Triathlon experiences in 2K_17

Having done official 10k and half marathons with good timings, I felt only running is more stressful and little boring. I don't like running at a pace of above 5, I normally try to keep my runs at a 4 something pace but I tend to get injured if I do long distance runs at a good pace. I now do short runs at 4 point something pace and do strength training and stretching. Triathlons provide a balanced endurance workout and so I am pursuing the same. I had done a sprint triathlon in IISc in 2015, and was looking at official triathlon events all over India. The most prominent triathlons organised in India and their approx. dates are:

• Goa Triathlon in February,
• Hyderabad Triathlon in October, 
• Chennai Triathlon in July and December, 
• Himalayan Rush in March 
• Mysore Tri Thonnur triathlon in September

Full Ironman triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile (3.9-kilometer) swim, a 112-mile (180-kilometer) bike ride and a 26.2-mile (42.1-kilometer) run  but is not organised in India. The highest level of triathlon in India is 3/4 Ironman organised by Hyderabad and Chennai triathlon. Also, Goa thriathlon, is the only one where we get to swim in the sea. So, I registered for the Goa triathlon in December 2016 and planned for a Goa trip with two of my friends at the same time, as we were about to graduate from IISc. We planned a 4 day trip from 9-12 February and landed in a cozy hotel near Miramar beach in Panjim. The environment in Goa was quite western with lot of Churches and cool people. The food was mostly exquisite coastal cuisine, and we did do sightseeing on a rented motorbike and a cycle.

On 11th February, I collected the Bib and the rented bike from the event venue at Bambolim Beach Resort, I left the bike there itself for the next day's event. Having practised swimming only in a swimming pool, I had to swim for the first time in the sea. The sea looked calm as it was surrounded by land mostly.  Triathlon-day was on 12th February morning, woken up early at around 4 a.m., had some nutrition like dry fruits and dark chocolates for the event. Dragged my sleepy friend to the event venue at around 6:30 a.m. I had to wear the timing tag near my ankle which measures the start time, splits and end time. I had tested the waters, it was salty and warm :). I had to swim 700 m into the sea, hand over the wrist band to the organiser in a boat, swim 100 m parallel to the coast, hand over another band to a organiser in another boat and return back to the coast; to ensure nobody cheats. Finally, the event started at 7:30 am under a cloudy sky and warm weather. There were lifeboats and markers put on the sea route to guide the swimmers. I was swimming slow and was not able to navigate in the required direction. Navigating is the difficult part while swimming in sea as there are no guided lines like in swimming pool. One advantage is that floating is relatively easy due to high density of sea water.  I was guided towards my destined boat for sometime by the guys on lifeboats, and I realised I should look up after every three strokes to avoid going in a wrong direction and getting lost. I had finally reached the first boat after around 40 minutes, and after handing over the wrist bands, ventured on the way back to the coast. I finally finished swim stage after 77 minutes, having covered much more than 1.5km due to swimming in wrong directions. Swim was quite refreshing and then I geared up for the bike ride, after taking a electral drink. I had rented a mountain bike, so I had to put more effort even though the roads were good. I had to complete 5 loops of around 8 kms. It took me 105 minutes to finish a total of 40 km. Then, I parked my bike at the transition point and started my run. It was quite humid and sunny and tiring for running after swim and bike. With some walk breaks, I finished the run in 65 minutes and finally finished my first Olympic level triathlon in 4:21:10 hours which included a 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run. I was fully exhausted after the event but felt very good having finished the event. I then refreshed and relaxed on the beach waiting for my friends, and then enjoyed the Goa beaches. So, the event was very well organized and location was very scenic. Its a very good event for novice triathletes and get inspired from professional triathletes like Pablo Erat, the consistent winner. This is completion certificate for the Goa triathlon:

Overall, I feel triathlons are a very balanced way to keep ourselves fit and its less injury prone than only running as it requires a combination of three sports to finish it, activating different muscle groups for the three sports. I never felt any stiffness or any kind of injury after doing a triathlon, while I tend to get injured during long distance running. The reason I feel is as the first leg in the triathlon which is swimming, is easy on the body due to water viscosity, and warms the muscles enough for cycling, which is also easier on the body as compared to running. And then when we start running after swimming and biking, the muscles are warmed up enough for the run.  So, running being the last leg even though its difficult the chances of injury is less. Also triathlon is a whole body workout as compared to only running (activates whole body muscles due to three sports) and is less monotonic. 

