Malnad Ultra 2018

Completing the 50Km in 7:14:08 at the wonderful, albeit extremely challenging Malnad Ultra course in October 2018  and then (after a quick lunch break)doing another 10Km run/walk with DM was the most satisfying achievement of my running career since qualifying for Boston in Mumbai 2013. The whole experience was made even more memorable by the travel and stay with the BHUKMP gang.  While one had heard rave reviews of the first two editions of the Malnad Ultra running it was not part of 2018 plan - had not contemplated running any race after TMM 2018 before sorting out the injury issue .  Fortunately,  a break from distance running post TMM complimented with focused strength training and  deep stretching sessions (thanks to trainer Sekhar) enabled me to do a  decent 26K run towards the end of May. This triggered off thoughts of running a slow 60K either at the Malnad ultra in October or the stadium run in August. A runversation with Pankaj and the fact that  a large contingent from BHUKMP was running Malnad sealed the decision.  After a couple of 32Ks in June  registered for the 50K  in July with the goal of doing another 10K along the 80K route. 

Training

Inspired by Vishy's brutal high mileage 80Km training plan that he posted on the Whatsapp group created for BHUKMP'ers intending to run the event I researched training plans for 50K ultra and created one of myself. Most plans advocated 5 days of running with weekly mileage of 70K -100K,  My plan was to to do 4 runs per week with back to back runs on Saturday and Sunday and supplement it with 2 days of cycling in the gym and strength training 3-4 days a week.  Started the training in right earnest from mid-July with 23K and 18K runs on 14th and 15th July hitting   weekly mileage of  60Km - highest since training for the 75K at the Bangalore ultra in 2010. It was nice to have Vishy's company for some of the runs in July and August till I moved home to Doddalamara road at the end of August. Excitedly discovered some fabulous running routes (partly trail, mostly road, relatively traffic and pollution free) in the new neighbourhood while running solo and cranking up the weekly mileage in August and September. Weekly mileage (with weekend mileage in brackets)  for the 8 weeks period was: 69 (58), 53(38),75(50),80(55), 72(45), 75(47), 84(60),60(48). This included a 3:35/36K and 4:06/41K and was the most running done by me in a 8 weeks period.  The terrain was quite challenging with fair amount of gradients which was helpful for the race. Bought a trail running shoe from Decathalon sometime in July which I used for the long runs and the race. A disappointment during the training was not being able to run 25K+ at the Hash Soma vineyards run on 19th August. Fell quite hard at Km 2 which resulted in bruised and bleeding skin. Slowed down considerably after that. The terrain was very uneven and decided not to take chances and walked quite a bit. However, overall was as  prepared for the Maland challenge as I could have been.

The trip

Triple and double sharing rooms were booked in Chikmagalur golf club by fellow runner Ranga and two tempo travellers and an innova were organised by Praveen for the travel. Room sharing allocations and assignments to vehicles with routes and pickup times was completed in the days leading up to the race via a frenzy of whatsapp group messages. Packed salt, toilet paper and a poncho apart from the protein bars, nuts etc and went to bed around 1030 on Thursday 11th October and woke up around 4am. Left Doddalamara road at 5:05 am on 12th October and after parking my car in Domlur(Ranka Heights) met with Vishy at Madurai Idly a little after 6am. The TT(led by Rinaz) arrived around 6:15 and we were on our way after a few more pickup stops. Had the usual BHUKMP style breakfast(dosas, idlis, kara bath..) at Sharks court at about 745am. Met several other runners who were heading for the race. Reached the golf club resort at about 12:15. After a sumptious buffet lunch and an adda session relaxed in the room (with roommate Sridharan) for a couple of hours. A bunch of guys went sightseeing including a trek up Mulyanagiri. After an early dinner I went to bed around 845pm.  The accommodation was very comfortable overlooking the pretty golf course. 

(courtesy : Praveen Singh)

Woke up at 1:45am and left the resort at 2:45(unusually for me I had some black tea apart from the usual nuts and Namdhari's dry fruit and nut bites). Reached Ballavara at 3:55am having couple of bananas on the way. The area was pitch dark and there were no volunteers around. For a few minutes several of us first timers felt quite lost. After about fifteen minutes a couple of buses came to life. We all boarded one and were ferried to about 500m of the holding area in Lalbagh. We were there by 5:20am . The weather was quite chilly. Fairly elaborate breakfast of bread, cheese slices, Upma, Kesari , eggs was being served. Had a slice of bread and little bit of Upma. Used the loo multiple times , left my bag in the baggage area and started warming up meeting a number of other runners. 

