Stanford Treeathlon - My first tri

Gayathri: Dolphin?
Shetal: Seal?
Veena: Surely some animal.
Oops sorry but thats Mouli in a wetsuit....

I had not picked up the race packet till Sunday and I had to show up an
hour earlier at 5:30 am to pick the package.

With the tri there is an entire wardrobe that you have to transport to
the transition area. The wetsuit, googles, bike, pump, helmet, gloves,
biking shoes, socks, biking shorts, running shorts, towel to dry and
protect your modesty(?), running shoes, bandana/cap, sunglass, water
bottles, sports drink, gel, protein bars, puncture fix kit, spare tube,
a few bags to carry all of this, and don't forget
body glide and your favorite Asha shirt.
At the stanford treeathlon, it was close to a mile from the the parking to
the tranistion zone and we had to ride/walk the bike, carrying all these
stuff. Boy this was one complex race.

Despite coming in early, waiting in line for to collect the race packet, waiting in line to sign up, by the time I got to the transition area, people had already staked claim to their spot and each area was colorfully and clearly marked with their personal items. After some elbowing and threatening to move things around, managed to find two spots for Padma and myself.

I followed the guy next to me and laid out neatly all the accessories in
order for easy access during transition and headed out to relieve myself.
The one cool thing was people were getting their bodies marked while waiting in line for the restroom, as there was this huge guy shouting at people to clear the transition area before the race start time, despite them being in the very last wave and 50 people still waiting in line at the porta potties.

One poor dude, was already suited up when this lady asked him if he had
got his body marked. I was quite surprised to see his nimbleness in
getting out of the two-piece wetsuit. But then he did not have an ounce of
flab to worry about. As he was getting suited up, he mentioned that he was in the collegiate category. Hmm, the left calf will have to be remarked and off came the wetsuit. Once he got marked, she asked him if he
mentioned his current age or the age at the end of the year. Oh oh.. off comes the wetsuit again...

Soon Veena, Chakri and Kiran showed up and Padma and I picked up our wetsuits and got out of the transition area.

Swim:
I happened to be in an earlier wave than Padma. I got on the ramp to see the second and third waves take off and was really pumped up. Soon it was our turn and all these folks were like penguins waiting for the first one to jump. The water was extremely cold and initial shock was giving me a slight numbing headache. Swim long and easy in the beginning, I remembered Coach Tom's advice. After gulping wave after wave of water and electrolytes, I realized the importance of breathing on both sides during the swim.

I thought I could swim really really straight and I had the shock of my life when I looked up. Everyone else seems to be going in the other direction. Regrouping I resolved to lookup more often and to swim long and easy for some more time.
Once I got warmed up I threw myself on the swim and just as I was getting a little tired, I heard some one shouting to stay to the right. Managed to get to the ramps and not beached on the rocks, I started running into the transition area, exhilarated at the swim time of 14:38.

T1:
I had practiced getting of the wetsuit and it did not give me much trouble. One lesson I learned was to stay calm. There was this guy in front of me, who while dancing on one leg, managed to pull the wetsuit off with a flourish
The final tug however threw him of balance and the resulting fall was not graceful at all. :( One other thing to remember is to keep your socks together. I bought these nice black woolen socks and I could find the pair, so I ended up with a black sock on one leg and a white one on the other.

Bike:
As I was getting out of the transition area, hearing CK, Shetal, Veena, Chakri and Kiran cheering it sent me into a frenzy and I started biking hard. I got an earful for starting in the wrong lane. The guy who was giving us the directions kept saying we will talk about the lanes in the end and when he did start talking about it, it was my turn at the john. I had to tell myself to slow down and conserve. My plan was to do negative splits and not go all in the first loop. The bike ride was pretty easy, though the wind was bothering me a little. At each turnaround, when I saw these folks cheering, I would work harder.

T2:
Ah here is where the towel came in mighty handy. I decided I will not run in my "industrial grade padded" biking shorts.

Run:
Well not much needs to be said.. other than my legs were extremely jelly like and I could not move them very much in the first loop. Second and third were easy and I managed an 8:30 pace for the 5k.

Some lessons learned:
1. Listen to the coaches. Well "Ghosts of the kicks, not listen to the talks".
2. The excess water I gulped was causing a major side stitch in both the bike and the run segments.

Thanks to everyone for their wishes. I think with relentless cheering and support is what really pushed a sluggish me can across the finish line. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to work on more of them this year.

