Cardio Vascular Disease

My father passed away on September 19, 2011. he was diabetic and had his first heart attack on July 11, 2011. The doctors recommended that we do a by-pass surgery. Before he could get his body in shape to do the surgery he had 2 more attacks. He was rushed into surgery they found 6 major blocks in his artery and his heart was functioning only at about 30% capacity. His internal organs were very badly damaged, he fought for 19 days in the intensive care but finally his kidneys gave up. I stopped running regularly since my father's incident. Althought I have been doing some runs just don't have the motivation to get started again seriously. My plans to run the Chicago Marathon in 2011 did not happen as I was preoccupied with my Dad's passing. While I was visiting my dad every day in the IC unit, we got to talk to the doctor about why he had this problem of course there were many reasons he was diabetic and the doctors felt that he had Cardio Vascular Disease which is basically cholesterol build up on the veins and arteries that blocks blood flow in your body. It happens due to many reasons, like smoking (my dad did not smoke), heavy drinking (my dad was a teetotaler), bad food habits (my dad was very disciplined did not take sugar or eat rice since he found out he was diabetic), overweight (he was once again not overweight - 70 kgs for a 6 foot frame) etc. The main reason I felt that we could not save him was the fact that we did not detect the problem early enough.

I got myself tested with a CT Scan on my veins, arteries and my heart, much to the surprise of my doctor and myself, there was some narrowing of my arteries. The doctor initially told me that we don't need to do a stress test but now I am on a cholesterol lowering drug and I plan to take a stress test on January 18. I have been tracking my heart rate during all my runs and this data should give more insights into my condition. I feel fine though the holiday diet has not been very helpful but I plan to get on the running trail quite soon and give a good fight to my condition.

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Half marathon result: 1:45:08

I decided to run a half marathon race 15 minutes before the start of the race yesterday. I originally intended to just meet a fellow runner and run with him as a rabbit to help him achieve his time goal in the race but never got to meet him. It was a chilly day but it was bright and sunny, I found out later that the Ash Cloud from Eyjafjallajokull volcano was finally moving over Reykjavik and the air quality was deteriorating.
The official result is here , I finished 99th of the 192 runners. I was quite satisfied with my time as it was 8 seconds slower than what I set myself as a goal. 2009 and 2010 have been wondering years in my running as I am starting to understand my body and able to set goals that are challenging yet achievable. It is a great feeling...


View Vormaraþon FM 2010 in a larger map
Above is the route of the Marathon, it was a pretty good route which I have run a number of times. Started off with a good clip, at the beginning of the 5th km my Garmin battery died so I was more less blind to my pace. I felt pretty good and completed half way in about 50 minutes I think I was not sure. Then the wind was on my face for the rest of the race, it was brutal. Never the less, finished the race by sprinting the last 200m with the clock striking 1:45! of course I stopped after passing the clock only to notice the finish line was a couple of yards in front of me and all the people standing shouting at me to move forward... which I did and that cost me the last 8 seconds :)

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First race in 2010: 5km in 21:33 PB

Image via Wikipedia

It was a beautiful day to be the first day of summer. Typical, Icelandic style, 0 degrees with 4m/s northerly winds. My wife and daughter and her friend drove me to the venue and I had decided to run the race with my running shorts, had my track pants on. My wife on discovering that I was planning to run in my shorts thought I was crazy because it was pretty cold with the wind chill. I did not want to run with my winter tights because I always felt constricted in them. Never the less, I did not have my gloves or ear cap, just had my LSU hat. Got the bib, my number was 410. Warmed up by doing a couple of sprints up and down the start road next to the Reykjavik City Hall. Heard the sound of the start gun and started to sprint out right away. It was a long straight with a small uphill at the end of the strip, I was able to pass many people on the hills. As they say, your running strength is shown on the hills. Continued a pretty fast clip, completed the first km in 4:09 and then the hills started rolling in not long ones but many short ones and I could see that I was able to push myself quite a bit. I averaged about 4:20 according my own calculations looking at my Garmin 305. Another note that I thought was very interesting is how many kids were running the race on the 4th km, I was passed by a girl, she must have been 12... I just could not believe that she was doing such a good pace, but I caught up with her and many others in the hills and left on my trail. It was a memorable run...  Here is the official result of the 5km race held on April 22, 2010 in Reykjavik. I was 95th out of the 459 runners who finished the race. This was my first 5km race so it was pretty good result considering that I have never run one. I realized that I have a lot of gas left in me when I ran but for some reason I never pushed myself, I guess I need to be patient about improving. Before the run I set a goal of being able to run the race within 22 minutes and I achieved that goal... and I am happy about that. I had a milkshake at Metro (formerly McDonalds in Iceland) :). Now need to start preparation for the next race which is a half marathon the coming Saturday. Click on the image below to see the summary and splits of the race.

