Friday, September 09, 2011

Road to Comrades - Dream run or Gone Crazy?

Imaging your truly with the BIB # 449078
Yes, call me crazy, have signed up for Comrades marathon to do my dream run.  After a few clicks and USD 200 poorer, I wondered whether I made the right call in doing what I did.  But, washed away that 'toxic thought' immediately only to dream about running past the finish line within the stipulated time.  Tired, beaten but happy.  As they say, most of the things are created at least twice, once in mind / imagination and then in reality.  I got the first part covered, now I just need to work on the second part.. small details..:-)

Now talking about executing the dream, I have one more hurdle to cross and that is to qualify.  In order to run comrades, I should have run a 'qualifying' marathon in the past year under 5 hours.  My last qualifying run was Big Sur on May 1, 2011.. but I need something later and by May 2012 to run this in June 2012.

Though I did not plan for it, I am hoping to use Colombo Marathon as a qualifier and jump past the 'qualifier' hurdle.

Now, another crucial question I need to deal with is.. 'How do I train for a 90K run?'.  a distance that I have never done before.  The farthest I have gone is just 48k (Chennai - Mahapallipuram) and comrades would be more than double of that.  All along, I have simply be sticking to 3 core principles and they have been serving me well...

  1. No two days missed
  2. Min 10k per run
  3. 50k per week 

I am not sure if this would suffice for Comrades.  What do you think?

My goal is to simply come under the stipulated time and nothing more.  Can you suggest few practical training regimen?  Looking for your input to shape my Comrades run... Come help me realize my dream.
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5 comments:

  1. Navin SadaranganiFri Sep 09, 07:33:00 PM

    Hey Ram,
    Dream run for sure. For which the pre-requisite is being crazy right :-)

    I'm sure with your determination and focus, you'll surely crack this one, and crack it good Ram. Nice to see that you're gonna get the qualifying marathon asap, nothing like getting it outta the head!

    On training, there are numerous plans for Comrades out there chief. But if i was to make my own, i think what you already have in your 3 core principles is a great place to start. I'm no expert but if i was you, i'd do 4-5 runs a week, get to abt 80-90 kms (55-60 miles) on an average, which would mean that your weekly runs should go longer and the LSD much longer (gradually though). The other components during the week viz. Running workouts (Speed / Tempo / Hills), Cross training, Strength / Core sessions, would primarily remain the same. Once you start to be consistent at this (knowing you, that's a give-in :-)), i'm sure you'll see improvements. Good luck in your training chief. Comrades, here they come!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karthik VijayakumarMon Sep 12, 02:13:00 PM

    Woohoo! This is truly a dream run for any runner and with your determination, you will surely crack the "down-run" this year!

    There are hundreds of Chennai Runners waiting to see your picture with hands up in the air, running across the Comrades finish line!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownTue Jan 10, 09:42:00 PM

    Great job Ram !!! I like the strategy of running two days in a row and a minimum of 10k per run.

    Best of luck

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousTue Mar 13, 09:56:00 PM

    Ram,
    What do you do for health insurance when you run these marathons? Do you run them uninsured or do the races cover any injuries during the marathon

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ram ViswanathanWed Mar 14, 08:38:00 PM

    No special insurance..

    ReplyDelete

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