Trip to Mahabalipuram

 We had One trip in Aug: Family trip to Mahabalipuram 

Another trip in Jan 2023 to Mangaluru 

Mahabalipuram was a shorter trip. We drove from Bangalore to TTDC Mahabalipuram Beach Resort. All the rooms are AC beach facing. This is our second time to this resort. First time we attended a retreat and stayed in this resort. The food was below average back then in 2015. However this time the food was good, rooms are reasonably priced and not bad for 1 or 2 days stay.

The only drawback is the beaches are corrosive and we are not allowed to play in ocean. The view is spectacular.  I spent almost till 3am watching the waves of the beach. Again woke up early morning to just enjoy the spectacular sunrise. 

I personally felt we will get bored if you stay here for more than 2 days

Magalu Janaki title song

Written by: H.S. Venkatesh Murthy
Singer: Vijayprakash

5k run adventure....

Where have I reached!!!???
I have still not managed to run for 20mins continuously. I decided to change the focus to distance from now on. So the aim is to cover 3kms run in 20mins. As of today....Not anywhere close. Currently I am able to cover 3kms run-walk in 35mins. It took 3 days to reach this.
At the moment I am definitely disappointed. I am struggling to get there. I haven't given up yet. But the frustration is building up. Many online videos of new runners say the same thing. They all have hit the frustration point.....kept pushing themselves and then reached success. I am assuming it would be the same with me as well.
So I have made some more changes from a week. I stopped jogging and I run at a convenient pace. I focus on the distance and trying to reduce the walk duration. I have cut down on the breaks. I am trying not to stop. I keep changing the location. I have also started to run everyday. I am more stringent at the stretching exercises.
I have also made some changes to my diet. I am consciously drinking more water. I am taking Chia seeds as it's very rich in protein. I have reduced the intake of rice.

What do I want to change further....
Find a way to drink water during the run
Eat more raw vegetables and fruits
Find company to run
Try and run early morning instead of evenings

Further updates....need to wait

5k run adventure Week 2 3 4 and 5

I was a bit lazy to blog regularly...so here is a quick run through of the progress from week 2 to week 5.

Week 2 90sec jog and 2mins of walk
 Again the same mind block. I thought I can't do this but on day 1 I realised it was not tough at all. So week2 went smooth. Just about 600ml of water was sufficient to keep my body hydrated.

Week 3 90sec jog 90secs walk 3min jog and 3min walk
This was a challenge for me. 3min jog was a big jump. I could not do it on the first day. Not even close. I think I broke at 2mins. So I knew it was going to be tough on day 2. I had convinced myself to repeat this week. But then my body surprised me again. Day2 I could meet the 3mins jog. Infact on day 3, I was willing to run a few more extra secs. I didn't push for it.... I wanted to take it at the right pace without demotivating myself.

Week 4 3mins jog 90secs walk 5mins jog and 2.5mins walk
Here again 3mins jog was easy but 5mins was not. I couldn't do it on day 2 as well. But day 3 I was able to run for 5mins but that felt like my best ability. I was scared to move to week 5 practice. Going by my past experience I hoped to get surprised again.

Week 5 day 1 5min jog 3min walk
This I was able to do. But again it felt like the limit and I was not sure of day 2.
Day 2 8mins jog and 5mins walk
I was not even close. I could extend my first cycle of run to 6mins then I had to pause. The rest 2mins was also not easy. 2nd cycle was just 3mins jog. I couldn't push beyond that. So I am going to repeat this today.

Here in this week 5, I am facing following issues
1. Surprisingly I am able to manage my breath. Thanks to the 1month of yoga that I practiced. However my cuff muscles and ankles hurt a lot. That's making me break my run. From the online tips I understand that the stretching after the run is insufficient. I am going to add that and update the improvement. Had I made it a routine... I would have probably hit this week target as well.
2. I need to hydrate my body a bit more. I don't want to carry a bottle with me while running. So I am still thinking how to deal with this.... Going ahead I may need a solution inevitably.
3. I have not lost much weight. It's almost negligible. I guess it's the diet part. I need to fine tune the diet further. I also need to do my yoga more stringently on the other alternate days.

What has been helpful so far are the online videos and tips. They are motivating and informative. Do keep browsing especially the YouTube videos for tips. It's useful for the beginners.

