Life from Running to Stairs

Stairsmaster, Stairman, OMG…these are the few names which I have been given to me in the last few months after people saw a transformation in my body. And it is quite obvious because now I am a completely changed person internally and externally, thanks to my training which included running, stairs climbing, Abs, SuryaNamaskars and Kick Boxing. I don’t know how I got addicted to these but these are entirely my inclusions.

So, how I started? I have been running for a long time but with no focus on timing; however, I always thought improving my timing. In one of the many articles, I read stairs climbing as one of the core training of all successful runners. Meanwhile, Sharad, an IT entrepreneur and my running fellow did few sessions of stairs in his building which inspired me to do stairs in my building but I found it boring, may be due to non-circulation of air and closed four walls. Parsik Hill was one place where I remembered one small patch of stairs (110 stairs oneway). Next day, I ran to Parsik Hill (PH) and did 1,100 stairs (5 times of stairs run cum jog, 220 stairs up and down). It was an amazing experience for me though I was tired too. In my next run to PH, I did 7 times of repetitions completing 1,500 stairs which went to 3,300 stairs in next two sessions. Meanwhile I realized that I started feeling light due to stairs and my calves were becoming stronger. This made me to include stairs as my permanent training plan. So, instead of mixing running with stairs, I focused on doing stairs only. I landed on PH with my loads of carbohydrates, water  and other stuffs and did my first dedicated stairs jog and ended up doing 5,500 stairs in 1:10 hrs. My other core plans like SuryaNamaskars, Abs, Plank etc were on. I increased my stairs count from 5,500 to 8,000 to 11,111 and then 15,555 stairs in a span of one month. Yes, initially I felt tired but later on, it was perfectly fine except on the day when I did 15,555 stairs, my feets were paining. On an average, I did 5,500 stairs an hour.

These trainings helped me a lot; first, it gave me a discipline and direction how to target and achieve it and at the same time, it made my body strong, rather I would say super strong. I accomplished my sub 2 target of completing ADHM 2014 in 1:53 hrs followed by Emidar Navi Marathon Half Marathon in 1:50 hrs. Because of these trainings which included stairs, I finished Bangalore Ultra (50 km) in a reasonable time (5:40 mins). Believe me, I never ran beyond 21 km but I ended up doing 50 km without any hassles. Yes the last 10 km was tough but I managed to finish strongly. Recently I participated in Stairs Everest Challenge organized by Skyscraper Dash where we had to run 43 times up and 42 times down of Kohinoor Square (52 floors), Dadar equivalent to 106,500 stairs in a team of 6. We ended up doing 109,000 stairs where I contributed 18,750 stairs and rest by my team members. We took an average time of 3:00 hours and beat Bangalore record by a cool 13 mins.

I read a lot of articles on stairs and kick boxing and read few histories of some of the great runners of the world. Two things were common in all – Stairs running/Hill running and Boxing/Kick Boxing which are part of my training plans currently.

I strongly recommend all runners to include stairs, abs and other core exercises in their training plans which will definitely improve their running pace.

My life changed very fast in the last two years, especially in the last one year; everything looked positive to me, personally met so many wonderful and determined people, most of them runners of different ages but in different professions. I am blessed that I am surrounded by positive people, friends and bosses who always supported me in my dreams. God bless everyone!

Happy stepping!

18 Half Marathons, 2 Ultras and 1 Tower Run – The journey is on

“When you make yourself as your role model, nothing is impossible for you, especially when you are putting your efforts 100%.”

It all started with my participation in Dream Run of SCMM 10 and later in SCMM 11. I was amazed to see the whole Mumbai coming on roads and running their respective category runs. Though I was upset that I didn’t go for Half Marathons in these two seasons, I was determined to participate in HMs in future runs. The year went by and as determined, I registered for SCMM Half Marathon 2012 through my then employer. I promised to train myself but it never happened except few (2-3) practice runs of 5-7 kms. I managed a net finish time of 02:50:20 hrs without any preparation. I didn’t know if I should be happy or pat myself on my achievement. The next two days was horrible for me; my calves and legs were paining.  

