SKFGRM 2021 - enjoyable experience despite missed goal

 

Crossing the finish line - PC MC

The weekend Goa trip was a memorable and enjoyable experience despite missing my 4:10 goal by a good margin. The race organisation was good with well spaced and stocked aid stations, friendly volunteers, Km markers , 100% traffic control. The route was , for the most part, good , except for a few rough/uneven patches here and there along the 10.5Km road. With 2 out and back loops one was never alone for long - sighting either other FM runners or the HM or 10K runners. One thing missing was a clock at the start/finish point to show the elapsed gun time. 

Right from the beginning of the race I was unable to maintain the desired pace. Though slightly better than the overall goal pace of 5:55/Km I did not get the momentum to do a sub 1:58 or even sub 2:00 first half. Till about 26K my average pace was around 5:53 with most Kms being lower except Km3 and 4 of the gradient. However, while coming down the downhill in loop 2 the left hamstring and ITB started hurting and after Km 28 the pace slowed down considerably. Most of the last 14Kms was slower than 6:15 pace with a few of them, during which I walked the gradients, being slower than 7:15 min pace. Both my legs started hurting after Km 35.  While less than ideal training was partly to blame (and maybe the 15 hrs train journey), my body and legs could not handle the heat, humidity and the rolling hills.   While running the rolling hills in the 1st loop it became clear to me that average pace of 5:55 and hence sub 4:10 was not going to happen. I was hoping to keep it below 4:20 but gave up on that around Km 33 and decided to do just enough to finish sub 4:30. And managed to cross the finish line in 4:27:43 with my Garmin showing 42.6K!! While disappointed at missing my target,  considering in October 2020 I could barely run a few kms without ankle pain and was apprehensive about running a marathon ever again, I am happy and satisfied  that I could complete my second FM of the year (the first one being the solo self supported one in May). Definitely a race worth considering though not a PB course for most runners. 

The train journey from Yeshwanthpur to Vasco was comfortable - the train reached a few minutes early . A fellow runner AR and I sat in the waiting room at the station for about an hour and then had a cuppa at a cafe just outside the station. After leaving our luggage at our respective hotels we walked in search of the starting/bib distribution location. After going a bit of course we got there by 9:15 after having another cuppa at a roadside joint. 

Had misal pav breakfast next to the Chicalim village panchayat hall ground 

We collected the bib, met the ultra runner and founder of GRM Dinesh Heda and went back to the hotels to check-in. 

Lunch was a veg thali with the group. In the evening we visited Japanese garden and beach at Marmugao port - the sunset there was enjoyable. After an early dinner at Jai Hind next to the station we dispersed to our respective rooms. 

Outside the restaurant post lunch

Shared my room with Prashanth who had come all the way from Bhuvaneshwar to run his first ever half marathon and who needed accommodation . Woke up at 2:45 after the usual restless sleep. Consumed two bananas, some dates and almonds . Left the room a little after 3:30 to catch the bus opposite the hotel. Reached the holding area by 3:45. Checked in the bag a little after 4 and warmed up a bit. The race started a minute or so after 4:30 with about 150+ runners out of the 211 who had registered. (As per the timing results there were 159 finishers). 

Stretched a bit after completing the run, had some items from the breakfast box and hung around for SS (who was walking the last few kms due to blisters under both feet) .Took the 10am bus back to the hotel. Post a  liquid and snack lunch at  Eater's Den  took a cab to meet D at Panjim. Returned back by about 630. Had dinner with SK before taking the train at 10:30PM. Was back home by 1:45 on 13th after an overall pleasant and memorable weekend with fellow runners. Now inspired to do this more often and am seriously considering registering for NEBS AFLI Delhi marathon on 27th Feb. Will decide by mid Jan or so.

Lead up to Goa River Marathon 2021

 Training for the Goa River Marathon on 12th Dec 2021 has not been ideal.  I started the training a couple of weeks after the half marathon on 14th August from 6th September at week 15 (with the weeks counting down)of the 16 weeks RLRF plan . Soon thereafter, the training got disrupted in weeks 13 and 12 as I had to relocate to a relative's place in OMR for periods during those weeks due to personal reasons. Thankfully I had managed to get in my first 32K run of the plan on 19th September. However, due to this I had to re-arrange my next 32K run which was due on 2nd/3rd Oct as per plan. Further disruptions were caused in November due to rains and also travel to Trichi from 13th to 18th. This caused the 24K run of week 5 to be split into a 10K and 16K run. Fortunately, the intervals and tempo runs have been going mostly to plan - the 1K,2K,1K,1K interval of week 6 was one among a few exceptions. Was planning to do a 35K trail run at 6mins/Km pace at the unofficial KTM on 20th November as the last long run 3 weeks prior to the race. However, due to the rains in the previous weeks including the night before the trail was just too slushy. Within 500m of starting it became very apparent that  I would unable to maintain anywhere close to the goal pace and decided to take it very easy and ran/walked in the extremely slushy trail to my slowest ever HM (2hr 48mins). Overall it was a good experience spending time with fellow runners and seeing the trail after several years - the last time I ran here was the 10th anniversary event in 2016.   During this period the weight has also been varying between 55.5K and 57.5K- for an optimal run I would like it to be as close to 55K as possible. This maybe a challenge though with the birthday get together/camping this weekend and holiday in Agumbe next weekend.

