If this oft-quoted statement is true, by rights we should ALL be as thin as stick insects after our ASICS Running Club meet this morning.
Because boy, was it humid!
93% according to my trusty phone widget.
93% at 4.50 when I woke up.
Like so.
See?
It clearly says 93%.
But humidity or not, we all showed up, and Coach made us work (& then some!) as we ran hill repeats with a twist.
For those of you who are not familiar with New Delhi (where I live), it is one of the flattest cities I know, so hill training is a tad difficult.
But we do our best, and in the park where we train, we use the hilly slopes to do our hill repeat drills.
This morning, after loads of rain yesterday, the grass was naturally wet and slippery, so when Coach told us to run slower and do less loops than we normally do, I thought, yippee, we were in for an easy session.
But no.
No chance.
Fewer loops BUT 10 x push ups & 10 x squats at the end of every loop 🙁
See what I mean about hill repeats with a twist!
Despite the humidity, everyone ran and drilled and smiled away – one crazy bunch, I tell ya!
On a personal level, I did the 3 reps Coach told me to do, as fast as I could (and before you ask, I have NO idea why I decided to go all out. No idea at all).
I felt shattered at the end of them, but secretly pleased as punch. Because it was tough, & I did it.
And this is what mornings like today are all about, actually.
We all faced seriously uncomfortable weather and we all did what we had to do.
And always with a smile.
There is something supremely satisfying about “defeating” the weather.
About pushing yourself, despite the conditions.
I remember thinking at one point that this was all good training for the humid weather we’ll all encounter in Mumbai in January, and wondering how long such humidity-proof-training will last…clearly not 6 months, but I guess it’s more a mental thing in the end.
If you know you can run in 93% humidity well, Mumbai shouldn’t seem quite so daunting, should it?
So, yes, it’s as much about the mental training as the physical, in the end.
I guess every run teaches you something.
Today’s knowledge – that we could all keep going, up and down those slippery hills, sweating and smiling away – I guess that knowledge should be tucked away somewhere, and produced when the going gets tough in our next race.
After the running and squats and push ups, we cooled down with stretches, including a new one for me which involved rotating your knee cap with your fingers.
I was a total dud. As in Total with a capital T.
Could hardly feel my knee caps through the fat, let alone move them 😛
We ended with cake, to mark Shail’s birthday yesterday.
And here is our youngest runner (Kailas’s daughter) showing how to refuel after a crazy morning of running 🙂
PS – just realised that all my individual photos feature women. Plus a wee little muppet eating cake.
This wasn’t planned, but delighted that it happened 🙂
Photo credits go to Mudit Chawla & Sunil Punshi, the 2 ace photographers in our group.