I’m Megh, second year MBA student at Goa Institute of Management, Goa. I’am an avid runner, reader and aspiring manager.
In this post, I will take you all to my journey of running a sub 1:35 hours Half Marathon.
Before starting off, my previous Half Marathon Personal best was 1:55:30 hours, so that’s the betterment by more than 20 monstrous minutes in a running cycle.
First things first, I’m a big believer of Power of Compounding Effect. I always believe in doing small efforts everyday and being consistent. So that was the main idea of my running journey. I put more focus and more emphasis on the process rather than the result. Result would be determined by how I run on the day in those minutes. Process was longer. So, I always focused on the process.
Rome was not built in day.
I started increasing the mileage slowly and gradually.
I live in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Due to Covid-19 restrictions in the city, we were not allowed to run outside till May 2020. So, I started running from the 1st week on Jun, 2020. I started slow and running on the easy mileage. I got the new running shoes in the same time and to test them I did a couple of tempo runs and I was shocked to see how fast I could run wearing them. Was it solely the effect of shoe? Not really. I did not stop working out in the lockdown. I kept doing HIIT workouts, Stairs climbiing in the lockdown at home.
I got Nike ZoomFly 3 from Gambol. After getting them I did the mistake of running too fast in the last 2 weeks of June and ended up sacrificing not running on the higher mileage.
Thankfully, a seasoned ultra runner Amit Bhattacharjee, famously called as Amit Dada in Ahmedabad guided me to slow down and take it easy. Following his advise I ran 236 kms at an average pace of 6:02 mins/km in July in Zone 2 of my Heart Rate. I decided to do a 10K time trial and check the progress of slowing down. We runners do not generally take whatever someone asks to do us so easily. Hence the test only in a month.
I did 10K time trial in 45:17. I was shocked and surprised. A little less than 3 minutes faster than my previous personal best which came in winter in last running cycle. This inspired me to set ambitious target for this running season.
I did not stick to any running plan. Strange, right?
I did not stick to any 8/12/16 weeks running plan given by any coaches or websites. Rather I explored and found out what works for me. As I mentioned, I was lucky enough to be advised to slow down by a friend. I got the result of that advise by just following it for a month. I decided to stick with it and mix it up with a little bit of speed work adding up slowly and gradually.
I used to decide the weekly schedule depending upon my other commitments and do almost 80% of running at easy pace and 20% of running at High Intensity in Zone 4 and Zone 5.
The idea was to do most of the running at low intensity or Zone 2 of my Heart Rate. Rest of them can be done at higher intensity or Zone 4 or 5 of my Heart Rate. I followed that from beginning of July and did a 45:17 10K.
I always focused on the bigger picture.
I always used to ask myself on my easy runs about the reason I am doing this. The answer I got was The Joy of Running. I used to get that on almost everyday except the day when I am doing my hard runs. My mind was never at work while running. I never used to think anything but running while running. I made a habit to make my mind free from any other thoughts throughout the run. I stopped listening to music while running and started focusing on the sound of my heart beat and steps and started connecting with my body.
Were 4 AM wake up calls worth it?
Like most other runners out there, I also wanted to save myself from getting roasted from the sun. So, I needed to wake up on 4 AM on every Sunday in order to get my 2 hours 10 minutes run in before the sun starts to roast me.
I saw some breathtaking sunrises. Yes, every bit of waking up early was worth it. I do not regret a single time waking up early.
What did I really do? What was so special?
Consistency, Yes, very simple and sounds easy, right? As I said earlier, I’m a big believer of Power of Compounding effect. I never missed a single run in the training cycle. Sometimes I woke up late and missed going out for a run in the morning, I ran on treadmill in the evening on those days. Even when there was a weekend curfew in Ahmedabad, I ran on treadmill for a little more than 2 hours. I made sure that training and base building was on point. Consistency is my secret sauce. Nothing special. I just sticked to the weekly plan I decided and did not miss running. Initially I started with running 4 times per week and slowly moved to running 6 times per week. My weekly mileage went up from 50 KMS to 70 KMS. I followed the same combination of 80% mileage at low intensity and 20% mileage at high intensity.
So, to sum it all, Consistency is the key. If you are just consistent, power of compounding effect will give you results over a long period of time. You just have to be patient. There is no short cut and no going away from this step. Plain and Simple truth.
I ran 1350 KMs over the course of 5 months. I ran almost 95% of them all alone. I ran about 10% of them on the treadmill.
About my running and fitness journey.
I’m an ex-potato couch, avid reader, personal growth junky and recreational distance runner. I looked out for my “Why ?”. I got it. Well, that’s the big story for some other time.
I was 97 Kgs in November 2017; made myself a promise to be fit. I used to go to gym before that; reduced weight couple of times; stopped going to the gym; weight increased and I was always back to the point where I started.
I needed to understand the power of compounding effect;
(1.00)³⁶⁵=1.
(1.01)³⁶⁵=37.78.
What was the difference this time around? I never skipped a training day, I never stopped doing small efforts everyday. I could slowly and gradually see the changes and have not gained weight again. Sounds very simple and easy, right? Indeed, it is.
Do not follow what I have written here blindly, your body might want something different. In case of any queries or coaching advice please write to me on meghhs23@gmail.com