After the race took the bus back and reached Ballavara where a few other BHUKMP'ers were waiting. We reached the resort around 7:45PM. After a quick shower joined the gang for drinks(had a couple of whiskeys) and dinner. Went to sleep before the 80K runners returned. After a good breakfast spread headed back from the resort at 10:15am on 13th. Stopped at 'Comfort Adyas' enroute for beer and lunch at 1230 and reached Domlur around 5PM and home at 615PM.

The race

We saw off the 80K/110K runners  at 630am. The 50K runners started 30m later at 7. I was in the middle of the pack.  My goal was to maintain average pace of about 7:30 per Km and try and finish between 6.5 and 7 hours.The first 4Kms was mostly road and all downhill descending more than 100m.  Held myself back and ran at an average pace of 6m/Km. From then on it was mostly trail with continuous ups and downs. I did 12Km in 1:26  at 7:12/Km pace. One had to go up a set of steps to the summit around Km 17. For a strange reason at the top I lost my foothold and almost fell. This shook me up a bit. As it was quite hazy did not stop for long at the top to enjoy the views.

With Praveen and Shailaja at The Summit

 Ran quite a bit with Praveen, Sid, Pankaj and Shailaja between 15 and 25Kms. Shailaja of course took off somewhere in between while Praveen, Sid and Pankaj slowed down a bit.Had a bad fall around Km 19 and bruised the skin around my knees as well as right palm (its been a while since I did a trail run without a fall). 

From then on I slowed down considerably. In any case seeing the tough long uphills and downhills I knew that 6:30 was unachievable and I recalibrated my target to 7/7:15. 

In fact after Km 4 I rarely ran a whole Km continually. Had to walk a lot of the uphills and the downhills. The uneven terrain with roots and stones also made it very challenging. Thankfully most of the route was dry - slush would have added another dimension of challenge that we were happy not to have. As it is I hit my left leg middle toe against a stone and also tripped on a root and fell just about managing to put my hand down before hitting the ground. During the run walk between 20 and 40Kms chatted with runners from around the country. Quite surprised to learn about runners doing the 50K  after just one FM finish and in a couple of cases running the 80K without ever having run a FM! No wonder 40% of 50K runners and 23% of the 80K runners did not complete the race.

Around the 41Km mark was the descent to a stupendous lake and from that point on it was mostly a steady climb back to the start point. Run/walked with Nari and Vasu a bit around the 44K mark. From the 46K till the finish did a brisk walk with super ultra runner Dinesh Heda (from Goa) who was doing his 3rd consecutive 110K to finish in just under 7:15. 

Several runners in our group finished strong  - Deepak's 5:05 gave him the fourth position while Kaylea was the 1st woman finisher. Rinaz, Hema, Gurmeet, Vishy, Naresh, Kartik all had good runs. Overall Team BHUKMP did well and ended up 3rd in the group challenge with 17 of the 20 runners who started the race completing it!.

Had a quick lunch of mostly curd rice and went on to complete another 10K run/walk with Deepak going out 5K and back on the 80K route. None of the other runners were motivated enough to come with us.

Overall enjoyed the course and its ambiance though not well prepared for the elevation changes . At times the course did get a bit monotonous. Was disappointed with the aid station in terms of items stocked and execution. There were very few steel tumblers at the aid stations and water/enerzal was being served without them being washed properly. Many a times the volunteers were not ready with the drinks for the approaching runners. Apart from common salt and lemon there was very little in the aid stations - some of them had rice, fruits  and raw peanuts. Not sure I would be motivated to come back and do the race again. While I would like to do ultras regularly and enjoy running trails I don't think I am cut out to handle the uneven terrain and elevation changes. Would need to train better for gradients if I have to attempt a race like this again!!

Specially given the fight with injury on the left side over the previous year or so was very happy to achieve the goal of doing 60K in 2018. And the experience of travel and stay with the BHUKMP gang (my first one) was thoroughly enjoyable!!