Best part was the post-race, hanging out with CK, Shetal, Veena, Chakri, Padma and Kiran and having breakfast at Franklin St. Cafe and the cream puffs from Beard Papa's... :)

Tour de Peninsula - My first bike race

Ok now that I am into biking this blog will have some bike stuff as well. Hopefully swimming events will not be too far away either...:)

It was an exhillirating moment, racing downhil after sawyer camp, riding along with Vivek, with the slight drizzle on our face and breezing through the wind...

It all started with the bike buying spree and a few rides with Chethan and a few more with Vivek and Chakri. Saw the TDP posters in Sawyer Camp and well it sure seemed fun to ride.

Vivek, Chakri and me decided to ride a few sections of the trail on tuesday (considering we did not have tracks) and carpooled to Belmont. The prize of course was food at Veena's. :)

We rode along the canada road and back. It was a nice ride and we were cold and hungry very soon. :)

I was hooked on after the ride and signed up for the TDP. The day before the race was hectic, as we had run 16 miles in the sweltering heat in Oracle trail. Anyways Rajesh, G3, CK, Veena and Geeta decided to come and cheer us and well now there is no backing out.

My biggest concern and cause of much amuse was the question as to what if u get tired after climbing half the hill. How do you start again in the middle of the hill? Coach Martina told me to keep the bike perpendicular to the hill and start off. Simple, just like if your skis come off in downhill skiing. :))

One other concern was those #$%* cleats. How do you remember to take em off in time? Well the answer is you just remember you are on cleats and even if you don't and must fall, fall graciously (like land on your butt..:)) and not scrape the skin of your knee. My poor knees have taken quite a toll, before I could perfect this.. Vivek kept pulling my leg during the ride that I should probably patent this idea..

The plan was to leave early and reach the Sequoia school by 7:30, so we pick our bibs and start at 8. Due to over eagerness, I ended up at G3's place at 6:30 and found ourselves searching for a starbucks early in the morning. Vivek and CK joined us there.

After wandering around Brewster, found parking at James Ave. Rode to the school and picked up our bibs. Guess I was a little tensed and Vivek was talking about going to the war and we need a proper send off with tilak, aarti and vijayi bahava send offs..

We were at the start of the line and the announcer was making fun of people with mountain bikes saying how fat and beautiful those tires looked. Soon we were at the head of the line and the race started with everyone click, click clicking into their pedals.

The first few miles we were conservative as the Ralston Ave Hill was looming soon. With children riding randomly and some other cyclists doing a steady pace, we managed to stay clear and keep pace. Ralston Ave was one tough hill. In my stupidity of trying to save the last gear for further uphill, my quads started to hurt and I decided I needed to do these 4 miles first and preserve the muscles for the rest of the tour. After that Ralston climb was peaceful and rode along quite well.

Atop Ralston (Mt. Neverest) was the first water stop. Had our fill and picked up a few energy bars. From here the fun started and it was all downhill. We were having fun, zipping through polyhemus and before we knew we were already at crystal springs road. Those downhils felt great but were soon over.. It was here that I was so reminded of "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander" and the bike race. What a movie and what a ride.

Further up crystal springs road was the beginning of the sawyer camp trail and also the 21 miler shortcut. There was no doubt at all as to which way we were gonna. Considering sawyer camp was one way and we knew the trail so well, we were zipping thru the turns and enjoying the scenary. We were on top of the mile 5 and stopped to soak in the surroundings and Vivek remarks "we did it so fast - darned runners". :) I think the ride through the Sawyer camp was the best part of the course... At the top they had opened up the north gate and the ride backwards was along skyline blvd. It was a lot more hilly than sawyer camp and it had started to drizzle. It was a lot of fun riding through the rain.

Missed Chakri big time!!!

Since sawyer camp was only open to the bikers, I kind of forgot that we need to share the road and was infact riding on the wrong side of the road. Suddenly I see two bikes floating in the air and some lights. That is when it hit me, that were rack mounted on top of a car and I am in the middle of the road doing 25 mph. Oops, time to steer back to the bike lane. In the ride down skyline, there was this group of about 15 people (cyclista), who were riding together and I could not help wondering that it would be great to come down the hills in a formation with all of us in a team jersey of our own group.

After skyline, we biked a little on 35 and soon saw the signs for canada road. Great, known territory (we had biked this part of the course before) and we set off. Canada road is simply awesome and once more we found ourselves owning the whole road. CK called Vivek when they reached the intersection of canada and edgewood dr. We had just missed them and by the time the second call came through, we were on the other side of the canada road. :( Edgewood was the last big hill climb before home but then it was just a piece of cake.