Running Stats so far - first 5km race on first day of Summer

Image by Nwardez via Flickr

I have been keeping with the running regime but have not been blogging... shame on me! anyways, here is the summary of my running in 2010 and it has not been bad.


I have registered to run a 5km race on the first day of summer (today!) and the goal is to run as hard as I can and set my first 5km PB. The race starts at 12:00 noon in downtown Reykjavik... I have run this race route before and it is pretty flat except for a small hill stretching about 300m.

Goal for the rest of the year:
1. 100km a week and push it to 150km
2. Start swimming to train for Iron Man in 2012.
3. Run Reykjavik Marathon
4. Qualify for Boston Marathon

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Gamlárshlaup ÍR 2009: 46:03

Here is the official result of the run... nothing spectacular, but I ran the race well within my capacity. I should have pushed myself harder, but what the heck it has been an awesome year and I am very proud of my improvement of 3 minutes and 57 seconds from the last year result.

Running goals for this year:
1. Change the training plan to include more cross training, swimming, bicycling, rope yoga and weight lifting
2. Qualify for Boston Marathon

Thank you hlaup.is to capture my picture!

Running & Reading...

I saw this clip with Will Smith, I thought it was so simple and yet communicated a very strong message.

Reykjavik Half Marathon 2009 in 1:36:10 PB

I had decided that I would run the half marathon in Reykjavik in 1:45:00 which is 5 minute pace. The day started very early as I got a call from India at 5:45am and I had my alarm at 6:45. Never the less, got ready, Alok and An our friends from Amsterdam had come to visit us and also to participate in the Marathon. Alok was running the half marathon and An was running the 10k. We took a cab from our house to the start line, got there about 40 minutes before the start warmed up by running around the lake in downtown Reykjavik.

I started out a brisk pace and kept at it till the finish, I felt very good all through the way and actually I pushed myself to run hard at the end of the run. The strategy seem to work well and I ran the race in 1:36:10, which is my personal best and this was the fastest average pace that I have ever run even taking my practice runs into account. Here is the official result

The average pace was 4:32/km, I am very happy that the hard training is starting to kick in but the ultimate goal is Chicago Marathon and Boston qualification. I need to keep this above pace if I want to qualify for Boston. It is going to be hard but I feel confident that I can train hard for the next month and be best prepared for the marathon in Chicago.

No diabetes!

I did my yearly blood sugar and urine test and my doctor says I don't have any symptoms of Diabetes... whew! that one is out of the way. He also recommends that I do this every year so that we can monitor the development. I guess keeping my weight off by running has really changed my body's internal workings and I am very glad that I don't have to worry about this at-the-least for a another year...

How lucky am I?

I ran 8.2 km yesterday with my buddy Villi at 10 pm in Heidmork, around a beautiful lake and the sky was such a beautiful sight, I was thinking I must be blessed and lucky to be able to view this sight. I have been amazed at the colors that get displayed in the sky over Iceland, it is purple, red, pink, orange, green, blue and all hues in between.The picture is from SportTracks, a software that I use to track all my workouts it is free but brilliant. It was written by runners for runners. If you want a log book for your running I would highly recommend this tool.

For those interested to see what I am talking about look at the photo stream of fredschalk in Flickr.

