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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Running barefoot, maybe, is the way to go. In the December issue of a Journal put out by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation researchers concluded that running shoes exert more stress on the knees, hip, and ankle than running barefoot or walking in high heels. According to the lead author, Dr. Irene Davis," we want to run barefoot, and when we put on shoes, we're trying to be taking away the function of the foot". It is known that human foot has a relatively little padding on the heel, therefore, is treads more lightly, landing on the outer part of the midfoot and then rolling inwards. It has been thought that all the cushioning provided by the lead running shoe brands encourage us to heel to toe strike that could lead to a lot of injuries.
Running barefoot debate has been going on for a while, although recently it seems is taken off in discussions on running following the publication of Christopher McDougal's book, "Born to Run". This took follows the Mexico's Tarahumara Indians, who currently run Ultra marathons, wearing thin rubber sandals or no-shoes at all. Your are bound to be inspired and by this work. Besides being a page turner, I was almost as enthralled as reading" Into Thin Air". The book explores the thesis that that humans were born to run. Mr. McDougal , tries to answer why our Ancestors were stronger and plays with a more provocative question whether modern running shoes increase the odds of injury. He has also tried to downplay the misconception in noncompetitive running of "no pain, no gain, " 
in fact, if done right according to Mr. McDougall, running can be as enjoyable as any other thing you would like to do regularly.
Personally I have not tried running barefoot, it may not be a smart idea in Green Bay, particularly in this season. For the more adventurous there is Vibram 5 fingers, thin rubber foot gloves that protect as you run in. According to runners who use them the stride changes naturally. It is much lighter on the heel , shorter stride probably leads to a dramatic change in posture. There is apparently less knee stiffness and back pain.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The temperature in Green Bay, still in the 30s, however, I can sense Spring is in the air. It is getting milder for this town's standards. Today morning I spotted a number runners going for their morning jogs. It's also the time of the year when resolutions are made. I have to admit I have not been able to run as much as I would like to partly due to a busy work schedule. I am training to do the Green Bay Cellcom Half Marathon in April. My hope is to complete the run in around 1 hour and 45 minutes. This for now seems like a tall order, but if I am able to achieve this, then would surely put me in a strong position to prepare for a Fall Marathon. It was a dilemma where to run. I finally decided to run the Chicago Marathon. The other options were Milwaukee Marathon, which apparently is a fast course to run on. However it lacks the charm of Chicago, but most importantly, the crowd support. I also considered running in Berlin, but could not fit in in my schedule. I am working that particular weekend. Not to mention Chicago is a much cheaper prospect. I am hoping to run at least 3 times a week and time permitting do cross training at least twice a week. The cross training will involve spinning routines. This year, the hope is to complete some fast runs. I will plan to do the Antarctica Marathon in December only if I am able to finish a sub-four hour Marathon.
Monday, December 7, 2009
I seem to have done the disappearing act from the blogging scene. The excuse is flat out procrastination. It is not without guilt. I have not even put up the Chicago Marathon report, which I intend to do in the next few days. I have done some strength training over the last month trying a new program called P90X. This is an intense program, which is hard to keep up with. It involves yoga, Plyometrics, like exercise besides normal strength training. Running obviously has been side-lined because of this activity. I probably have not run more than 25 miles since finishing the Chicago Marathon. Hopefully, this will change soon and I may get back in rhythm. The next big run is in Spring in Green Bay. I plan to run the Cellcom Half Marathon hoping to do a good finish with a much faster pace than I am normally used to. The training will start in January. I am looking forward to attending a talk by Bill Rogers, also known as the “Boston Billy”, who will be in Green Bay to do a pep talk. Mr. Rogers has won three times in Boston. Until then I need to avoid gaining too much weight as this being the holiday season, there is too much to eat at every corner.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The day started out to be quite nice. I woke up around 4:30 a.m. after a restful sleep. I was quite surprised that I didn’t wake up earlier considering the time it took for me to adjust to the Australian time zone. The previous night I had eaten a pasta dinner in the hotel restaurant and still felt quite full.