The race was very very well organized with tons of volunteers, bikers, very well stocked water stops and an awesome course... I owe it to Vivek from all the bike tips, getting me to sign up for the race and riding with me through out the 33 miles. A very big thank you to G3, CK, Rajesh, Veena and Geeta for showing up early sunday morning and cheering us...

Now the interesting part - after race parties..

Lunch - Thabla.

Chai and Bourbon Biscuits - Veena's.

Rava Idlis for dinner - Ck's.

What a way to spend the sunday. Life feels great!!!

Napa to Sonoma Half

Had run this last year. Was my first long distance race and I wanted to run it again this year.

It was very simple, considering all the time I had spent it last year and the vivid memories of each turn and loop and water stop. Most importantly remembered to fuel right between water stop 7 and 10.

Was pleasantly happy with my time.  1:59:53.  Was it just me, I wonder?

MTT

It has been sometime since I last posted. Time to renew it for this years training. 

Ran the MTT with Chakri and group 1 and guess what I broke 7 minutes a mile. I know now what Roger felt like... :))

It was a major ego booster, from 8:45 beginning of last year to 7:20 end of last year to 6:58 beginning of this year, whoa the ride with Asha gets crazier each day.

All I am grateful for is "Life feels great".

My journey to Big Sur!

It all started after Chicago Marathon, when in runner's high Rajesh and me were in search of the next marathon to run. Arun higly recommended Big Sur.

Though taunting, the pictures looked extremely scenic and the very same day we registered. We talked to Chakri and Krishna and after the discussion at the party in Rajesh's place Krishna created the bigsur07 yahoo group.

The plan was to start traning in Jan, after all the december vacations. Chakri had the plan all chalked out and Chakri, Rajesh and Krishna started the runs at Rancho. After my recovery from bronchitis I joined them as well.

Each saturday morning my body would have a mini revolution. But then I would remember Chakri's email to bigsur07 and it would make me wanna be a big sur marathoner and run.
Example: Big Sur Marathoners : 10 -12 miles
Rest : :-)

The first mile at Rancho is the best part, where it is all flat and easy. We would usually stretch at the barn and then the hills would start.

The minute we started on the hills, vivid memories of running to the fallen tree (the only time I had previously run at Rancho) flooded me and I knew God did not make me to run uphills. :)
Rajesh was our hill king. He loved those hills and sometimes after reaching the top he would even come back down to run up the hill with me. Wheww!!! Soon Krishna started doing the same and of course I need not say about Chakri's strengths.....

I started realizing that if I did not do the hills, my chance of completing Big Sur was close to DnF (Did not Finish). I started walking all the uphills. If fallen tree was tough, doing the black mountain was a nightmare. Half the time I was either lost in the amazing scenary or in the constant whining going up the hills. Going down was my favourite part. After all I did not have to put effort in pushing my body. Gravity took care of that. :))

While running at Rancho, the favourite passtime was to compute the distances we did and the detailed elevation analysis. Krishna and Rajesh would have detailed discussions on the numbers and usually Rajesh sent an email with analysis of each and every section, the mileage and boy was he strict about it.

Usually the number game just makes me dread it the next time we do the hills. However, on comparing the Big Sur elevation, the realization that our training had more elevation, made me feel really happy. :))

During these runs, Chakri ran into Anil and the idea of running PCTR came up. Well believe it or not, we simply jumped into it and registered for the 30k at Pirates Cove. That run was a murder on the legs. I thought the elevation was infinite and though very beautiful, it was really tough. Between pictures and helping fainiting old ladies :)) we survived yet another milestone. We also ran into Coach Martina and Harry.

Some things I will always remember from the training:
1) When we did the 22 miler, Rajesh was away in Chicago. He comes back and completes the 22 miler at Rancho on a monday morning. Phenomenal energy and way to go Rajesh!
2) I have to definitely mention Coach Raman's infinite strength. Most saturday mornings he would do a easy 6-7 miler. Come back and do a 20 with us and go back to do some more. Thanks coach for all those runs with us.
3) The best part was the post runs. We would enjoy those delicious Sesame bagels Chakri always managed to bring, relishing the thought of conquering yet another double digit miler on the rancho hills. :)
4) Saving fainting old ladies on the hills and the fun we had.

