Sofa To 5K Are You Ready To Run? Running & Heart Disease Runners know Thyself Sweat, Salt & Sugar Venkatraman is a Mumbai-based Chartered Accountant who has successfully exited from two startups that were acquired by US/UK companies. At the time of divestment, the larger startup was having a team size of 3000 spread over 10 locations all across the country with some of the leading corporate names in India as its clients. He is a Judge and Mentor in the Eureka Business Plan competition of IIT-Bombay and also a Charter Member of TiE- Mumbai. He has been a full-time Professor at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune for MBA students. He is also an active Freemason and in the hobby of Ham Radio has held national-level positions in the past. As a seasoned runner, he has been running the SCMM Half Marathons for many years. He runs a Half Marathon every calendar month and up to the calendar year 2016 he has run 115 Half Marathons. He underwent an Open Heart Bypass surgery in 2007 but was back on his feet immediately and ran the SCMM Half Marathon in Jan 2008. Besides running, he also loves to read about running and has built a library of running books over the years. He has studied to be a Certified Personal Trainer under the American College of Sports Medicine, though his certification is still pending. He trains the ‘Zipper Club’ a group of runners who run the Half Marathon regularly after having undergone cardiac surgery. In his new Social Mission YouTooCanRun he promotes “Running for Good Health”. The objective of the mission is to encourage everyone to adopt a healthy lifestyle in general and by running in particular. YouTooCanRun has since its inception in 2014, – The largest running event-specific back-end registration platform for runners, having handled over 300 running events. A perpetuating gift of lifetime benefits. At your next Offsite give your employees the perpetuating gift of lifetime benefits. Instead of the usual tired song and dance routines, shake them a bit. About 2 km or even more. We mean to take them out for a walk/run. Here is the plan. Motivational Talk: After a hard day deliberating the team’s goals and plans, we start with a very inspiring talk delivered by Mr. P. Venkatraman, Chief Running Evangelist of YouTooCanRun. A Motivational speaker of wide acclaim, his personal story of now running Half Marathons every month after a Cardiac open heart surgery is very moving. It is designed to move them from their Sofas and take up walking/running and reclaim their good health. It is also designed to show them that if they want, they can achieve breakthrough successes. Think out of the box. And go for what they thought was never possible. In every aspect of their lives. 2-5 kms Walk / Run: Recognizing that a motivating talk soon loses its inspirational power we ‘ walk the talk ‘. We take the team members out for a 2 to 5 kms walk/run. Thus delivering the instant gratification of the sense of achievement, that all of us so enjoy. A tentative plan would be: 4 -5:30 pm – Motivational talk with Q&A 5:30-6 pm – Break and time for team members to change into running/walking gear 6-7:30 pm – Warm up stretches, Walk /Run, Cool down stretches Possible mingling, Q&A over dinner Flexible for timings, equipment, location, etc. Key Features – A motivational talk that uses the classic tactics of storytelling. Meant to engage the audience P. Venkatraman our chartered member came and spoke at the business breakfast meeting of TIE Mumbai. I was one of the member in the audience and felt very motivated and inspired by his talk. I subsequently decided to take up running and make fitness my goal. Since then I have been able to lose more than 20kgs from the spark he lit for me that day. – Trushal Jethwa CEO & Founder at Anokha Technologies Pvt. Ltd We invited Mr. Venkatraman in our office to give a talk to our team members. It was a standing room and his speech was heard with rapt attention. Afterwards he shared a simple 8 week running plan. Many from the audience took it seriously and have recovered their formal health – S. Ganesh Iyer H & R Steel Detailing Pvt. Ltd We invited Mr. Venkatraman to address our team member as precursor to our inhouse run organised by us. Immediately after his speech, the number of team runners who showed interest increased multifold. Many of them now run regularly. – Sachin Uppal Managing Director at Rummy Circle (Above)Interaction with the employees of Rummy Circle, Malad. Mumbai.
