Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

Completed an enjoyable TCS 10K. Just like every memorable adventure, it's a holistic experience starting from the preparation and anticipation phase.  

Much thanks to S for spending 3 hours to and fro to get to Palace road to get to his bib and also pick up mine, since I was out of town. Need to figure a simple way next year. Before the run, I did solid research on the route, which led me (finally) after 13 years (albeit discontinuous) in Bangalore to get a clear understanding of the roads of Central bangalore. MG road parallel to Cubbon road parallel to Infantry road, with Queen's road being the 'transversal' (ahh- so satisfying to use high school math terms: Transversal is a line intersecting parallel lines). Queen's road has Cubbon park on one side and Chinnaswamy on the ride- so quite the iconic road. Queen's meet's MG road at the circle where MG road turns and becomes Kasturba road. Kasturba road hosts Kanteerava and Konark cafe, where I had sumptuous dosa after the run. Lavelle road also meets Kasturba, MG and Queen's road at the same circle. You can imagine Michael Lavelle, an soldier who struck gold at Kolar Gold Fields, and Queen Victoria, arriving as guests to the wedding of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. Despite all this reaserch, I did not check the altitude map of the race, which was later to have a decisive effect on my run.  

I was coming into the race after 5 weeks of training with D, a famed running coach of Bengaluru. Of the 10 runs in his plan of 5 weeks thus far, I had only missed 1. However, I was not quite setting the speed guns on fire in the training program, D opting to build up steadily over a 3 month period. Since I had not done a 10K at my PB pace (or anywhere near PB) for more than 6 months, I was somewhat anxious on how I would fare. However, I was also coming into this after an enervating football session with colleagues 3 days ago.   

The route plan for TCS 10K had been radically changed. Kanteerava was the erstwhile start and end venue. The ingress to today's entry point was easier than the Kanteerava - just get off at MG road and walked 200 m into the holding area, Rajendra Singhji Army Officers Ground. Much gratitude to N for helping with driver - driven- car (thanks, S) for drop off, which allowed me a precious 20 mins more of sleep and got me to 5.5 hours, comfortably clear of 5 hour sleep benchmark below which I see performance dips in life. Before big races, sleep duration is expected to be lesser due to early awakening, but for me it's best if it stays above 5 hours . The area post race finish was also armed forces territory- Sam Maneckshaw ground, so my salutes to Indian armed forces for sharing their facilities with the civilians. Apt to utilize this ground in the year of release of Sam Bahadur.  

During the 30 mins before the race, I was glad to have bumped into an eclectic set of people. A from the apartment complex we stay in, who I had timed for a 60 min 10K a year and a half ago. S from IIMB times, with who i have had enjoyable Ultimate-frisbee times. B, a senior from my UG hostel wing and one who started long distance running in his teens, H a reader friend from B school who has recently been ticking off HMs. Also spoke on phone to my boss from work, M, who was in another part of the Holding area. However, all of this plus a 10 min warm up routine meant that by the time I tried to get to holding area 'A' (allotted based on my finish time last edition)  , it was already emptied out and I had to join the 'Jatre' (as A calls it) from holding area C. Jatre because the first 1-2 kms are like a crowded religious march. Lot of sideways movements, including brief spells on the footpath, to get ahead. There was a dhol party right at the start, maybe 500m in, adding some verve to the proceedings. 

It was warm for Bengaluru, though not unpleasant. A rare whiff of the chilly Bangalore we know and love hit me when taking the U-Turn at Vidhan Soudha. I remember my conversation just yesterday with a cab driver when I was passing this road. We bemoaned the fact that this road, right in front of a hub of administrators, was quite bumpy. Which we did not experience, of course, when running. Thankfully, I did not have any sprains or injuries, unlike S who took an unfortunate tumble last year, curtailing her adventure. There was one moment, though: I went off-track (literally) and encountered some bushes on the footpath and within that patch was a sizeable rock, which i kicked inadvertently as I ran. I could easily have landed on it and met the same fate as S.  I enjoyed seeing the water on Ulsoor lake, and the ornate gate of the Madras Sappers regiment, who maintain this lake. Also salute some people who lined the road cheering one and all. It was a joy to see regular runner S cheering people on- I had also seen last year. A lake is a good element in the route which was not there last year, and also symbolic of Bengaluru because many runners of the city run around lakes such as Agara. It was dark when we started, but i remember the sun rising through the run. At the subsequent Dosa session- saw two extremes of runners : D who did not even realize that we crossed Vidhan Soudha, and one of his pupils who had shot a video of the sunrise while running.     