On a final count, we had the following Asha folks running at Big Sur. Coahes Tony and Raman, Chakri, Arun, Rajesh, Krishna, Anusha, Simmy, Anush, Arul and me.

Come the race weekend, Arun and me started driving in the afternoon. Arun had decided to pace me for time. Well, though the thought of running it faster gave me a thrill when I was only hoping to finish the marathon. :( Anyways, I thought I will hang to Arun for as long as I can.

On the race day, We started at about 4:00 am, did a slow jog to get to the buses. Slept a little
on the bus. Rajesh wanted to survey the scene to decide how the hills look like. :) The race was to begin at 6:45 am.

We started slow and the plan was to do a 7 minute run and a 1 minute walk. We were cruising along until we hit the base of the hurrican point hill. My legs gave way and we walked up most of the hill. My best memory from Big Sur was coming down hurricane point (downhill, yahooo) and crossing the bixby bridge. Vast openness and sea on one side and the mountain and greenery on the other. It was simply phenomenal.

We kept going at a great pace and caught up with Karen (from Redback). Come mile 18 and my glutes caught up with me too and decided it is time to rest and went to sleep. I had real trouble getting them to run. Well, we walked miles 18 to 20. After that felt somewhat better and we did run a while. Though blurry on the detail, we crossed mile 25 (which was a mini hill). We saw the finish line and as always raced it to the end.

Some things I will remember about the race:
1) Well many times we kept passing back and forth one Mr.Gopinath, who was a 60 year old and was running big sur for the third time. He was a big inspiration for me to keep running.
2) I would want to give up and walk and Arun would constantly keep motivating me.
3) Stop eating all the food they have out there. The strawberries they had were the best I had ever eaten and they felt great.

Many times in the race, I simply wanted to get on one of those yellow buses and head home, but much thanks to Arun I run (hmmm walked?) all the way.

Last but not the least, a huge thanks to the Asha folks, Anush, Gayatri, Anurag, Arpana, Pankaj, Grishu and Rupal for showing up at Big Sur and cheering us.

Thanks Chakri for the awesome mentoring once more. I cannot put in words all that you have personally done for me. Thanks Rajesh and Krishna for everything.
Thanks Arun for making me realize yet again that moving mountains ain't so difficult after all.

My hope is I will keep running with these awesome people for the rest of my life. Well time to decide on the next marathon. Chakri, Rajesh, Krishna, Arun....????

By the way Flying Horse tasted much much better than the Sam Adams. :)

My first 22 miler

My biggest physical achievemnet. :) I ran my first 22 miler with Pam and Arun.
This saturday we ran the Sawyer Camp Trail. Well it is an awesome trail, till about 4 and a half miles. After that it is one treacherous hill.

We have done Sawyer camp a few times before and it was always painful. Surprisingly this time, the first 6 were a piece of cake. After we came back to the start line, we were a little sore and the tough of going back was daunting. Well, but we wanted to do the second tener. So tanked the fuel belt with gatorade and started on a trot. Miles 13, 14 and 15 went in a flash as we we were hailing all the returning Asha runners and it was not so bad. After that it started getting a little tougher. As alwasy my left hamstring started to twitch and I was getting a little worried. Pam is one strong woman and she kept going up while I was panting and trying to catch up. Arun of course, was just realaxing and having fun with us slow pokes.

Well once we completed 17 miles, it was another 5 miles before we head home and 18 and 19 were downhill. But downhill is not simple as your quads take quite a beating and we were in no shape for it. So I used the meandering technique similar to skiing when you want to go real slow down a steep slope.

Well some we passed Kalywan at the water stop with 2.5 more miles to go. After fueling, Pam decided that we should not stop and keep going till the finish. Well, it was a nice slow run. We relaxed and enjoyed the lake and were encouraging each other to keep pushing. The last mile was phenomenal as we decided to sprint and sprint we did. We did tracks in the last 800 and finished the 22 miles in 4 hours. Wheww, thinking about it as I write gives me a major kick.
Have I discovered runner's high yet? May be in Chicago... I wonder.



One other small note. I have not blogged for some time, but if you want to look at my running logs, see https://www.ashanet.org/siliconvalley/marathon/runnernet/admin/donate.php?2006TA246

Tuesday Track Workouts

Ran last nite really well. We did 4 milers at pace of 9:30, 8:50, 8:40 and then finally 8:30. Hurraah!!!

Also did a 10 mile the saturday previously. Was great. Did a run walk with Aamir. Had fun!