Middlering Miscellaneous

October 27, 2015 AdiChewie, Kalenji, Riverside, Run, Rut, Salomon, Shoes, Trail running bag, Weight, weyside, XR ShiftLeave a comment

Salomon XR Shift - Side — New Shoes: Salomon XR Shift

First up: I’ve got new shoes!

… and I don’t love them.

After running through my last pair of Brooks Ghosts in just 9 months, I didn’t want to spend another £100 on a new pair. With winter approaching, more of my regular paths will be turning to trail anyway, so decided to get a budget trail pair this time. Non-available sizes in my preferred model, and unreliability of some store brands meant I ended up buying these – Salomon XR Shift. Not the best shoes I’ve tried or run in, but at least I like the colour ;) Continue reading “Middlering Miscellaneous” →

September 13, 2015October 9, 2015 AdiFarnham, Marathon, Pilgrim, RunningLeave a comment

Today I destroy myself. Tomorrow, the rebuilding shall begin.

Down Tow Up Flow Half Marathon

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 AdiDown Tow Up Flow, Half Marathon, Marlow, Race, Running, Thames, Tow path, Trail, Windsow1 Comment

DTUF Route – Marlow to Windsor, mostly on muddy towpath

Ran my 2nd Half, and only the fourth 10 mile+ run, of the year on 26th July, at Down Tow Up Flow (DTUF) half marathon. Raghs had discovered this race, and when she decided not to run it, I signed up instead¹.

DTUF is a point to point race, run on the Thames towpath between Marlow and Windsor. The route alternates each year between Down-Tow (Marlow-Windsor) and Up-Flow (Windsor-Marlow). This year it was running as the river flows, from Marlow to Windsor.

Continue reading “Down Tow Up Flow Half Marathon” →

Broken streak

August 2, 2015 AdiHabitbull, S&C, streakLeave a comment

A 12 day streak of S&C exercises – squats, bridges, donkey kicks, plank, RDLs, hamstring & calf stretches – got broken today. I’m, surprisingly, too upset about it. Way more than I should be.

Way more upset about this broken streak than about missing the weekend long run, which I plan to catch up on Monday evening anyway.

😣

Run like a tourist – Exmoor coast edition

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015 AdiBeach, Coast, Exmoor, Pebbles, Porlock, Rocks, Run, Somerset2 Comments

Edinburgh was the best place to get started on ‘running as a tourist’, and now Exmoor coast provided the next opportunity.

We had rented a large house for a long weekend, and drove in on Thursday after work to make most of the 3 days. Despite late arrival, the night was spent drinking and playing games, and the sky was already turning bright by the time I went to bed. Running was no where on the cards.

Yet, when I woke up 4 hours later, and saw the view from our window, I knew what I had to do. Running vest, shorts, water belt, shoes on, and off we went – I and my best running buddy, Chewie.

Continue reading “Run like a tourist – Exmoor coast edition” →

Thank you, Girish!

July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 AdiCycling, Girish, Inspiration, Running, Smoking, WeightLeave a comment

The bike — It all started with this bike (the green one in front)

21 February 2010

I rode the 12Km Bandra ‘cyclothon‘ – an organised ride, on closed roads, through streets of Bandra.

I didn’t own a cycle back then. I hadn’t even thought of riding that cyclothon, let alone going and buying myself a cycle. The idea was all Girish‘s, supported by Mehul, Amit and a few others on twitter¹. We signed up – Raghi borrowed a bike from her friend, Simran, and Girish offered to lend me one of his old bikes.

We, Girish and I, didn’t know each other that well back then. We may have met once or twice, and had chatted on twitter for 6 months or so. And despite just that feeble connection, he didn’t just encourage us to sign up for the event, but also offered to lend his bike.

I loved the cyclothon. It was just 12 Km, mostly through narrow, potholed streets of Bandra. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed it (as did Raghi, I suspect). It’d been 9 years since I’d last ridden a (my) cycle, and that small event brought back flood of memories of cycling.