Training for triathlon:

As I had already done a sprint level triathlon in 2015 and had a good swimming coach who also gave us very good training in gym and poolside, I mostly followed what he suggested. I regularly practised swimming timed 1000 m swim, interval swim 500x3 m, and 2km swim in the IISc swimming pool around 4 days a week. Some days I did swim 1000m followed by around 20k biking or 5km running in the campus. I followed this schedule for around 3 months, not very regularly though. Running after biking needs little practise as legs become stiff for a run after biking. Also, I had done the complete swim, bike and run couple of times two weeks before the event. I suggest you should take at least two days rest or light workout before the event so that the body is ready to endure long hours of stress on the D-day. Taking salts, water and nutrition at the transition point and in between bike and run is advisable to avoid dehydration. I feel anybody who can swim decently and run can do a triathlon. In a city like Bangalore where there is lot of traffic, biking and running can be done indoor on bike trainers and treadmill. Weekends can be used for long bike rides in the outskirts of the city.

Half Ironman:

Having finished the olympic level triathlon comfortably, I was confident to do Half Ironman, so I targeted the Hyderabad triathlon event in October 2017. As I had submitted my PhD thesis in April and joined job which is far away from IISc campus, I did not have the luxury to practice swimming regularly. There were some pools near my place but they were small for practising for triathlon. So, I joined a good gym near my place, and followed a regular workout schedule, while in the weekends, I went to the JP park swimming pool near IISc (IISc pool was closed for renovation), sometimes by cycling, so it was like 25 km biking followed by 1000 m swim and again 25 km biking back to my place. I also did around 110 km bike ride to Nandi Hills which included a 10 km run in Nandi Hills.  I did a 2 hour stadium run with IISc team, this was my first midnight run and I finished a half marathon in the same duration. I booked a good road bike for the half Ironman in Hyderabad. I reached Hyderabad on 7th October and picked up my rented bike, Montra Celtic 2. I collected the BIB and met fellow triathletes and organisers from the Lemon Tree, HiTech City. Next day was the Half Ironman beginning at the ICFAI Business school and ending at Gachibowli stadium. I reached the venue at around 7 am and the event started at 8 am. As swimming was in the pool itself, it was a  steady swim finishing 1.9k in 83 minutes. Then, I had some fruits as nutrition and started the 90k bike ride. Some stretches of road were not good but the ride was comfortable and cool. Took a small break for water and nutrition after 40k and returned back. After about 80k it started raining heavily, halted for few minutes and the continued the ride slowly due to rain and traffic in the Hitech city. Finally finished ride in around 4.5 hours, could have finished earlier if there had been no traffic or rain. Now comes the most difficult part, running after swim and bike ride. Even though it was cool and drizzling, I took around 3 hours to finish half marathon as I was exhausted due to the long swim and bike ride.

Finally finished the half ironman within the cutoff limit. The event was well organised but some parts of the bike and run routes had obstacles due to traffic. I would love to do a Ironman in a traffic free area, but its difficult in a city like Hyderabad. In that way, Goa triathlon was free of traffic as the organisers had blocked the road for the event. Hopefully, I will improve my timings and endurance and mental stamina to push more in future triathlons. I really feel preparing and participating in triathlons is an excellent way to maintain overall fitness and mental strength for anybody.

