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. 

AHM 2015 - All it takes is ALL you got.

First things first – In the August edition I had shared a humbling experience at day-breaker half marathon (19^th July) where I registered my personal worst time. Here is an excerpt from the concluding section of that blog: “…Next month I am travelling to Hyderabad to participate in Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM). I have heard a lot of nasty stories about the hilly 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 is to prepare stronger and harder…”. This edition of my ‘Running Reflections’ describes the journey from the time I wrote the above quote to the experience of running in AHM 2015.

Given that this year’s AHM was going to be my first experience of running in the testing conditions of Hyderabad, the first step for me was to understand the conditions better and customize the preparations accordingly. To achieve this, I started reaching out to all my fellow runners at Boot-Camp Yellow (BCY) who had earlier participated in AHM. Based on the inputs I gathered, it emerged that to do well at AHM I needed to overcome three challenges:

• Hills
• Heat
• Humidity

Typically, strategy consultants love to compress complicated ideas and thoughts into (apparently) neat looking frameworks. Some of you may have heard about concepts like 4P (product, price, place and promotion) framework, 7S framework etc. So, all I had to do as a strategy consultant (and of course as a runner!) was to overcome Hyderabad’s 3H obstacles. And, that’s where the preparation started.

Hills Challenge

I knew that for me to plan my run I needed to understand the terrain better. I needed to know the exact terrain (including steepness, points of uphill, downhill, plain stretch, lengths of different segments and what not). A little bit of online research and I seemed to have found a jack-pot – I came across a video of AHM’s half-marathon route with exact elevation listed at different points on the route. I used that information to build a granular profile of the 21.1km stretch with exact elevations at every 500 meters interval (shown below).

The next step was to understand what would be the ‘limiting factor’ that would determine my eventual timing at AHM - lung capacity, leg strength, cramps, hydration, body weight, pacing strategy? I realized it would be a bit of everything, but given the hilly terrain I realized that two things were more critical than others:

1. Legs would get sore sooner than usual (compared to a plain terrain).
2. Given the never-ending hills, I realized it would be important to pace the run intelligently. I didn’t want to commit the mistake of running too fast in the initial uphill segment and running out of ammunition midway.

To address the first challenge, I decided to focus deeply on building leg strength. Thanks to BCY coach Jatin in helping me identify different variants of squats and lunges which helped me build reasonable leg strength to combat the hills. In fact, 60 - 70 percent of my work-outs prior to the two months leading to AHM event (before I started tapering down) focused on legs.

To address the second challenge, I decided to pace my run based on the elevation profile. The idea was simple – given the rolling hills, there was no point trying to maintain the same pace through-out. It was more prudent to maintain the same effort through the run. This essentially meant  that I needed to run faster on down-hills and plain sections and run slower (or perhaps jog) on the up-hills. With a little bit of thought and consideration, I developed a pacing strategy for myself that would help me achieve my target timing of 1:50 for this rolling hill terrain.

Heat and Humidity challenge

To address this challenge, I started with a bit of research to understand the historic weather conditions in Hyderabad during August end mornings. It emerged that this is the period of high heat and humidity in Hyderabad. Specifically, I found that temperature could possibly be as high as 32 degree Celsius (i.e. around 90 degree Fahrenheit) and humidity could be as high as 90 percent. This is very close to what AHM runners witnessed last year (thankfully, it was very pleasant this year).

Having understood this, I was keen to understand how exactly these conditions impact running performance. A little bit of research and I seemed to have found just the kind of information I was looking for. See figure below – it provides a great view of what heat and humidity can do to running performance. Based on historic Hyderabad weather, the conditions were likely to be somewhere in the Danger zone.

