SD does 21 – Training issues

Published on Dec 27, 2011

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My first concern when SD wanted to be trained was his level of physical fitness…in short his chasis..and how much of beating it could take. We had about 3 months to go..and I knew that about 2-3 weeks would go in getting his body to rigors of running 3 times a week. Once he passed this test, then it would mean scaling up his time on feet till he did a decent mileage, decent enough to see him through his 21K on Jan 15.

It did help that he was a regular at the Cardiac Rehab for 3 days and was doing 30 minutes of tread mill on regular basis. But however the first order of day was to see how he does on open grounds. Having known that each sides of the MIG ground is 100 mtrs long and the perimeter is thus 400 mtrs helped. He was started with a few days of walking only. He was feeling that I am making him do lesser than his capabilities, but I also knew that the bio mechanics of running on open ground are different from doing it on a treadmill.

Having passed this test he was slowly put on increased combinations of walking / interpersed with running. Different combinations were worked through…one side run / one side walk..then two sides run / one side walk etc..he kept progressing satisfactorily.

One of the milestones for him was to run a full round non stop….he was thrilled to being able to run 400 mtrs  in one go.

His next milestone was to run 2.5 rounds in one go…which happened after a few more weeks….he was thrilled to being able to run 1 km in one go.

When he had come to doing a run/walk for more than one hour or so on the grounds..he was taken to do the Kalina loop on open roads..9 kms of run walk. He was maha thrilled.

And so on he progressed…when on Saturday the 17th Dec he ran/walked 18 kms..everyone in the group cheered him with a standing ovation. He was told that doing 21K on Jan 15th was now a given…but SD was made of more firmer resolve. He wanted to do a 21K run next week.

So last Sunday the Dec 25th I got him to do the NCPA / PM Bath, 3 laps of 7 kms each. He adopted a 200 mtrs run / 100 mtrs walk strategy and did it in under 3:30 hours. We started at 6:30 am to simulate the near conditions of the run day. And finished by about 10 am or so…

He was thrilled…and now the taper starts for him. Today I met him and he complained of some DOMS…but natural and understandable. I have lent him my foam roller so that he can recover better.

Cheers to SD…

Venkat