FM or HM or DNS ?

 Are the three options that I am grappling with for the Avenue of Giants marathon less than 2 weeks away. Unable to do even the two 30K+ runs that I had planned for  due to the heat and  an ankle injury diagnosed by the ortho as Haglund's deformity it is a real trilemma.  Specially after I had to abandon my 22K run last Saturday at 15Km due to acute heel discomfort. If I do go ahead with FM it willd definitely be a slow one with only goal being to keep it below my slowest ever time of 4:57 though even that could make the ankle worse and jeopardise the rest of the trip.  Half marathon in about 2:15/2:20 should not be a huge challenge - have till Friday 26th April to exercise the option of changing the race category. On the other hand, the easiest option is to use the injury as an excuse  and decide to DNS now itself  and fully enjoy the lead up to the wedding on 27th April. Hope to do a 10-12Km run in the cooler climes of LA on 25th April and then make the call on changing race category. I will then have  a week plus and a couple of more runs to decide on DNS.  

 . 

Evolving training plan for AoG

My first run after the Delhi marathon  was  a 10Km on Friday, 8th March - after almost 2 weeks break  from all excercise except walking and occassional pushups ,squats and stretches . This run and the subsequent 17K run two days later made me realise that recovery from two back to back marathons will take time and training for the Avenue of Giants marathon on 5th May  with any timing goal in mind is unrealistic. The struggle to stay below/around 6:30 Km pace in the last 2 weekend runs of 22K and 28K runs further confirmed this . Though the inital plan was to do two 32K+ runs and a couple of intervals and short tempo runs  in the 5 weeks before travel to the US on 23rd April both the mind and body are not for it.  The bright sunshine and warm morning temperatures of Bangalore summer does not help either. The plan now is to do another run of close to 30K if possible and a 33-35K on 14th April -3 weeks before the race. And enjoy the  wedding revelries and the travel in California planned in the days leading up to the race. Hopefully the new aches and pains (the area above left knee when sitting for over 30m and the right ankle just above the heel) will not impact the training (and the racing) adversely.  The goal is to enjoy the race and try and do better than my two slowest ever times of 4:57 in TMM 2023 and 4:48 in London 2007.   

Delhi marathon race report

 

My 1st experience of the Delhi marathon on 25th Feb was quite good - I hit my goal by finishing in 4:33:14 at an average pace of 6:29 though the first half at 2:11:16 was a minute slower than plan. Was happy to shave 10 minutes off the timing of TMM 24 though given the cool weather and flat course sub 4:30 should have been possible(the ifs and buts invariably kick in after any race!). Nevertheless,  thankful to have completed two back to Back FMs within 5 weeks with just one long run (28.3Km falling short of the 30Km goal) between the two races .

Landed in Delhi around 1:15PM on Sat, 24th Feb with wife A. Took a cab with brother M  to the Airbnb at Jangpura extension and after leaving the bags there reached Gate 1 of JLN stadium for bib pickup. The expo was relatively small and not very crowded and the bib pickup process was very quick. 

After  Bib pickup at Gate#1 JLN stadium

After an early dinner at a Haldirams about 500m from the Airbnb slept by 945. Woke up at 2:15am and got ready by 3:10. Booked Ola cab but the driver was unable to figure his way to the Airbnb. So cancelled it and  walked/jogged to JLN gate 14 with Ashwath Reddy and Manjunath , runners from Bangalore, also staying in the same place. Joined other runners heading there after we went thru the colony gate and crossed the overbridge. Reached at 3:40 and after some warmup and taking a leak walked a fair bit to the start area(from gate 14 to gate 1).  It being about 11c  at start time (going up to 16c by 9am) agonised over whether to wear a full sleeve shirt. Ended up with a regular shirt and checked in the windsheeter at baggage counter which in hindsight was a good decision as the cold was not too bad and the body warmed up fairly quickly.