Source: http://frayedlacesracing.com/how-heat-and-humidity-affect-running-performance/

I was concerned to see this and then the next question was to identify the actions to address these harsh conditions. Following are the two deviations I made from my regular running habits, specifically to combat the conditions at AHM:

1. I realized that sweating was going to be a serious challenge. To combat that I decided to cut short my running attire and minimize the skin contact with clothing.
2. I usually rely on hydration available on the route. However, for AHM I decided to carry two small bottles. I had heard that ‘thirst’ is the final warning call that the body is getting dehydrated. I wanted to ensure that I don’t reach that stage and planned to keep sipping through-out the run (especially, on the hilly parts where I planned to jog and it was easier to sip due to relatively slow motion). 

Event Day (30th Aug)

So, with this basic preparation spanning across 6 weeks came the big day (30^th August) and I was certainly anxious on the day of the run. In fact, I was so anxious that I couldn’t sleep after 1:30 am on the night before the run. After a little bit of futile effort to sleep, I decided to give up and get to the starting point. For the 6:00 am start, I was at the start line a little before 4:00 am. There was hardly anyone in the ground when I reached the venue.

A little later, my fellow runners from BCY arrived at the race venue. Their arrival did help to settle the nerves a bit. At around 5:45 am, all runners assembled in the holding area behind the start line. That’s the time when my coach Jatin walked up to me. I was certain that Jatin would share some running tip (just the way he did before the day-breaker half marathon about a month ago). However, on this occasion he did not share any coaching tip.

This is what he said – “…I know you have been working hard for this race. I don’t want to share anything specific. Just do what you have planned and things would be fine…”.

The tip may sound a little generic, but I guess that’s exactly what I wanted to hear before the start and it did help me a lot.

Shortly, thereafter the run started. Like always there was a temptation to run faster in the initial few kilometers. I guess no matter how much mental planning one does, this initial temptation does creep in. It has something to do with the ambience, adrenalin rush, loud music, and a sudden release of pent-up energy (which is desperate to be released after an hour long wait). However, on this occasion, I kept telling myself the only chance of getting close to 1:50 on this hilly terrain is to conserve energy and finish strong. So, I kept conserving energy and running as per the pacing plan I had made for myself. The other thing that I kept telling myself was to take the game into the last 4 kilometers (hopefully into a situation where I needed to strike a pace of about 5 mins per kilometer for the final 4 kilometers to get to overall 1 hour 50 minutes time).

By the time I reached the finish line, I had surprised myself by finishing good 8 minutes faster than the timing I was targeting (finished it off in 1:42). All in all, it was a very satisfying day and a very well organized event. Kudos to all the organizers for such nicely organized event - I look forward to come back to AHM next year. 

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. 

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!

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

Add a little lean...to run faster and stronger!



My previous two blogs have been focused on the mental and motivational aspects of running. For the June edition, I decided to take a detour and write about a technical aspect of running. I have to admit that of all the technical details that I have learned over the past year, this has to be the one that I have found most impactful. As I continue to learn and master this technique ahead of ADHM 2015, I thought it would be worthwhile to share this with my running companions.

As a rookie runner, I often observed skillful runners effortlessly gliding through the air, as if there’s some mysterious force of nature supporting their motion. Up till about six months back, every time I came across an efficient runner like that, I used to feel envious and felt an urge to increase the intensity of my strength training to get stronger calves, quads, and hamstrings. It used to be my humble attempt to build stronger leg muscles which would one day allow me to run equally efficiently. However, I soon learned that there are distinct ways in which runners run - some rely on their muscular strength alone to create the running motion and then there are others (the more skillful ones) who learn to literally use the ‘mysterious forces of nature’ to support their running motion. The two styles are very different – a difference that I like to describe as ‘Hard’ running vs. ‘Smart’ running. In this edition, I am going to talk about the latter, i.e. the smart running technique.

Let’s think about it very fundamentally – what exactly is running? Wikipedia says running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Well, not exactly the definition I was looking for to explain my point, but still it will do the job. The key point here is ‘rapid movement on foot’.

So that raises the next important question – what creates this motion? About few months ago, I would have promptly answered this by saying – “muscular strength in the human body”. However, that answer is only partially correct. To understand this point, think of a simple wooden plank hinged at the bottom and delicately balanced in a vertical equilibrium position (as shown in the figure below).

