As I crossed the final leg today , the last 10 Mtrs of the last repeat i.e the 3rd repeat of the 1.6kms workout , Satish sir mentioned don’t let go , keep the pace , the moment garmin beeped workout over ….. I remembered the Naval Academy days the sounding of the culmination bugle after a hard day out . Sir exclaimed with joy it’s a sub 5 pace mile for you its 4.58 pace precisely, there was another senior runner from mulund who ran with me for last 500mtrs . After the final step , I could feel my tongue and lungs dancing in unison , for a moment I thought my tongue came popping out…..i needed a beer.
As I saw my Garmin it read 4.58 pace. Yes today was my mile repeats Thursday and I had ran the fastest 1.6kms of my running journey of last 12 years . Yes I broke my personal best 3 times today . I had never run a mile in less than 5.20 pace till now , however today morning as the sun exuberated its radiance I was sure this is a special morning . As we were driving towards the start point driven by coach Bobby , me , satish sir and prabha in the passenger seat, Satish sir was repeating our schedule and the pace each one of us is to run . Here comes the greatness of this humble man , who is a well known amateur athlete in the distance running fraternity . Only Indian who has completed Comrades Marathon 10 times in a row earning the coveted Green Number for him and the country. Comrades is a 89kms road race held in south Africa every year . Inspite of his abundant achievements , he is grounded to the core and shows how to carry yourself inspite of the name , fame . Satish sir repeated our pace as we reached the start point at Mulund East . Pace checked and frankly more than me , he was confident of I achieving the pace . Our workout was 2kms warmup , 1.6kms x 3 with a 4mins Rest Interval and a 2kms Cool down .
Previous to 0715 AM today i had never touched a pace lesser than 5.20 for a mile . My pace for today , which he was to pace me was 5.00 to 5.15 all 3 repeats . Bobby and Prabha were given their respective pace for the day . Sir , mentioned that he will pace me ….. I knew by now …..aaj meri lagegi ….. this beautiful song played in my mind “Oh Betaji…..kismat ki Hawa kabhi garam , kabhi naram, kabhi naram garam…..”
Aaj kismet ki lagegi . I have been running for last 12 years on roads as Civilian and previous to that 10 year as a Naval Officer in the Navy career . 10 years in Navy , I hated Running in my academy days since running was more of a punishment thereafter during appointments in Navy running was more to clear the required annual PET .
I am a slow runner , as each one of you reading the blog will agree , I forayed in to distance running to keep in control my excited (tadpati hui ) Thyroid Hormones. My weight had shot to all time high in 2008 it was a bunny 107kg and one intelligent doctor advised pick up endurance sports to continue living. Since many of my friends ask what motivated you to pick up distance running ……for me it’s a matter of life and death . I Run Therefore I Am.
Since then I have many runs including 25 Plus FM , 100 Plus HMs , Many 10kms and 06 Ultra Marathons including the Prestigious Comrades Marathon in the year 2019 in 11hrs 48 Mins . I started as social runner and am still the one , only difference is that I am a serious and structured social runner from last 3 years when I decided to embark on the journey of comrades marathon . It was thanks to Viv my coach and satish sir as mentor , with my buddies at GOS who were there each day to run with me and mentally support me and offcourse the support from my wife , daughter , brother and parents I kissed the finish line of comrades .
Speed was never my strong point , It took me almost 10 years to get a sub 2 HM i.e in 2019 Jan at Navi Mumbai HM a 1.58.59 and it was the only one which I have to these day .
As we got cocooned to our shell during the lockdown , it took a serious toll on my health and also running , though occasionally I would do indoor cycling , but somehow in the few months to come I drifted towards workfromhome in full swing , food and beer . When the unlock 4.0 happened , as I ran my first few kms it was tough , thereafter even 5kms in 33 mins was a tough effort . As they say Running grounds you , it makes you humble . So here I was struggling for a 33mins 5k.
As days and weeks went on , I moved on to body weight fitness and serious gymming being trained by two of my friends who are Army Aspirants Robin from Delhi and Dr Pravish from Kerala . They are awesome guys .
It was then Prabha started training with Satish Sir and she started showing significant improvement in her runs. I had ran with sir during my comrades training in 2019 , wherein he had paced for all the long runs the 56kms and the 65kms run . He is more of a elder brother. Inspite of being a runner of repute , he went back to learning about running in the lockdown . When , me and coach bobby expressed our desire to train with sir , it was more of training with discipline and with a mentor .
Uske baad ….. it was like someone who was monitoring you, he is there to plan exactly with HR , with pace etc . In around one month , I could see a sea change , since he knew my running in and out . My first TT of 5kms few weeks saw a 27 mins . Thereafter 5kms in sub 30 is as per will . During the 1kms repeat , a week back I clocked the last repeat of the km at 4.47 pace . It surprised me , as well as every one . My fastest 1kms in my running career and then he planned by 1.6kms repeat in such a manner that I will be screwed .
As I analysed my run today , I got to know that I did my PB at 5.09 pace for a mile at 0725 AM , broke the PB at 0745 AM again with 5.01 pace and broke the PB again at 0800 in 4.58 pace .
It took a great amount of time , 12 years of running , for a slow runner like me I am elated , many of my friends and many awesome runners do this pace as warmup pace , but for me it’s a new phenomenon let it sink . Thank you Satish Sir.
Oh Betaji………Kismat ki hawa kabhi garam , kabhi naram…..