Week3: Run at campbell park

We met at Campbell park for the first Saturday run. I did a 4 mile run but unlike near home, at Campbell park it was almost flat. So, I could do the run by 40 mins. In the near term, that is my only goal - to run 10 min miles consistently. We had good cookies and other munches waiting for us at the end of the run. There are around 60 members in our chapter. They all were there at the park on time and we started the run as scheduled. That is pretty amazing. Grace said I have to rest completely on Sunday.. Why Sunday.. I will start resting right away ;-)

Peace,
sai.

Week 3: Coach's work out

We had our first track workout @ Los Gatos High School. Google map completely messed up the directions. I had to resort to the good ole way of asking directions at Chevron. I went in 15 mins late. But since it was the first week, the intro sessions were going on. We did a 6 min run 1 min walk around the track for 2 miles. It was preceded by a good stretching session (almost felt like a workout). After the tracks, Rol, the honoree for this event, shared his experience with Leukemia. It was inspiring to hear Rol and his wife talk about the trying times and how they handled it with grit and humor. Rol was cheering for us when we were in the tracks and he joined us for the Sunday run as well. It puts every thing in perspective.

Rgds
sai

Fund raising page up and running

Call to action: The fund raising page for The Leukemia & Lymphoma society is up and running at
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/rnrseatl09/sgopalakrishnan. The re commitment date is Mar 24 2009. We don't have a lot of time. I would appreciate if you take time to visit the site. Thanks in advance for your generous contribution. It is 100% tax deductible. Also, most of your employers would match your contribution. So, even if you donate $25, with employer contribution, it comes to a very generous amount. No amount is small. What do they say about little drops and ocean?

You can check if your employer matches your donation for The Leukemia & Lymphoma society at http://www.matchinggifts.com/lls/

If your employer has a matching contribution, pl. mention in the notes section (or something similar in your employer page) that the sponsor for this fund raising is "Saikrishnan Gopalakrishnan, Team in Training, Runner, Seattle Marathon June 2009".

Thanks in advance,
Sai.

Week 3: Training officially starts this week

Attended the orientation today and got introduced to my coach, mentor and my fellow running mates. We have a shoe and gear clinic on Sunday, core building session at Los Gatos school on Thursday and coach led running session at Campbell park next Saturday. I am hurting in my upper shin from my run on Friday. I will check with the coach tomorrow how to avoid it.

Federer V. Nadal Aus open finals tonight. I want Federer to win. But I think Nadal gets into Federer's head and Nadal contemptuosly dismisses Federer. So, let's see!

Sai.

Week 2: Got the gears

The photo says it all ! With the cap, the neck buff (that can be converted into a balaclava), I look more like a mugger than a runner ;-) With the new gears, I went for a 4 mile circuit close to home. My time sucked. It is no where close to what I get on tread mill. It was close to a fast walk than a run. Hopefully, I improve my time as the program progresses.

Sai.

Week 2: More indoor workouts

Went with the advise from the coach and restricted myself to 3 days of indoor ellipse train outs. This week I went for 60 min workouts to the numbers from "Forrest Gump", "Eric Clapton", "Harry Belafonte" and "ABBA Gold". My most favorite is "Forrest Gump". But the thing I like about "ABBA Gold" is that it runs for 77 minutes. 77 minutes of pure unadulterated mind numbingly stupid Pop. That lets me run uninterruptedly for 60 mins.

Am still waiting for my gear from REI. I chose the ship to store option. Why is it taking so long to ship to their own store. Don't they have these gears in the shop itself?

Ponderingly,
sai.

Week1: Mild workout

During my recuperation, I just did some very mild workout indoors on my Ellipse. Also, I did some research on the gears required for outdoor running in cold weather. The gear list includes wicking layer, a running jacket, a neck buff, thinsulate cap, wicking gloves, running socks and even wicking briefs! Ordered them online on REI. Will post the photos when they arrive.

BTW, Wedding anniversary #5 :-)
Sai.

Week1: Got inspired... and Got Sick!

After the initial information session, I got totally inspired. The training coaches advised me to do some regular warm-up exercises (ellipse, treadmill and some indoor activities) until end of January. The first boot camp starts only in the first week of February.

So, what did I do? I came home, wore my cotton T-shirt, track suits, my old sneakers and headed out. It was 32 deg outside (Yes, you polar bears from elsewhere, the denizens of the SF Bay area are delicate). I did not wear any head/ear protection. I caught some bug and had a severe strep throat. I did not bother to give any fight. I just went with the flow and let it run its course. The antibiotics for my tonsils flare-up wore me out.

It did not quite start well.. Hopefully, it gets better from here!
sai.

My feeble attempt at making a difference

May be I got carried away by all the messages of 'Hope', 'Change' and 'Yes we can'; may be I got so tired of the mundane routines in my life; may be I was trying to fill the time I used to spend at MBA; or may be I was actually trying to do something meaningful. I don't know which one it is. But the reality is that I found myself sitting at one of the information sessions hosted by Team in Training (TNT).

When I went in, my goal was purely a self-centered one - to run a marathon and checklist one of the items in my 'Bucket list'. I tried once on my own but given my proclivity towards procrastination and given the demands at work and at personal life (ahem!, here comes the excuse), I did not have any motivation to stick to the rigors of training. So, following the advice from one of my colleagues, I decided to go through a systematic training program and get this checklist done with. I did not know what TNT was. I got that info and much more in the information session.

The TNT program is the world's largest and most comprehensive endurance training program. More than 5% of all people who run a marathon do it through TNT. One of their goals is to promote fitness and healthy lifestyles. But I came to know in the information session that it was only one of their goals and that their mission was larger than such mundane things as helping people to cross the finish line (which indeed is still a big deal for me!).

In 1988 Bruce Cleland's 2-year old daughter, Georgia, had leukemia. He organized a team that raised $320, 000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), while training to run the NYC Marathon and TNT was born. Today, Georgia is a healthy and happy young woman and TNT prepares people all across the country (even complete novices such as yours truly) to run or walk marathons, cycle 100-mile bike rides and compete in triathlons. I chose to do the Seattle full marathon in June 2009.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. The society is one of the leading voluntary healthcare agencies, with ~75% of expenditures going to support the mission. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. An LLS-funded researcher developed Gleevec, a pill for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Now, 95 percent of newly diagnosed, chronic-phase CML patients survive more than five years with a good quality oif life. LLS also offers support groups, financial aid, co-pay assistance, information and advocacy programs for patients and their families.

After hearing from one of the honorees (a survivor of leukemia), I decided to make myself part of this program and raise $4,000 for the cause. I wanted to do one 'meaningful' deed before Shivani gets to 1. And here's my feeble attempt at it. I trust the coaches in TNT know what they are talking about. I trust their experience in crossing the marathon line. More importantly, I trust my friends to help me cross the fundraising goal for LLS.

Peace out,
Sai.