Thank you Girish for lending that bike! Continue reading “Thank you, Girish!” →

Run like a tourist – Edinburgh edition

July 25, 2015July 29, 2015 AdiEdinburgh, Run, Tourist, VacationLeave a comment

My Edinburgh run route in red, half marathon route in green

Running while on a vacation has been high on my plans ever since I finished the couch-to-5K program in early 2013. I’ve carried along my running shoes to 2 Lake District vacations, one vacation in Scotland, and on 2 trips to India. Yet, for various reasons – primarily because I became overwhelmingly lazy once on vacation – I never got running, and the shoes came back unsoiled.

Edinburgh, my favourite city in the UK outside London, was just the perfect place to finally get started.

Continue reading “Run like a tourist – Edinburgh edition” →

Shit and Run

July 16, 2015August 4, 2015 AdiRun, Shit, Socks3 Comments

poop-emoji

Of all the blogs and books that I’ve read about running – and I read an unhealthy amount – no one ever talks about this one thing – shitting on a run.

If we were to go by books, blogs and public discussions, it’d seem this just doesn’t happen. Ever.

Yet, I’ve heard people softly admitting about having to do it. I know people who’ve done it, and lived to tell about it. And, for the first time, on a 20K off-road run last Saturday, I had to do it. Since, no one else publicly writes about it, I am.

Continue reading “Shit and Run” →

Addiction is a bad thing, right?

March 31, 2015March 15, 2018 AdiCycling, Daily Run, HOTA, Running, Vacation, WokinghamLeave a comment

Yet another back spasm, and hamstring niggles at end of last year meant I was off cycling, spinning and long runs for a while. Not wanting to start the new year with a lazy daze, I decided on something different – to run a shorter distance, 5K, every day of January.

It would help me keep in shape without putting too much stress on the back and the hamstring, while also challenging me – mentally instead of physically – to get out and run every single day irrespective of weather, mood, and work.

It worked out brilliantly

I ran more in January, 180Km, than I’d ever run in a month before. And I carried the momentum into February, running a 5K both the day before and after my target Half Marathon at Wokingham. And still improved my Half Marathon PB by almost 15 minutes. The daily runs didn’t just make me better at running, but also made me a happier, generally more upbeat about everything, improved productivity at work, and made me a regular at spinning, swimming and gym too. I loved it!

January 2015 – Run every day challenge

February 2015 – Half Marathon + Cycling Starts

March 2015 So Far – Only Cycling & Spinning

The plateau

After the consistency of January, and early February, there came a few breaks – fainting episodes that could’ve lead to potential head injuries making me take a few days off. Twice. It disturbed me a bit, but then the outdoor cycling season kicked in with two consecutive 100K+ sportive Sundays, including the very enjoyable Hell of the Ashdowns, and that helped stabilise the mood a little.

Still, there was a bad feeling in the back of the heart that things were plateauing. At 140Km for February, I hadn’t run even close to January’s total despite running a half marathon and a couple of 10K+ runs.

The descent

March began slow. We took a planned mid-week vacation in Cornwall¹. Add in a weekend off cycling, and misc chores resulting in a whole week without any running. Things weren’t good, but the 3 days in Cornwall helped keep the spirits up.

Running restarted with the last of trail series runs, the Mudman, and then continued between spinning classes and Sunday cycling. But it never got close to the January levels. Or even February levels. More than missing the occasional daily 5K, what has been disturbing me more is the lack of Saturday long runs. The trail 10K at MudMan is the longest run I’ve done this month

It was amazing! Thanks to everyone at the Scarlett. ↩

Run to Think

March 19, 2015July 25, 2015 AdiBorn To Run, Life, Problems, quotes, Running, ThinkingLeave a comment

“If you can’t find the answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you ain’t finding them.”

– Christopher McDougall

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