Fitness and Injuries: a balance

I have been regularly maintaining my fitness and joined Kung-fu classes in October 2016 as I was on a high. At the same time, I have been going to swimming classes, running and gym. I continued running even though my left calf muscles were little sore. At the end of February 2016, I participated in the 10,000 m run in the IISc football ground as part of Spectrum 2016, a sports fest in IISc. I felt strain in my left calf muscle during the run, but continued  and ending up injuring more. I was walking with slight limp for next few days and running was painful. I did some massage and heat treatment which provided some relief of the sore calf muscle. So, I stopped kung-fu classes and spent more time in gym lifting heavy weights. After I came back to room in the night after gym, I felt pain in the lateral thumb side while bending the wrist. One week later, I consulted the Health center doctor for the wrist pain, and they diagnosed it as De Quervain syndrome, and gave some anti-inflammatory tablets (NSAIDS) and suggested physiotherapy.  NSAIDS gave some temporary relief and the physiotherapist gave heat and ultraviolet treatment. As the relief was temporary, one of my friend,  who was a very fit runner and cyclist, suggested me to take treatment from a good physiotherapist. He gave me the contact of Dr. Muthu Kumar who was the physio for BCCI, whose clinic name  is Stride spine and sports rehab clinic, opposite to Jain Hospital near Bangalore Cantonment. I went to his clinic which has a small well maintained gym. The physio was very busy, so he examined my calf muscle and instructed his assistant to do some massage and teach few stretching and strengthening exercise for calf muscles. He said its a calf strain and will recover in few days if I do those exercises regularly twice a day for calf muscle strengthening, and that I can start running in few weeks. He told to do icing for my wrist pain and suggested some dumbbell exercises. I recovered from my calf muscle strain within few days and continued doing the exercises. I tried using cold treatment with ice and heat for wrist, and observed heat was give temporary relief, and ice was not so effective. I should have continued ice treatment but discontinued due to scarce availability of ice. So, my calf strain almost healed but my wrist was still hurting and I continued physiotherapy in IISc. I also consulted an orthopedic doctor outside who gave the same diagnosis as de Quervain (misdiagnosis) and told to use wrist thumb splint, which was of not much use. I re-consulted Dr. Muthu one month later and he suggested wrist exercises with dumbbells and alternate one minute hot and ice treatment for a total of 20 minutes twice a day. The wrist muscles were weakened due to sprain and inactivity and he told I need to strengthen the wrist to recover fully. I followed his advice and regularly did the strengthening and ice/ heat treatment and my wrist was getting better. I also heard that sprains take more time to heal, and we need to continuously keep doing strengthening exercises and follow the advise given by physio.

Now, I have completely recovered from the wrist sprain by taking adequate steps and also play badminton which completely uses my right wrist. And now, I do proper warmup and stretching before doing any workout which is very much essential to avoid any injury. Also, we need to do the workouts with proper form, steadily and avoid any jerky movement. Also, we need to identify our weak areas in our body and do corresponding strengthening workouts for the same. And we need to visit and follow a good sports physio in case of injuries during workout and avoid going to other physicians for proper diagnosis of sports injuries. Also, if we feel a discomfort while doing some activity, we need to rest and avoid the activity till we completely recover. Now, I maintain a good balance of my workouts and take adequate rest whenever there is a sign of injury.

Maintenance of high end bikes

I have bought my Btwin Riverside bike 1 year and 4 months back, and it has been a smooth journey except for occassional punctures. But lately the brake shoes  and tyres were worn out and I have not been doing self-maintenance.

The parts of a good geared bike are:

One thing that was making a creaking sound after riding long distance was the Bottom Bracket. The bottom bracket on a bicycle connects the crankset (chainset) to the bicycle and allows the crankset to rotate freely. It contains a spindle that the crankset attaches to, and the bearings that allow the spindle and cranks to rotate. The chainrings and pedals attach to the cranks. The bottom bracket fits inside the bottom bracket shell, which connects the seat tube, down tube and chain stays as part of the bicycle frame.

So, as I was looking to get my bike serviced at a good service center, I narrowed down to Crankmeister Bicycle Works and Cycling Boutique : Experience Center in Indiranagar. I got my bike serviced at Crankmeister and the guys there explained to me the importance of regular maintenance of bikes. He said that bike should be self-serviced once in two weeks, which takes only 5-10 minutes of your time. There are only few parts of the bike which require regular maintenance:


Things needed: Clean cloth and stiff brush and lube.

1. Clean jockey wheels with screwdriver

2. With stiff brush, clean the gear and the inside with the other end of brush

3. Take clean cloth with lube and clean the chain

4. Apply lube inside of chain

5. Clean extra lube with cloth

Tips:

1. Maintain a cadence of above 70 rpm

2. Use 1st and 2nd gear in the back when using 1st gear in front and use 5th to 8th gear in back when using 3rd gear in front

3. The height of the saddle should be such that there is an angle of 20 degree at the knee.

4. The optimum tyre pressure is 35-40 psi for front tyre and 40-45 psi for back tyre for a hybrid bike. The tyre pressure for a road bike is around 90-100 psi

My 1st 150 km Bike Ride

The plan to go for a long bike ride after the Nandi Hills ride has finally been accomplished yesterday, when I covered a total of 160 km alone. The ride was very smooth without any hiccups I had in the past like punctures, due to excellent highway roadway.

