Double Take

Hyderabad Sept. 17/18 - Attempting back-to-back HM

An idle mind is devil’s workshop.

The week of Sept. 12 saw heavy rains in Hyderabad. Thus, my morning run regime got disrupted. I tried treadmill, elliptical and other gym equipment but nothing bought me the satisfaction as road running does.

With time on hand, I started reviewing the running stats on my Garmin Connect. This year, so far, I have accumulated 813 KMs of running under my shoes. The daily average for the year hovers around 3.2 KM /per day and the last 4-week average was even better at 4.6 KM /day.

Looking at the statistics started a series of thoughts in the devil’s workshop.

All the consistency looks good, but have I compromised endurance for consistency? Can my body sustain and go beyond the daily average running?

I had hit my PB (1h 58m) a few weeks ago on a tough course @ Hyd Half Marathon. What if I were to repeat the same or similar elevation course back-to-back over 24 hours? Can I even go the distance? If so, will Day 2 be better than Day 1?

I feared hitting the wall on Day 2 before crossing the imaginary finish line. Who will cave in first – the body or the mind? Will it be a sprained ankle, an over strung hamstring, a painful knee, screaming gluts or stiff shoulders? Or, will the mind give up before the body itself? May be the sheer boredom of running the same course at the same time over two days will freeze the mind!

This weekend, I set out to seek answers to these questions.

In the quest to keep variables to minimum, aside from the same start time and the course, I decide to munch the same stuff both days before the run. It was going to be Grainny’s Granola Bar (Manas these are good) and 6 raw almonds. In addition, I would carry 500ml water in a running flask.

The weather remained the only variable, the uncontrollable variable.

On Day 1 (Saturday), I woke up to overcast skies with no rain or prediction of rains till mid-morning. By the time I was ready to start, laced up in Adidas Boston Boost and GPS-ready on Garmin VivoActive, rain gods had showed up with a light drizzle.

Bad omen?

Here I was, about to attempt two days of consecutive HM and it already looked like a false start without taking a single step. Going back home wasn’t an option anyway as I had slid the key back below the door after carefully locking the main entrance door. Going to Gym was an option but the dreadful memory of boring Gym machines came rushing back.

I decided to make a start, with a promise to self that I would turn back if the drizzle intensified into a downpour as it had been through the week.

The route was familiar – wind up hill for first 500 meters, and then go down below the ORR flyover. After that it was going to be up up and uphill through Microsoft campus and ISB, and then a bit of a breather till the inclined stretch to Gachibowli stadium, and back the same route. In total, it would be 170 meters elevation gain over 21.09 KMs.

The drizzle stayed with me for the most part of the run, rising in intensity a few times. However, never forceful enough to seduce me to give up and turn back home.

Aside being thoroughly drenched by the time I finished in 2h 6m, the run itself turned out to be quite uneventful. No niggles or pains surfaced in the lower body, and legs post the run felt strong enough for a few squats. The shoulder had stiffened up a bit but nothing to hold me back for the Saturday chores.

We enjoyed Musician’s day at Kabir’s school and later my evening stretched in to late night as I decided impromptu to go watch the movie Pink. I finally shut down at 1130pm, anxious about Day 2.

Sunday morning, today, the cloud cover seemed a tad less thicker than Day 1. Plenty of breeze and low probability of rains motivated me to get out there quickly. The run started around the same time as Day 1.

Day 2 wasn’t going to be easy especially in sections of hills that have gradients of 3.5-4.0%. By the time I was scaling the first hill my body had already warmed up nicely and GPS showed KM 4.

Though it felt onerous compared to the previous day, I was still holding on to my regular pace. Things though started looking gloomy around the 10 KM mark near Gachibowli stadium. I felt a bit twitchy around the knees, and the shoulders were beginning to get stiff much ahead of 15 KM I had experienced on the previous day. I still had Microsoft Hills on the turnaround to deal with.

I think some long-distance runners like to run in groups to chat around and divert attention from the pain. I like to run alone – no music, no pacers. I take my mind off the pain by thinking of the next 300-400m of the road. Myopia tends to work for me during the long runs – break it into small segments and keep the stride going.

By the time I was under the ORR turning onto the last two major uphill sections, the Sun was beginning to break through the clouds. This was KM 18 and the twitchy knee issue was gone, though the soreness around the shoulders continued to build up. I had tried relaxing the shoulders by letting my arms hang straight for a few paces and did Gomukhasana on the move to restrict the swing. This gave some instant relief before it got hurting again.

Once the distance starts getting closer to 19 KM mark (for a HM) the mind takes over the legs and the rest of the body. Almost as if saying that “it’s a matter of a few minutes now, not the distance”.

And invariably the mind tricks the body to keep it moving!

I closed the Day 2 HM @ 2h 6m - the same time it took me on Day 1, with a fraction of pace deterioration by 0.01 min / km.

Post-run niggles look slightly higher than Day 1, though just about. With a packed agenda, this afternoon, it wasn’t until now – at the time of writing this piece – that I had a chance to sit down.

For the rest of the evening I will let my body and mind relax with some soulful music and a glass of Auchentoshan scotch, till the devil’s workshop opens again.