The balancing act of competition and emotions
I geek out a lot on endurance sports stories. It's my thing . In 2023 there were some stories that are worth revisiting. Here are some of my favourites and and my takeways at the end.
#1
This was from the dying stages of the Tokyo Olympics men marathon race. Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands cheering an exhausted Bashir Abdi from Belgium. With less than a kilometre away, it was a three-way battle between them and Kenyan Lawrence Cherono. Nageeye saw Abdi struggling with cramps. He slowed down to cheer and encourage him to close the gap. That helped Abdi to find the lost gear and cross the line to get the Bronze after Nageeye got Silver. Nageyee & Abdi were both born in Somalia and fled the country to become refugee elsewhere for a better life.
#2
Spanish athlete Ricardo Rosado stopped before the finish line to assist Kenyan Evans Kimtai to finish before him at Málaga Marathon in Spain. Kiprono was struggling with physical exhaustion and was slowing down. Rosado was right behind him and instead of taking advantage of the situation which is perfectly normal, he slowed down and assisted Kiprono to cross the finish line before him by pushing him. He sacrificed his position and €500 of bonus money.
#3
Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan offering water bottle to Ethipoian Yalemzerf Yehualaw at London marathon. This race will be written in the history books for many reasons and has a lesson of grit & determination for ages. Right from the start, Hassan was written off by the commentators as she was limping with pain for most part of the race. At one point, she was nearly hit by the lead motorbike while trying to get to her water bottle. She realised her rival Yehualaw had missed her bottle. So she offered water to her while trying to catchup with her competitors. Eventually, Sifan who was running her debut marathon won the race.
I wrote about it earlier here https://twitter.com/kmr_dilip/status/1650789557468823552
#4
Daniel Simiu saluting Sabastian Sawe at the Half Marathon at the World Road Running Championships. Both Kenyans were leading the race. And in the final stretch, Sawe overtook Simiu. Simiu realised he can't match up to the pace and made a gesture of smiling at Sawe and giving him a salute.
My takeways from these stories:
1) To be a fast runner is a corrupt goal. It limits your ability to appreciate why and how you started running.
2) After big wins or devastating defeats, the medicine is the same—getting back to doing the work itself.
3) It's satisfying seeing someone achieve hard things with a smile and comfort.
4) Being nice to people is the easiest career competitive advantage.
5) The difference between a good athlete and a great one is that a good athlete is concerned more about the outcome while a great one is fascinated by the process of learning.
6) To win is to overcome others. Victory is to overcome yourself.
The power of asking
This is how i got my first investor.
Most entrepreneurs feel asking for help is a sign of weakness. But my biggest realisation is, it's actually a superpower.
Sometimes the driving force is not in who you know, but asking for help from the unknowns. It's a powerful tool to navigate the landscape of social connections and accept the vulnerabilities of having no credentials.
You can ask for help, feedback or suggestions. The worst outcome is no response. The best outcome can't be predicted.
When i was starting ImStrong, my last startup. I knew nothing about raising money. I knew no one in the venture capital or angel networks. The only thing i knew was sending cold emails :) Most landed no response but some good folks did reply.
So, i sent a cold email to Nithin Kamath.
I expected it to land no response.
But in 10 mins i got a reply.
In 2 days, i got an investment offer 😊
Below is the screen shot of the exact email trails that happened.
Me- Hey Nithin, we are building ImStrong. This is the problem we are solving. What do you think?
Nithin signed up as a user to try the product.
Me- Asked for feedback.
Nithin replied with his experience of the product.
Me- Hey Nithin, would you like to invest in what we are building? Asked for the money :)
We got an investment offer within 2 days.
So, whatever you are building, don't shy away from asking —Asking customers to try the product. Asking potential candidates to join the team. Asking investors for money. Asking random people for suggestions or feedback.
You may get many "No". All you need is that one "Yes".
Reinventing myself
School & college failed to teach me health & fitness.
Neither did my family.
So I ignored it till my mid 30's.
Then to fix my own health, I spent the last few years studying and experimenting nutrition & exercise physiology.
I went from an 32yo overweight and unhealthy person to a 40yo competitive endurance athlete.
Here’s what i learned in 3 simple frameworks
1. What you eat is extremely important.
And when you eat and how much is equally important.
-Don't consume food or drink that comes in boxes, bags or cans, the stuff loaded with refined grains, sugar
-Eat a high protein nutrient dense diet
-Cook your own food
^That will be your superpower.
2. You don't need to have a six-pack.
Exercise to feel confident and prevent disease.