(above) Venkat addressing the Goa River Marathon runners.
(Above) Venkat delivering the Sofa to 5K talk to the TiE Members.
What he will talk about?
The story of Venkat spins a narrative around his comeback after cardiac surgery & enthuses the audience to leave their sedentary lifestyle behind & train to run a 5k distance.
Peppered with illustrations, in-depth knowledge & situational humor, audiences have reported a high conversion rate.
While everyone dreams to take up running and change their sedentary lifestyle, this talk exposes the issue of the havoc – continuous sitting has inflicted on their body movements.
This self-diagnostic test helps participants to evaluate what needs correction before they take up running & is grounded on the philosophy that “prehab” is better than “rehab”.
While the world of aspiring runners is divided into two parts:
Those who want to take up running & fight heart disease.
Those who fear cardiac arrest if they take up running.
In this talk, Venkat simplifies the jargon behind heart disease and explains all aspects of the complex issue in layman’s terms. Feel free to ask him the questions you’re afraid to ask your doctor.
While there is a largely sedentary population that aspires to take up running, there are clearly those for whom running becomes an addiction & overpowering. The narrative of the business of running is scripted around the desire for speed & performance. New runners get overpowered by such messaging. This session will encourage the runners to explore their true desires in having taken up running.
After having done the sweat rate study of Indian Runners the issue of “in-race” hydration & nutrition needed in depth expedition. In this talk, Venkat demystifies the complexities of the situation.
Mr P. Venkatraman Bio
– Holds The India Running Summit, now in its fourth edition, as a premier event to disburse knowledge about running from an Indian perspective.
– Publishes books. The ‘Sofa to 5K’ book, a beginner’s handbook for running has been translated into Tamil, Telegu, Marathi and Gujarathi.
– Conducts running specific Workshops and Seminars all across the country.
At You Next Offsite Program
– Draws upon the rich corporate experience of P. Venkatraman to weave in the tapestry of the work environment
– Power Point with rich graphics and audiovisuals meant to keep the team members enthralled.
– Punctuated with humor.
– The walk/run session will reinforce the recent learnings in practical reality.
– The warm-up, walk/run, break out into a sweat and cool down will leave everyone pleasantly tired yet refreshed.
– Possible mingling over dinner will provide most team members the opportunity to seek individual counsel.
– Conversations will veer around achieving breakthroughs in work life using running as a metaphor.
– The talk will leave everyone with a ‘Sofa to 5K’ action plan that will deliver actionable results in 8 weeks.
Testimonials
News/Events
15th May 2014 – Venkat was invited by Dream Runners Half Marathon, Chennai. for a Press Conference as a key note speaker to address the audience. 19th March 2014 – Delivered the Sofa to 5K talk at Rummy Circle, Malad, Mumbai. to about 50-60 people. This organisation had arranged an inhouse marathon for it’s employees and in order to motivate them, Venkat was invited to speak and help motivate the young crowd. 16th February 2014 – Arranged and managed the Pacing Team for the Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon. 9th Februaruy 2014 – Acted as a Pacer in the Auroville Marathon, Tamil Nadu. 19th January 2014 – Acted as a Pacer in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. 18th January 2014 – Inaugurated and Organised ‘The India Running Summit’, Mumbai. A one of it’s kind event having various high profile runners to help about 120 runners who were to participate in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. http://youtoocanrun.com/2013/12/the-india-running-summit-2014/ 8th December 2013 – Acted as a Pacer in the Goa River Marathon. 17th August 2013 – Goa River Marathon organisers arranged for a training workshop for their runners. Venkat was invited to deliver his talk on the Sofa to 5K. Many running enthusiasts were even more motivated. Venkat has also lead the Pacing Team for the 2012 and 2013 edition of the Goa River Marathon 10th December 2012 – Delivered a talk on Sofa to 5K to the employees of LSI Corporation, Bangalore. 9th December 2012 – Acted as a Pacer in the Goa River Marathon.Venkat’s Engagements