What happens if we give a gentle horizontal nudge at the top of the plank? The plank gradually swings and falls horizontally on the ground. In the process of this rotational fall, there is motion induced in the plank. What induced this motion? There is no muscular strength in the plank as it is an inanimate object. Clearly, it is the force of gravity that induced this rotational motion. In fact, laws of physics tell us that the plank (of same volumetric dimensions) would fall on the ground in the same time irrespective of whether it is an iron plank or wooden plank (i.e. strength doesn’t matter here!).

It is the same "mysterious force" (i.e. the force of gravity) which efficient runners learn to use effectively to support their motion. To understand this, think of human body as a plank (or in more technical running terms and as students of Chi running will tell you, a "column"). Imagine for a moment that the body is fixated to the ground momentarily (akin to the hinge that we saw in the case of plank). What happens if such a body is gently nudged to fall forward? This is exactly what efficient runners do.

• In state 1 (refer figure below), the column is nudged forward.
• In state 2, we see that the column falls freely under the force of gravity. Mind you up till this time, the muscular strength of legs has had very limited or no role to play.
• In state 3, the runner recognizes that it is a human body after all and it doesn’t have the luxury of falling down like a wooden plank. It is at this time, that the legs come into action and move forward only to catch the body from falling.

Try to repeat this sequence of activities 1-2-3 (i.e. nudge-fall-catch) in a continuous flow and what you get is the “motion of a skillful runner effortlessly gliding through the air”.

The most important thing to note here is the role of legs in facilitating this motion. If one can learn the art of executing this running technique efficiently, all that the legs have to do is to move forward at the right time to catch the body from falling and setting it up for the next cycle of nudge-fall-catch. From an execution perspective, this technique requires the body to be in a state of permanent lean during the state of running motion. Usually a lean 2 – 4 degrees (from the vertical) is all that is required to minimize the load on legs and to effectively utilize the force of gravity to create a ‘pull’ that supports the forward motion of the body.

What I have just shared is the basic principle of a good running posture. There is wealth of information available on this form of technique. However, for beginners who want to start practicing this posture, here are three absolute essentials:

• Practice keeping the column (i.e. arc ABC in figure below) straight. This means that you should lean from your ankles and not from your waist. Leaning from waist results in an unbalanced posture which can lead to back injuries and also results in a crouched poster, which inhibits effective breathing while running.
• The point of impact where the foot lands on the ground should be behind the vertical line dropped from body’s center of mass. In the figure below it means that if the body is moving from left to right, then point E should be towards left of point D. In practice, to achieve this you may have to reduce your stride length a bit, but it’s worth it.
• Lastly, the angle of arm bend at the elbow joint should be close to a right angle. For my friends who hail from an engineering background, here is the rationale - your arm swing is like a compound pendulum and a right angle bend at the elbow results in the shortest effective length of this compound pendulum. Now the time period for the swing of a compound pendulum is proportional to square root of effective length of the pendulum. Hence, keeping a right angle bend helps in reducing the time period for one complete arm swing. This results in a higher swinging frequency of arms and correspondingly higher stride turnover, as hands and legs move in synchronization).

Following figure depicts the absolute essential points in maintaining the lean which can help gravity support your running motion.

I must add that learning this running form is easier said than done. Usually there is a tendency to bend from the waist instead of bending from the ankles. Below are some rare moments where I found myself executing the lean posture reasonably well.

Do let me know what you think about this essential running technique (i.e. maintaining a slight lean while running). Also, please share what are some of the other running forms that you believe are essential to maintaining good running efficiency - I will be happy to cover them in the next editions of ‘Reflections by Sundeep’.

