Conquering an unending route - Pune to Lavasa 56 kms Ultra

If the Amby valley run was a complete fun run through a party riot, the Pune Lavasa route was quiet, serious, beautiful and an extremely rewarding training run in terms of terrain, gradient and weather.

Post the Amby valley run, a couple of interesting events happened.

The Zurich triathlon threw to the Indian triathlon community a new addition, Milind Soman, a hero and an inspiration to millions. He completed his FIRST Ironman…

Our timeless Hero

Of course there were the usual suspects like Kaustubh Radkar who lapped up a mind-boggling 12th Ironman!!! If thats not enough,

James Lawrence, a.k.a. the Iron Cowboy achieved a superhuman feat in the United States. He completed an unimaginable 50 full course Ironmans, in all 50 States of The US, in 50 days. That means he did a 3.8 kms swim followed by 180 kms of cycling followed by 42.2 kms running EVERY SINGLE DAY for 50 days travelling all over the US.. 

James Lawrence a.k.a. The Ironcowboy on the 50th day

and here i am hibernating for 2 days after a measly 50 odd kms!!!

Meanwhile i was thrilled that my blog attracted attention and I received an invite for an Interview from firstrunning.com. 

SCMM via Procamrunning also covered my blog on their Facebook page!!

Generally after an ultra, i spend a couple of days in hibernation. There are aye and naysayers for recovery runs, but i generally avoid any running the day after and choose to live through my normal activities that involves a fair amount of walking and being on my feet.

So the 2 weeks till this Sunday, i only did maybe 3 hours of running-stair climbing per week. The Sunday after the Amby run, i lazed and just did a bit of light stretching and some core exercises.

I also procured the training mask from trainingmask.com . This simulates high altitudes by fitting customized valves in a certain manner. 

However, its Hannibalistic looks have deterred me from wearing it on the Mumbai roads, as yet, lest my beloved strays choose to hound me. 

5 weeks to go before we depart for Ladakh. 

I am quite enjoying preparing for these fortnightly Ultras. The sheer joy of running for long hours, the excitement and anticipation of a new uncharted terrain and providing myself yet another opportunity to conquer mental blocks of distances makes the whole process of running pleasurable!

Sameer, Ashish and I planned to try out the 50 kms Pune Lavasa route on our friend Hrushikesh’s recommendation. 

Hrushikesh is an accomplished runner, trekker, cyclist and a seller of the classy Marin bikes from Pune. He also volunteered to crew for our effort. Another fellow dentist, Aditya also joined us on the run. 

We barely caught up on 4 hrs of sleep on Saturday night thanks to the traffic situation on the expressway post the deadly landslide the previous week.

So the 4 of us set out on yet another bespoke 50 kms ultra early morning at 4 am expecting to get done by 1030 - 11am

The Lavasa route is a true roller coaster with equal number of ups and downs all the way till Temgarh dam, beyond which is a massive relentless Grade 2 moderately steep climb up to Lavasa.

The first few miles till Chandani Chowk were pretty easy

For the first time ever, i was trying out some gear that i will be donning at KhardungLa. One is the compression top from trainingmask.com and the compression 3/4ths bottoms of Decathlon.in. Surprisingly, they were super comfy and i never even thought of getting rid of them through the run until the sun was really high and hot.

Running in the dark hours of morning, there was a constant breeze that complemented our warming limbs!

As we passed each territory, the local strays masquerading as wild dogs, practically everywhere, gave us a growling welcome, often coming close enough to sniff at us. Luckily none came too close for comfort and would back off if we stopped and growled back!

The constant ups and downs and the cool breeze ensured that we didn't really have to walk except at the slope going up to Manas lake. 

Sameer and I going up to Mutha top, a grade 3 incline 

From here on, the route turns scenic after the industrial town of Pirangut. 

The Pirangut ghat down at the 15kms mark was completely welcome and helped us keep momentum right till the turn away from the Mulshi road. Thereafter, it was a straight road up to Lavasa.

All my long runs over the last 2 months have taught me a thing or two about mental battles and overcoming them. Most of our runs have been out and back loops, be it Matheran or Amby. This is the first run that has been a one-way affair. In many ways, if one is not mentally geared for such a run, one can hit the wall and from then on, every kilometre seems like eternity! And thats another reason why i rated this route high for ultra training.