I will update the week 5 progress on the same blog. So watch out for the update....
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Repetition 1 didn't meet the target. I could run a max of 6mins and a few secs.
Repetition 2 was semi successful... Meaning I was able to run the 8mins in the first cycle. I did feel like this was the limit. I can't do it anymore. 2nd cycle I didn't have the stamina.
With one day gap I went again for Repetition 3. But my muscles were still hurting from the previous run. I couldn't run for more than 6mins. I plan to take a break of 3 days this time. I will rest and start the run on Monday. I am pondering if I should just move to the day 3 practice. That would be 20mins run. I know it's not very practical but I am thinking if it would be good to just train for the 20mins run directly.
I am also thinking of changing the location. I have been going to the same park Everyday. I think I will just run a route instead.
Update in the next blog....

5k Run adventure -Week 1

I am not athletic....I have not shown interest in the sports in my childhood... But then something happened!!!
I remember my college days when I would miss the bus because I refused to run. I did not one bit like the muscles on my legs getting strained and contracted.

An year back, in the month of Jan, one of my friend suggested we will enrol to a 5k marathon. I think it was called Pinkathon...5k run for ladies. The marathon was held in the month of December so we had ALL the time in the world to practice and enrol. Well..... all the time in the world is always deceiving.. As expected... I practised for a few days and then didn't even think about it for an year. Then obviously the new year resolution to run this year.....The mood cycle was pretty much repetitive and I was falling back to the same tendencies.
At the right time my friend came for the rescue.... :P She enrolled for the marathon and pushed us to do the same... So yes now the target date was fixed as 15 Oct 2017. Initially I focused on Yoga practice for a month. Then my sister recommended a run plan she found online. That triggered more interest in me. Its always good to have a plan...;) Its different if you will follow it though.

Then came the app Poochto5k google app to my rescue. I used it for a week (3days) and uninstalled. This app is for free but it has no voice record. I noticed that I sometimes lost record of whether I should run or walk....It was a bit confusing. So I found another free google app C25k with a training plan to run a 5k marathon. I liked the app as it has a neat voice record, it tracks plan execution, you can pause it, rewind or forward.

Now let me tell you about my running practice. I had completed 1 week of run with Pto5k app. But as mentioned earlier, I have no prior experience to run. So here are my learnings....

Day 1 week 1
My whole body was aching. I had a tough time managing my breath. I actually skipped 2 cycles of run. Next day I had severe knee pain. One day rest was not sufficient. So I took a break for 2 days.
Day 2 Week 1
I somehow managed the workout with lot of cheating ;) Knee pain was again a problem. This time I took 3 days break.
Then I spoke to a trained runner. She suggested that the knee pain could be weak thigh and cuff muscles. Either meet a physiotherapist or do exercises that can strengthen these muscles.

Here Yoga helped a lot. The simple Yoga practice combined with some Pranic self healing sessions, resolved the knee pain issue completely.

Day 3 Week1
I completed the workout without any cheat...no knee pain but I found it very hard to complete run. There was no point in simply jumping to Week 2 as I was sure I cant extend my run duration.

I uninstalled this app. Installed the new app C25K which was more fancy and decided to repeat the Week 1 practice. This time, as suggested in many of the online articles, I did some stretching exercises and yoga the previous day. BINGO.... Day 1 Week 1 repeat cycle went great!!! I was easily able to complete the Week 1 practice.

Day 1 Week 2
This week Monday was Day 1 Week 2. Guess what!!!! Wooooohoooo I did it and I did it with ease. No muscle strain, no body pain, no knee pain. Only mistake was, I forgot to hydrate my body sufficiently. Its important to drink good amount of water before you start the workout.

Its a record break!!! No not Guinness just my own self record. Earlier I have not been able to run for more than 2 mins. I have successfully been able to run for 9 mins!!!! Can you beat this??? Yes of course I will beat it ;) Tomorrow is day 2 and I am looking forward for it!!!!! The aim is to reduce the 2mins break I take after every cycle...

Its an interesting learning about my own body. Human body is so adaptable....so is the mind. We just have to execute the Will to discipline and train it. This time I am going to add some diet tips to my practice.... For now my learning is to drink good amount of water. Will update the rest after I experience it.....Keep an eye here for more :)

A study in Scarlet by Canon Doyle

This is my first Sherlock Holmes book. I guess this is also the first Sherlock Holmes book by Canon Doyle.
I enjoyed reading through every page. The details, the suspense, the logics and strategies of Holmes kept my attention tight to the book.
Will I be reading another Sherlock Holmes book....Well yes of course but not in the near future. I have many important books to be read. I target to read a good deal of books this year.

Kirik Party movie- Thugu Mancha & Neenire Saniha