38  

I made a quick mental calculation and realized that I was pacing well. With a mild negative split (which I usually manage), I would have been around 97 mins mark and with a little bit of luck probably a little under 97 minutes. What I didn’t realize was that it was the adrenalin rush of the event day which had me going well till that time, but that couldn’t have been sustained for another 11 km in that atrocious humidity.

By around 13 km mark, I was badly drenched with sweat. The effect of humidity had started showing up and it felt like the engine was running out of ammunition very fast. It was around that time that the wisdom of Jatin’s advice started dawning upon me. The spirit had started dropping, but somewhere I was still hopeful of completing strong.

By around 15 km mark, the hope had also started dropping and it felt like I would have to run really well from there on to not hit my PW timing (personal worst, if there is something like that)!

By around 17 km mark, I was so drenched with sweat that it felt like I had taken a shower. Each step gave a sensation as if the shoe had been soaked with water by landing in a water pit. By now, I knew I had to do something different to even complete the run. Amidst dropping spirit and dropping hopes, I decided to drop-off my T-shirt too. I realized that with the amount of sweat it had soaked, just taking it off and squeezing out the sweat would probably make me carry half a kg lesser.

Shortly thereafter, the run came to an end and I did manage to achieve my PW by clocking 1:49 beating my previous PW of 1:47. The time I took for the run was about 2 minutes slower than my previous slowest run and a good 12 minutes slower than my PB of 97 minutes. All in all it was a good humbling experience with some great learnings, the most important one being – follow your coach’s advice.

On the positive side of things - despite the atrocious weather, the euphoria and the enthusiasm at the finish line was there for all to see. For me, the highlights of the day were:

1.       Coach Ravinder Singh did it again!
Rain or no rain, humidity or no humidity, route permit or no route permit (remember Nehru Park HM instance), Coach has developed a knack of organizing great events one after another. Here again, observing the celebrations and sumptuous meal at the finish line was a grand experience. It is no wonder that on the same day Coach was honored by TomTom (Global leader in navigation, sports watches etc.) for his contributions in the field of running and promoting running as a way of life.

2.       All running groups rocked!

It was great to watch my fellow runners from Boot Camp Yellow (BCY) and other running groups running hard under testing weather conditions. Everyone was a winner and could hold his / her head high for taking on a challenging run head-on. And may I dare say, none more so than the youngest member of BCY group (Rahul) – who completed his first half-marathon yesterday at a young age of 14. I heard one of the fellow runners commenting - 5 km before 5 years, 10 km before 10 years and 21 km before 21 years are all great accomplishments and I couldn’t agree more.

I have to admit that before reaching home, I was feeling a bit embarrassed to share the result of my slowest half-marathon with my wife. She made the job easier by saying that in such an unforgiving weather even standing still for 1:49 is commendable, running for that long certainly is a huge achievement. I am not sure how true that is – given a choice, I would rather run for that duration than stand still. Nonetheless, it did help me overcome the disappointment of my slowest HM.

...So, What next?

Next month I am travelling to Hyderabad to participate in AHM. I have heard a lot of nasty stories about the difficult terrain and weather conditions at AHM. Personally, I would have wanted to achieve anything but my PW in the last event before going into AHM next month. However, that was not to be and the only next step from here on is to prepare stronger and harder. As I earnestly start preparing for the next event, I so much hope that I get to label my next blog in September as - “AHM 2015...from PW to PB, all in 6 weeks!”

…but I know it’s easier hoped than accomplished!

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794

PS: I am releasing the August edition of my blog ahead of time because I want people to read it while the experience of Day Breaker Half Marathon is fresh in their memories!