Apologies to all the followers of this blog for not having posted anything in close to a month. Life has gotten quite hectic over the last month, both in and out of work and with my running. In a way this was a good thing, because I felt life had become quite routine with regular runs in the week and long runs on Saturday morning. Friday nights were spent sharpening up my pasta sauce skills and the rest of the weekend following the long runs involved rest, short recovery runs and stretching. Besides the running (
over 150 miles in total through the month of March), there were quite a few highlights over the course of March which I would like to blog about, but obviously don't have the time to write them out in separate posts, so I'm going to combine all of these into one 'Super Post' appropriately named - March Madness.
Typically, for most people preparing for the Boston Marathon, March is the most crucial month. Not only does March bring with it a build up in running mileage towards the defining end-of-the-month long runs (one-two 20+ milers), but it is also a time when runners start testing out different options for a race day attire, race day nutrition (Gels, Energy drinks), a post race recovery routine and a pre race pasta dinner, among other things and it was no different for me. I was able to test out 2 new pairs of shorts, try out sports jelly beans and gels, get advice about stretches and exercises for muscle recovery and strengthening and last, but not least, improve my Italian cooking skills and cook some pretty mean pasta dinners. In addition, March also brought in a lot of very generous donations which meant I could focus all my energy towards training knowing full well that I was very close to reaching my fund raising goal (In fact, once the corporate matching donations come in, I should be well past my target amount).
Weekday Training
My weekdays consisted of 3 runs ranging from 4-8 miles and most of the times these runs were on routes around where I work and at a time when all my work buddies are out eating lunch (which meant chomping down on my lunch by myself in my cube - like a loner. Oh, the sacrifices one has to make.....!). Nevertheless, there are three big advantages of running at noon
1. The weather at the time is most likely the best it's going to get during the day. It was the best way to avoid running in the chilly March morning or the dark winter evening.
2. Even though I would miss out on company for lunch, it did ensure that I never had to run by myself, since at least one of my work running buddies would be willing to go out for a run, any given day in the week.
3. Completing my run during the day meant that I could do more important stuff in the evening, like live a life!
Weekend Long Runs
The impending Saturday morning long run is something that excites me like nothing else. The thought of waking up early (especially when it's dark outside) is something I dread in any other situation, except when I'm doing it for these long training runs. I haven't quite been able to figure out why, maybe it's the fact that I'm running with a fun running group or maybe it's because my sub-conscious mind considers each Saturday morning run as a mini race, either way, I enjoy the adrenaline rush that I get as I get my rear in gear for the high point of my week.
Weekend Long runs in March were in the sequence 18.5 miles, 13.3 miles, 18 miles and 20.5 miles, which added up to nearly half my mileage for the entire month. Almost all of these long runs were done along the race route, which made me realize how much of an advantage it is to be living in Boston while training for the marathon, because of how familiar one can get with all the nuances of the course. For me familiarity & experience give me strength and confidence to accomplish something simply because I've done it before and it's no different when I'm running. I've run the last 8-10 miles of the route often enough to mark specific mental checkpoints that will act as mini finish-lines on race day. Here is a list of some of the mental checkpoints that I can think of...
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Halfway Wellesley: Hearing the screaming girls of Wellesley means that the race is half done.
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The Sweet Sixteen: The turn by the firestation on Commonwealth Ave in Newton means I've now completed over 16 miles meaning only single-digit miles left to reach the finish.
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Newton Mile Markers: Chestnut, Walnut, Center and the Boston Cemetery represent miles 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the 5 mile stretch on Commonwealth Ave. (Center street is also the start of Heartbreak hill)
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Homestretch: Cleveland Circle beckons the start of Beacon Street (4 miles from the finish line) , which I call HOMESTRETCH... why homestretch?... because not only is it 4 miles from the finish, but also because I live on Beacon Street.
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Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston: The left on Boylston will be the first sign of the finish line! In fact in all of my training, I've never run on Boylston and I hope to keep it that way up till the fateful day.
Paparazzi
One of the more memorable experiences of the training for me (and a few of my friends from the Fitcorp running group) was the sight of the friendly neighborhood paparazzi popping up along race route as I/we were on our Saturday morning long runs. Paparazzi, you wonder???? Let me explain... Two of my closest buddies, GauravT and GauravM picked up photography as a hobby last year and figured that capturing runners training for the Boston Marathon might be a good way to hone their picture-taking skills as well as getting some great images of the Boston Area. So here they were following us around taking pictures and videos and motivating us to keep going strong and looking good for the camera... and all this regardless of whether it was raining, snowing, windy or hot. So, GM and GT, a big shout out to you two for providing us with something (other than water/gatorade stops and finishing the run) to look forward to on our runs and in the process creating great memories to fill our scrapbooks.
Italian Chefs Beware!
At the start of my marathon training I had told myself that I would cook my pre-Saturday training run dinner instead of eating out. Even though it might seem to most as a pretty reasonable goal which is easy to achieve, it was a tough plan for me to follow, considering how lazy I am! So as expected, things started out badly with a few Friday night meals at local restaurants, but all of a sudden, March comes around and I was able to come up with a way to force myself to cook...
