This post was written originally for Even Healthcare and was shared by them on LinkedIn by Even Healthcare here, here by Pt. Lavanya and here by Nikhil Kant.
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Hi, :)
I am Sahil Arora, a passionate engineer who has a knack to crack the lamest jokes in the room. I have always wanted to be ultra-fit, and by ultra-fit, I imagined someone who could easily run 10km in the middle of the night just after being woken up from deep sleep, push a heavy car hard enough for it to start without the ignition working, jumping high enough to replace the curtain rod while jumping, being so flexible to comfortably hide in a closet, and live long enough doing all of these. Now most of these scenarios might never happen, but the idea of being ultra-fit was to be always be ready to do all of these.
I have been working out since many years now, and being ultra-fit has always been a distant dream, because life happens. Also, the first thing to crack here was running, and I have always been on the side of the heavier builds. When I started running in my college, I used to have knee injuries often due to my weight and technique. I also had a mildly flat foot(overpronation is the technical term), so any running more than 5kms had me experiencing anywhere from slight discomfort to not-so-mild pain. I switched to Calisthenics and a bit of weight training, but always wanted to run, because running 10km in the middle of the night was somehow one of my goals to becoming ultra-fit.
I resumed running again after many years, in January 2023, with a 7km run in an event. I faired well, but that was my first event, and I saw people much more elder to me running much faster than me. Here is a photo of me from the event:
My ego tripped a bit that day for I was unable to run as fast as I wished, and I saw people much faster than me. This made me register for an 18km running event in March, sponsored by Virat Kohli, which was in 2 months, 26th of March, 2023. I was able to complete the 18km, but my hip flexors cried like crazy after the run. By the end of the run, I was finding it hard to walk, and it felt hard to walk for the entire next 1 week!
I thought to myself ‘How unfit I am, finding it too hard to run 18kms’. Following this, I registered for another run, a longer one now, 25 kms, and with a period of 4 months to prepare, which was on 31st July, 2023. I also trained well for that race, and the first 12.5kms felt easy. But boy oh boy, the next 12.5 km were gruelling. I was just limping in my last 500 meters, every part of my body pained, but I completed that too:
This very time, my legs, my hip flexors, my quads, all of them felt like they were on fire, and my back felt as if I was carrying a huge weight for a long distance and wanted to just break. It took me a week to recover from this.
The heart wants what it wants, they say, and I wanted to push myself further, test and further my limits. I signed up for the prestigious Tata Mumbai Marathon, 2024, which was on 21st January, 2024, about 6 months from this 25km run, and this time a full marathon, i.e. 42.2kms! I thought I had 6 months, and wanted to give my all.
To be completely ready for this beast of 42.2kms, I had to increase my mileage, i.e. the distance I run every week. I also got to know mileage isn’t just for cars. I started running more, but that increases the chances of injury. In all of these races, whenever I had an injury or discomfort, I reached out to my team of even doctors, specially Pt. Lavanya Parashivkumar, to help me avoid injuries.
During the training, I signed up for 2 half marathons(21.1 kms), one in Bengaluru, and one in Delhi, and both on them in consecutive weeks. The Bengaluru one was on 08th October, 2023, here is a photo from the same:
During this one, at around 15kms, I faced some weird pain in my right IT band, which increased to very high pain by the last kilometre of the 21.1km route. I was barely walking by the end, the smile hides the pain here.
The next week, 15th of October, 2023, I ran again, which was another mistake, since I already had an injury, my muscles were weak and had still not recovered from the physical trauma. I completed the race in some 2 hours 45 minutes, which was a supposedly bad timing. However, I do not quit. I realised that sometimes, you should quit, to rise up stronger. But nah, I had already paid for the Delhi Half Marathon. I flew all the way to Delhi to run. Within that one week, I consulted Pt. Lavanya on how to avoid this pain again, and I was advised not to run, but I had paid and got flight tickets, I had to. I followed a course of stretches to strengthen the IT band, and went for the run.
There is barely any smile here after this photo. My IT Band pain kicked in after 7kms itself, and the pain was excruciating. I was trying to run but every step was painful. I completed this in 3 hours 15 minutes. For context on how fast this is compared to my previous runs, I had completed the 25km run in July in 2 hours 59 minutes, and the 18km run in 2 hours 18 minutes. This was extremely hard for me. I was doing it wrong. In every run I was having an injury, and I realised this strategy of giving all of it during the run will not work, and I needed professional help.
