FAT BOY RUN

Ankle Sprain

Thanesh Sadachcharan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:39:19 +0000

I am hoping I will not need any surgery.

The Half-Marathon Experience

Gautham Kammaje — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:37:06 +0000

It has been about 2 months since I crossed the finish line of my first half-marathon - the Phoenix PF Changs Rock and Roll Marathon….and I cant wait to do it all over again…infact I cant wait to compete in my first full marathon before I turn 25…Why am I so eager and anxious if it was so painful and exhausting? Why do thousands of people every year, many repeatedly take part in such long endurance races?

Never before did I think about the joys experienced while pushing yourself to your physical limits. Even though I feel a sense of accomplishment after completing my first race in 2:20, I feel like I could have done much better. If not for the cramps I experienced during the last two miles, I could have shaved 10 mins off my time. For long I have dreamt about pacing my race so that I have the energy for the final dash during the home stretch. But this was not to be as I barely limped home…
If not for the overly crowded race, I feel like I could have shaved another 5 mins off my finish time. Maneuvering through the crowd to run the pace I was comfortable with turned out to be more annoying than I thought. I guess, I underestimated my finish time while others overestimated their times. This obviously resulted in many corral mismatches. Realistically speaking, I am happy with my time but thanks to good ol Jess and some past training runs, I was pretty confident I could have done it under 2:00
This brings me to my next question…how do I avoid these cramps in the future? I thought I managed my fluid intake very well over the few days before the race but looks like I was wrong. Also, to improve my time, I need to run more and run faster! This means that I need to work on strengthening my lower body. How much time do I devote to running and how much to strength training? How many half marathons do I need to prepare myself to compete in a full and finish under 4:00 or even 4:30?
After this experience, I am not sure if I ever want to run another mega-event-marathons but I cant wait to put my running shoes back on…so where do I want to run my next race? and when and where will the special full marathon be?

NEXT HALF - Prescott - May 2nd 2009

FIRST FULL - SAN DIEGO BABY!!! MAY 31^st 2009!! Bring it on TK!! lol

How it all began….?

Gautham Kammaje — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:22:16 +0000

Out of shape, lazy, lethargic, fat…. Summer of 2007 and I weighed 170 pounds. I wore size 34 pants and would always buy a loose and large shirt which would hide my stomach. This was not how I had imagined myself to be when I was 22. I had to do something and quick, but I lacked the motivation.

The defining moment came when I was walking by the pool on a sunny day. While I was too conscious and ashamed to take my shirt off, the others were having a great time – drinking, eating and being extremely comfortable in their ‘six pack’ figures. This was when I decided to hit the gym and I gave myself a target of loosing 20 pounds and getting that desirable six pack.

The initial period was as motivating as it was disheartening. I was not able to run for more than 3 minutes at a go and running a mile was quite a task. To increase my stamina, I had to try various cardiovascular methods. I decided to include 10 minutes of biking and 10 minutes on the elliptical to my routine. This increased my stamina and I was able to run for longer periods.

With increased stamina and energy, I was able to run longer, further and faster. The stats and numbers that you see on the treadmill are great motivators. The joy and the exhilarating rush that I get by running is paralleled only by my desire to push myself further and log that extra mile every time I put on my running shoes.

What Running Can Do For You?

Thanesh Sadachcharan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:08:23 +0000

265 Pounds

215 pounds

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Why am I Running?

Thanesh Sadachcharan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:55:45 +0000

So recently I was asked a question… Why am I running? Why am I losing weight? What is the deal? Arranged Marriage? I could not hide my laughter at the sight of these questions but it did get me thinking. Why?

Well at around the period of November 2007 or so - I was weighing around 265 pounds. My waist size had hit 42 inches, I was lethargic, I was drinking hard and eating the most “yummiest” but unhealthy foods in the world. I decided well it was time to hit the gym - and I did. Around May 2008 - I was weighing around 240 pounds and I was hitting the gym but I still did not see any major shift in my life style nor my health. I was not increasing stamina and I was definetly not giving up the “good-life” food.

Around December 2008 - I was up around the 245 mark again and well had lost the daily routine of hitting the gym and doing any kind of exercise. Then I made a trip to Phoenix to see some of my friends for the holidays. I was very impressed by the fact that they were “living the life” but also doing some routine work on their bodies - like running, weight training and some conditioning. They had also decided to run the Rock n Roll Phoenix Marathon. This in a weird and complicated manner motivated me. I also realized that my company had a Health plan which allowed me to reimburse certain costs associated with fitness. This was relieving since I did not have to pay attention to costs - at least for the time being.

So I went and got a really good pair of shoes which cost me around 140$$ and some apparel as well. Gautham and I hope to write about this as well in the future. I got a beginner’s training plan and planned on the baby steps - 1 mile at a time :).

And thus I decided to start running - why? Well basically to change my lifestyle, to make me less stressful with work and some of the other aspects of life - well you can read about this at 1tkny . I also wanted to feel and make myself much more healthier, look fit and hopefully one day to get into a 32 size pant.

Right now I weigh around 210-215 pounds. Size 35 inch. My goal is to reach 190 and then figure it out from there. I try to run a 10+ miler once every week but I also want to make sure I improve on my stamina and my strength as well.

It has been fun so far and I finished a half marathon in Austin, Texas on February 14th 2009. I will write more about how I trained for this on another future post. There are definitely areas for improvement and I am working on them and hopefully they all get translated into some blog posts on this site.

So again why run? Well if you want a “high” - it comes cheap, free and nothing gets more healthier

Starting with the Marathon

Thanesh Sadachcharan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:55:27 +0000