Tambaram Thunderbolts

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Why do we underperform in races?

Many a time we go to a race/event with a goal timing in mind but end up not achieving it, forget achieving, we end up far away from the mark. Ever analyzed and found out the real reason rather than blaming the weather, terrain, support blah blah. This blog tries to list potential reasons for this underperformance by recreational runners at races. Unrealistic Targets The first and foremost reason for not achieving the target is that the target set is way too ambitious for your current form. You cannot set a target based on your past records. Like they rattle out in mutual fund advertisements, "Past performance is no guarantee for similar returns in the future," you cannot base your current target on age-old PRs. You certainly have gotten older now and your fitness level definitely has changed. A realistic assessment of your "current fitness" with a shorter distance time trial could be a starting point if you are looking to race in one discipline. A 5k time trial in ...

Only the rested Dark knight rises, but..

After every hard training session your muscles undergo a lot of microscopic-tears and your bones endure several microscopic-fractures. That is exactly why it feels so painful the day later or so. So it takes not more than just common sense to understand that your body needs rest to recover. Tearing up the already torn muscles will lead to injury. Tear yourself down a little, break yourself down a little, rest yourself a little, so you can grow stronger a little everyday! But ideally, it takes a little more than just rest to recover faster. By now, the role played by protein in muscle growth and calcium + Vitamin D3 in bone development is enough spoken, let us talk about the other important micronutrients we need to prioritise, that can aid in muscle health, performance and recovery. 1. Water: Dehydration can damage muscles fibres and delays recovery. Adequate water intake is critical. Your kidneys need enough water to flush out uric ac...

Measuring your run

Jagannath. G. There are many metrics that you would hear when you start running. This blog tries to shed some light on what those mean. Pace : The easiest "measure", which is the most commonly used one is the pace. It just means how long you take to cover a fixed distance - kilometer if you use metric; mile if you use US method. So when someone says they ran at a 6 pace average, it just means that they have taken an average of 6 minutes to cover a kilometer on average (ex: 10 km in 60 mins). It is possible to set alerts for a " pace range" in your watch. Speed : This is similar to your speedometer on the bike/car. This measure is generally never used but just shows up on your stats on strava/race dashboards. So for the same example of 10k in 60 minutes, your speed would be 10 kph. Heart rate (HR) : This is another measure which can be used to assess the difficulty level of your run, on the go. Based on your age and fitness level (and preferably with a time trial), ...

That whole pie called functional training

Running is just an arc in your fitness routine, not the complete circle. Running uses the same muscles, overloads the same joint over and over again, overloads your cardiovascular system and is a good recipe for Repetitive Strain injuries, generally caused by overuse of a particular muscle and joints only. Resistance training is the other part of the arc that completes your fitness training. Lifting weights is the most effective form of resistance training and will help you find a completely balanced body. Weight training promotes hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass), while too much of cardio or not enough resistance training leads to Sarcopenia , a condition where you lose muscle mass - It is dangerous. The muscle that is not challenged will lose its nerve supply and your body will mark that muscle as unwanted and slowly remove it from your body. Have you lost a lot of weight by just calorie deficit and hours of just running and cycling - I am sure you’ve also lost your a...

Soleus, I love you!

If I tell you that you have three hearts, would you believe me ? You better do! The Soleus or the calf muscles are responsible to pump the venous(deoxygenated) blood from the periphery back to the heart - that is exactly why the calf muscles are called the second heart. Does it sound like a very convincing reason to train your calf muscles pretty often? Yes and the importance of the calves doesn't stop there. Soleus muscles are responsible for stabilising your body while walking, running, jumping and it also works as the decelerator muscle in high impact sports. These muscles are made of a huge pack of slow twitch fibres(Type of muscles fibres responsible for endurance), so while training these muscles you should work with a higher rep range, say 20-30 reps with 3-4 sets. Plantar Flexion and Dorsi flexion are the basic movements that trains your calves. Work with some weights to increase the intensity of these workouts - I am talking about basic calf raises. To increa...

How does our body burn fuels ? Ever wondered!!?

Adenosine Triphosphate(ATP) is the only fuel your body can use . The cell breaks down ATP and generates energy that can be used directly. ATP is the fuel of life. There are three major energy pathways by which ATP is produced - our body chooses the most efficient energy pathways depending on the specificity of the requirement. 1. Oxidative or Aerobic Energy System 2. Anaerobic Energy System or Anaerobic Lactic 3. Immediate Energy System or Anaerobic Alactic A small analogy to understand this concept. Oxidative Energy system is like your NEFT transfer , you can transact huge amounts of money but it is a long process and comparatively slower than the other means of money transfer - your body chooses this for all your slow and steady activities. Anaerobic energy system is like the UPI transfer, faster but there is a lot of limitations in the number of transaction or amount of money - Your body chooses this pathway when the energy required is...