Finally I gather some time and courage and energy to put down some facts and experimentation stuff that's going on. They say Well begun is Half done, and 2015 for me is one such entity. Half marathon, Goa trip and three ball basic juggling pattern, all well.. The highs need to be compensated by some lows and in this case it was project. Japanese classes started off great for a week and soon i was lagging. At the end its all about priorities and Juggling and Running topped my list. Two approaches possible, one is to go month by month or consider activity by activity, I chose activity detailing.
Project
Since the placement season in December I have been slow in project work. The project is basically signal processing and in the later half it was about regression and predicting future results. I learnt how to work with neural networks and different forms in which they can be used. Thanks to huge support from my sir who gave an assurance that its okay if things don't work out, at least I tried something and it didn't work. So, no big deal. This eased off the pressure a lot and some good amount of work was finished up by the beginning of May. That's all for project, will be having final presentation in next week and then wrap it up asap. This will also mean end to IIT hostel life, it will be missed once the college ends, currently I am just going with the flow and enjoying the Campus !
Japanese
As soon as the class started for second module we had a test consisting of previous module. Result was too bad, made small small comebacks in small class tests. I never really built up on the vocab and grammar part wasn't great too. The final test was one of the best ones and then again I stopped studying. Its full of up and down and up and down again. Current scene - JLPT (Japanese-Language Proficiency Test) is on 5th July and have started very slow and very steady progress for it. Thanks to one of my Japanese classmate, Nidhi, I am now learning more and faster. Memrise can also be credited, its an Android base app for languages and covers more than 30 languages..
Reading
Reading too took a back step in the initial months. Just ordered couple of new books or so. I tried reading a book on juggling and reading more about Israel and ISIS and all. The enthusiasm lasted for a week or two and I was off. But I am back now, reading books like - 'My Life My Rules', 'The Winning Way by Harsha Bhogle', '5pm to 9am Entrepreneur', etc. One thing is for sure, now I am no longer attached to just sports or biographies. I will reading few books on running and about mind in the coming months.
Guitar
First of all thanks to Preeti (my childhood friend) for lending me her Guitar to practice on. Equal thanks to Ajinkya Joshi (My IIT batchmate), for guiding me through. Now my own journey, start was Awesome, learnt few songs in a month. I focused mainly on Leads, my personal preference. In the initial months, Nidhi was my Guitar partner and so that kept me motivated. I continued for a month after she left but couldn't find enough motivation to keep me going. In running, I could and still go for miles and miles without a training partner. I won't say its my passion, but there is something I need to prove to myself and world and everybody that I can and so I run. Running for the right reasons. Guitaring, I am yet to find one. Last month I started to learn the chords basic and let me tell you, its tough. May be it is this difficulty that has kept me away from playing since couple of weeks. Expect me to be back soon..
Juggling
Started of with tennis balls and three ball basic cascade. Took me a week or so to learn it and couple of months more to master it. Between that I also started making different types of juggling balls by reading online guides. Ordered a set of bean bag balls (used by beginners) and learnt few three ball tricks. Then the allergies and cold and cough kicked in and I was forced to be away from juggling for a month. You may like to read my previous post - Weird Allergies.. Then I ordered few costly stage juggling balls from US, thanks to my BRO Pratik for making the purchase and shipment possible and quick. Meanwhile I also started with ring juggling and learnt few tricks. Things were getting bored up with three balls and arrival of five identical balls, I started with 4 balls basic pattern. Next uphill task is 5 balls which may take 1 to 6 months to learn. I hope I learn it quick. Also by July end I may get my juggling clubs shipped too.