Your desk job is destroying your body and ruining your health.
-Lift weights, workout at home or play a sport. Just move your body
-Consistency is way more valuable than intensity.
-We lose muscle as we age.
-If you ignore gaining muscle, you will become weak, more susceptible to injuries and ultimately live with pain all day long.
-Strength training will recreate the best version of yourself.
The biggest lie you should ignore is that cardio kills muscle growth.
3. Stress is your biggest enemy.
And sleep is your biggest performance enhancer.
-Stress + rest = growth.
Figuring out the appropriate dose of each is key.
-Your hospital visits won't teach you this.
Because they make money on your ignorance.
-Stop eating 3 hours before bed.
-Stop looking at screens 1 hour before bed.
-Train yourself to deal with stress with exercise instead of surrendering to junk food or alcohol.
Be curious and read scientific literature. Not clickbait articles.
It's never too late to take charge of your health.
Good luck!
Revelations of a Sub 3 marathoner
I ran two Sub 3hr marathons this year. In a gap of 6 months in 2022.
2:59:22 in Boston Marathon and 2:55:58 in Ahembdabad Marathon.
I was a startup founder, a new dad & an avg joe. Sharing my playbook of learnings here.
1) Set reasonable goals.
Be patient. Becoming a strong runner is not an event. It's a process.
Shared more about it on this podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/7yvmxI2HdGLfo0Ojn8ayuF
2) Becoming a 'fast' runner and continuing to be a 'fast' runner are two different skills.
Always consider longevity in every aspect of your training. 90% of runners hit a plateau because they think short term.
3) If you want to train hard, you gotta recover harder.
The most important training days of the week are the ones when you rest and recover. Quoting Brad Stulberg here "Stress + rest = growth. Figuring out the appropriate dose of each is key, and a moving target"
4) Curiosity is an underrated skill in this sport.
Always be curious to learn more. Be a student of the sport first and then play it.
5) Learn when to run slow and when to run fast.
You will be unstoppable if you have that judgment. Training is not racing.
6) Good fitness is:
# of days you were not injured.
# of days you felt recovered.
# of days you slept well.
# of days you dint push hard beyond what your body allowed.
7) Most important: If you don’t have a project to achieve your goal. It’s just a dream.
Project = Structure
Your progress depends on your ability to differentiate between goal and dream.
Follow structured training and be a balanced runner. My thoughts https://www.dilipkumar.co/blog/the-balanced-runner
8) My Strava splits for
Boston Marathon https://www.strava.com/activities/7003299941
Ahmedabad marathon: https://www.strava.com/activities/8173579966
If you plan to run any of these races next year, hope this course data is useful
Motivation is in abundance. Discipline is scarce.
Quoting the great @EliudKipchoge "Only disciplined one's are purely free in life and indisciplined are slaves to their moods and passions" If you've read this far, good luck with your running goals.
The progress in your goals
GOALS
They look far and hazy unless you keep chasing them.
Every day, every week, every month.
In 2020, I set a goal to run my first Sub 3hr marathon.
For 4months, I was chasing this goal.
It was up on my wall . To become Sub 3 marathoner.
And every week, I got two inch closer.
I’ll wake up and stare at the wall reminiscing all the past training and before going to bed muster whatever left for the next day.
Marathon training is just learning to be bored while you're hurting.
Did i meet my goal? ...Yes, I finished 2:59:52
But those 16 weeks changed me a lot.
as an entrepreneur, as a colleague, as a husband, as a friend, and as an athlete.
There are maybe 100 men in India who can run Sub3hr marathon.
I'm one of them. Today 2:55:58 Marathoner.
Head high, heart full.
Everyone teaches motivation. But no one learns discipline.
Motivation is in abundance. Discipline is scarce.
The progress in your goals is the gap between your desire and commitment.
Every start of a new training block
Every start of a new training block
The first workout is hard
The first long run is hard
Adaptions takes time
Recovery is slow
And a constant internal debate is why the hell I’m doing this again.
Then slowly, fitness compounds. Week after week.
Hard runs give a sense of achievement. Easy runs become enjoyable.
Consistency shrinks the gap between goal time and fitness progress.
Marathon training is just learning to be bored while you're hurting.
It’s been 6 years I’ve been marathoning. Shoes, gears, nutrition & and a lot has changed.
But this mental model still helps to get through the training.
What a bad recovery day can do to you
There are a ton of material on the web on how to optimise your health. Sometimes it can be polarising too.
Yet most people are unable to to interpret the signals our body relays when we deprive it from requisite rest & nutrition.