Greeenary on the side of Highway

Traversing through the rocky hills

    I woke up early morning yesterday (20th Dec, 2015), and after having few bananas and dark chocolate. The weather was cool and cloudy and fresh. I put on my helmet and hand gloves for the long ride. I packed few bananas, Glucon-D, electral powder, puncture kit, spare tube and power bank in my backpack.  I started from IISc at 7:30 a.m, along with my Runkeeper app which gives me audio feedback about my pace every 500 m. After traversing through the Outer Ring Road, I navigated onto the NH-7 Highway towards Hyderabad. I was maintaining a decent pace around 2:20 min/km, and enjoying the swift ride over the flyovers. I reached the toll gate near Kempegowda International Airport, Devanahalli and headed towards Chikkaballapur along the Highway. After covering around 40 kms, stopped for re-hydrating and had few bananas. I continued my ride towards Bagepalli, and still the weather was quite cool and cloudy, I hoped it does not rain.
The roads throughout were good and traffic was sparse, making the ride very smooth away from the busy city roads. I crossed Chikballapur and headed towards Bagepalli. I took a U-turn after crossing Battalahalli village at 80 km mark, which I finished in 3 hours 23 minutes. I slowed down on the return journey as it became quite sunny and warm.

Clear sky hovering above the road

      After 84 kms, I stopped for having coconut water and rehydrated along with electrol and glucose. I had put on my DCH song playlist as I got bored and little fatigued. I took quite many pics while riding and enjoying the solo ride. I crossed the 100 km mark in 4 hours 50 minutes, further journey was little slow. I stopped for a fruit salad and again for coconut water to keep myself rehydrated. The highway was quite sparse with few trucks and buses. The music kept me going on the highway. It felt like we feel on a different journey, a new high while riding on a highway. After crossing the airport I speeded up as I the series of flyovers to be traversed on. There is different kind of thrill while riding on the flyovers, especially the effortless ride on the downhill. Finally, I finished the 150 km mark in 7:36 hours, which shows I slowed downed considerably after the 80 km mark. I am slowly gaining endurance for cycling longer distances. And solo rides are quite good in a way that you are independent and maintain your own pace and take random pics wherever you like. Going with like minded friends is also a good experience, where we will not get bored and get the motivation during tiring times. My hybrid bike carried me quite well for 150 kms. I rode back to IISc as I entered the city. I had some sweets at Kanti Sweets, New Bel Road, had a late lunch at Biryani Paradise at 4 p.m. Came back to my room and had a nice nap for 3 hours after a cool bath. My bike was in a good condition after the long, except for a small creaking sound from the crank, which got fixed at Pedals and Wheels, Malleswaram. The problem was the bottom bracket became little loose which was fixed. I think I need a road bike or a better hybrid bike for longer distances. My detailed activity is logged at Runkeeper link

Towards the hills

My bike along the road

 

Jakkur airbase

The road ahead: neverending mirage

Fruit salad for lunch

Roadside halt

Bengaluru Marathon 2015 !

After the well organized training runs organized by Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon 2015, the main event on 18th October finally came. Nine of us started from IISc at 4:30 am to Kanteerava stadium by Ola cab. I had a slight limp in my left leg, but it felt good after the warmup. The stadium was enthused by the 17000 runners geared up for the full and half marathon. The full marathon already started at 4:45 a.m and we were ready for the start of the half marathon at 5:45 am. The start point was on the synthetic track, and I managed to traverse the crowd and cross the starting timing mat.

