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Every Run is Different

Just like every day is a new day, a different day, every run is a different run. 


What I mean is that though the track/ trail/ course might be the same and you might have run it a hundred times, every single time you run it…. it’s a different experience and a new challenge. So many factors come into play. There are the quantifiable ones like the temperature, humidity, wind speed, air quality/ pollution levels, time of the day and the intangibles such as how rested and fresh you are, how good are you feeling about yourself, are you running with your usual group or are you with new running mates or on your own, how much of a rhythm you manage to fall into.


Having had had a good run on a particular route a few days earlier doesn’t always guarantee a strong run the next time. Never be lulled into a sense of ‘easy pickings’ just because of your familiarity with a particular course. The elements and the ‘intangibles’ might conspire against you!! 


I was served a reminder of this dictum recently. All you runners from NCR of Delhi would be familiar with the roads around Nehru Park, the adjoining diplomatic area, Race course road, Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate. Quite a lively hub of road running, especially over the weekend mornings, with its well maintained roads, green environs and limited vehicular traffic at that time of the day. Early November 2020, I managed to attain my personal best (PB) time of 95 minutes for a half marathon (HM) running in this area. Feeling good about myself, I decided to enroll under a virtual coach on Garmin Connect and train under him and attempt a half marathon in 94 minutes or under. It was a 14 week training program, which I followed quite diligently. I did manage to increase my cadence and pace somewhat. 


Come D-Day, I was reasonably well prepared and confident of achieving my goal, a few jitters and butterflies notwithstanding. Had light dinner the previous night, slept early and well, up and about on time in the morning and fuelled with tea and biscuits as per my set routine. Reached Nehru Park by 6 am as pre-decided. Did the warm up stretches, jumps and a lap to get the circulation going and joints and muscles ticking over. High fives with my running partners Rajiv ji, Sunil Jain Saab and Gaurav Sethi bhaiya. All Set?! 

Switched on my Garmin Forerunner to race mode and off we went with Rajiv Jindal ji as my pacer. Right from the start it was quite apparent that it wasn’t going to be my day. Though Rajiv ji in front of me was running easy at the designated pace, I couldn’t quite get into the flow. Kept labouring on, trying various things like improving my stride, increasing my cadence, breathing more mindfully, keeping the neck and head up and the back straight, visualising a strong finish and the thrill of a new PB (personal best). Nothing seemed to work and ended up doing the HM in 99 minutes, almost 5 minutes in excess of the time I had been gunning for. The only small satisfaction was being under 100 minutes, a target that I had failed to achieve till October 2020 despite all those years of running and trying all sorts of training techniques and plans. In the period October 2020-January 2021, this was the third sub-100 HM!! 


The route was one on which I had run innumerable times, my running mates were with me and I was reasonably well conditioned. So what was different from November 2020’s 95 minutes HM, that I couldn’t better that timing, come January? There were the quantifiables: It was colder at 8oC, the AQI was poorer and it was windy, compared to November (and I had put on a couple of Kgs. weight, thanks to all the sweets and treats of the festival season). Then the intangibles: Maybe the muscles tightened up due to performance anxiety, maybe trying too hard messed up with the strides, maybe an element of over-training and fatigue had set in.

There I was, humbled once again. Not shamed or defeated, mind you, as I shall try again. Remember (as I have probably blogged earlier), I am competing only against myself and the clock. Will keep striving to improve and surely things will fall into place once more. Looking at the bigger picture and the trends: Wasn’t it a running season (despite the pandemic) in which I was stronger and better than the earlier years?! 

 

Please note: In all of this narration the ‘I’ and ‘Me’ can be replaced by ‘You’, because as runners all of us go through the same experiences.  

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