The 6 hour Cross Trainer Marathon: Well this was my 1st attempt and undoubtedly a really challenging one. There are many reasons why I wanted to attempt this mammoth task. Firstly, Because I had recalled that Marcus(our former GM for FF Bengaluru) had done a 6 hour cross trainer marathon about 2 years back and I found it too motivating. Secondly, having worked out for some many sessions, whether it was a run indoors, run outdoors, any sport, weight training , functional or circuit training, or the GX Classes at FF(which I still swear by), I had personally reached a zone where I wanted to feel more challenged and just wanted to do something I had never done before. Thirdly, with the Mumbai Full Marathon coming up in exactly 2 months, this would just be a good test of my strength, both physical & mental.
Ideally, I would have loved it if a few people had joined me for this challenge, which was going to happen but Sunday happened to be a bandh in Mumbai. Well, Monday I managed to take out 6 hours after all my appointments and meetings. Got ready with all my meals that I needed so that I would not end up losing any muscle from my body and at the same time keep myself energized. Consumed 2.5 protein shakes, 3.5 Banana's, 2 Gatorade's, 3.5 liter's of water at various time intervals.
Had a simple plan in mind, to just focus on doing 12 sets of 30 minutes each, you have to play with your mind or else 6 hours looks like a really uphill task. Music, a few movies that were playing on the screen kept me motivated but the real motivation came from the people I ended up having message chats with while I was cross training. This also just happened to be a blessing, as I usually advise clients to keep their phones in their lockers or else one just ends up being on calls or unnecessary chats which takes the purpose of exercising away. But a new realization dawned on to me, that I could probably be on the phone if I get de-motivated or somehow lose interest. Courtesy to BB, I was just updated an hourly snap of my performance and whomever was messaging I was chatting with him/her, whether it was work related, workout related, though half of them told me I am crazy, but then I convinced them that I wasn't etc etc. After the 1st hour, I thought to myself that "Galat panga le liya hain apne saath". Was just in the zone and as I said, thanks to all those chats, my mind got diverted and my feet kept doing the job.
How can I forget facebook?. That's where Marcus sent his 6 hour Cross Trainer Snap performance which just gave me an idea on what I was heading into and just took my confidence levels to another peak. Hats off to the 48 year old marcus who completed 23.39km's & burnt close to 3600 calories. Just one and only one thought came to my mind, if marcus can do it at 48, I am just 31, then I can do it too. And this update came from him within the 1st hour itself of me starting the CT run. And then Marcus and me chatting on FB along with a few of my friends commenting on the same, it always gives an extra push when u get motivation. That's why I believe in this note that "Motivation is available everywhere, you just need to look out for it".
This CT Run has surely been one of the best challenges I have taken upon myself and crossed the finishing line with flying colors.
It just took 6 hours, started at 1pm, completed it by 7pm, covered 24km's, burnt close to 3900 calories, did about 56000 rotations on the cross trainer, chatted for many minutes, saw movies, the news, chatted with trainers, even took a 2 minute loo break. And to answer one last question which everyone asks me, why do I need to do this?... Well, Its my dream to do an Ironman someday, which is a combination of 3.5km's of swimming, 125 km's of cycling and 42 km's of running, so in comparison, this is just a Big drop from my point of view in the ocean.
Enjoy & Stay fit
Sandeep Sachdev
Ideally, I would have loved it if a few people had joined me for this challenge, which was going to happen but Sunday happened to be a bandh in Mumbai. Well, Monday I managed to take out 6 hours after all my appointments and meetings. Got ready with all my meals that I needed so that I would not end up losing any muscle from my body and at the same time keep myself energized. Consumed 2.5 protein shakes, 3.5 Banana's, 2 Gatorade's, 3.5 liter's of water at various time intervals.
Had a simple plan in mind, to just focus on doing 12 sets of 30 minutes each, you have to play with your mind or else 6 hours looks like a really uphill task. Music, a few movies that were playing on the screen kept me motivated but the real motivation came from the people I ended up having message chats with while I was cross training. This also just happened to be a blessing, as I usually advise clients to keep their phones in their lockers or else one just ends up being on calls or unnecessary chats which takes the purpose of exercising away. But a new realization dawned on to me, that I could probably be on the phone if I get de-motivated or somehow lose interest. Courtesy to BB, I was just updated an hourly snap of my performance and whomever was messaging I was chatting with him/her, whether it was work related, workout related, though half of them told me I am crazy, but then I convinced them that I wasn't etc etc. After the 1st hour, I thought to myself that "Galat panga le liya hain apne saath". Was just in the zone and as I said, thanks to all those chats, my mind got diverted and my feet kept doing the job.
How can I forget facebook?. That's where Marcus sent his 6 hour Cross Trainer Snap performance which just gave me an idea on what I was heading into and just took my confidence levels to another peak. Hats off to the 48 year old marcus who completed 23.39km's & burnt close to 3600 calories. Just one and only one thought came to my mind, if marcus can do it at 48, I am just 31, then I can do it too. And this update came from him within the 1st hour itself of me starting the CT run. And then Marcus and me chatting on FB along with a few of my friends commenting on the same, it always gives an extra push when u get motivation. That's why I believe in this note that "Motivation is available everywhere, you just need to look out for it".
This CT Run has surely been one of the best challenges I have taken upon myself and crossed the finishing line with flying colors.
It just took 6 hours, started at 1pm, completed it by 7pm, covered 24km's, burnt close to 3900 calories, did about 56000 rotations on the cross trainer, chatted for many minutes, saw movies, the news, chatted with trainers, even took a 2 minute loo break. And to answer one last question which everyone asks me, why do I need to do this?... Well, Its my dream to do an Ironman someday, which is a combination of 3.5km's of swimming, 125 km's of cycling and 42 km's of running, so in comparison, this is just a Big drop from my point of view in the ocean.
Enjoy & Stay fit
Sandeep Sachdev