I started inviting people over for dinner, promising a home cooked pasta meal. This started a great 5 week stretch, where I cooked a pasta or Italian entrée every Friday (one of it was actually a leftover homemade pasta from Thursday... but who's keeping tab of the days) and hosted an early dinner at my apartment. My guests would not rate my dishes too highly (even though they claim to have "loved" everything that I cooked), but I do give myself a high rating for effort and creativity. Everything (except the pasta) was prepared from scratch and creative modifications were made (both in preparation as well as ingredients) to stray a little bit from the recipes (most of which were obtained online). Here's the list of entrées to give Italian Chefs worldwide, something to worry about...
1. Black Bean Pasta Salad
This one is one of my favorites because it's very flavorful and easy to make... it's obviously a little mexican tasting because of the mix of avocado, jalapeños and black beans, but nevertheless, it contains Rotini pasta and makes for a great high-carb pre-run meal.
Special Ingredient: Cumin powder
2. Mushroom, Asparagus and Brown Rice Risotto
This one was an absolute pain to cook, only because of how long it takes for the brown-rice to cook and how much stirring is required, but it was completely worth the effort. One of my best creations!
Special Ingredients: Asparagus and 3 different types of mushrooms (porcini, portabello and button)
3. Rotini in Alfredo Sauce
The creamy Alfredo sauce based pasta dish is probably not a good idea for a pre-run dinner meal, but I made sure to use low-fat versions of whipping cream and cream cheese. I also made sure I served more than I ate to avoid having to run on a full stomach
Special Ingredient: Sun-dried tomatoes (Simmering the sun-dried tomatoes in the sauce gave it a slightly different, but unexpectedly good taste)
4. Spaghetti in Veggie Marinara Sauce
The sauce was loaded with healthy veggies, something runners would appreciate. Cooking the tomatoes and blended veggies to form a thick sauce surely added to the cooking time, but no one other than me cared, since they didn't have to wake up the next morning.
Special Ingredient: Usually basic Marinara sauce only has onions and garlic, but the blended veggies definitely added a unique and healthy twist to the sauce.
5. Spaghetti in Arrabiata Sauce
No pictures for this one, just a quick and simple sauce made in a hurry.
Special Ingredient: Indian Red-Chili powder instead of red pepper flakes. The Indian chili powder has a lot more flavor than the bland chili flakes (Yeah... I'm biased!).
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While I'm on the subject of marathon training meals, a big thanks goes out to my roommate Anuj for providing great home-cooked meals most days of the week. He's an exceptionally talented cook and his enthusiasm for cooking is an inspiration... check out his recipes here http://www.dumdarrecipes.blogspot.com/ It's unfortunate that he's unwilling to keep cooking as often once my marathon is over. Guess, I'm just going to have to keep training to keep eating his excellent fare.
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A Goal Reached
The Boston Marathon for me involved two goals, one to obviously cross the finish line (alive) and two, to raise a certain amount of money to help a very noble cause. The month of March saw a boost in donations way beyond my expectations and enabled me to surpass my fund raising goal. Meeting the goal was a huge relief and it meant that I could concentrate solely on my training in the last few weeks before the big day. Although, most of my donations came from friends and family and I'm very appreciative of everyone's generosity and indebted to them for donating to help me raise money for Mass Eye and Ear, I did have a couple of creative fund raiser ideas that I was able to implement to get some sizable donations....
1.
Fund Raiser on Wheels: In an effort to be green and avoid driving (because I'm lazy!) I joined a carpool with a couple of colleagues from work last year. Obviously, we shared the driving duties and kept a tab of how much everyone had driven and used a geeky fairness algorithm to determine who's turn it was to drive next (yes, it was quite complicated... but that's how engineers operate, duh!). So one day while carpooling to work and thinking of ways to boost donations for my fund raising, I pitched this idea of driving my colleagues to work everyday and in return having them donate to my fund raising effort. After doing some research on how much it would save them in gas and miles on their car, we settled on a $10 donation for the ~50 miles of chauffeuring service that I was providing them. Thus was born the 'Fund Raiser on Wheels'. Through the month of March, I drove them to and from work about 14 times each to make $270 and coupled with the matching donation from our company, this amount swelled up to $405, which is around 8% of my final goal. Thanks to Noah and Chris for accepting my offer for a successful month of fund raising on wheels.
2.
Candy Fund Raiser: This was the simplest and most effortless fund raiser ever. All I did was leave a couple of boxes of candy in the common area at work (the candy was set-up really close to the wending machine in our cafeteria, where coworkers are always lurking for a quick cheap snack), attach a price for each piece of candy and make it apparent that the money raised from selling the candy was going to a charitable cost. The candy fund raiser was a huge success... Close to 100 pieces of candy sold in a week for a total of $120. This fund raiser typified the mantra, 'Come hungry, leave happy'
April and onwards
As April's come around, I've moved to the business end of the training. The tapering runs are quite frustrating, because I feel like they end even before I feel like I've gotten into my rhythm. I feel like I'm loosing my powers of long-distance running, but experts reckon that uncomfortable low-mileage is the way to go in these last few weeks, so who am I to argue. To be honest, a part of me does not want the marathon training to end. Aside from enjoying the food, I have gotten used to the regular and disciplined lifestyle and thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie that come from running with a team. As apparent from this post, it's the small stuff in addition to the running that carries a lot of meaning... how else would someone as inexpressive as me be able to write a blog that would interest over 300 people? :-P
POSTSCRIPT: This might seem like my last post before race day, but I still have a few more things to post, so stay tuned.