With Ashwath near the baggage counter

The race got flagged off at 4:18 a couple of minutes after the elite women started. Ran the 1st Km too fast in 5:50 . Shoe laces coming off slowed me quite a bit in the 2nd Km(perhaps it was a message to slow down). Keeping the pace mostly below 6:20 completed the 1st half in  a little over 2:11. Continued at that pace till Km 26 when I hit the tail end of the half marathon runners (who started at 6:15). With the road being narrow and given the number of HM runners occupying it I was forced to slow down and and lost momentum. The pace dropped to between 6:30 and 6:50 with , by now, familiar strain in the right quads rearing its head in Km 35. Unlike in the case of Mumbai decided to continue running through the cramps albeit slowly. Hitting the 10K runners at this point did not help and the last 5Kms were again at 7 mins+ pace. 

Have mixed feelings about the , as flat as can be, route due to their being too many U turns, the road being narrow in several sections for the number of runners and the cadence of the road.  Disliked the  cobblestone section in the first 5Km and the absence of lights in Km 3(mot of the route either had streetlights or lights put up by the organisers).  Of course, running on Kartavya Path was a unique experience - many runners took selfies with India gate in the background. 

The finish area seemed very chaotic with no volunteers to direct one towards medals etc. The breakfast area  with the long Qs , lack of waste seggregation and  overflowing bins seemed quite messy and was  not appealing to me. So except for some kind of daliya did not eat anything else. Feeling bad that A was not allowed inside the gate so went out in a hurry at 9:30am to join her. 

After a few photos outside the gate area we headed back to the Airbnb  undecided whether I would do the race again anytime soon. As my long distance running years maybe numbered and its unlikely I am going to be able to improve my timing significantly,  the risk of  two back to back marathons may not be worthwhile. Anyway it is a long way off and after the 10 days break in Delhi and Uttarakhand need to shift the focus to training for the AoG marathon on 5th May!!

Less then a week for my 1st Delhi Marathon

 

Counting down to my first ever race in Delhi  (only my 2nd race outside of the south and Mumbai after  The Goa River marathon in De  2021) on 25th Feb with more than usual anxiety.   The body has not fully recovered from TMM 24  due to which several of the 10 runs since then did not go to plan and  longest run got restricted. Hoping that the flat course and the good weather(temperature below 20c till about 10an) will help me have a decent run - though the Air quality threatens to be a challenge. If all goes well, the goal is to better the Mumbai timing and finish as close to 4:35 as possible.  For this to be achieved the 1st half needs to be done in 2:10 (at a pace of 6:10) and the 2nd half in  2:24 at a pace of 6:49 keeping the overall pace around 6:30. 

TMM 2024 - A good 1st half, a fall and recovery and another crampy finish

 

That's the summary of the 17th consecutive FM finish at TMM 2024 on 21st January 2024. With a time of 4:43:48   I  just about hit my plan C of 4:45 (Plan A was sub 4:28 and plan B sub 4:35) happy and relieved to have shaved a good 13 mins of my slowest FM finish of 2023. That I managed to do it with a training regime of mostly 2 runs per week , weekly mileage of less than 40-45K and just two runs of 32K (of which one was below par ) gives me hope that slighly higher mileage  and continued focus on strength training I should be able to get close to 4:30 in the next season. 

Took the Saturday morning flight to Mumbai along with Pankaj and a bunch of other runners and headed straight to the expo at the Kalina university campus in a car rented by Pankaj for the day. The expo was super crowded . However, the bib collection process was smooth and took just a couple of minutes. Both while heading to the bib collection counter and then back to the exit , as always, we bumped into a  number of runners from Bangalore and other places . The temptation to stop at any of the stalls , however interesting, was low due to the crowds. The organisers (Procam) really needs to look at a larger space for the Expo . I even skipped collecting my T-shirt because of the long queue at the counter where medium sized ones being given out for male runners. 

About an hour ride from the expo took us to "Suzette" where we joined a bunch of other runners for a lunch of crepes and croquettes post which we walked to the marine drive for a quick photo before dispersing. 

After a nice evening at a second cousin's place near churchgate checked into Hotel Fortune in the dhobi talo area near Metro cinema around 645PM. Surprised at the tiny size of the room (and the bathroom)  all four of us were thankful that we lucked out to all have a room to ourselves.  There would have been zero space to move around, open bags etc with 2 people in a room. After a solo dinner of roti and oily&spicy kadai vegetables at the Punjabi dhaba next door went to sleep a little before 10PM and woke up at 3:35am after a decent sleep. Downed 3 yelakki bananas and some nuts and raisins before a brisk walk to the holding area in Azad maidan at 4:20am. 

