Endurance Training!

So come on ! This post is going to tell people about my experiences with Endurance Training. Well! When I was back in college, I once decided to train for the famous 6.6 km race. 6.6 km was something then. What it meant was 3 full rounds in a competitive environment of the campus circular road. I remember then, at the prime of my youth ( that was 4 years back) , how I struggled to complete 1 round. the day my trainer asked me to do the 2nd, I managed it okay. But my body was never geared for that kind of stress, so that 4.4 was the last when anybody heard of me. I still recall I took 4 days to recover from the physical wear and tear.

Coming into my 3rd year at IIT, I was more regular with the "Medium Aerobic" form of endurance training, which basically meant running 3-5 rounds of the 400m loop at the Gyan Ghosh stadium in Kharagpur(about 12 minutes).It used to be preceded by a top-to-bottom warmup(7 minutes) and succeeded by a deep stretching cool down(15 minutes).I did not really scale up in those days as I was severely conservative about my own limits in endurance.

My move to IIM and Lucknow made me more receptive to solo exercising and those lush green surroundings and the quietude of the roads encouraged me to restart fast paced jogging and challenge my limits. I used to alternate running with badminton workouts and gym sessions. I initially used to run behind H-12, the football field of IIML that was never to be.

Then I gave it up and stepped on the tar. The campus had a lovely circular road measuring 2.65 km and I could only do around 1.5 kms when I started. But I gradually raised the bar to reaching the curb at the water purifying station and then finally started completing the lap. This progress took one full year at the campus.

The real kick in my endurance training pursuits came with the announcement of the selection of two athletes for the Himalayan Base Camp that was organised by a mountaineering enthusiast at IIMC. The event came at a time when I was just finding the loop too easy to do. I was aware that my fitness level was one of the better ones in the entire IIM Junta, where exactly it lied remained to be seen. I was grappling with the problem of Shin Splints which was an obvious result of excessive frequency and/or excessive running intensity on metalled roads. I was aware of the negative impact that running on metalled road could have on ones lower limbs but I was just too excited about the prospects of being a part of the base camp expedition.

I trained hard and often alone. My timing started with 26 minutes but I was shaving off 20 seconds every time. I must have done 3-4 full 5 mk stretches before the ultimate race. I finished at a personal best of 24min:26 seconds! Good but not enough, I was only the 5th best guy and I failed to make it. But what I learned from this attempt was how stretchable my body was , what was the challenge in stretching it further, and what was the reward on achieving the targets!


Endurance Training