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794

 

"As strong as my legs are, it is my mind that has made me a champion" – Michael Duane Johnson



 23^rd Nov 2014: I was running in my first major running event (ADHM 2014) and was within a couple of kms of completing the run. The event had been a thoroughly enriching one and I was vividly observing runners of all ages, colors and backgrounds running the last lap around me – many of them overtaking me, few of them being overtaken by me. The music bands, cheer leaders and supporters were adding to the intensity. Amidst all that euphoria, I had one eye on my wrist watch as time was flying by quickly and I was almost certain to miss my target of sub-100 minutes completion. Just then a lean and rather frail looking runner zipped past me. Of course, it was not the first or last time someone overtook me; however, the contemptuous ease with which he fled past me had me thinking. I wondered what really sets apart great runners like him from decent runners like me.

The run eventually came to an end and I managed to complete the 21.1 km stretch in a little over 103 minutes. While many of my fellow runners continued clicking photographs and exchanged congratulatory notes, I was still in my own zone. I was happy to have experienced the grand event; however, a part of me was disappointed to have missed the 100 mins target.
 
As I walked through the crowd of jubilant finishers, I kept overhearing the general banter beyond the finish line. There was a runner who felt that he made a tactical mistake by running in Nike shoes as he found them a bit heavier than the Reebok shoes that he usually runs in. There was another gentleman who complained that his Garmin watch showed that the entire stretch was around 21.8 km, though it should have been 21.1 km as per Half-Marathon norms. There was yet another runner who was happy with the extra boost of energy he got by consuming Red Bull prior to the run. I continued to assimilate these discrete pieces of information for a while. I could easily relate to most of it as I had myself taken care of these things while preparing for the run. I recalled how few months ago I had structured different elements of my training:
 

Another part of me continued to think about that anonymous runner who had fled past me. I wondered how he would have fared on some of these essential training elements. From the looks of it, that anonymous runner did not belong to the privileged runners like us (and I am deliberately using the word ‘us’ – if you are reading this, chances are you are privileged). He seemed to hail from economically humble background and seemed oblivious to various sophistications in the field of running - Running nutrition / Carb-loading - He looked frail and would have most likely struggled to meet the ends; Metronome beats / running music - He did not wear a basic watch, forget about the high-end gadgets; Latest running gear - the guy was running barefoot and would have certainly not been able to afford high-end running shoes; Strength work-outs - Certainly he wouldn’t have been able to afford a gym.

Yet, so often we find that some of the strongest and fastest runners hail from humble backgrounds lacking access to basic amenities.

…So, what’s the point?

• Is there anything wrong in the way some of the privileged runners train? – Probably not.
• Should the so-called privileged runners give-up on their ‘sophisticated running luxuries’ and practice ‘frugality’ to become better runners? – Certainly not.

Every time I watch a ‘not-so-privileged runner’ run by or for that matter every time I read about the running exploits of some of the Kenyan elites (who typically hail from economically humble backgrounds), there are few things that stand out for me - While all the latest technologies and sophistications in running are certainly helpful in improving one’s abilities, one has to bear in mind that these are all just ‘means-to-an-end’, and not the end in themselves. At times people tend to get so carried away with these enablers that running takes a back-seat. What follows is a garbled mish-mash of running gadgets, concepts etc. and a somewhat diluted focus on ‘genuine running’. It is also important to note that these sophistications are not the only means to the end, i.e. there are ways to become a better runner (an elite runner if you will) even without many of these latest sophistications.

While all these enablers are good, there is something else that overpowers all of this. There is something far more sacrosanct that can mentally elevate you into a zone where everything else becomes secondary. It is essentially the power of will and one’s attitude. It is about how badly you want something and how desperate you are to get something. Think about this famous quote from Christopher McDougall:

It is essentially the same spirit of the gazelle and lion captured in the quote above that usually is the differentiating factor. Both lion and gazelle put in a highly focused and a deeply committed effort because it is a matter of survival. Their choice is simple - either they run hard (and succeed) or they perish.

So back to my original question – what really differentiates good runners from great runners? Surely, it can be a lot of things spanning across physical abilities, genetic back grounds, access to training etc. But most importantly, I think it’s the mindset. Chances are that the one who is more desperate to win will find a way to win regardless of circumstances.

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794