Luckily for us, Hrushikesh has been a veteran of this route and his pit stop guidance about the route and its undulations and what to expect were remarkably accurate. 

Reaching the Mutha hill top

One of the highlights of this route was the short Mutha hill climb leading to the top that offers spectacular views of the plains below on either side. As we climbed up, the serene sounds of ringing bells of a distant temple complemented the crisp fresh air of the early Sunday morning. A bunch of Pune cyclists racing up and down to Lavasa crossed and cheered us. From the top, the headwinds were so strong it almost made us stop and sway sideways as we ran down

Unlike Amby, this route didn't have as much vehicular traffic, making it that much more safe

Hrushikesh would stop at every 5 kms and we would perform our well-oiled rituals of stretching, fuelling and checking for blisters, etc. At the 40th km, at the base of Temgarh dam, Hrushi warned us that the next 8 kms were all steady steep uphill to Lavasa.

Temgarh dam

It was 5h:10min elapsed until now and i assumed we should finish our planned 50 kms well within the planned 6h:30 min. Though my legs were stiff, I was still in good spirits and decided to walk up on the slopes and run wherever possible. It turned out that the 8kms barely offered a couple of hundred metres of relatively flat stretches which i could still run on! So that felt great! 1hr 20 min later,  at 48.5 kms, Hrushikesh and Ashish decided that we should turn back as Aditya had turned back earlier. Sameer and I also felt that running downhill would make our timings respectable. It would also mean running on tired legs, which is exactly we would be doing running down from Khardungla. 

Descending from Lavasa

We gladly did that and finished yet another ultra 56 kms in 7hr 22 min of what was an exhilarating Sunday morning well spent on training!!!

The Partyzone Ultra

As I write this, I am just 2 months away from the Big K challenge. So now is the time to really test ourselves over ultra distance. In marathon circles any distance over 42.2kms is an ultra. Counting for atleast 3 weeks of tapering, we are literally left with only 5 weeks of training. The past 3 months have flown with reasonably good success. 

The last Ultra that i did was actually on trail and hiking terrain (Oxfam 50kms) and we nailed it in 8hr 30min. Assuming that road should be slightly easier than trail, so long as we are well acclimatised, the race should take us approx 12hrs and fit the billing of the 12-13 hr cut off.
The killer would definitely be the the acclimatisation bit as we ascend to 18000ft during the run. We therefore plan to do the Stok Kangri summit prior to the race. We head to Leh on 31st Aug and intend to do the trek, that if completed weather permitting, will take us to 20000ft at the summit. Post the trek, hopefully we will be acclimatised and ready for the Big K 3 days later.

Time spent on the road simply gets exponentially tougher by the minute once you head into the ultra range. Just like graduating from a 10 k to a 21k seems arduous or from 21k to 42 k seems like never-ending, going beyond 42 k takes the cake. 

So, this weekend was a step towards the same. To go beyond what i have done so far. 

Lonavala to Amby valley is a 24 kms stretch that goes beyond the chaotic Bhushi damn (intentional). It climbs up steeply beyond INS Shivaji to the plateau that seats Lion point. Thereafter, its a roller coaster ride upto and beyond Cloud 9 resort till one reaches the bifurcation that leads to Amby valley

We started off from Lonavala at 4:15am. Within a few minutes it started drizzling. The temperatures were cool and our legs were fresh and all excited. It was pitch dark at places when the headlights of a fast descending car would dramatically light up the road for a bit.

But what stunned us was the fact that hordes of wild young bikers and 20 somethings screaming aloud at us from the sunroofs of their cars at that hour. Some yelled the cliche bhaag Milkha while some even said  "armyche cadets aahet"..etc. I wish they could see our 4-decade old faces more clearly!!!   

It did remind us of our hilarious days when we did the same. Sameer termed them louts! Well, the louts' brigade didn't seem to stop, as we trudged up the ghats, there seemed to be an unending supply of cars ferrying louts! 

The clouds had started moving in and at times the visibility with our torches were a few metres at the most. It was completely surreal and great fun running in the fog that lashed out heavy rains at times. The psychedelic lights of a restaurant belting out Bollywood numbers  and a roadside DZay party of some garrish dhaba near Bhushi damn, we thought was the ultimate! 