uding the Australian Premier’s residence. As you would exp
ect there were throngs of runners getting ready going through their routine on my arrival. It was a little nippy in the morning so a windcheater came in handy. The drop stations for the clothes to be picked on the finish line were easy to access. In the process, however, I lost my earphones. Not to be too discouraged I was able to convince myself, that I should be able to complete the run without listening to music considering that while I had been running in Sydney I enjoyed the sounds of the city and I thought it may not be an issue. Fortunately, I had my cell phone with me. I e-mailed my friend, Ajay, asking if he would be able to get me a pair of earphones when I would be near his house at around the 11th or 12th mile. My thought was that maybe by that time I would need the assistance of music . The full marathon was the last to be flagged off at 7:15 a.m. after the 10K and the half marathon runners were se
nt off. At the starting lineup I asked a fellow runner about the steep uphill climb right at the start and he just grinned back mentioning that this was a better version as the event organizers had changed the course over the last several years trying to avoid similar hills. He assured me that it is not that bad as the run progresses. Soon we were on the way. Within a mile I was over Sydney Harbor Bridge. I made sure I took pictures. This was the first time I was carrying my camera/cell phone with me. I was happy I could do this. I have to say, however, this was a distraction. Now that I think about it, I was too casual starting off the race. Immediately off the Sydney Harbor Bridge we were in the area called th
e Rocks. This was the first area to be colonized when the First Fleet arrived from England. Running on the Cahill Expressway going downhill, a very beautiful view of the Sydney Opera House is seen and gradually we entered the city at Macquarie Street, then into the Royal Botanical Gardens. This is an expansive greenery right at the edge of Sydney Opera House and is an amazing place to run. At around the six mile mark, I ran past the Sydney Cricket grounds. Growing up in India, I watched many games on television played at this venue. The next few miles were run in the Centennial Park, which is a beautiful park in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. So far the run had been smooth, although not entirely flat, I was feeling reasonably well. Once through the Centenial Park we looped around into Allison's Street and close to around the half mark. As I had hoped, Ajay with his whole family was there. It was nice to hear my name being called from the sidelines and of course he had brought the earphones, which by now I badly needed. I also felt very touched that Ajay had found time with his family on a Sunday morning to come out and support me. I crossed the halfway mark in around 2 hours and 15 minutes, which was close to the pace which I wanted to be at this stage. I have to say, however, going up and down the hills was beginning to take it’s toll. I did not, however, realize that the worst part of the run lay ahead of me. The course headed back to the Central Business District of Sydney. I tried hard to keep up with my pace 
with the steep elevation that lay between the 14th and 16th mile. There were some interesting runners though who kept me company including a couple from Japan who were running the race in Mickey Mouse costumes. Minnie was getting a lot of compliments from the onlookers. The crowd support was sketchy. Maybe I was spoiled by running in Paris as I has assumed that most of the marathons would have huge crowd support. This crowd was proving to be similar to my previous experiences in Rio and Marrakech were the crowd support had been poor. The water stations were w
ell manned , but there was no solid food like fruits available. I have to say while going through downtown Sydney for a moment it did come to my mind that maybe I should give up and just walk to my hotel and call it a day. I think this thought crosses the mind of a lot of runners once they are approaching the last third of the race and I was no exception. The next 6 to 6 ½ miles were very arduous. It involved a long loop into the western suburbs of the city over the old Glebe Island Bridge. This is a beautiful bridge, which links the Pyrmont area with Rozelle. On one side of the road there were runners going towards to the end of the loop and on th
e other side the people were returning after they had completed the section that lay ahead of me. It was quite sobering to know that there were so many of them folks at least four or five miles ahead of me, running strong and fast on the other side of the road. This was one tough portion for me. There was a lot of steep terrain. Many of us had to resort to walk the last few hills. In the latter part of the marathon one generally hopes for a flat course, which was definitely lacking here. Once this long arduous loop was over I knew the end was near. There were some runners still on the road and I was comforted by the fact that there were some behind me. After I crossed the 37th km marker I knew I wouldn’t be taken off the course as the city marathon has strict time limits to finish the marathon in a specified time. The last few kilometers were better , back into the beautiful part of Sydney Harbor running on Hickinson Road, looping around the circular quay onto a finish at the very inspiring Sydney Opera House. Total net time was 5 hours. This was my slowest ever run, but I was
happy that it was over with. Hard work still lay ahead of me as the marathon chip returning booth, the medal collection, finisher’s tee shirt were all spread out. I got a picture holding the medal and then just walked up to the Royal Botanical Gardens and sat down on the very well manicured grass . I called my wife, Anu, informing her that I finished the run and then dozed off into a nap. The warm sun, close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, served as a good anodyne.There were mixed feelings. I felt elated, that I had finished running on four continents, but also disappointed at my turtle pace.