The holding area and the corals seemed more crowded than usual. The race started promptly at 5(15 minutes earlier than the last year) . I crossed the start line couple of minutes later starting very cautiously as the path was narrow with metal jutting out  a few inches from  the ground due to the metro consturction work. The 1st Km took 6:45 after which I picked up pace. Nari and I ran together for the new few Kms at between 6:10 and 6:30 pace. Between Km 5 and 10 I held a steady pace of jut under 6:15.  It was quite pleasant at about 21c and the humidity was low by Mumbai standards. Maintaining a fairly steady pace with intermittent practice of zen running technique that I learnt recently I hit the half way mark pretty much as planned in under 2:14. At that time I felt fairly comfortable and confident of running  the second half in around 2:20 for a 4:35 finish. Probably a bit too confident that I lost a bit of focus and my mind wondered about the slight change of route immediately after crossing the sea link. Brought to earth literally with a fall in the 23rd Km. Fortunately this turned out to be yet another of my falls where I was luckly to get away with a few bruises around my right knee and right elbow and I was up and running again in 30 mins. It crossed my mind that maybe it was a signal from above that sooner than later i need to limit myself to runnign HMs. I managed to maintain an average pace below 6:30 till Km 31. However, post that the pace dropped significantly to 6:50 and just as the flyover was approaching the right quads started cramping again. So much so that from Km 36 I walked quite a bit at every Km. I decided not to push through the pain keeping in mind that I was anyway not going to achieve 4:35, I would fairly comfortably beat the 4:57 of 2023 and the Delhi marathon in 5 weeks.  At this point the 4:40 bus passed me and I could not muster the energy to keep pace with it. 

So when Partha clicked me at Km 41(the 1st photo) I was really really struggling. So just ambled across the finish line relieved tp have completed another FM at Mumbai. After collecting the medal and refreshments , walked back the hotel, had a shower and checked out around 12.  Heard that several of the slow FM finishers did not get any water, refreshments or their medal which is ridiculous and unacceptable for the country's largest race which aspires to be recognised as the best race in Asia. 

Vishy, his son Sanat and I took a cab to churchgate to eat at Samrat. Ended up eating mexican food at Relish next door to it. Post lunch visited a relative in Govandi and then travellled by metro to a friend's place in Borivili. After dinner with a bunch of ex-colleagues at a pan asian restaurant in a mall went to sleep around 1130. Left for the airport on Monday mornign after dhokla breakfast to catch a 9:20 flight.  Reached home a little after 2 thanks to stupidly waiting for a 227 at the mysore road satellite bus station. 

Audacious goal of 3 FMs in 5m

 

TMM , the first of the three marathons that I have boldly signed up for this year , is just ten days away. Despite not being able to do a 35K(that I usually do before a marathon) in training I am looking forward  to running the full at Mumbai for the 17th year in a row.  The longest run I have done since TMM 2023 is the 33K on 16th Dec which went quite well(6:28/Km). However  had to abandon the 35K run on 30th Dec at the 31st Km due to severe cramps in the right quads. In general, the quads have been the main problem this training cycle - they seem to fatigue after the 25th Km specially when going up even the slightest of gradients. As alluded to  in the previous post  I was training with the goal of a sub 4:28 finish.  That looks highly unlikely now. In any case, my thinking now is to push hard in the flat course of  Delhi Marathon on 25th of February to get as close to 4:30 as possible and take TMM as a long training run to complete under 4:45.  Should be able to do the first half in between 2:12 and 2:15 and then look at keeping the second half to below 2:30. Regardless, I should be able finish under last year's time of 4:57 as I am definitely in a better shape strength wise and (lack of) injury wise. 

I am going to be putting my aging and injury prone body under real test with the third marathon at the  Avenue of Giants marathon on 5th May. Given the track record of 1-2 marathons the last 5 years it is an audacious goal.  Without a stringent time target the goal is to avoid a DNF or crawling across the finish line which I think is achievable - keeping fingers crossed!!!