I ran at 4:50 min/km for the first 2 km, as prescribed by D. After that, I tried to bring down the average pace every KM.  Having brought the average down to 4:39 at 8 km, there was a chance (albeit slim) of taking down my PB of 4:35 min/km. I needed to run the last two kms at 4:19 mins/ sec. I started the first 500 m of 9th km decent, going at around 4:22 vs the asking rate of 4:19. However, then came the ascent i had not foreseen (see second chart below). A 13 m ascent over 1.5 km implies a 0.9% incline, which is not insignificant. This made the 4:19 ask further hard. So in the last 2 km, I did not get the push to 4:19 that would lead to PB'ing, finishing at 4:29 in those 2 km. I thus lost 20 seconds over my PB , finishing the 10K at 2 secs/km slower than PB. See chart below, which shows the ascent at the end, and the resulting decrease in pace 8.2 km onwards. The last 200 m before the finish came up after a turn, and after rounding the turn it was disheartening to look up and see it all uphill to the finish. 

While I pushed hard in the last 2 kms, my heart rate did not go up beyond 169. During previous runs, it has routinely gone up over 180, so it seems I am doing similar speeds at a lower heart rate, which is a sign of progress. Now if I can push to 180, then maybe I hit a new level. I also felt more in control during and after the run, and except for some parts during the unexpected ascent, I never felt I was running on fumes.  

After the run, ambled over to the refreshment area. The two bananas were helpful , but the sugar laden soda (12 gm of sugar in 100 ml of soda) was atrocious and not touched. Reconvened with UG senior B. Bumped into AM, an old friend from 2009 times. Coach D was waiting with his pupil gang, having completed in a scorching 41 minutes. I saw SB in his pupul gang and then realized SB is my batchmate from Undergrad. Felt great to serendipitously bump into him (i will reveal that S is Sagar and I later remarked on chat to him that it sure was a Sudden Suppai , inline with the popular meme of the day. He replied that it was a sudden surprise for him, too)  . It was his 8th TCS 10K- so that's quite inspiring. Met N from apartment complex, who I see running downstairs so often. It  feels good to bump into your neighbors at places with a different context. Met M, boss from work, who was overjoyed from completing his first 10K. He did better than he anticipated. And talking of work, was nice to see a non-insigificant number of PUMA Nitros flashing about, especially pleasing to see a runner from the conspicuous Japanese runners club, wearing one. 

Walked 2 km after that, a bit longer than ideal, to get to Kanteerava Konark where D and his gang of pupils were convening. I ordered Idli but D convinced me to change to Dosa, which Konark is famous for. The Dosa was good, but the standout was chutney- they add either Coriander or Dill to the coconut chutney, which makes it stand out. Discussed Himalayan treks with the pupil gang, including Pindari glacier, Gaumukh Tapovan and Goechala. Saw the label 'Procam slam' on one of the runners, which means in 365 days that person has run 4 Procam marathons- Blr, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai. 

Walked over to Starbucks on Lavelle road (named after the Irish soldier, if you remember) to meet H, B school friend who I had met earlier in this tale. Got my proteins in the form of an Egg bagel, and some refreshment thru cold coffee. We chatted about books, work and friends. I talked about the Economist special edition on India which I read yesterday. The coverage was refreshingly free of lazy stereotyping which had been the norm thus far, and had summarized the key successes (Financial and tax system clean up and broadening, Govt. Capex spending) and key challenges (Labour, Agri, Education, Co operative federalism, debt market strengthening) . She mentioned her current stance on capitalism and non-profits. 

So all in all, it was a wholesome adventure. 

For next time: Prepare strides and hill repeats? Observe sunrise. Take pictures in portrait mode with shoes. Observe shoe brand market shares. Continue to make post-run hangout plans.    

     

   

        

Labels: Esprit de sports