11 week - Runners World Training Schedule

Here's your individualized training program:

Your current race time is: 0:46:03  for a 10 K Your distance training goal is: Marathon You currently train: 41 - 48 km/week How hard you want to train: Hard Your long-run day: Sunday Your training program Starts: Monday, 7/20/2009 Ends: Sunday, 10/4/2009 Length of your training schedule: 11 weeks

Wk Dat Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total 1 7/20 7/26 Rest/XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:41 Rest/XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest/XT Long Run Dist: 16 km @5:41 42 km 2 7/27 8/2 Rest/XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:41 Rest/XT Speedwork Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 2x1600 in 7:14 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest/XT Long Run Dist: 19 km @5:41 45 km 3 8/3 8/9 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 22 km @5:41 46 km 4 8/10 8/16 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 10 km, inc Warm; 6 km @ 4:48; Cool Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:41 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 26 km @5:41 50 km 5 8/17 8/23 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 40 km 6 8/24 8/30 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:37 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 11 km, inc Warm; 3x1600 in 7:09 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:37 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 29 km @5:37 51 km 7 8/31 9/6 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:37 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 10 km, inc Warm; 6 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:37 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 32 km @5:37 54 km 8 9/7 9/13 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 11 km, inc Warm; 8 km @ 4:48; Cool Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 26 km @5:37 57 km 9 9/14 9/20 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:34 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 13 km, inc Warm; 4x1600 in 7:05 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:34 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 32 km @5:34 59 km 10 9/21 9/27 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:34 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:40; Cool Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:34 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 13 km @5:34 31 km 11 9/28 10/4 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:41 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:41 Rest / XT Marathon Race Day 26.2 miles @5:04 Time: 3:34:26 60 km

Legend Example What it Means Easy Run Dist: 3km @8:00 Run a total distance of 3 kilometers at a pace of 8 minutes per kilometer. Speedwork Dist: 8km, inc Warm; 3x800 in 4:00 w/400 jogs; Cool Run a total distance of 8 kilometers. Your run should include: - a warmup of about 1.5km - 3 repeats of 800 meters each; each repeat should take 4 minutes - a 400-meter recovery jog after each repeat - a cooldown of about 1.5 km Note: Warmups and cooldowns are generally 1.5 km each. But on some days, you'll need to make them longer to reach the total distance for your run. Rest /XT Take a rest day, or do moderate cross-training activity. Race Day Dist: 5K @5:00  Time: 20:00 On a race day, run your 5K at a 5-minute per kilometer pace. Your time will be 25:00.

Cough and wife... stopping me from my 40k

Image via Wikipedia

Ok, thats a lousy excuse... but I have been coughing and not feeling 100% to go out for a 40k run. My wife has been threatening me with a divorse if I went out and did the run anyway! I figured it is better for me to take a short break and maybe do it next weekend. I wanted to do some research on distance that can be run as part of the training for the marathon:

1. Here is what Patric McCrann, author of the Irondistance Run Training eBook and a seven-time Ironman finisher and avid endurance runner had to say: 3 hour is the limit if you run for more than 3 hours then you are doing more damage to your body than train it.

2. Marathon Training says DO NOT run the whole marathon distance! I wonder why... the longest they recommend is 23 miles!

3. Greg McMillan has a very interesting strategy about long runs, he splits the goal of the long run into two

a) Long, Slow Distance Long run with the following objectives

1. Burn fat
2. Strengthen legs
3. Deal with mental and physical fatigue

b) Fast finish, Long run

1. Practise marathon goal pace
2. Practise equipment, nutrition, pre-race routine
3. Learn to run fast when tired

I like the second set of goals and here are the guidelines

1. Start easy but finish with last 30-90 minutes averaging marathon goal pace
2. Run last 1 to 3 miles as fast as you can
3. Complete 3 to 5 times before the actual race

11km slow run this morning

It was a nice slow run this morning for about 11 km, did a couple of hill workout during the run. Here is the split of the run by km:

The average pace was 5:26/km, which is the pace in which I ran my longest training run yet...

Midnight Run - 10k PB 46:03

Reykjavik Marathon Association organized a Midnight run (starts at around 10pm) yesterday. I ran the 10k race and finished it in 46 minutes and 3 seconds. Here is the official result. This is my personal best in a 10k race and I improved on my previous best by 4 minutes! It is an amazing feeling to really see improvement after training really hard. I feel that I could have pushed myself a little harder in a couple of laps but I guess that is how you feel after every run... maybe thats what keeps us going.