40 days to TMM 2024

Started training in earnest for TMM 2024 post the Bangalore half marathon on 8th October. The training consisted of 2 runs and 2 cycling work outs along with 3-4 strength sessions per week. Loosely based on the 'Run Less Run Faster' program with alternate weeks of  interval and  tempo runs and a long run (>= 20Km) every weekend limited the total weekly run volume to 30 to 40Km. The training has been ok - with some good weeks and some terrible runs. Most of the runs till about 24K have been reasonably on target. Beyond that it has been a struggle more often than not. Surprisingly the two 25K runs that I did before the Bangalore marathon were at a faster pace than what I am able to sustain for that distance now. As a result I skipped the 30K+ run of Nov. 

Following are the long runs(25K+)  this year  - probably the lowest number in any season since 2003. 

27/08/23        27.11      2:54:07    6:25/Km

10/09/23        31.13     3:18:34     6:23/Km

14/10/23        26:08    2:54:02      6:31/Km

29/10/23        32:11    3:40:10      6:51/km

12/11/23        30:11     3:11:25      6:21/km

 The next two long  runs are key -  a 32Km  in a couple of days on 17th Dec and then a 34-35K run on 30th or 31st Dec . If all goes extremely well, I am hoping to comlete the FM in 4:28 at a pace of 6:20/Km. The worst case is 4:45 at a pace of 6:45/km . It would be real disappointing if  it takes more than the slowest ever FM finish of 4:57 in 2023 and would expedite the end of my FM running days!

Kaveri Trail Marathon 2023

 Ran the fabulous Kaveri Trail in Srirangapatnam for the 7th time (including the informal half in 2021) on 19th November 2023 . Enjoyed the experience comfortably completing the half in 2:12:02 without pushing too hard. After a 5m break , managed to clock an additional (albeit slow)  4K on the road going  to Ranganathittu bird sancturary and back to the state highway a couple of times.  The other years I have run here are :

18/11/2007   HM (1st edition - timing which was done manually must have been around 2:15)

19/10/2008   4:42:19 

18/9/2010     4:32:04  (went on to run/walk 58K in 6:57 as training for 75K at  Bangalore Ultra 

20/9/2015    1:53:33 (finished 1st in senior category) 

27/11/2016   1:56

20/11/2021 (unofficial)  2:48 (was just too slushy to run )

19/11/2023   2:12:02

Left home a little after 1 , after an early lunch, on Sat 18th November and parked the car at Medley . Rode in G's car from there. Caught the Mysore expressway at the flyover at about 2PM and reached Young Island resort by 3:35. After collecting the bibs being distributed in the lawn area checked into the room a little after 4. 

After tea/cofee and oil drenched veg bajji at the restaurant we walked to the stream running through the property where we bumped into A1. Another round of tea/coffee, close up of the moon and sighting of Jupiter's moons (thanks to G's tripod mounted telescopic lense) and a half an hour break in the room -  we were back in the restaurant by 730 for an early dinner with great company of veteran runners (phulka, Dal, Jeera Alu, dal kichdi, raita) .

Slept by 9:45 and woke up to the alarm at 4:45 after a fairly good sleep though I could sense onset of a throat infection . Left Young Island at 5:40 and after parking the car(1.5-2 Km)  drive reached the start point around 6.  There were probably 600+ HM and FM runners. 

All runners started at 6:15 . I started slowly - my 1st Km at 6:34 was the slowest and except for Km 5 all others were between 5: 8 and 6:20. Ran quite a bit with Y - an ultra runner from Medley and BHUKMP runner A. Had a better rhythm than at the Bangalore HM in early Oct and the quads also did not get as stressed. as always the 2nd half was warmer and more humid compared to the 1st one. Ran the last 5Km fairly strong to finish in about 2:12 - 94th out of 536 finishers.  Very few runners went back for the 2nd loop to run a FM . Given the challenging weather and the uneven albeit flat course I wondered how I ran an ultra for training here several years ago, 

The 4 of us from Medley went back to Young Island and had breakfast around 10 where I interacted with a bunch of other runners. 

Started driving back at around 11:15 and got home around 1 after a good weekend. 

