Open Streets in HSR - September 20th 2015

Open Streets, an initiative by various government organizations like DULT, Bengaluru Police, Bengaluru Traffic Police, BMTC etc and local citizen groups, held its first edition in HSR on September 20th from 6 am to 9 pm. Idea is to promote walking, cycling and use of public transport.

I cycled from home to HSR layout to see how does it feel to see a locality without all chaotic traffic. It was so nice to see pollution free roads; kids cycling, skating, walking without being afraid of their safety. It was complete celebration.

Also, must congratulate Bengaluru traffic police and BMTC for providing complete support for the event. And obviously local citizen bodies, you guys did great work.

Here are some pictures that I took on my mobile phone.

No Entry in HSR for vehicles from Outer Ring Road. I could take my cycle through that gap.

Wow, seriously no vehicle.

Only walkers.

And Runner too. And there is a police vehicle

Parent helping kid on blade skates.

Parent riding with kids on street.

And more kids cycling.

Some two wheeler trying to find a way out.

A guy on roller skates.

Special buses arranged by BMTC.

Another police vehicle.

People cycling.

Here are most people. Waiting for cycle event to start.

People on street waiting for cycle event to start.

A kid on blade skates.

Special Buses arranged by BMTC. They seem to be quite frequent.

More BMTC buses on stand by.

Business as usual for some.

Old way of transport. Some old boys enjoying the ride.

Morning Ghazal

अपनी सासों से मिल अाया।

‌आज तड़के मैं फिर दौड़ आया ।

दिनों से शिकायत थी दिल को,

दो पल खुद के साथ बिता आया ।

सुबह बहुत कोहरा था हर तरफ,

सारी कहानियाँ मैं सुलझा आया ।

सूरज तो बादल ताने सो रहा था,

उसकी चौखट खटखटा आया।

मंजिल का ख्याल था कहाँ मुझे,

हर कदम का लुफ्त उठा आया ।

उ‍‌ड़ने की अब आरजू नहीं मुझको

क्षितिज का आस्मां जो छू आया ।

सत्, सब्र, संयम, संघर्ष, समर्पण -

अब सब का मतलब समझ आया ।

शबनम, बादल, धूप, मंदिर, रास्ते -

ख्वाबी सब से नाते जोड़ आया ।

(Don't look for meaning, there is none)

Staircase Climbing Pace- A Runner’s Guide

When I decided to participate in India’s first stair climbing race- Skyscrapper dash, first question that hit me was, how much time will take for me to run those 850 stairs. (This is what a calculative runner becomes over time.) 850 stairs sounded a lot. I have never participated in stair climbing race. I have no idea if I should run on stairs or just walk with faster pace. What I needed was some correlation between my running pace and stair climbing pace.

After working out (mathematically), I came up with this formula:

Number of Steps per minute ≈ 490 / running pace in mins per km. 

Note: This formula is applicable for similar time frame. So, if you are expecting your staircase race to last for 10 minutes, use your running pace that you can maintain for 10 minutes. Also, ensure to convert your running pace from mm:ss to xx.yy. So, lets say if you are running pace is 4:40 mins per km, you should use 4.67 mins per km in above formula. 

So, here is the workout:

Energy required for climbing stairs:

Energy in kcal = (m * g * h) /(eff * (joules per kcal))                               

                                    = m * 9.81 * 0.16 * number of steps per min /( 18% * 4184)

where

• m = mass of person climbing stairs
• g = acceleration due to gravity
• h = height = 0.16 (height per step) * number of steps per min
• eff = efficiency of human legs = 18 - 26%. Assuming 18% for calculation
• joules per kcal is used to convert joules in kcal. Remember food calorie is actually 1 thermodynamic kcal. 

Approximate formula for calculating energy spent while running:

Energy in kcal = 1.02 * m * d 

Energy in kcal per minute = 1.02 * m * d / t                   

                                    = 1.02* m / pace

where

• m = mass of person in kg
• d = running distance in km
• t = time taken in minutes
• pace = d/t in minutes per km

Assuming that a person will be able to generate same power (spend same energy) in both activities,

(m* 9.81* 0.16* number of steps per min * 100) / (4184* 18) = 1.02* m / pace

=> number of steps per min = (1.02* 4184* 18) / (9.81* 0.16* 100) / pace                   

≈ 490 / pace                      

Oh yeah, I know this is oversimplified and there are obvious flaws in this. Following are limitation of this formula that I can think of

• A person can spend more energy while staircase climbing compared to running in same amount of time.  Thus equating energy spent in running and staircase climbing may be wrong. I will expect a person able to climb 10-15% more stairs as predicted from above formula. 
• This formula uses muscle efficiency for calculation of energy spent while staircase climbing but not while running. This will vary from person to person (and probably with activity and time). This will introduce error in formula.
• Formula to calculate energy while running is just an approximate (but so is calculating number of steps. :) )
• Using correct pace is pretty important. A slight variation in pace can introduce huge error. If a person is just going to do stair climbing for 5 minutes but uses pace for his 5 km race, do expect an error there. :)

Do let me know if you think of other possible errors in this formula.

If somebody verifies this, please let me know, how close were you?

Urban Stampede - Route map 2012 vs 2011

Following is Urban Stampede route map for 2012 (yellow line) and 2011 (red line). Please click on placemarks to identify start / end point and u-turn mark.

Most of route is different than last year except a small stretch near u-turn.


View Urban Stampede 2012 in a larger map

Fauja Singh - A True Spirit of Life

Fauja Singh - a name that will inspire me for rest of my life.

I came to know about him soon after I started running. After learning about him, I had no more excuses left for not running and keeping myself fit when there is a man who has courage to run at an age when most of people will be worried of getting engaged in any such activity.

His biography - Turbaned Tornado is a story very well told by Khushwant Singh (not the popular Khuswant Singh). I wasn't expecting much from this book (but still wanted to know more about the Legend). But it proved me wrong. It is short but very well written.

It amazed me that a person who could hardly walks till age of 5, could hardly walk a mile till age of 15, started seriously running only at age of 89 and then went on breaking one record after another in his 90s. This book isn't about how he ran his 21st, 22nd or 25th mile. This book is about he did it. Reading about enthusiasm in one 90s (and now 100s), leaving behind on all that tragedy in one's life, can only inspire me. Really a true spirit of life.

Yesterday, he ran his eight full marathon - first one after eight years and registered him as oldest man (and only man above 100) to run a marathon. Seeing him finishing in this video made me cheer for him.

Last week, he set eight other records. He broke existing records for 100m (23.40, previous record - 29.83), 200m (52.23, previous record - 77:59), 400m (2:13.48, previous record - 3:41.00) and 1500m (11:27.81, previous record - 16:46.41) for his age category. He set new records for 800m (5:32.18), 1 mile (11:53.45), 3000m (24:52.47) and 5000m (49:57.39). His performance defies all age-grading calculation. For more information on this, check result of this event at http://www.ontariomastersathletics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Results2.pdf.

Seeing his pictures with both feet raised in air, made me ask - Will I run like that when I am as young as him?

This picture is owned by Doug and has been borrowed from album - https://picasaweb.google.com/112004903915826442493/FaujaSinghInvitational. 

Long live Fauja Singh and Strong live Fauja Singh. A Salute to you.