Gave up after 35 km...

I was very disappointed after a horrible run last sunday. I managed to run 35 km in 3:06:54 @5:19/km... I think I have to blame myself for the dismal performance. The weather was horrible, it was windy, rainy and down right depressing when I looked out the window when I woke up around 7am. I was quite surprised with the games my mind was playing I have never been intimated by the weather before and I have run in much harsher weather so I don´t know what the issue was. I guess mentally I am getting tired of training, I need to start running with a group to keep up the training regime.

To get down to the specifics, almost 8 km I was running against the wind, which felt horrible and I just could not push myself to keep up a good pace. It felt like the wind was 10 to 15 m/sec, of course it feels horrible when your mind tells  you all that is wrong with the run. I am more motivated than I have ever been to get back into doing more speed work and tempo runs to improve my speed.

Core Workout

I found these exercises to be very useful... they basically work your abdomen and back, I have started doing Rope Yoga which is excellent for the core as well.

Core Exercise 1
Core Exercise 2
Core Exercise 3

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...

Running update before Reykjavik Half Marathon 2009

Reykjavik Marathon 2009 is next week and I plan to run a half marathon with a time goal of 1:45:00. I have posted an update until end of July and my training plan, the running stats in August so far stands at:

Distance (km): 130.05
Time: 10:56:06
Avg. Pace (min/km): 5:03
Avg. Speed (km/hr): 11.9
Calories: 11,416
Avg kms per day: 8.1


Image by skipio in Flickr

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.