The next run happened at Airtel Hyderabad Marathon on Aug 26, 2012 with a net finish time near to SCMM Half Marathon 12. Life went on and my passion for running grew stronger. I did few practice runs but not any serious runs. In 2013, I registered for SCMM HM 13, Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon 13, Airtel Hyd Marathon 2013, Vasai-Virar National Mayor’s Marathon 2013, Pune International Marathon 2013 and Zendurance Nashik 2013. With marathon after marathon and few practice runs, I managed to finish 2013 with the best timing of 02:14:42 hrs in Zendurance Nashik 2013. It was a major boost up for me as I managed to improve my timing significantly after 7 HMs and 2 Dream Runs by almost 35 mins.

At the end of 2013, I joined a running group, Navi Mumbai Runners (also known as NMRs) at Navi Mumbai and became an active runner with no proper focus on training. I just kept on running and running. Meanwhile I realized that running changed my life, my thinking and my perspectives towards the world. From an aggressive person, I became a calm person, a good listener and started giving other people their space and time. In nutshell, running became the biggest detoxifier in my life.

The target was set for 2014, nothing less than sub 2 hours for Half Marathon. Though many fellow runners asked me to upgrade to Full Marathon, I never thought to give it a try without achieving my sub 2 hours in Half Marathon.

Year 2014 started with SCMM Half Marathon 2014 on Jan 19, 2014. Though I didn’t have any fixed target, I had a soft target of finishing in 02:10 hours. I started my run with my fellow runner Sweta Jayaram and ran together till 12 km after that she gave up with my pace. I managed to finish the run in 02:11:34 hrs. Though I missed my own target, it was a real booster in my running career. Yes, you heard it right, somehow running became an important career of my life. I can not imagine my life without running. It made me disciplined; it allowed setting my target and achieving it with proper planning and training. I became so addictive to running that I started looking for event runs wherever I visited – be it a personal or an official visit. 

The office was planning an offsite in Jaipur in 1^st week of Feb 14 and it happened to coincide with Ambuja Jaipur Marathon 2014 on Feb 02, 2014. And to my surprise, I managed to finish it in 02:07:42 hrs, my personal best (PB) and better than SCMM 2014. The addiction to running became so strong that I carried my running gears wherever I travelled. My target of sub 2 was still not achieved. I kept on participating; added Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon 2014, Durshet Forest Marathon 2014, Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2014, Satara Hill Marathon 2014, Mussoorie Half Marathon 2014. All above mentioned marathons of 2014 have their own stories, deadlines and beautiful moments. I would make a special mention of Mussoorie Half Marathon 2014. It was the toughest hill half marathon so far in my life, even tougher than Satara Hill Marathon; I struggled for breathing at 8,000 ft but managed to finish it in 02:21 hrs. I still could not finish sub 2 in any of these marathons. So, my hunger still remained on.

 

Meanwhile, in Aug 14, I changed my training plans. I started doing stairs, joined Kick Boxing and concentrated on core exercises apart from routine practice runs. I followed a tough training plan, did lot of Abs, Planks and Hill runs. I controlled my diet and avoided overeating; brought down sugar intake to almost nil. I started practicing a lot on stairs; increased the nos from 1000 to 2000 to 5000 to 8000 to 11,111 to 15,555 all at one go individually. Believe me stairs’ training brought wonders in my life. It made me so confident that my dream of sub 2 looked not too far as I had been eagerly waiting for Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2014. Since I had become an active runner, I had been aware of runs – easy and tough both happening across the country. Bangalore Ultra was one of them where there were categories like 12.5k, 25k, 50k, 75k, 100k and 24 Hours run; heard many good stories about it. I was very clear that I didn’t want to go for 12.5k and 25k and I never ran beyond 21k in my life. So going for minimum 50k was out of my sight. But I decided to plunge in the sea and registered for Bangalore Ultra 2014 under 50k category two weeks before the run date. I didn’t have any training and strategy in my mind but I decided to go for it as I was mentally prepared. On Nov 08, 2014, I ran. The first 10k, I did in 59 mins, 21k in 1:59 hrs, 25k in 2:27 hrs, 42k in 04:35 hrs and 50k in 05:45 hrs. I struggled a lot in the last 10k; I thought, had my training been fine, I would have achieved it easily. Nonetheless, I managed to finish 50k in a comfortable time of 05:45 hrs, a feat which I dedicate to my commitments to hard training and strict diet. This boosted my confidence so high that I was sure to finish ADHM 2014 scheduled on Nov 23, 2014 within sub 2. I took the next few practice runs easily, focused more on core training and practiced few sprint runs.

