Challenge of Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2013 beckons

The Airtel Hyderabad Marathon is arguably the most challenging road marathon in the country. With three flyovers at the 9th,13th and 24rth Km respectively , rolling hills specially in the Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills areas and a gentle uphill between 38th and 41st Km the route is testing both physically and mentally. 

I have run the Hyderabad marathon twice before and both times my experience has been very good  in terms of race organisation and experience and my race timing. Though tough on the legs the rolling hills has helped me do well there. The route this year and last year is fairly similar to the route of the earlier years with some small modifications. Being organised by Hyderabad Runners , one of the largest and most vibrant running communities in the country, the event is very very runner friendly. As the first of my 12 marathons in 12 months in  I thoroughly enjoyed the first edition of the run in August 2008. I had to miss the run in August 2009 after registering for it due to sickness - the only DNS of my running career so far. The event did not happen in 2010. In its new incarnation as Airtel Hyderabad marathon in 2011 the event was much bigger and established itself as one of the 'must do' road marathons in India. Though hit by severe cramps around the 34Km mark I managed a PB in that race. Being away from  India I gave the  2012 edition  a miss; as  this report from a good friend and ace runner testifies  it was once again very well organised and a resounding success! So without a thought I registered for Airtel Hyderabad marathon 2013 on the day registrations opened - had already  booked my travel even earlier when airlines were offering discounts in February 2013!

Race goal and pacing strategy

I have trained for 10 weeks using the 'Run Less, Run Faster' program of FIRST for a target goal of 3:35. While the training has gone off well I am aware that this is very ambitious considering the challenging course and that my all time PB is 3:37:20 in SCMM 2013 and my PB in Hyderabad is a good 17 minutes slower!. I will start the race with this goal and tune it depending on how it goes.How the legs hold up to the hills and the temperature, winds and rain(if any) will influence my race strategy. I hope to at least beat my PB failing which my next goal would be to keep my time sub 3:40. 

My pacing strategy for a FM has generally been 30-50-20 ie about 5-10 secs per Km faster than target goal for the first 30% distance ie upto 12 kms or so, close to target pace for the next 50% distance ie up to 34Km and then push as hard as possible for the remaining 20% distance. My target pace being 5:05/Km the intent is to hit 34Km between 2:50 and 2:53. I intend to follow the same strategy in this race expecting to lose about 15-20 secs /km in the flyover/uphill stretches and hoping to gain the same in the downhills. 

So the following are my interim timing targets:

10Km  49mins (4:55 mins/Km pace) - this would be towards the end of the 1st flyover

21Km  1:45     (5mins/Km pace)

34Km   2:50 to 2:53 (between 5 and 5:05/Km pace)

Though this will be my 38th race of FM or longer distance(including the 6 unofficial RFL runs in 2008-09) it has been the usual nervy period of ten days leading up to the race. Now with  less than 2 days to go, I am looking forward to the first FM of the season - hoping to enjoy the experience and catching up with runner friends from around the country!!

Marathon training post injury lay-off

Injury is a bane of all experienced/regular runners - having to stay away from something that one is passionate about due to injury of all things is a dreadful phase for a runner to go through. But injuries are a fact of life for runners. There are various statistics floating around about running injuries. One popular one is that 70% of runners will get injured in a given year. Of course this is too vague as both the definition of runner and injury can vary. Another way of looking at it is that in most cases there may not be a strict line between being injured or not. The closest a runner(specially one doing Half marathon and longer distances regularly) maybe to being 'injury-free' is when he/she is able to run freely without pain and even then the runner maybe balancing several weaknesses,imbalances, scar tissues etc.

Fortunately I have  not to be laid of weeks together due to a running related injury since I did my 2nd Full marathon in 2005. Though I have had breaks from running due tom sickness, travel and even just to give my legs and body some rest. However the 2013-14 running season started with injury woes.. While training for TCS 10K 2013 using the 'Run Less, Run Faster' training program from FIRST I got hit with pain in my left calf/ankle   and I had to consult a sports physio and adjust my goal for the race. A week before the race my right calf got hurt so bad that  I had to abandon my medium pace  training run after 2 Km or so and almost decided to skip the TCS 10K. However, I ended up running the race and while trying to push for around 45 minutes time I tore  a muscle in my right calf. Based on the Physio's advice I took 3 weeks completely off from running- doing light cycling, rowing and stretching to keep myself fit. After the TCS 10K race on 19th of May my next run was a slow 10K as part of the Mother Earth run on 9th June!!

Getting back to training after an injury layoff is quite tricky.One should pick up the pace and distance very gradually however much there is temptation to do otherwise due to the eagerness to catch up on lost training time. If the stressing demands of running are introduced at a rate and volume that the body is not ready for—especially after time off after an injury—it makes recovery difficult and makes the body vulnerable to new injuries due to compromised form. The key for a successful return is allowing the soft tissues to have the chance to adapt. More in this article in Competitor - a great online resource for running. As another article in the same site states:

A  running plan post an injury should be formed strategically based on  the following five factors:

1. 1. The severity of the injury—a stress fracture or injury that required surgery differs vastly from tendonitis.
2. 2. How long one was  sidelined from running.
3. 3. One's  fitness level prior to getting injured.
4. 4. How many years of experience one  have as a runner.
5. 5. Whether one  could cross-train during the  layoff.

Here's another nice perspective - this one from RunnesConnect on how to get back to training after injury,sickness or missing training.

In my  case after some nice easy runs during the week of 10th June to build mileage I started my training for Airtel Hyderabad marathon 2013 with 6 x 800m intervals at Kanteerva stadium on 19th June jumping into week 10 of the 16 weeks 'Run Less, Run Faster' training program. I did not push myself during the intervals which I was doing after a break of over 2 months. The 33Km slow run up and down Nandi hills on June 23rd was the longest run since SCMM in January 2013. Though exhausted at the end of the run there was no pain in either calf - so my injury seemed to have fully healed.

The next 8 weeks of training went off quite well. Was able to do most of the workouts - skipped a couple of tempo runs and a couple of cycling workouts due to travel. Most of the running workouts went well specially the long runs. Also managed to get in two 33Km runs and one 36Km run. And work out for about 15 minutes on the foam roller and do about 45 minutes of stretching at least once a day while not travelling. This was complimented by strength training - rowing, leg press, calf press, leg raises, squats, lunges, step ups 2 days a week.  My weight varied in the range 118 lbs to 123 lbs and body fat dipped just under 10% for the first time ever. Except during the tapering fortnight , when I am going through the usual jitters, doubts, aches and pains, overall I feel well trained , fitter than ever before and ready for my first marathon of the season!! .