No More Juggling

Few days back I took up juggling. There were 3 stress balls lying nearby my office cubicle and I used to practice the 3 ball cascade, whenever I got the time. Of course, people noticed and the stress balls got a new owner -- ME. Given that I was just starting out, the juggling wasn't always smooth and I would drop the balls pretty frequently. So they had a tendency to get lost or go underneath tables, upon which I would ask the person seated to kick them out. Also, as I would keep them on my desk, people used to take them away -- sometimes because they were feeling stressed.

Now if you haven't already got it. I was the surrogate owner of three stress balls. They used to get kicked, lost, played with, and the thing they do with stress balls.

I leave it to the reader's imagination, how many awkward sentences were spoken and later corrected, as well as qualified, with the speaker referring to the juggling balls as "your balls".

No thank you, I don't want to juggle anymore.

Bicycle Commute: Second Impressions

Today I rode my bicycle to office for the second time. I wanted to do it last Friday itself but because of the trip to Hampi, things didn't go as planned.

Both the onward and the return rides were blissful. While going, I started early (6:30 AM) and reached office in half an hour. While coming back, there was a slight drizzle and although it took more time, it was a pleasant ride despite the traffic. The only casualty on the way back was my backpack, which got all muddy -- yes, I do have mudguards; maybe they are defunct.

Figure 1, Really Muddy Targus Backpack

This time around there were a bunch of things which I forgot to pack while commuting. So I have gone and made my own bicycle commute checklist to prevent future blunders.

Figure 2, Rohit's Bicycle Office Commute Checklist
(your mileage may differ)

Other Notes:

1. Speed breakers are your friends -- it's fun to jump over them without slowing down.
2. I feel much taller than rest of the traffic when on my cycle.
   
3. There's no better feeling than when you switch gears; the chain snaps to the correct sprocket; the pedals move in sync with your feet -- neither too fast, nor with too much resistance.
4. I feel much lighter and in more control when I'm on a cycle than when on a motorbike.
   

Bicycle Commute: First Impressions

Today I drove my bicycle to work and back. My office is around 10 KM from home. I started the trip towards office at 7:15 AM. There was very little traffic and overall the ride was smooth. I was a bit circumspect about shifting gears and mostly stayed on the 4th gear (2-4, if you are curious). The trip was finished in 35:15.

While coming back I started at 4:45 PM. This time around I was much braver with the gears and was happily playing around with them. The traffic was medium density. I took 46:33 to cover the distance.

Other Notes:

1. Switching from a motorbike to a bicycle also requires a reflex switch -- I was looking inside my non-existent rear-view mirrors.
2. There is a proper way to shift gears, which every newbie cyclist must learn.
3. Overtaking buses at the bus-stop from either side is not a very bright idea -- they will anyway overtake you.
4. You have a super-power(?) which makes you invisible to Bangalore auto-wallahs.
5. Major advantage at traffic jams/signals: you can pick up the bike, become a pedestrian, and easily come to the front.
6. Cycling on Domlur flyover is slightly scary. On both ways there is a left turn, which you should be very wary of, if you are going straight.
7. There are many slow-moving-idiots-on-vehicles whose egos get hurt, as soon as you pass them. And when this happens they will accelerate, causing problems for you.

   They remind me of the slow-moving-runners who increase their pace, when you near them. They feel that they are in front, and you shouldn't pass them. Of course, you are not really overtaking them consciously; you are just maintaining your pace. But they feel hurt and they try to run faster. You, being wiser, and a much more awesome runner, know that they won't be able to maintain the increased pace and happily remain behind them. Within 5 minutes, they are behind you. In 10 minutes, you are a dot to them, which seems to get smaller and smaller^*.
   

8. I'm getting overly paranoid that someone might steal my bike. I have couple of locks, but I'm thinking of buying another (better) one.
9. The overall experience was good. You get to see more things.
10. This point left intentionally blank (or is it?).

* When you are on a cycle and the other guy is on a motorbike, the last part doesn't really happen.

Got myself a new ride

I had been thinking of buying a bicycle for quite some time (read 2 months). After ages of procrastination, I decided to move my ass and buy one. My budget was around Rs 7000. Of course rather than researching too much I just went by word of mouth and decided on the Hero Octane.

So yesterday, as suggested by a friend, I went to Raja Cycle Mart (opposite town hall) to make the purchase. I didn't want to scout at all, I just wanted to make the purchase and start cycling. Unfortunately that didn't happen. When I went to the shop, the young blighter attending to me was least interested in making a sale. I had to go to him, ask questions, and dig out information. He wasn't rude or anything, just plain uninterested. Also, they didn't have the Hero Octane or any cycling helmets and I was asked to come back next week.

Dissappointed I returned home, but I wasn't going to stop trying. I scouted for other shops in Bangalore. In the meantime I also found from the web that the Octane may not be a good choice for a road-bike because of its rear-suspension -- it causes the cycle to bob up and down, and few found that irritating. A better alternative was the BSA Hercules Ryders ACT 105.

I found a BSA shop right next doors -- BSA Track and Trail on Koramangala 80ft road. I went there, but they didn't have the ACT 105. They had the 106, 108, Bianchi Cannondale (fancy bikes), but not the one which I was looking for.

Not to be let down, I called up a friend who had recently purchased a bike. She recommended a BSA shop on Commercial Street, near Safina Plaze. It was called BSA Go. So I drove down there, and found the shop to be pretty decent. They had the bike which I wanted, they had helmets, locks, etc. I promised the shop owner that I will come tomorrow and take the bike away. And that's what I did.

