Getting set for the 100!

The last few weeks have been about getting set for my annual athletic meet on the 21st of June.

Been doing a lot of 40m - 120m repeats and some weight training. Feeling fairly fit. But Im not sure my endurance is where it should be. I feel a lot leaner and feel a little tired. But I expect that should go with the one week rest that begins on Saturday. I will be in Rome for that week but there's going to be no running. A lot of walking but no running whatso ever. So that should bring some life back into my legs.

I bought a new pair of spikes this morning. The previous pair that I had bought thinking I will use it during the meet in December is worn out already. The nails are ground down - almost like football studs and the soul is splitting.

A little concerned that I will have had no experience running with my new pair. But I'll have to wing it. I'll get in one session tomorrow and that has to be enough - not much choice.

So the next post is likely after the event. If I get beaten, I wont post for 6 months until every one forgets that I write a blog and then write as if the meet didnt happen.

Until then.

Running with Usain "Lightning" Bolt!

I've been focussing on the sprinting for a bit. Getting ready for a meet in December. A friend of mine in his blog quotes the great Emil (Zatopek) -

"If you want to run, run the 100 metre race. If you want to experience something, run the marathon"

Really? Come on!!

I just say look at Bolt horsing around at the 80m mark and clocking 9.69 and you will know that there is no running in the 100. Oh and just try training for it. A couple of my friends - Shumit and Hari - from Chennai Runners did a sprint work out yesterday. I focussed on starts and the first 30m (we only had about 50m on the straight). The work out was ok, nothing to really write about.

But last night I watched the Bolt burning the track in Beijing. New TV - so it was a sight to see. For a bit I felt all of them were flying. If I remember correctly all the qualifiers made it in less than 10 seconds.

Anyway, bottomline was watching my friend Usain inspired me to look at how the beast can run so fast and hang on for the entire 100. I concluded that it had to do with Speed Endurance. I also concluded that I have not sprinted a distance greater than 100m and so must absolutely suck at 'speed endurance'.

Also in my last meet I had run the 400. I got off the start quite strong, but absolutely bonked at 350m with my calves cramping up like cricket balls behind my knees.

What do I do about it? I work out an ambitious Speed endurance work out for this evening. I head out to the track at 1700 hrs and focus on my work out. The plan was 2 miles warm up, then sprint 100, 200, 300, 400, 600 and 800, cool down with a 2 mile jog.

Warm up went well, but my feet felt like lead from yesterday's work out. I was quite surprised that a few 30m sprints could do that. Anyway, after the work out I managed to get out a 100m stride, followed by 100m, 200m and 250m sprint.

One of the goals of speed endurance is to the train the body to handle a large amount of lactic acid. Its called "bathing" the muscles in Lactic acid - some sick dude must have come up with that creative term.

Anyway, after the 250m sprint, I can assure you I was bathing.I could feel acid on my shoulders and also in my throat. This was accompanied by an urge to throw up. I decided I'll beat Bolt next year. Experience that Mr. Zatopek!

So I finished up with a 2 mile jog and cooled off in the pool for about 15 minutes.

So much for my 'endurance'. Anyway, fortunately I caught my weakness fairly early. The plan is to burn the 400 and 100 in December. Lets see if that actually happens!

Until Next time.

Meeting Shiny Wilson

Two weekends ago I took part in a sports meet organised by the Rotary Club at the YMCA Nandanam stadium. It was a good meet for me. Picked up a gold in the 400m, 100m and an off-beat 20 yard backward running event. I also got the individual championship which was nice. The competition wasnt that great but the highlight of the day was meeting Golden Girl Shiny Wilson.


Shiny Wilson along with P.T. Usha dominated the Indian athletic scene for almost 20 years breaking all sorts of records at the Asian level. In fact, she was apparently the first Indian woman to break the 2 minute barrier in the 800m. At a PB of 2.45 Im almost there - arent I?

Anyway, I managed to get her autograph in my training log and got a good comment from her about my running style. That has practically made my year.