Before the run- Kanteerava stadium

Got hold of Bisleri water after 2 km mark itself and hydrated myself regularly. The initial 5 km pick up the pace quite fast in 23:31 minutes, with the early morning cool breeze, maintained the pace till 10 km finishing in 47 minutes, had a glucose drink,  and crossed the 12 km mark in 57 minutes. The route was quite even with little upslope and downslope. It became difficult after the 12 km mark due to fatigue accumulated in the legs, crossed 15 km in 72 minutes. I had to push through the last 6 km and after finishing 20 km in 99 minutes, finished the half marathon in 1:46:08 hours. I sprinted the last 200 m and was fully exhausted in the end. The guys from the recovery camp stretched my legs a bit, and I right toe nail got injured after getting stamped on my barefoot, but I was fine.

Splits

NAME

SPEED

CLIMB

1 km

12.28

11

2 km

13.19

3

3 km

12.52

7

4 km

13.14

-9

5 km

12.71

-3

6 km

12.54

8

7 km

12.60

4

8 km

12.61

-10

9 km

12.71

-11

10 km

12.83

-2

11 km

12.36

-6

12 km

12.44

1

13 km

12.01

17

14 km

11.56

11

15 km

11.90

-1

16 km

12.47

-16

17 km

11.17

12

18 km

10.98

1

19 km

10.60

-1

20 km

10.93

-8

21 km

11.19

0

Finisher Medal after the run

After finishing the run, cooled down and explored the glorious stadium, filled with runners all around. Had a nice heavy breakfast and there were crowd was cheering the winners of the half and full marathon. My timing results were put up one day later.

Post Marathon ceremony 

Eccentric Long Bike Rides, the Skycraper Dash and Training runs

So, I have been following and maintaining my fitness regimen regularly, swimming coaching+ land workouts 4-5 days a week, athletics classes thrice a week and sometimes gym/ yoga. It seems the best part in the IISc campus, along with inspiring and motivating friends. For the past one month, I have also done 2 long bike rides, one to Makalidurga and Thondebavi, and the other to Nandi Hills uphill. Another medium ride to Decathlon Anubhava and back.

Defy Gravity @ Skyscraper Dash

After the Skyscraper Dash

A unique event happening in most of the metros in India where one has to climb the tallest building in the city. The Bangalore one happened on 9th August, 2015 at the World Trade Center housed in The Brigade Gateway campus, just half a km from IISc campus. The Dash only event included a sprint of 200 m followed by a climb of 31 storey (850 stairs). Prior to the event, the organizers arranged practice sessions at the same place, in which I climbed stairs only in 5:40 and 5:09 seconds respectively in the two weeks. On the final event day, my legs we little fatigued due to long run 3 days back, and I managed to finish the sprint+ climb in 6:26 minutes, securing a 10th position out of 295. Also, 3 of my friends from IISc got prizes as they were in top 3. It was followed by some fun events and prize distribution. It was good to see some many fitness enthusiasts from all over Bangalore on a early sunday morning.



Makalidurga and Thondebhavi
This trip was initiated by IISc Biker's network as a month end ride on 30th August, 2015. We 11 of them few students and more profs, gathered at IISc Gymkhana at 6 a.m. and introduced ourselves to all. Abhijit gave us specific instructions about the route gave us the option of either going till Makalidurga or Thondebhavi, then meet up and return back after breakfast.

Route to Thondebhavi and the elevation profile

We kickstarted our ride at around 6:30 a.m. I followed the following cuesheet and used the gpx file for tracking my current location using My Tracks app in my Moto G3. I started at a easy pace along with all others, and increased my pace on the straight Doddaballapur road enjoying the roadside scenic views, the early morning fresh breeze. Soon, everyone were left behind and I was on my own, thought I will wait for them once I reach the destination. As all others were in a group, I did not need to worry much.  Some stretches of the road were under repair, and increasing traffic while nearing Makalidurga cautioned me, but did not prevent me from taking random pics while biking :P.

Cuesheet from IISc to Thondebhavi

On the way to Makalidurga

 After crossing the Makalidurga station, the ride was swift due to the downward slope. The scenic nature improvised itself hereafter with trains cruising along the hilly area and the greenery. Also vehicles were speeding from the opposite end mostly trucks and few buses along the narrow but good road.