All this made the first 10 kms literally a breeze. A steady climb in the dark against an onslaught of heavy traffic got us to the Lion's point plateau. It was around 545 am. Thats when we realised the source of the perpetual brigade of cars. In the super dense fog, we could only hear a million cars maxing their system decibels. We literally stopped to try and take stock of what was probably the dying hours of a huge overnight party!!! Unbelievable!

The early hues of dawn were now visible. We decided to get rid of our torches in our backup vehicle. Fed on some bananas, enerzal and dates. This took care of a grumbling tummy. And headed for the beautiful roller coaster ride that followed. 

Beyond party zone, we could now actually hear the morning songbirds amidst the pitter patter of the rains. Its so much easier to train at such places than in Mumbai. We had instructed our driver to stop at every 5 kms. That ensured a constant refill of my bottle and also a steady nutrition along the way. These are paramount to avoid cramps which i am so prone to and hitting "the wall" later.

With daybreak and the distractions away we could actually focus on our running. 

That led us to build some speed as we went past Korigad and reached Amby valley (24 kms) at exactly 3 hrs. 

We stopped for a good 20 mins at the gate, stretching, eating and preparing mentally for the way back. 

The route back surprised us no end. We actually saw a signpost on the road through the dense forest that hilariously mentioned "Haunted place after 6. Enter at your own risk" I turned back, there was no one in sight on the eerie unending ribbon of tar disappearing into white nothing

The cold of the rain and the foggy weather actually gave me a shiver. 

Plenty of buses ferrying staff of Shilim, Machan, Club Mahindra etc zipped past us. At some road junctions, we did get stared at by villagers and picnickers alike sometimes in sympathy but most times in awe. On way back to Lion point, it was a mess of the revelry that ended a few hours ago. It was close to 35 kms done and the sun would peek out of the clouds at times. And yet another mental game came up, much like on most of my long runs. The trick would be to simply run through it. The ghats that we so effortlessly came up while in the dark and rain, now seemed unending in the sun. Beyond INS Shivaji, the traffic grew worse often making us stop and walk. And it was a complete full stop as i crossed Bhushi damn and the subsequent dam near Lonavala. I walked in the now glaring sun, with no cap and no glares. Sam had completed his targeted 40 kms and stood at the 45 kms mark egging me on. I had half a mind to join him in the car but carried on. It was further 3 kms back to Lonavala. I could certainly imagine how crazy we appeared to surprised onlookers on Main street at 10:45 am as i finished my 48 kms in 6hrs 27 min 

Interviews have revealed that ultra-marathoners placed great importance on finishing the race.

Prikko Markula, PhD, a professor of socio-cultural studies of physical activity at the University of Alberta, Canada notes in her blog on Psychology Today that the 'runners found pushing the limits and finishing extreme running races empowering -- a sense of achievement that made them feel good about themselves.'

So, yes..I did feel good about myself. Its not everyday that one finds motivation to kill oneself this way! Running an Ultra!

My friend often tells me, "I can suggest easier ways to kill yourself.. " 

"Well..those ain't meant for me!!!"

The stair-y long run

The monsoons hit Mumbai big and unexpected this month. With a fear of catching cold, i chose to stay indoors for the dreadfully rainy Sunday morning after the 4hr:30 min Matheran jaunt  on the previous Sunday. It had me almost squirming in pangs of labelling myself lazy.

So come Sunday, 28th June, i prepared myself mentally for a 10% upgrade on my previous long run. that meant i needed to do something for atleast 5 hours.
5 hrs running on the flat streets of Mumbai sometimes bores the hell out of me. It ain't even a great workout while training for a hilly ultra. Plus i would have to start really early, 4 am, so that i could minimise the time spent running in the awful sun. I would have to plan strategic kelawallas, water bottle shops and medical stores for enerzal on the way. In absence of any company I didn't feel like venturing out.

The Ladakh ultra (to the mighty KhardungLa pass above as it appeared a few days back) might also be quite a mental challenge as the wait while climbing up for the PASS would be endless and so also, the wait for Leh on the way down. I needed to build the boredom factor into my run so that i could devise mental strategies to overcome it on raceday.
So, i thought that the best possible workout would on all counts be multiple reps of the run-climb stairs routine.

