Running in New Places - My India Running Adventures

I have been fortunate this year to have some exciting travel opportunities for work. As I wrote in my past post (here) such travel can be disruptive to my training (oh yeah, of course to family life as well, but this blog is all about my adventures so I'm leaving that aside, at least for now). 

On my  morning run - Jal Mahal, Jaipur, India 

My goal has been and still is to not let my travel schedule interrupt with my training. In fact, I feel that I need to run, bike and yes probably even swim to be able to stay focused and in good mood especially while traveling. Those of you who do a lot of work travel know that when traveling we tend to spend long hours in meetings or other work commitments and usually don't really get the opportunity to actually see more than just the meeting room. This is exactly the reason why I view my workouts when traveling for work as an opportunity to explore and discover new places. It's a little brake in the long days of meetings and being stuck in some office somewhere in the world.

First morning in Delhi brisk walk with work colleague

When I got the news that I need to go to India in March for work I got excited. I have never been to India and this was a great opportunity to visit this great country. I was hoping that I will get a chance to see some of the country in addition to just working. I was also a little worried about training. March is the beginning of the season and I just started to work with a new coach with some big goals for summer mountain biking races. 10 days off the bike seemed too long especially when I was just starting to build my fitness after a long fall and winter of not doing much. In an email to my new coach I said "well needless to say no cycling during my trip, but I will do my best to figure out running while in India". I wasn't sure about running outdoors or at all to be honest. Other than "we fly into Delhi" I knew very little on where we will be during our visit to India (it was supposed to be a surprise). Playing by ear and training do not go hand in hand most of the time, but hey, I love adventures and live by #DoEpicShit so this trip will be just that.

Stairs intervals :-)

I sure did need to be creative some of the days on this trip.

The email we got a few days before the trip provided the schedule for the first day. Since most of us arrived on Saturday night, Sunday started with an early morning jog/walk in a near by park. Yes, we arrived very late (after midnight) and the meeting time was at 6:30 am, but I could not pass on the opportunity of some exploring and the email did say jogging. Score!

I reported to the lobby right on time fully dressed to go for a run/jog. My work colleagues, who are not runners or more accurately do sport of any kind (well at least most of them), showed up wearing jeans. OK then, walk it is ... It was a great way to start my trip - walking in a historic park. I did manage to be creative and get in a few running intervals by running up and down some steep stairs and jumping on some rocks (yes, like a 5 year old).

After a half day of sightseeing in Delhi we headed to our second stop on the trip in Neemrana, India.

After a few hours on a bus we arrived to a magnificent 700 years old fort/palace now converted into hotel that was build on the side of a mountain.

Neemrana Fort-Palace Hotel my running play ground for 3 days

We arrived at sunset and from the reception area of the hotel a magnificent view of the near by village and endless gravel trails appeared. Super excited I say out load "it's a running paradise" just to be shut down by a colleague that is originally from India "please stay within the hotel, it is not really safe to run outside". I'm crazy but I do listen to advice about safety.

Endless trails for running (?)

Back to the 80s

So back to plan B or so I thought. Plan B was the hotel gym. I assumed such a big hotel would have one for sure and I was right, but ...

I set my alarm for early and headed out before sunrise to find the gym.

up and down steep stairs

I see a sign leading to the gym, happily I head in the direction of the sign. Finally after a long walk up and down stairs,long and narrow ally ways I have arrived to the gym. I turn the light on and it's like I stepped into the 80s (at best). Back to the Future 2016 edition.

Disappointed I needed to call on my creativity and come up with Plan C. As I said I committed to not let my travel interrupt my training and my training plan called for a run, so I will run. Run where? well, this hotel is big enough with lots of stairs, ally ways, ups and downs as I mentioned before. So I made it work. For 50 min (the duration of my run), I did my interval run running allover the hotel. My calves were so sore after that it was painful to walk for a few days after. This Chicago girl is not used to running stairs or hills. No excuses, if there's a will there's a way. My Training Peaks will be green today :-)

One of my colleagues, Tom, that is an avid runner and who did not hear the warning about running outside (but he is also a big tall dude so that warning probably did not apply to him in the same way it did to me) did go out for a run out that day and was planning on it again the following day. Me, I decided to air on the safe side and was ready for more of the same stair/hills torture. 5 min into my run I saw Tom heading out of the hotel for his run and decided to be brave enough to join him. 

Second day venturing out on the trails escorted by a 6'3" Irish dude         

It was super fun to run below the hotel on the trails and see (and smell) the real India. It did feel safe but I am guessing only because I was with Tom.

The third stop on the agenda was Jaipur. Our hotel was right by a lake (lake Man Sagar) with a promenade to it side. It is a large city and I felt more safe to venture out of the hotel for a morning run. The next day I woke up early and headed out right in time to catch the sunrise and it was worth the early wake up.  

On my morning run - Sunrise over Man Sagar Lake, Jaipur, India

I decided to stay on the promenade with the hotel mostly at sight, just to be on the safe side. At 6:30 am there were a lot of people out and about already (also camels, elephants, cows and dogs in the middle of the street - crazy!). After a few ups and downs of the promenade and once I got used to the stares by the locals, I ventured out a little to a side road to discover this amazing sight of an old building.

Running outside felt good and safe. the people were super nice. Yes, I was stared at, after all I do look and dress differently, but mostly people were friendly and just said hi.

The next day again escorted by Tom, my personal "body guard", we ventured a little further this time discovering some new places and pieces of India's history. Running around lake Man Sagar, we got to a dead end in the road with a gate that was half open. We did see some people on the other side of the gate and decided to proceed. We did not regret our decision. We discovered the below structure, which I think is part of a big wall (not sure as I couldn't really find any information about it).  

Morning run in Jaipur area

Of course the highlight for me was spotting monkeys on the wall. That was so cool.

The Jal Mahal from the other side of the lake.

The one thing I learned about India that it is always hot. Coming from Chicago in March where the temps were barely 40F to running in 90F and humid air was hard adjustment to the body. I had to carry water with me even on short runs. I did have to run slower as my body was not acclimated yet, but the scenery and the experience of discovering all those new places that I wouldn't have seen had I not been out there running were totally worth the sweat and heat.

Sadly, my time in India came to an end but through running I did get to see more than my other colleagues did and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to not only visit India but to be able to discover some new places.  

Thanks for reading!