Finally I am back to a routine.
Routine feels good.
The entire household ( except Sufi who sleeps till 7:00 AM ) wakes up at 5:00 AM.
P goes running to the lake. It opens by 5:30 AM.
San does her yoga – Bhutta Shuddi and Shambhavi and joins Amma in the kitchen for packing Prithvi’s school lunch box.
Yoga Routine – Almost 25/31 days.
I do my yoga routines – all except Anga Mardhana – and wind up by 6:30 AM. Just in time to catch Prithvi come to the table to have his milk and some small breakfast.
On the dining table – I read one Thirukkural verse a day and we decode them. One of the Chennai trips I had got a 6 in 1 version. G U Pope’s version – the first guy to translate Thirukural in English – decided to skip – it is in old English and he has tried hard to rhyme and the essence gets lost – Only the Tamil meaning by Keerthi is good.
We have read 44 so far. At this pace will take 4 – 5 years to finish all the Kurals.
Boy leaves for his bus at 6:55 AM. San makes black coffee and we read the news – I read the digital edition of NewIndianExpress and San reads digital edition of Economic Times – and we ponder over the world. Just when she finishes the physical paper will get delivered.
7:30 AM – Amma feeds Sufi breakfast and I take her for walk and she gets done with her potty.
Then I hit the lake for a run.
And boy-oh-boy I am back to my good old running days.
Runs – 9 / 31 days. 5kms each.
The first few runs I did not worry too much about my heart beat. It hovered around 160bpm and could do 5k in under 40 minutes.
Later I consciously tried to keep it less than 150bpm and the time stretched to beyond 45 minutes.
Even 150 bpm is too fast for my age – I think ideal bpm should be 135 for my age. 150 bpm might be in Zone 3 range.. but I cannot run any slower. Sorry.
Here is a nice article on zone 2 training.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/zone-2-training/
Strength Training – 7/31 days.
I just hung from a bar. Trying to increase my hang time. It is less than 30 seconds now before I give up. For my age I should hang for atleast 2 minutes. Daily I will think I will lift some weights but I will reach home and forget and directly head to take shower.
Fasting – 1 Ekadesi – 22 hours.
On day 1, I had dinner at 8PM and told the world I will do a 36 hour water fast. That means on day 3 morning 8AM I will break fast.
On day 2 – the Ekadesi day – I could work like normal as I was sipping water through out and around 6PM got bored and also a mild headache was starting. Didn’t want to have a fitful night sleep. Broke fast around 7:30 PM.
But felt good. Fasting after a long time. I think I will stick to 24 hour fasts – once every 2 weeks. Doable.
Bike Rides – 2
One was a group ride to the old cement factory. Second was to Hillori – to take a photo of Teesta next to the green house!
Books – Yet to complete
Reading 2 books.
1. Living untethered – re-reading it actually.
2. Blackholes by Brian Cox and Jeff Foreshaw.
Audio book – The quantum series – a SciFi novel by Douglas Phillips.
My vitals at end of July 2024.
VO2 Max : 28.3. As per Apple Health, this is Low. Next tier is Below average 31-38. Above average is 38-47. The more consistent I become with my fitness routines, this should go up. The highest I ever had was 37.2 in Mar 2018. I have fallen way below.
Resting heart rate : 73 BPM
Goal for August 24
1. Runs. 15/30. Either bring my running to 5km under 40 minutes with 150 BPM or run 6-7km runs under 1 hour within 150BPM
2. Fartleks. Once a week. This is a high intensity interval training. Once a week I have to squeeze one in. Improves my VO2 Max.
3 Strength Training. Lift dumbbells. Do Push-ups. Do Planks.
4. Yoga. Add Anga Mardhana to my routine atleast once a week
5. Meditation. Not doing. Should start doing Isha Kriya or Heartfulness in the evenings.
5. Fasting. Do 2 Ekadesi’s
6. Books. Finish the 3 and start on 2 more.
7. Bike – Horsley hills ride coming up this first sunday. Will squeeze in another Hillori trip hopefully.
8. Medium. Read the daily digest links medium sends. Lot of good articles on my chosen areas.
9. Reduce Doomscrolling to 30 minutes a day.
10. Start Amma’s culinary encyclopedia
