Hopefully, this will be a good week for my running schedule and we should see some lower number of Covid19 positive cases.
Day 1 – Sunday, April 26, 2020 – Quarantine Day 41
First day of the week! Let us start it with a good news. Today, the COVID19 positive cases dropped to 570. This is a good news for many reasons. I have been waiting for this number to drop below 500 and eventually in double and single digits, making it easier for us to go back to our normal lives.
But, we are nowhere closer to the way people back in India are living under complete lockdown. I cannot even imagine myself living like that, let alone experience it.
Hopefully, we’ll get through this sooner.
Anyway, it was a big day for my Marathon preparation.
I started my Sunday on a high with a 6-mile run. It was a good run after what my knees have been through for the last week. I took special care while attempting this distance and made sure I do not twist anything and cause more injury to already hurt knee.
My friends, Monika and Anupam, were kind enough to gift me the compression socks that I have been craving for a couple months. You can check these out here. These socks feel so good. The moment I put these on, I was giggling like a kid and felt so happy and comfortable. I was dying to try these out.
Unfortunately, these socks do not cover my knee area, so I had to put on my knee cap that I purchased from Meijer. I started my run by putting it on my right knee, which I had to switch to the left one after a couple miles. It looks like I need to buy one more knee cap, just to be safe.
The overall run was very smooth and I didn’t feel tired at all at the end of the run. I wanted to test this pace for my ultramarathon and was glad that I felt comfortable with less than 14’ pace. I think this will be my pace going into the ultra. Let’s see.
The surprising thing about the run was the I didn’t feel thirsty at all during the run, which buttressed the belief in my pace. So far, so good.
After the run, it was time to kill the Sunday Afternoon. Me and my friends decided to bike the afternoon out and it was a good decision. We didn’t even realize the 14 miles distance that we covered during this bike run. It was a good Michigan weather, but too windy. We didn’t mind it. Awesome Sunday well spent.
6 more miles to go for 250 miles of running in 2020.
Day 2 – Monday April 27, 2020 – Quarantine Day 42
Good news, 2nd day in a row. The COVID19 positive count dropped to 432 today. This is the lowest number I have seen in a while for Michigan. Hopefully, the curve will flatten some more and our lives will *hopefully* get back to normal.
Today, it was an awesome weather in Michigan, so I worked from the back deck, soaking in the Sun for a good 3-4 hours. It was an awesome feeling. I felt like summer is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
Anyway, it was a rest day for the running, so we opted for biking instead. It was a good roughly 10 mile route and I was glad that I could finish it in an hour with a few minutes as change.
Day 3 – Tuesday April 28, 2020 – Quarantine Day 43
It was so good and big day for me. I did everything that I like to do and couldn’t be happier about it. Let me talk about each section below.
Running – The run part of the day couldn’t be better. It was so refreshing to get out of the house and do a 9-mile run around my community. If given more time, I would have loved to run more but we wanted to bike after my run, so had to stop at 9 miles. I was happy with my efforts, especially because I wasn’t tired at all after the run.
If you are following my journey, you would remember that I used to take ice baths after these “long runs”, but with my better running techniques, CEP compressions socks and proper care, I did not need to take the ice bath and my legs and knees never felt better.
Biking – After the run, I took a quick shower before heading out again for the quick bike ride. The Michigan Weather has never been better and could squeeze in a 10-mile ride before ending the day. The bike ride was soothing, relaxing, and works like a meditation to my legs and I am fortunate to live this kind of lifestyle.
Grateful – One highlight of this day was the 25-miles bike ride done by both Aryan and Arnav. I am so proud of both of them and couldn’t be happier regarding their achievements. Here’s the picture of the three of us together.
Day 4 – Wednesday April 29, 2020– Quarantine Day 44
One more day for the bike ride. This time it was a 13-mile strenuous activity. I enjoyed it, but my legs didn’t. Anyway, being the rest day for my Marathon preparation, I thought, it was okay to stress my legs a little bit to keep them warm and fresh.
It was a good day!
Day 5 – Thursday April 30, 2020– Quarantine Day 45
It was not a good weather day here at Michigan, so, we could not go outside for either biking or running. The best way to keep myself fit during this time was to do *MY FAVORITE EXERCISE* – BURPEES. Many people don’t like to do Burpees and even I used to detest those, but all these changed when I started doing workout with burpees. As soon as I did that, I immediately developed the liking for them and never looked back. Now, I cannot imagine my workouts without them and can drop 100 burpees on queue without breaking a sweat.
For this workout, we decided to mix Burpees with Russian Twists. My friends, Monika and Anupam accompanied me for this workout and we decided to split the reps in 10 burpees each to go sequentially. The technique worked for us and we felt not that tired at the end of the workout.
You’re welcome, my abs!
Day 6 – Friday May 01, 2020– Quarantine Day 46
What a day! I did so many outdoor activities today, I cannot express how happy I am.
The below picture captures the reason of my happiness. Isn’t is beautiful?
Looking at the scene above makes me immensely happy and inspires me to push harder.
When I started my outdoor run, I didn’t pay much attention to my pace, but as soon as I finished my first mile, my Apple Watch notified my performance and just by looking at it, I was simply amazed to see that I clocked in 9’15” for my first mile. I was so pumped up, I told myself to keep the same pace throughout and I was lucky and glad to keep the pace just above 9. I clocked in the fastest mile during the second mile of the run. Boy, I was elated and excited. By the time, I reached the third mile and the end of my run, I pushed myself for the last time and could see my eyes getting drenched with the sweat coming from my forehead. It was the result of my labor. I couldn’t be happier with the result.
As the day progressed, so did the weather and before going out for the biking, I got a narrow window of 30 minutes, which was enough to run 2 more miles.
And what do I say about biking? We stretched ourselves more during this bike ride and I was happy to finish the bike ride at 18 miles. It was a good effort, but my legs almost gave up at the end of the day with all the running and biking.
It was an awesome day!
Day 7 – Saturday May 02, 2020– Quarantine Day 47
Today was a special day as we were celebrating my friend, Anupam’s, birthday today. So, we planted the WEEPING CHERRY sapling in the backyard. This is how it looked like.
After planting the tree and getting enough rest, I took myself outdoors for a little bit to get some Sun in and have a good time, without caring much about my pace. It was a wonderful feeling.
This brings us to the end of the week and I couldn’t be happier the way things have transpired during this week. I could run 20 miles in total and countless miles biking. I am happy with this performance and hopefully, I will be able to continue doing so.
Here’s my running journal for week-17.
stochasticity 