Bangalore Half marathon 2023

Ran my 15th half marathon race on Sunday, 8th October at Bangalore - my 3rd time at the Bangalore event after 2014 and 2015. Overall it was a great experience - good weather, well oraganised , start and finish in the stadium, with about 10 Kms inside Cubbon park and a fairly flat course. The icing was spending time with my brothers , C and M, before and after the race in addition to  meeting lots of other running friends. 

C and I checked into Woodlands hotel around 4:45 and M(and D) joined around 5:30. After tea/coffee snacks we walked across to the race entry gates in  Kanteerva stadium to get a feel for the distance. Came back, had early dinner at the hotel and got back to the room by 8:45 and slept by 9:15.

Woke up at 4:15 and got ready by 5:10 - ate a banana, some raisins and almonds. Left the hotel at 5:15 and at the tracks inside the stadium via zone B by 5:25. 

Bumped into Amrita and T Ashok and many many other runners in the start area.  Got bumped to Zone A and started running less than a minute after start of the race. 

Despite there being close to 5000 runners it was not that congested in the 1st Km stretch from inside the stadium into cubbon park via Kasturba road towards corp circle. Averaged under 5:45 /Km the first 5K. 10K was done in just under an hour. Realised very early that I had not not hydrated sufficiently before the race and needed to stop at an aid station in the first half itself. Upto about 16K I was on track for around 2:05. However, the pace dropped fair bit in the last 5K specially  with another  aid station stop at 18K . I did not realise that one had to make a U turn before entering back into Kanteerva and though I pushed hard the last few hundred metres the event clock showed 8:08 when I crossed the finish line. 

The chip time was 2:07:21 ranking me 13th in the age group and overall 830 out of 48xx finishers. 

As always it was great mingling with fellow runners after the finish . Did a bit of stretching while waiting for M and C to finish. We had breakfast together and walked back to the hotel for a shower and lunch. Got home around 2:30 post lunch. 

Look back at HM races

 

On the eve of the HM in Bangalore on 8th OCtober  I collated the half marathon races I have run over the last 20 years  and realised I had done many more than I realsied  including 4 below sub 1:50 and 3 below sub 2 hrs. 

1. SCMM                                                         Feb 2004    2:19:40
2. SCMM                                                         Jan  2005    2:11:32
3. Bangalore Midnight marathon                13 Dec 2009    1:46:03
4. Bangalore Midnight marathon              12  Dec  2010    1:52:xx
5. Celebration Mysore Half                           9 Oct 2011    1:43:33
6. Auroville marathon                                  19 Feb 2012   2:15
7. Auroville marathon                                       Feb 2013   1:42:xx
8. 1st Bangalore marathon                            19 Oct 2014   2:30 pacer
9. KTM                                                         20 Sept 2015  1:53:3
10. 2nd Bangalore marathon                           18  Oct 2015  2:15 pacer
11. The Wipro Chennai marathon                    31 Jan 2016   2:15 pacer
12. KTM                                                          27 Nov 2016  1:55:xx
13. Auroville                                                   19 Feb  2017   1:46:28
14. Celebration Mysore Half                           22 Sept 2019  1:50:46
15.  Bangalore Halh marathon                          8 Oct 2023     2:07:21
16. Kaveri Trail Marathon                               19 Nov 2023  2:12:02

Though I did a solo sub 2 ,in training ,in August 2021 , I have been struggling to go below 2:05 this year. Given how the training has gone for the last few weeks,  I would be happy with a time below 2:10 and as close to 2:05 as possible. 

(though I wrote this on 7th Oct I formatted and published it on 14th Oct and updated it in Feb 2024 to include the two HM races of 2023) 

Checkboxed another TMM

Happy to have crossed the finish line at TMM 2023  on 15th January 2023 to keep the Mumbai streak going(16 and running now). I managed to do that in  just under 4:57 (goal C) - taking about 9 minutes more than  my previous slowest ever in London 2007 (goal B) and 15 minutes off my slowest  Mumbai in 2006 (goal A). In general my marathon times have steadily gone downhill since the last sub 4 in TMM 2019 .However given the new cycle of injury woes since the beginning of 2022 , the dreadful start to this running season and the subsequent visits to Dr G and the Orthi which created doubt and apprehension in my ability to complete the FM at Mumbai (making me ,for a brief moment , even contemplate downgrading to a HM) I am extremely happy and grateful for another FM finish.  From this low point the only way can be up - With less running and greater focus on strength training for the next few months, I am hoping to getting over the current issue of neural clodication (without a surgery ) and  to be able run better FM times for some years to come!!