I prepared for the event like a lout. First thing I did was I didnt prepare. Like all overconfident bozos, I thought I could just walk into the event and run it. To top it off, I went running with Shumit the previous evening on the road. Bad idea. And we did intervals for about 40 minutes.

The next morning at the meet - which started at an awkward 10 AM, my 400m died at 350m. My left leg started cramping. 10 minutes of physio and two gatorades with added salt releived the pain but left me somewhat hobbled. I hadnt had a good breakfast thinking I needed to stay light. But there was not much energy left after the 400.

Anyway I managed to crack the 100 which was a little later and the backwards race was just a fun thing. The guy who was coming first tripped and I ended up being first. So it was plain luck.

A few quick observations.

1. Never underestimate an event if you are planning on winning. A winning effort is usually your best effort and that needs a lot of preparation.

2. Dont do any thing on the day before an event that you plan to win. See No. 1 above.

3. Shiny Wilson has put on a lot of weight.

4. YMCA Nandanam is a very badly maintained track. And thats sad.


Thats it for now,

Until next time...

Training for Speed - another post!

I thought I'd focus a bit on weight training that my coach and friend Jagdeesh suggested. Jagdeesh was my junior in college - didnt know him then since I had finished college the year he joined. He ran for college (Madras Christian College) and Tamil Nadu. He was a national level sprinter whose best timing was 10.70 for the 100m.

His weight training sessions were most interesting. First off a sprinter's weight training session was a full body session and did not follow a split routine like a body builders. Makes sense when you consider that a sprint involves the entire body.

The weights used were always very light - 5kgs at the most. So if its a dumbbell - its 5 kg per dumbbell. If its a barbell exercise, its 5kg per side.

We would start with shoulder presses. They were usually performed fast and furious for about 30 reps. Three sets of this with about 1.5 minutes rest.

Next would be Bench presses. Again a light weight. Obviously this an exercise where I can handle a bit more weight. So I was using 20 kgs on a 7kg bar. Again the presses were some what fast. The idea being to bounce into a thrust. Much like a plyometric bound or box jump. The muscle was allowed to coil and burst into the movement. Three sets of 30.

Trunk Twists then focussed on the core. Little to no weight. just the rod - 7kg.

Alternating Lunge jumps with 10kg on 7kg bar.

Calf raises. These were the only exercise where I had to use heavy weights and work on slow reps. Still put in about 25 reps for each of the 3 sets.

Finish off with Ab work. This was some what hard core. On an incline bench, I had to do 25 situps - full situps not crunches. Without rest move into side situps - 25 on the right and then 25 on the left. With no rest. After a minutes rest crunches on the swiss ball. 50 reps for 2 sets.

THe warm for this would be 10 minutes of jogging, followed by 10 minutes of warm up exercises for each body part from head to ankle with a lot of stretching.

The work out would end with a full fledged stretching session.

Try it out or mail me for details.

Sprinting to a T

On Wednesday morning Chennai Runners met at the Egmore SDAT stadium for a slow run. That happened to be my training day. So I decided that I will do my sprints.

And my new sprinting pal Gunasekar happened to come along. Let me tell you something about Gunasekar. Gunasekar is 22 years old. He is in the Tamil Nadu police team - just got in a week ago. He is built like a beast - muscular, big and fat free. Runs like a fast penguin. But smokes the 100m in 10.8 seconds. Think of a lean Rottweiller.

I am the only guy sprinting with him - not sure if thats because Im the fastest around or because Im the stupidest around. I have a suspicion that its the latter because every time we sprint, he beats me by about 7 or 8 yards.

The good news is that I stay ahead of Gunasekar for the first 20 yards. I wonder whether he actually clocks a sub 11.

Anyway, I did 4 sprints with him. And I finally got my core working. I can tell you that it was one of the most amazing experiences Ive had in running. It felt surreal. Now I now what "activating your T" means. The power and control - atleast what I feel - was totally exciting.

Im looking forward to next Wednesday for my next sprinting run with Guna.

I just wish the guys in my club would take to sprinting more. Dont understand why none of them wants to even try it.

Until next time!