I am moved… and so did the miles on my activity calendar

For a brief while now, I have been running 3, 4, at the max 5 miles. I was eager to touch the 10K mark soon. So I was determined to run my first 10K on this beautiful bright sunny saturday morning. V and I have been doing a lot of running on the roads and in various parks in the city lately. But I was keen on running this one in lalbagh for many reasons. I first started running with V in lalbagh when we met initially. Those were some special moments and so was today’s run.. so I wanted to run where it all begun And I digress..

Back to my run. I was so pumped up to run my first 10K that I woke up even before the alarm went off, had my playlist ready with my favorite songs – some carnatic, some mushy, and some power songs. I began my run slow and steady at a pace of 11. But strangely the first 2 miles was the most difficult, I broke into sweat early on and I was doing a 9 min run, 1 minute walk routine until my body got used to the run. From mile 2 onwards I was determined to stop only after I achieved my goal. At times, I ran slow alright, but I needed to recover and gain my pace back while on the run. My best pace was between 2 – 4 miles at 9.5. The sheer excitement of visualising the feeling of having achieved my first 10K took me through the last 2 miles relatively easily. I completed 6.33 miles in 1 hour 10 mins on the dot!

The most surprising part is I was not as tired as I had anticipated to be, which means there is potential to do more Not to mention the rest of the day went by in treating myself to guiltfree yummy masala dosa and chaat

Today was a test of endurance. Ever since V did his spectacular cross country touring in Coorg and filled me in with umpteen stories about his experiences from the trip, I have been engulfed to get into long distance cycling. Not only is it an amazing getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city, the experience of camping in the middle of nowhere and the sense of accomplishment after having covered a long distance on the cycle is out of the world.

And so today was my first training for long distance cycling. On an average, 60 – 80 kms or more is covered each day and I have always questioned if I have it in me to achieve the target.

It was a gorgeous morning and V, C (V’s enthusiastic cousin) and I headed out at 7 AM. The loop that we set out to complete is Bangalore –> Harohalli (on Kanakapura road) –> Bidadi and back. I have been on an absolute high after I saw our route on the map

Here are the stats from today’s cycling

Total distance covered: 68.7 kms
Total time taken: 04 hours 06 minutes 03 seconds
Calories burnt: 2344 (my fav part
Elevation chart:

Yep, since Bangalore is at a higher altitude, unfortunately the journey on the return was completely up slopes.

A little beyond Harohalli, we had our nice little picnic next to a farm.

The road connecting Harohalli and Bidadi is spectacular and very unique to India. The lush green farms on either sides of the road, the hay laid on the middle of the road for drying, the bullock carts making their way through, the look on the little village children when they see us riding a cycle – priceless!

As we bid good bye to summer, I hope we do more such long distance cycle touring.

Click here to view more pics from the trip

Today was my longest ride on the cycle so far. Had always heard from Vikram how beautiful long bike rides are, but had never really made an attempt fearing my stamina. This morning, we just head out early in the morning on our respective cycles.

We decided to complete the route we had left unfinished a while ago – Padmanabhanagar towards Kanakapura to Bannerghatta and back. Needless to say, the experience was mindblowing! Half the route was along the country side and we  edged the Bannerghatta national park. The serenity of the place was definitely worth my early morning sleep! Here is the snapshot of the route from my Garmin:

Where: NICE Corridor, Bangalore

When: 11th October 2009

How Many: 7K+ participants!

It was heartening to see thousands of cycling enthusiasts in Bangalore at India’s fist Cyclothon! The sheer number and the diversity of the participants that spanned between Ages 8 – 80 years, along with families and friends who had come to cheer their loved ones set the excitement of the massive event.

Raghu Dixit and his crew rock started the event with  ‘Mysore se aayi woh’ – Pumped me up further as I am a native Mysorean My husband and I had a nice time swaying to his tunes before we set off on our respective rides.

I did a satisfied 25Km in an hour and 5 minutes, with an average pace of 22.5 km/hr. The NICE corridor resembled any freeway in a western country – spotless, toned and smooth. Little children cheering on the pathways, green lawns next to the road, great weather and people riding great bikes were all accompaniments.  The journey was eventful as I met some interesting people during the ride and was fun taking to them. Since it wasn’t a race, the environment was relaxed and people were riding just for the spirit of cycling.

Please click here to view the snapshots of the entire event.

My take home from the ride : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15853059

One of the most efficient ways to relax my mind is to set off on a cycling ride with Vikram to an unknown destination. Today was one of those days ….

We just head out of home and decided to take off on our respective bikes for a while. The best I enjoy is biking through the country side, along the endless narrow roads, looking at the houses around and greeting the villagers and little children as we pass by them. After a long day, hearing to the birds chirp, viewing the sunset by a hill or watching a goat crank its neck to eat a tiny little leaf is just too soothing.

And whats best? These little pieces of heaven is so close to home! All it takes is a few miles of tolerating roaring traffic and the noise around.

It is also reassuring that you donot have to remember the route back home as it is almost impossible to get lost with the GPS around your wrist. The Garmin forerunner 205 is not only a life saver, it also gives you fancy statistics about the distance, time, speed and calories burnt! Voila!! Throw the gym membership away and invest in a Garmin today! Sounds like a nice tagline for publicizing Garmin, doest it? But its totally worth it …

Below are the statistics from today’s eventful cycling ride :

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15389542

One Event, Two Sports and an experience of a lifetime!

Run,Cycle,Fly was the slogan of the event. Indeed, I was flying high after completing 5th in the women’s 5K category in India’s first Duathlon that was held in Bangalore on the 14th of June, 2009.

Having been the first sports event I participated after school, I was apprehensive about completing the race, let alone the timing to complete it. The excitement set in when I bought my mountain bike – the ‘trek 4300′ a week before the race. As the days grew closer, the more apprehensive I got about the race. With the adrenaline rush and the anxiety setting in, I could hardly catch a wink of sleep the night before the race.

Vikram and I piled both our bikes in my Maruthi 800 and took off at 5AM to the venue. The car is awesome for the amount of space it provides when compared to the size of the car.

We arrived at the venue at 6AM, an hour before the race commenced. It was wonderful to see the high energy levels of all the participants ranging from the age of 7 to 78 with their colourful sports bikes.

The Duathlon consisted of the following race categories:

• 10k run + 20k cycling (split as 5k run + 20k cycle + 5k run)

• 5k run + 10k cycling (split as 2.5k run + 10k cycle + 2.5k run)

I had enrolled for the 5K run + 10K cycling and I completed the race in 1:07:06. It was heartening to see a lot of passersby cheer while running. Its interesting how long every minute felt during the 3rd leg of the race! It was then that a funny thought occurred to me – Time as a relative tool. ’An extra minute of run can seem so long when exhausted, while one extra minute of sleep feels absolutely insignificant’!

For pictures from the duathlon, please Click here

Congratulations to Vikram, Swaroop and Varun on completing the 10K category… You guys rock!