I'd a bad recovery day this past Saturday (Feb 11th). This was not an intentional experiment. But outcome of natural circumstances.
Sharing my understanding and takeaways with data as reference. I use various markers to track few vitals.
What does bad recovery mean?
Most of my vitals were in red zone. See this.
How did this happen?
Let me break down the routine of the day
Saturday is usually a heavy training day.
Woke up : 6am.
Workout: Ran 25k run. Intensity 7/10.
Details here : Garmin Link
First meal was a protein shake supplement within 30 mins of the workout.
Breakfast was delayed. Had at 10:30am.
Lunch was delayed. Had at 3pm.
Started with 500ml beer & junk food. Solid food intake was delayed.
Dinner was delayed as well & outside food.
All this impacted my night sleep. It was was disturbed, insufficient and broken.
My sleep performance
See data:
Some specifics:
No physical rest. Usually i take a power nap after breakfast on hard workout days.
Nanny was on leave. Physical and mental exertion of parenting a 18mo.
All meals were delayed. No proper nutrition and outside food. Calorie burn dint equal calorie intake.
Water intake was poor.
How did this impact my body.
Extreme physical strain & lack of recovery is harmful.
See data below.
Blue is strain.Yellow is recovery. Overall recovery was at 17%
Resting Heart rate was elevated at 55bpm.
My usual range is between 40 bpm to 45 bpm.
Why?
Challenging workout,
alcohol consumption
Poor sleep quality
Below is my avg weekly RHR and when it peaked.
Heart rate variability was low at 25ms.
My usual range is 55ms to 60ms.
Why?
Mental, emotional and physical fatigue.
Low nutritional food consumption.
Dehydration due to alcohol consumption.
Stress due to insufficient sleep.
Below is my avg weekly HRV and when it dropped.
Respiratory rate was elevated at 18.8 rpm
My typical range us 16 - 18 rpm
Why?
No rest.
Alcohol consumption after an intense workout day.
Below is my avg weekly range and when it peaked.
Takeways and note to myself.
On high stress day (mental or physical), rest and good nutrition is of extreme importance.
Meal timing is key to body's ability to recovery.
Hydrating the body throughout the day adds to your recovery.
Avoid alcohol on days you have high stress (physical or mental) and lack rest. It can be harmful.
Getting a good sleep depends on how you condition your body throughout the day.
Quality nutrition matters. Quantity food doesn't.
Hope this sets an outline for you to optimise your own recovery.
The balanced runner
The life of a marathoner is one of commitment, discipline, and persistence. As a parent, a working professional, and a competitive runner, the challenges of balancing these different roles can be daunting. But the rewards of training for and competing in marathons make it all worth it.
When I became a father last year, I realised being a parent is a full-time job in itself but add in the demands of a busy profession and marathon training, and the task of balancing it all can seem impossible. The milestones for every passing week were the commitment to prioritise training and make time for other aspects of life, even on the busiest days.
The discipline required to train for a marathon is unlike anything else. It's easy to make excuses and skip a training session, but the commitment to show up day after day, no matter what, is what sets successful marathoners apart. And that builds your character to endure the forty two kilometres. In the digital world we live, motivation is in abundance. Discipline is scarce.
But discipline alone is not enough to succeed in marathoning. For marathoners who are also parents, It's not always easy to find time for long runs or workouts while also taking care of household responsibilities. When I became a dad, I thought my days of competitive marathoning were over. Training takes a toll on your body, and as a new dad, I don't have the luxury of spending hours recovering on the couch after a long run.
But with the support of my wife, I've been able to find the balance and make it work. I got faster in my marathon timings after becoming a dad. Ran two marathons in a gap of 6 months finishing 2:59 & 2:56. My wife & son are part of the team. I would come back home and talk to them about my runs. My wife geeks out with me on my run splits. She has been my biggest supporter throughout my marathon journey, both before and after becoming a father. Without her support, I don't know if I could do it.
The biggest investment to your performance is your family. And the time you spend with them is the premium you pay.
The unspoken gains of being a marathoner is persistence developed through training that you could carry over into other areas of life. It's not always easy, but the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with crossing the finish line makes it all worth it.
For those considering taking on the challenge of marathon training, don't be afraid to ask for help. Not just for being a better runner, but to be a present parent ,mindful partner and colleague. When i coach my athletes, i often emphasise “Running is not life, it’s just part of life”
The difference between a good runner and a great one is that a good runner is more concerned about the outcome of the race while a great one is fascinated by the process & learning from the training.
Remember, becoming a balanced runner is not an event. It is a process.