As always my better half has been very supportive bearing the brunt of my rants during the training cycle and my visits to the physio, Ortho etc. A surprise video call (orchastrated by my children and youngest sibling) , by all siblings and their chilrdren , to wish me luck on the eve of my travel to Mumbai, made me as determined as ever to avoid my 3rd DNF (FM Dec 2002 and Ultra 2015) . 

A huge shoutout to  SS and PR for running with me from start to finish and motivating me to keep going through my aches and pains and cramps. To run at a much slower pace than one's capability is as(if not more ) difficult than running at a faster than usual pace. The enthusiasm and cheer with which they ran with me was amazing. Nari joined us and  provided wonderful company from the sealink (about Km 16) onward.  In a great demonstration of the comaraderie ,which distance  runners generally share, the 4 of us ran the last 300m together!! 

Like the last 2 times (2019 and 2020) I took the morning morning flight to Mumbai though instead of driving and parking my car there I took the cab. As usual met tons of runners at the airport- the flight got delayed by over an hour.  The expo (at the new location of Kalina University , Santa Cruz campus) was madly crowded on Saturday afternoon. So one did not pause to look at any of the stalls. The bib collection process was very smooth - took just 5 mins. 

After a quick bite in the food court of the expo we took a cab to Hotel Adarsh Baug in Kalbadevi road. The approach to the hotel  located in an extremely congested area elicited some doubt about the safety and quality of the hotel - this turned out to be quite unfounded. The room was decent and the staff courteous. After a vada pav, chai and brief rest we walked to gate 3A of Azad maidan via  Kyani cafe and Metro theatre and then took a cab to the Crystal Eastern emporium , a well known veg dhaba, in Girgaon area near Wilson college. Post a nice dinner and some kulfi close by we were back in the room a little past 9. 

Slept by 9:45 and woke up at 3:45 after a decent sleep. Left the hotel at 4:35 and entered Azad maidan thru gate 3A(about 1.5Km/20 mins walk). Met SS and PR at the baggage counter - for the first time I decided to  run with my phone and did not checkin any bag. The weather was pleasant but not too cold. 

from the no of runners milling about in the holding area it seemed like there were more number of runners for the FM than in the previous years(from the timing results data it looks like over 7200 runners finished) . We crossed  the start line via coral B (which seemed very crowded) at 5:24 (9m after the race started) . With Satish moderating to esnure we did not start too fast we ran the first 10K in about 67mins. Taking advantage of running with the phone we(SS and PR) took some pictures on the sealink as the sun was rising. 

Reached the half way point in just under 2:20 at a pace of 6:38/Km feeling reasonably ok. After about 25K the discomfort in the left glutes started and the pace started to drop. The left sole was anyway not feeling great and as has been the case in recent long runs there was little power generation/lift rom the left leg.  It became much tougher both physically and mentally after 31K when my right quads cramped. This is another issue to address as I had been drinking water and also taking gels regularly thanks to SS and PR. The weather was also very pleasant with very little humidity - probably the best it has been on race day. Post 33K I ended up resorting to run/walk and realised that sub 4:48 was not going to be feasible. Took a few more photos in the marine drive stretch including a selfie of the 4 of us. 

Managed to dig deep and mostly run the last Km or so after the Marine drive turn off. Quickly collected the medal and refreshment bag and slowly walked back to the hotel. Fortunately the hotel did not insist on its strict checkout by 10/10:30am. After a quick shower had lunch with  at Nanumal Bhoj in fort area with  nunch of runner and then visited a cousin in Kandivili. Stayed the night at an exTUL colleague's place in Borivili(another first as I have always returned  to Bangalore Sunday night post the run) . He co-ordinated a lovely evening with a bunch of other ex-colleagues. Returned to Bangalore by Monday mornign flight reachinh home in time for a late lunch after a loong bys ride.