The pathway to nowhere

Bike following the cuesheet

Rocky hills 

My bike after 1st rear wheel puncture

 As I neared Thondebhavi, just 1.5 km before the destination at 09:15 p.m., the rear tyre of my bike got punctured. So had to stop just after finish 60 kms of my ride, the longest stretch I have ridden non-stop in 2:47:00 minutes. I got off to take few pics and dragged my bike to the nearest cycle shop near Thondebhavi station. While the puncture was getting repaired, called up my group members and came to know they have reached Makalidurga station. I refueled myself with Electral powder and water.

kilometers 60.00

hours 2:47:00

km/hr 21.56

calories 1,554

I got on my repaired bike and after few meters of ride realized it again got punctured. So, the guy at the shop again fixed it reassuring it will take me back to Bangalore without any trouble. I headed back, and after 9.29 km realized again the back tyre got punctured.

Green Thondebhavi

I then walked 2 km towards my friends who were waiting near the Makalidurga station. Three of my friends were waiting there and rest have left. I came to know that one guy had minor accident, so two among our group had backed out.

One of them had a puncture tape and glue but no sand paper. We remove the back wheel which is a quick release, and examined the tube and tyre. I found one metal thorn sticking inside the tyre, which was the root cause of multiple punctures at the similar location. I removed the same but the puncture could not be fixed. We realized that the nearest cycle shop was 10 kms away. So, I had to either walk or hitchhike a vehicle. It was already 10:30 a.m. Luckily, we found a truck who was generous enough to drop at the nearest cycle shop towards Bangalore. The truck guys were enthusiastic about my long bike rides on a sunday morning and suggested some other scenic spots near Nandi Hills.
Instructed the next guy who was repairing the puncture to do it properly, then started way back towards Bangalore on the SH-9 route having some Banana and water on the way back 21 km ahead we halted a nice Andhra restaurant for a quick meal. It was already around 2 p.m. and I was very hungry. After a decent Andhra meals, when I found that now the front tyre got punctured, such bad luck for me. I told my friends that I will find the puncture shop and will catch up with them. Luckily, I found one  2.5 kms on way back at Rajanukunte. Fixed it again there, and two of my friends came back after one of them took back an auto to IISc due to fatigue in his legs.

So, we rode back towards IISc, it was already 4:30 p.m. but as luck has found me, the front tyre of my bike got punctured again after 12 kms at Jalahalli, this time the cycle shop was nearby I got it repaired and reached IISc finally at 5:30 p.m.

It was a eventful ride, mixed with wonderful scenic biking highs on the forward route and 5 frustrating punctures on the way back. It was a learning experience, now that I have learnt how to replace tubes and repair a punctured tyre. Now, I was carry a spare tube and puncture kit on long rides.

Few essential things to carry on long rides:

• A phone, with sufficient charge
• Cash, change, and perhaps a card or two
• Water bottles
• Spare tube, pump and puncture repair kit 
• Some ziplock/plastic for your phone

Nandi Hills Run and Ride 
Two weeks later, my friend, he himself being a big fitness enthusiast in the swimming coaching persuaded me to join him for Nandi Hills ride on 12th September, even though I had a long training run the following day.

The previous trip to Nandi Hills was 3 weeks back on 22nd August 2015, for 14k run uphill an down as part of the Bengaluru Marathon training run. As usual, a bus was arranged by the IISc Gymkhana and we reached at the base of Nandi Hills at 5:45 a.m. After collecting the free T-Shirt, we started the run at 6:30 a.m, and it was drizzling.  It was the most difficult climb uphill, with the elevation above sea level varying from 979 m at the base to 1402 m at the top, a net 423 m climb uphill.
The last 3 kms uphill was the most difficult with locked legs due to the steep slope. The initial 6.5 km took a good 40 minutes.  After reaching the peak and having a sip of water, proceeded downhill effortlessly taking full advantage of the downslope. But the fatigue accumulated due to the uphill run took toll after few kms, still maintained a decent pace.

Nandi hills running route and stats

Splits: Nandi Hills run

NAME

SPEED 

CLIMB

1 km

10.84

80

2 km

11.07

38

3 km

10.01

58

4 km

10.27

20

5 km

8.62

93

6 km

8.58

60

7 km

8.88

14

8 km

13.78

-62

9 km

15.01

-94

10 km

12.41

-30

11 km

12.83

-34

12 km

13.12

-62

13 km

12.71

-54

14 km

12.45

-49

So, overall it was a awesome training run with a scenic view throughout and cool and drizzly weather followed by a hearty breakfast by the organizers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Route from IISc to Nandi Hills

Coming back to the biking on 12 September, started very early at 4:30 a.m., its good that previous weekend itself I bought biking accessories like spare tube, front and back blinkers, and puncture patches. It was my first early morning ride and was very enthusiastic about the ride. Started from IISc ATM gate towards Mekhri circle in a sparse traffic consisting of few trucks and cars. 