Meanwhile, I contacted Yoshi Chladny, a juggler from Montreal. He performed in IIT in Mood Indigo and I happened to have first hand experience to learn club juggling. He was here for his show, but somehow I found a chance to learn to hold and toss clubs. Although it was for 5 mins, but I guess it was one major and final push I needed to start to learn juggling. I used online tutorials and let me tell you, there are so many good and great jugglers out there and so many are willing to share so many of their tricks and secrets. One of such juggler is Niels Duinker, a world record holder for juggling three clubs blindfolded. He recently made a new record by juggling 12 shaker cups simultaneously. I can go on and on about him, I sent him a mail and then reply came and we have been facebook friends from then. Well, it may seem a trivial and so small thing, being a facebook friend may be like no big deal, but for me it was and still is. Feels great to be in touch with Greats in their own field. Another connect I have with Niels is that we both are Mechanical Engineers :)
Running
I would talk for hours and days and even months about running and my experiments and experiences. Post the half marathon in January I didn't run much in the coming months. I wanted increase speed and focused on changing the running technique. More precisely, I have now learnt to land on the area between toes and the balls of foot. I started small and quick distances and with ample of rest. Then the allergies came in and have been off for an entire month. Making a comeback was tough but necessary.
I started with few yoga asans specifically to beat the asthma and in a week I had gained my running posture and form back. Next task was stamina, and till today i am having difficulty in it. I can run 8 or say even push further till 10k with ease, but when you say that you need to compete in full marathon, then 10k runs are nothing but a warm up. Everyday I plan that I will go 16k but things don't just go as plan. Speed has increased marginally but not substantial enough.
I saw few inspiring videos on youtube which helped me to be a early riser regularly. Included few routines in exercise to strengthen the core and abs muscle. I go once a month for strength training ie up and down the flyover. The main concern is still the endurance and then the speed. May end was good, waking up early and going for early run. Purchased new shorts for running to make me feel more like a marathoner. There used to be early morning talk inside me.
A- Sleep off its too early..
B- No, I have to train, I want to be a champion..
A- You ran yesterday and you will go tomorrow, take a day off now..
B- Past is past, I need to run today and build up my endurance..
A- But you slept late yesterday. Its okay to take a day off..
B- So what, I will sleep after my run. Anyway I sleep a total of 9 to 10 hours a day. Also, you need to make sacrifices if you need to succeed.
A- Okay - Go Ahead.
The problem is I don't which is heart and which is Mind. Either A is heart and B is mind or vice-a-versa. Anyway, I stop dwelling on it as long as I was up and running 5 days a week minimum. In the coming months I plan to focus on endurance and then the speed. Rainy days make it bit tougher to run but it gets compensated with cool climate and less dehydration. July is so much important, a month in Mumbai before I move onto so called professional world.
There is an element of training which came as a big surprise from me to myself. I always had a belief eat what you like and how you like. Chocolates formed the core of it and eating up Amul's sandwiches in hostel. I had started eating Salad and sometimes fruit a year back but also had my share of sweets and rice and everything.
I have now started following some mildly strict diet regime, simply put, I am dieting or I am on a healthy diet. Bye bye to Sweets and Sugar and Breads. Replace it with Sprouts, Fruits, more salad, some hydrating drinks, Brown Rice, Dal etc. This is to ensure that I don't put up extra weight (which is difficult to carry for 42k) and have an efficient working body. Whenever I see corn, the first thing that pops up in my mind is - Proteins and second word is corn. Such is the connection I wish to establish with all foodstuffs and foodgrains.
It is only yesterday that I realised how big a decision I made in spur of moment. Like no sweets, no chocolates. For how long? I don't know. A year, two or a life time. Will there be any occasional exceptions, I don't want to make one and haven't made one since a week. That doing any activity regularly will be difficult and its okay to do it even say at 80% regularity will suffice. Something is better than nothing. That is changing now, I want to do it regularly.
Recently the core and asthma fighting asans were taking a mental toll on me. Wake up at 5am and still you leave for running no early than 6.30am, just because of the other exercise is not good. So, I have decided to cut down at all major exercise and focus on stretching and running for a month so that I build up at least half marathon endurance. Once the office life starts, it will be a great struggle to find out time for running and exercise and that is when the fun starts. Will be making changes to my routine such that I focus more on strength and speed and so endurance work out just twice a week. Long way to go, 'Mada Mada Desu' - as they say in Japanese.
! Let Your Dreams Come True !
