Running Experience 1: Preparation for my first 10K

Dear Friends,

Greetings! 

I believe you are finding the tips useful and few of you might have started your running routine. Today I am going to tell the story on how I prepared for my first 10 km (10K which will be used hereon) race. 

It was in 2011 when Life is Calling made their debut in Mysore with Celebration Mysore Run event. The event organizers had come to our campus to promote their event. By that time the running had become my daily fitness routine, it was but natural to get interested in the event. Since I had never experienced any kind of road running prior I opted for the least distance category i.e. 5K (Half Marathon and 10K being the main categories). My friends Ravi and Mohan also registered with me for the same category. We didn't do any special practice as at that point of time we didn't have anyone among our friends who had long distance running experience. We participated, started running, strolled some distance again picking the pace, then stroll, then pace. After many run-walk-run sequences we could complete the race and we didn't bother to note the time also. At the event we saw one of our senior colleagues participating in Half Marathon and another colleague in 10K. We somehow got the feeling that with some practice we can do 10K. Following are few pics from that first outing

Ravikirana, Mohan and myself in action

Those days I was doing my MBA. I had my final exams in Jan 2012, I was finding it difficult to devote time for studying in my busy professional schedule, hence there was no question of finding time to practice for 10K run. Meanwhile Ravi got married, his priorities got changed. Mohan was more of a hobby runner since beginning. So the excitement of preparing for 10K was slowly fading away from us. After completing my final exams I was back to track with full vigor. Those days I was having a bit more leisure time as the project I was working had come to an end and I was looking for a new one. I started devoting more time on tracks. Those days our organization had hired an athletic trainer to guide the interested runners on work day evenings. That's how I met Praveen who was serving as the trainer during those days. Being a physical instructor in a college he knew the techniques of preparing for an athletic event. Also I got a chance to meet few of the fellow trainees who were interested in long distance running. We formed a group with the objective of participating in 10K in the 2012 Celebration Mysore Run.

My Preparation: I used to run 4K in 30 minutes those days. Going beyond that was a bit challenging for me. And moreover I was a comfort paced runner or in simple terms a medium fast runner. I was trying to run faster, but was getting exhausted after running 30 minutes. The stamina was also not upto the mark for running 10K. Praveen Sir helped me gain stamina with lunge walks, step sprinting, alternate sprinting, parallel bar exercises, medicine ball exercises. I also started running more though slow, started touching 5K after a month, 6K after another. But meanwhile I got into a larger project, and my work schedule again got busier. Finding time was again a challenge but by that time the zeal of running 10K had got imprinted in my mind. Though not more, I was managing to find minimum of 30-40 minutes each day for practicing. The race was in Oct 2012, but time had just passed and by the time the race was just couple of weeks away, I was yet to go beyond 6-7K in terms of practice. I remember running 7.2K at a stretch three days before the race and that was the maximum I could do. Diet wise I don't remember doing anything special. Also I didn't get any injury issues to deal with during the practice sessions. Even clothing wise I wasn't aware of any technical clothing. I was going with normal cotton sports t-shirt provided by the race organizers and a pair sports shoes not specific for running.

Strategy for the race day: As I mentioned I couldn't test myself running beyond 7.2K. I was not sure on how much time I was going to take to complete. Also I was not sure if my body allows me to run continuously beyond 7K. So I made a strategy to keep running whatever speed my body could comfortably manage till 7K, take a break if I get tired, walk for a while before pushing for the rest of the distance. I had set a time of 80 minutes for the race.

Race day: As per the instructions, I had collected my t-shirt, timing chip and bib (chest number) a day before the race, got them pinned previous night itself. On race day I came to the venue 20 minutes before the flag-off time, did some warm-up exercises. Frankly speaking, I was having butterflies in my stomach! As soon as the race gun was shot, as per the plan, I started steadily. I was feeling good and I was not doing anything special or fancy. I kept on running with moderate pace and I was just pondering how much distance I will be covering without stopping. The volunteers deployed on the route were smart enough to hold the paper cups filled with water on their hands stretched to help the runners pick the cups while running itself. So there was no forced water stoppage for runners unless they take one voluntarily. The route was good, I kept on running, and after 7K I asked myself - should I be taking a break? I told myself to go some more distance and after running one more km again the question came. Again I told myself to continue and at 9K there was no question, I just told myself that stopping was not an option at that point of time. But by that time the legs had started aching, more than stamina, it was my will power which helped me continue running and as the finish line appeared I paced a bit to finish strong. As soon as I crossed the finish line one of the volunteers garlanded me with the medal. Suddenly all the pain, tension, anguish were replaced by the joy, ecstasy and feeling of achievement. I saw the giant clock through which I could calculate my race time as around 63 minutes. It was a dream moment for me as I had run the distance of 10K for the first time, and I could run without stopping and also I was far ahead in completion than my original estimate of 80 minutes. I was feeling like an athlete and on cloud nine! Before the sweat started getting dried, I requested a fellow finisher to take a snap of me posing like my favorite athlete Rafael Nadal biting my finisher medal. After some time I could come out of the ecstasy and started rejoicing with my running group friends - some of whom had finished earlier to me and others could finish within 10-15 minutes after I did. Overall it was a great going for the entire group as it was the first 10K run for all of us and we had finished stronger compared to the practice we had put.

Lessons learnt -

1. As I mentioned the volunteers ensured the runners to get the water while running, one thing I learnt was not to drink water fast while running, it may choke the breathing resulting in bad cough. Either take a pause to drink water, or just keep little water in your mouth allowing itself to get slowly into the throat. 
2. Don't get panic seeing fellow runners running ahead of you at the beginning. Go at your own pace, just concentrate on the goal you are set to achieve - completing the race, or completing within a set time etc. Never look at others while participating in a long distance run. 
3. Running on road. It was first time I was running on road and part of the route was a Highway. I was very cautious when I was running. Watching the traffic coming in front of you is easier but you need to be careful about the traffic coming behind you. I kept on gazing background once in a while. The same thing I follow now also while running. But if the event is well organized, the organizers usually take the help of police to ensure the safety of runners. But it is always useful to be alert while running on a busy road. 

Post race: After race when I came home, I got some headache may be because of dehydration and also I was not used to such a physical excursion. I took rest that afternoon and I was fine in evening without any signs of fatigue. 

Thanks for reading, next tip would be about my first Half-marathon!

Regards,

Chetan