Figure 1, BSA Hercules Ryders ACT 105

Damages:

Bicycle: Rs 7600
Helmet: Rs 400
Chain lock: Rs 200
Total: Rs 8200

I took the bike home back in an auto (the auto fellow charged my Rs 20 extra, understandably). The cycle was met with a lot of approval by the kids in my galli. I test drove it to a friend's place, around 3 KM away. And because of my striking blue helmet, I was being noticed by one and all.

The main goal of this purchase is cross-training on Sundays -- running is still the first priority. But, I do plan to commute few days to office as well.

For a greener tomorrow, ONWARD!

Retrospection and Planning

Retrospection

After 5 weeks' worth of training for the Sunfeast 10K, I fell short of my sub-50 min target. My main mistake was to not get a timing-chip, as the timing-chip folks were let out on the track before the rest. I got very less stretches in the race where I could maintain a constant pace, as evidenced by the following chart.

Figure 1: Sunfeast 10K, Pace vs Distance

Notice how uneven the pace is across the whole distance. Other than from the 2KM mark to the 3.5 KM mark, the whole race is full of spikes. There is an exceptionally large one near the 7.5 KM mark, where I seem to have spent more than the usual time in avoiding slow folks. Even at the last 1KM stretch there is no change in the pace, forget a sprint.

Planning

Ever since I started training for my first half-marathon in August of 2008, the full marathon had always been in my mind. Of course, when I ran my first half-marathon, I realized that it wasn't that easy.

At the end of last year, when I was just recovering from 2 weeks' worth of fever, I decided that I will do the full distance in 2009. And now that the Sunfeast 10K is over, it's the ideal time to start training.

I have chosen Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan for training. But as the marathon which I'm planning to run is sooner than the duration of the plan, I have skipped 3 weeks and started from week 4.

Training goals (other than covering the distances in the plan):

1. Do strength training -- I have neglected this quite a bit.
   
2. Reduce the amount of crap which I eat.
3. Drop a few kilos to run better.

Race goals:

1. As this is my first, the goal is just to finish. It's an automatic PB.

And, oh yeah, I plan to run the Kaveri Trail Marathon organized by RFL and the Bangalore Hash on September 13th. Hopefully it will be a good way to celebrate one year of running.

Sunfeast 10K: Race Report

Before I bore you with the details, I failed to achieve my sub-50 min target. My time was 50:36. Personal best nonetheless.

On to the race report.

The Open 10K race was scheduled to start at 8:10 AM at Kanteerava Stadium. There were two holding areas, one for participants with the timing chip and one for the ones without. The people with the timing chips were to be let out on the circuit before the ones without. Although I wanted to get a timing chip for myself, I couldn't and I ended up in the general junta holding area.

When we reached the holding area, the elite men's race was just finishing and elite women were warming up. The elite men's finishers at that time were mostly laggards -- in fact I saw one guy vomit and then dry-heave in the last 400m. The elite women's race was flagged off precisely at 8:00 AM. They covered the first 400 m in 1:20 and proceeded out for rest of the race (there was one elite woman who actually pulled out in the first 300m itself!).

Once the elite women were off the track, the Open 10K participants with the timing chips were allowed to enter the track and shortly the Open 10K was flagged off. The holding areas were big, but the gate to enter the track was pretty small and was causing a lot of clogging. But given that this was India, people rose to the occassion and started jumping the stadium fence directly onto the track -- without going through the gate. The organizers first resorted to polite requests when all that went unheeded, the police started using their lathis -- that seemed to work, I wonder why? I, being the civilized gentleman, chose to go through the gate.

By the time I crossed the start line, it was already 10 minutes since the race had begun. I started my Garmin.

Due to the rains yesterday, the weather was really good. The sun was behind the clouds and a nice breeze was blowing. I managed to keep my 5:00/KM target pace for the first 3 KM. At the 4 KM mark, the road became narrow and there were a lot of walkers, stoppers, and slow runners; due to which I had to weave in and out quite a bit. Another thing which I noticed near the 4 KM mark, was there were a lot of people who resorted to taking short cuts -- part of the stretch from the 4 KM to 7 KM was out-and-back -- shame on them!

The heavy crowd continued to the 6 KM mark, following which there was a slightly uphill stretch. All of that slowed me down. The uphill stretch went till 7 KM mark, after which it was familiar territory -- Cubbon Park. At the 9 KM mark, I was 30 s off pace. I wanted to increase my speed, but however hard I tried there were enough slow-movers ahead of me. In fact, towards the end, I couldn't even cut loose and manage a sprint.

At the end my Garmin told me that I finished the race in 50:36. More than a minute better than my previous personal best (which was on the treadmill by the way), but still short of my sub-50 min target time.

All said and done an overall good and well organized race. The route was well marked, there were enough water stops (although I didn't use any), and everything was on time. I enjoyed the race and hopefully next time I will do much better.

Race Goals:

1. Finish the distance -- PASS
   
2. Get a personal best -- PASS
   
3. Finish Sub-50 min -- FAIL
   
4. Finish Sub-48 min -- FAIL
   
5. Win the Open 10k -- FAIL
   

Sunfeast 10K: Prologue

The race is upon us. Two days from now, on Sunday, I will be running the Sunfeast 10K. The race start is at 8:10 AM. My bib has been collected and tomorrow is going to be a fun-filled rest day, with lots of carb-loading (read beer and pasta). Today was the last day of the training plan which I had been following for the past one month. I tapered off with an easy 5K run done at a 6:00/KM pace, followed by 3 x 100m sprints.

These are my goals for the race, in increasing order of difficulty:

1. Finish the distance (easy ... peezy).
2. Get a personal best (Current PB: 51:47)
3. Finish Sub-50 min (that's what all the training was for)
4. Finish Sub-48 min (only once have I gone below 24 mins for a 5k)
5. Win the Open 10k (assuming lightning strikes everyone else)

ONWARD!