My previous stair climbing-run sessions have been a 600m circuit of our car-parking followed by climbing 10 (130 ft) floors up and down. On a cooler rainy day, it took me approx 1 hr to finish 7 such reps. As i climbed up higher that day, a thought ran through my head. Higher floors don't offer better views always, they just take your eyes away from the nitty gritties of the "filth of humanity" below.

 view from the 40th floor

 view from the 18th floor

Since the morning today was muggy and hot and quite windless, i thought i should be doing a 7-6-6-5-5 plan. Working out to 17.4 kms and 290 floors up and 290 floors down in 5 hrs...
I woke up at 3:15 and did my customary dynamic stretching and warm ups, with some focus on the abs. I had stocked up on a dozen bananas, 4 bottles of 1 litre water, some bars of Nature valley, and a couple of enerzal packets. I put them all in a bag and tied my 500 ml bottle strap round my waist. And set out.
I decided to put all the stuff in the car and park it strategically in the car park so that i could access them as and when.
I started my run at 4:05 am. My only companions at that unearthly hour, as i went through my rounds, were the building security who must have simply got hypnotised watching me perform my insanely monotonous routine. At 4:15, i saw a fellow runner, AJ, headed out for his morning run. That gave me some respite as here was a fellow who wasn't even targeting any race in the near future and yet motivated to be up at that time.
The first hour was largely uneventful. It was now 5 am and i did get to watch the sky turning from a black to a blue black to an ink blue. I could now see the hue of dark clouds on the eastern sky. How I wished for the rain! The heat was palpable and from 500ml consumed in the first hour, i now was consuming 500 ml per half hour. Around the 12th round, I decided to walk a couple of rounds just to break the monotony and give some respite to the legs. I then resumed running. Second hour was at 5.5 reps. In the third hour, I now had a runner for company. Ashok, had begun his Sunday run but was running in the opposite direction. My sweaty facade probably caused him to ask me if i was done.. I could just manage to say.."no no not yet." The third hour also yielded approx 5.5 reps. Somehow, as the day dawned, i felt better. At 7 am, the nariyal paani waala arrived, so i asked him to fix me a large treat at the end of my round. I now had to keep urging myself to carry on. While climbing stairs, i would now stop at every 3rd floor and stretch to relieve the taut calves and quads.

Climbing stairs is a brilliant cardio work out. While going up i normally don't skip stairs, as every effort to do that spikes up the heart rate and sweating. So i would save the skipping stairs for the last 2-3 floors. On the way down, invariably i have never stopped. So i guess, i am stronger on the way down. There are plenty of techniques to climb down. But i choose to go front down on the toes. Landing on the heel with a thud can be a knock on the knees.

You can find some tips on stair climbing here

The fourth hour saw some more people stepping out for their daily walks and runs. So, that did feel better. By now, the security guards who were fully convinced i was insane, had finished their shifts and the replacements had taken over. I had polished off 4 bananas, 2.5 litres of water and a coconut. That gave me enough steam to head into the 5th hour. I had finished 24 reps. The sun was fully up and blazing, and our stairways face the east. Luckily for me, the tower i was climbing in was angled farthest from the sun. At around the 25th rep(240 floors done), i simply felt exhausted and sat on the stairs after just climbing 2 floors. Waiting for my breath to normalise, i eventually finished the rep and now started counting backwards. I had made up my mind that i would be doing 30 reps and not 29. So there were 5 climbs (50 floors) and 5 rounds remaining. Normally this would take me 35-40 min. So i was within my 5 hr target.
Typically, at the highest points of the mountain roads, the slopes get more steep. So i thought i should try and simulate longer climbs when I am the most tired. I now decided to do 2 rounds followed by 20 floors.
That meant  there were now 3 rounds and 30 floors remaining. The sun was beating quite strongly and i decided to finish off the 30 floors at one go. I practically halted at every 5th floor, putting my head down on the side rails breathing heavily as i literally pushed myself up. Reaching the 30th floor was bliss. The toughest bit was done. As i came down to the parking, I met my volley friends. They acknowledged my insanity of 5hrs and egged me on to join them for a game. Ashok was up there too. He was like, you've been running since then!?!?!?.... I finished off my remaining 3 rounds and with it my day's workout of 5hr:10 min aggregating 18 kms, 3900 ft up and 3900 ft down and headed straight back home..stretched and had a shower.. My volley mates too wound up early under the unforgiving heat and we all headed for a cool glass of well-deserved sugarcane juice.