As we took the the highway route to Hyderabad, passing through Decathlon

Near the base of Nandi hills

 Anubhava  and the Kempegowda International Airport, the roads were good and we maintained quite good pace, but needed to lookout for occasional bumps. As we passed beyond the airport, early morning view was awesome on the Highway. Nearing the Nandi hills, the upslope started and I had to keep shifting gears to maintain the rhythm and pace. Finally, reached the base of the Nandi hills, and my back began to hurt due to the backpack I had. After hydrating myself, started the uphill climb which was ok initially at lower gear , but

At the base of Nandi Hills

 started becoming arduous as I proceeded. My friend being experienced and having done 400 kms ride before was much ahead of me. I took few breaks to stretch myself and climbed slowly using the lowest gear of my bike. Finally reached the peak taking 3:14 hours for 59 kms.

Uphill road to Nandi Hills peak

Found my friend Naveen waiting there for me who reached 15 minutes back. We had few bananas, parked our bikes outside and took tickets to go inside.

Foggy stems and leaves

On the way uphill

We explored the scenic beauty of Nandi Hills, went to Tipu's fort, and took few pics. Had a light breakfast of Idli there, and then started to go back. It was 10:15 a.m. and got back on our bikes, I immediately found out that the back tyre was punctured. So, called my friend and with his help removed the tube to debug the puncture, but could not find any. Good that I had a spare tube, replaced it and started our journey back, the downhill was a breeze being a steep slope, and needed quite a bit control of my bike to avoid skidding. After reaching the base we went the wrong route but soon realized and corrected our pathway back to Bangalore. I and my friend wanted to buy some swimming accessories like hand paddles and swimming fins at Decathlon, so we scheduled a stop at Decathlon Anubhava, where we reached at 12:15 p.m. I gave my punctured tube to get it checked. The Decathlon guy was good to spare some time and patch the puncture.Then we headed back to IISc via the Outer Ring Road and New BEL road as the Mekhri circle route might have been a road block due to heavy traffic.

On the way uphill

Finally reached IISc at 2 p.m. and had a nice lunch at Nesara. Compared to running biking has a different kind of high as we breeze through the highways and empty roads at ease. And it is less stressful on our legs than running but requires more time for the same amount of cardio burnout. Also, biking is a cost effective and nature friendly way to explore scenic places far off from the city with using any polluting vehicles, at the same time improving our fitness.

Tree trunks amongst the foggy weather

Exploring the surroundings

Monkeys having a jolly time

Tank near Tipu's Fort

Tipu Fort

SPBM Training run

The next day itself on 13th September, went for a training run in AOL campus, Kanakpura road organized by Bengaluru Marathon 2015, I was OK after the previous day biking initially and planned to go for 25k. We started from IISc at 5 a.m. to the posh campus of AOL, and started the run at 6:30 a.m. It was a 5.2 k route encompassing quite many uphills and downhills. Started quite fast and but had to slow down after 5k as legs became heavier as the run progressed.

NAME

SPEED

CLIMB

1 km

12.32

-12

2 km

12.87

8

3 km

13.34

-14

4 km

12.74

-5

5 km

12.89

-6

6 km

11.52

5

7 km

11.95

6

8 km

11.24

10

9 km

11.52

3

10 km

11.25

0

11 km

10.24

-4

12 km

11.78

2

13 km

12.47

-12

14 km

11.31

0

15 km

11.83

-11

16 km

10.34

0

17 km

10.45

12

18 km

10.57

0

19 km

9.46

12

20 km

10.95

-1

21 km

10.89

13

22 km

10.70

-8

Finally finished half marathon in 1:50:53 hours.

KM

21.12

DURATION

1:50:53

AVERAGE SPEED

11.43

CALORIES BURNED

1,355