Delhi on Nov 23, 2014 had a wonderful weather, perfect for any runner. The gun was shot and runners set their pace at their respective speeds. I managed to finish it in 01:52 hrs, my first sub 2 Half Marathon after a year wait. I was so happy that I started crying at the finish line.

It would have been unfair if I would not have finished 2014 in style. I participated in Skyscraper Dash Everest Stairs Challenge (involving 1 lakh plus stairs in a team of 4-6 members) on Dec 21, 2014. Our team, “The Unstoppables” did a remarkable job of completing the challenge in an average time of 3:00 hrs per person beating Bangalore record by 13 mins. The total stairs climbed were 109,000 out of which mine contribution was 18,750 stairs. Hindustan Times acknowledged our effort and put a congratulatory note on their newspaper on Dec 25, 2014. Dec 25, 2014 was another running day; I participated in EMIDAR Navi Mumbai Half Marathon. The management was horrible with no active support. Most of the runners ended up stopping early or ran more; I ran 22.63 km more than my scheduled 21 km. Though I got my PB (1:50 hrs), I was upset with their poor management.

Now the focus has shifted to few other Half Marathons like SCMM 2015 (scheduled on Jan 18, 2015), Thane Hiranandani Half Marathon (schedule on Feb 15, 2015) and two biggies Ultras – RuntheRann Ultra, Kutchh (100 km, scheduled on Feb 06-09, 2015 at one of the most hottest and toughest conditions of Kutchh) and Twilight Ultra Challenge, Singapore (scheduled on Mar 29, 2015). I hope to do better and much better than my past runs. For the moment, my target for sub 2 is 100 mins and I hope to achieve it in 2015 along with two ultras which I am determined to finish it strongly.

My earnings over the last 3 years, most of them in the last 1.5 years – 18 Half Marathons and 2 Ultras. I don’t know where this madness will stop but I plan to make it 100 over the next few years.

1)     SCMM 2012 – Half Marathon – 02:50:20 – Jan 15, 2012

2)     Airtel Hyd Marathon 2012 – Half Marathon – 02:50:58 – Aug 26, 2012

3)     SCMM 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:45:03 – Jan 20, 2013

4)     Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 03:15:45 – Feb 24, 2013

5)     Airtel Hyd Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:29:25 – Aug 25, 2013

6)     Vasai-Virar National Mayor’s Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:32:16 – Oct 27, 2013

7)     Zendurance Nashik 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:14:42 – Nov 17, 2013

8)     Pune International Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:16:07 – Dec 01, 2013

9)     SCMM 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:11:34 – Jan 19, 2014

10)  Ambuja Jaipur Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:07:42 – Feb 02, 2014

11)  Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:15:40 – Feb 16, 2014

12)  Durshet Forest Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:07:35 – Aug 10, 2014

13)  Mumbai Ultra 12 Hours Run 2014 – Ultra Marathon (65 Km) – 09:30:30 – Aug 15, 2014

14)  Airtel Hyd Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:10:46 – Aug 24, 2014

15)  Satara Hill Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:07:34 – Sep 14, 2014

16)  Mussoorie Half Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:21:25 – Nov 01, 2014

17)  Perfomax Bangalore Utlra 2014 – Ultra Marathon (50 Km) – 05:48:34 – Nov 08, 2014

18)  Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 01:52:38 – Nov 23, 2014

19)  Skyscraper Dash Everest Challenge 2014 (109,000 stairs in a team of 6) – 3:01 hrs per person – Dec 21, 2014

20)  Emidar Navi Mumbai Marathon 2014 – 1:50:21 – Dec 25, 2014

21)  Powai Run 2015 - 02:21 - Jan 04, 2015 (Paced my friend, Dr Bhavana Diyora to get her PB)

22)  SCMM 2015 – Half Marathon – 01:46:02 - Jan 18, 2015

Life changed very fast in the last two years, especially in the last one year; everything looked positive to me, personally met so many wonderful and determined people, most of them runners of different ages. I am blessed that I am surrounded by positive people, friends and bosses who always supported me in my dreams. God bless everyone!

Happy Running!