Strategy during the run

I had a simple strategy to run as hard as I can for a lap (I have my Garmin, set for autolap on every 1 km) and try to keep it under 5 min/lap. It is amazing when you can set a goal and threshold... here are the splits:

Chicago Marathon 2009 - October 11

I have registered to run the Chicago Marathon on October 11, 2009... I will be using this blog instead of my other blog to chronicle my preparation

10KM in 53:09 & Chicken Pox

The weather was horrible with 10 to 15 m/sec wind, but I ran the race and finished in 53 minutes and 9 seconds. Here is the official result, I was planning to run another 10KM race the following week but as my luck would have it I got Chicken Pox, I can assure you that this was the MOST HORRIBLE experience of my life. I felt like I was trapped in a twilight zone and my worst nightmare together.

I had breakouts through out my body, my face, my head... you name it and I had a break out. The fever ran almost all the way upto 42 degrees centigrade. Doctor came to my house as it was a contagious disease and they had to give me a combination of painkillers and fever reducers to prevent my fever from getting to dangerous levels.

I have been in bed from January 10 to January 17. I am glad it is over. The best part of this is disease is that I have lost about 3 kgs, now I just need to maintain my weight and get back to running. I tried running but I was too weak, I will get back on the running trail again... wish me luck!

Gamlárshlaup ÍR a.k.a Old Year Run 2007

Registered to run the December 31st run, last year I did this run in 51 min 59 sec and was not very happy with the result. I am going to try to break the 50 minutes barrier again this year, however it looks like the weather Gods are not going to cooperate, according to the Icelandic weather forecasting the wind is going to blow at 10 m/s which is not that much compared to what it has been yesterday, it was close to 25 m/s and it has been raining. I think this is probably the worst condition that I have ever seen in Iceland.

Anyway, I am going to run and hopefully do it in a respectable time. Wish me luck :)

iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS)

Well, for the past couple of weeks I have been suffering from iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). I think it is probably due to a couple of reasons:
1. My right leg is 4mm shorter than my left leg
2. I increased the total distance to 60km per week the week before I got the pain on my knee
3. My legs are not that strong

I have been addressing point 3 by doing strength training, mainly weight lifting and cross training. But could not do anything about the fact that I got it. Today I had a good 9.56km run in the treadmill and I have been stretching a lot and doing a number of exercises to strengthen my iliotibial band. April 22 is approaching quite fast and I feel like I need to do a couple of long runs so tomorrow I am planning to do 30km very slow maybe around 6 min 30 sec pace per km.

I found a good blog post on the strength training exercise for the Iliotibial Band.

Hardest workout session ever!

I ran 19.76km yesterday (Jan 13,'07) in -5 degrees celius and 10 to 12 inches of snow! It was my hardest workout ever and I was extremely glad when it was over :) but my running group was maybe 15 minutes faster than I was and they completed the same distance sooner. I don't want to make excuses so I thought I could have done better until I saw my heart monitor my max heart rate was close to 205 bpm which is the highest that I have recorded so far so I guess net net I pushed myself quite hard and I am quite happy about it.

It was extremely nice to spend some time in the spa after such a tough workout, we spent maybe 15 mintues in the hottest sauna, then dipped our legs to the hip in ice-cold water for about 5 minutes and rested in a lazy-boy sofa for another 15 minutes.

To top off the day, my bank had our New Year Gala party for customers in the evening and I can say that it was the party of the year yet!! Hats off to the Events Team of Glitnir Marketing!!!

Started my training for London Marathon

I woke up at 4:05 am as I could not sleep due to the anticipation of starting my training again. I guess that is a good thing. I ran 10.15 km in 1 hour and 12 minutes! it was pathetic and I was struggling half way.

My buddy Villi was going to run 10 km with the running group in the evening and I decided to join them, I have never run twice in a day, today was the first. The weather was nasty it was drizzling sideways and the temperature was 1 c but felt like -5 c. Anyway I completed running 10.28 km in 57 mintues 28 seconds... I am planning to average about 30 to 40 km a week for the next month and then I will gradually increase it to 60 to 70 km.

Oslo Marathon: 4:27:19

I finished the Oslo Marathon in 4 hours 27 minutes and 19 seconds. It was the toughest run that I have ever done as I was running with the Flu and I was cramping all over my legs. I am not going to use that as an excuse for my poor performance, so I have a lot to improve with regard to training, my diet and mental discipline. I have promised myself to work harder for the next marathon.

Here are the official results from the Oslo Marathon.