The marathon was about 3 months away and I was nowhere near my goals. Every time I ran, I somehow injured myself. I also talked to a couple of doctors and physiotherapists in Delhi and they suggested that because of this IT Band injury, I should give up on my marathon dream, for it may make the injury worse. One even called me an idiot(indirectly) for running so much in so little time with this body weight.
I then reached out to Even to check if I can get some help to make my impossible dream, possible, and whether this was even possible. I met Pt. Lavanya in person for the first time, who was ready and eager to help me out. She first did extensive evaluation of my body mechanics to understand how strong and flexible my body was, which were the weak parts and which were the strong parts. She also tested how strong my lungs were, how efficient my heart was in pumping blood, and if I had any vitamin/mineral deficiencies. This felt like going in the right direction, but I still was unsure if I could run the 42.2kms in 3 months. I was clearly told by every doctor that I shouldn’t even try running a kilometre for at least the next 1 month until my IT band recovers, which was also something Pt. Lavanya aligned with.
The next following weeks after these tests, Pt. Lavanya analysed all of the data and told me clear next steps, with a very ambitious plan, to complete the marathon. This plan had a checkpoint in December, 17th December to be exact, where I was supposed to run another 25km in Kolkata. I had already registered for this run in Kolkata long back, and this test would be used as a checkpoint to predict whether I will be able to run the full marathon or not. After my injury on 15th October, I was allowed to only swim, walk, or do very light weight training for the next 1 month. During this time, I was given specific instructions by Pt. Lavanya on what workouts I should be doing, which I followed diligently.
In the mid of November, I started running again under special guidance of Pt. Lavanya. We used to train at the Kanteerva Stadium in Bengaluru, where she would prepare the training plan for me well in advance. We met at around 6:30 AM every Tuesday and Friday, and I was made to do long warm-up drills, followed by specific targeted running workouts aimed to improve my strength and endurance, followed by cooldown to avoid any forms of injury. After doing this for about 3 weeks, the checkpoint was around the corner, the test of whether we should aim for the full marathon or not. I went to Kolkata, and attempted this 25km with all the training and guidance in the past 2 months by Pt. Lavanya.
This run was strong, and fast. I ran 25kms in 2 hours 28 minutes. Remember the last 21kms I ran in Delhi 2 months back, I was able to do it in 3 hours 15 minutes, this time I was able to run 25kms in 2 hours 28 mins, and 21.1kms in 2 hours 2 minutes. This was my personal best for both these distances. I had no injury and was completely recovered in just 2 days. Remember the last time I ran 25km in July? That was 2 hours 59 minutes, this was 2 hours 28 minutes, I had cut more that half an hour for the same distance and removed all injuries. This progress was phenomenal. The marathon plan was so on. We continued training and following the plan and increased our training intensity and mileage both.
I was training Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays with Pt. Lavanya, where Tuesdays and Fridays were to prepare for the run and Wednesdays were dedicated to strengthening and stretching to ensure my muscles do not cramp during the marathon. Fast forward to 2 weeks before the marathon, I got immense help from Dt. Vidya on what to eat and what not to eat to prepare for the marathon, how to carb load, and how to eat like an athlete to have enough energy to run, along with what supplements to take from Pt. Lavanya and what medications to take from Dr. Chanakya. The training was coming close to culmination with the marathon week.
I reached Mumbai:
got myself mentally prepared for the run, and then I ran:
I completed the marathon, 42.2kms, probably more than the distance from your home to the nearest airport, but I ran, and without injuries. My time was not the best, but I ran, and I finished and without injuries. I recovered mostly by the next 2-3 days and got completely recovered in a week. It felt awesome to do a lot of things, push my limits and doing it in the right way, under expert guidance. I am still training with Pt. Lavanya and now working on reducing my marathon timings, for we have bigger aims to accomplish, but this could not have been possible without the exceptionally excellent team of experts at Even Healthcare.
I am still continuing to improve my running game, for I might have to run just after I wake up from deep sleep in the middle of the night. Here is a photo after completing a 30km run in the hills Ooty on 31st March, 2024:
Mind you running on hills is hard, and I learnt it the hard way. I also have a new aim to chase now :).
To growing faster, healthier and stronger. Thanks Pt. Lavanya, Dr. Chanakya and Dt. Vidya, and thanks Even.
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