My last long run (33K - 35K) before the race is now planned for  Sat, 27th November at about 6 min/Km pace. The 800m x 8 intervals and the 8K tempo at mid-tempo pace have both gone very well this week. If the long run also goes well then I can get on the train to Goa on 10th afternoon reasonably confident of hitting the goal of 4:10!!  

Update on 29th Nov: Struggled and completed 33K on 27th November in 3:40 - about 15 min slower than goal. Just was not able to get into a rhythm . Plus on top of variable weight and inconsistent training runs my Tom Tom GPS watch died suddenly a few weeks ago.  Not being used to running at a certain pace by effort I have been using the old workhorse Garmin 310XT albeit without a strap. Holding it in the hand specially during long runs has been a pain.  In spite of these issues I am hoping to keep below 4:30 and close to 4:10 on 12th Dec  possibly with a 2 hr first hal- assuming things go well on race day. 

Training for the Goa River Marathon on 12th Dec 2021

 After a decent solo Half marathon on 14th August  when I learnt that a group of BHUKMP runners is planning to run the Goa River Marathon(12th Dec) I signed up for a FM in the race without much hesitation. There being no update on TMM (even as of today) this provided a goal event to focus the training and try and improve the timing from the solo FM of May. Started the formal training in early September with a version of the RLRF plan with a goal of a sub 4:10 marathon at a pace of 5:55/Km. I  replaced alternate interval runs with some hill workouts till week 9. Also not doing the cross training cycling work outs as prescribed in the plan. Instead I cycle 25-30Km outdoors  1-2 times per week  at avg speed of 16-17Km/hr and cycle indoor for 45-60m once a week at similar speed. 

Toyed with the idea of switching to a 9 or 10 days training cycle (more about this in a future post) to get more recovery days . However moved back to the 7 days cycle due to interruption in my training between 21st Sept and early Oct due to a personal situation. With a decent 32K run followed by another 30K and some 200m hill repeats and a 10K tempo run at 5:30 pace in week 9 of training things looks reasonably on track right now. While the right ankle feels stressed (and continues to be weaker than the left ankle) at the end of a hard interval or tempo or a long run workout thankfully the extended pain and swelling seems to have pretty much(hopefully) disappeared. Plan to pretty much stick to the plan now for the 3 runs with 3 32K+s remaining. Will convert the last of them on Nov 21st to a 35K run. Need to decide whether I should do that in my usual route or join the group running in KTM on that day. Will decide in early November.

Stretching limits

Did the highest ever mileage of running and cycling combined during the 7 days between 14th and 20th August - clocked a little over 63K over 4 runs and about 128K of cycling over 2 rides. Have done 60K+ run weeks during training for the Bangalore ultra  - the last of which I ran in 2016. My typical weekly run mileage is between 35 and 50K and cycling between 50 and 80K. The only time I have cycled over 100K is in 2010  soon after buying the cycle - I clocked 133Kms in a ride to Nandi Hills from Domlur.  Was apprehensive about 90K cycle ride the day after running a fastish HM. Surprisingly I  managed the ride reasonably well - albeit with a 1.5hr break after 42Km for breakfast. Felt as tired as I normally do after running a full marathon. The ride to Hesarghatta was part of a meet and greet ride of Relief Riders - 50+ riders from different parts of the city congregated there between 830 and 930am. I left home just before 6 and joined Dr Pawan Kumar at Gopalan mall signal. We were then joined by 3 other riders (Vasanth, Sajal, Rakshith) at Nexus show room on the ring road and Karthik at Dr Raj Kumar samadhi enroute.  The first 10 and last 15 Kms of the ride were very enjoyable. In between there were patches with quite heavy traffic even while going. Not being used to riding in traffic I found these stretches a bit taxing and slowed down quite a bit. Nevertheless, thoroughly enjoyed the company and the overall experience. The best stretch of the ride was the 5Kms inside Hesarghatta- the green fields on both sides , smooth ride, zero pollution and minimal traffic resulted in a fabulous experience! I extended the ride by about 10K while returning to take the total to close to 100Km.

Summary of the week:

Saturday 14th   Run  21.12     1:55:22

Sunday   15th   Ride   98        8 hrs with 90 minutes break

Monday   16th  Rest   

Tuesday  17th   Run   11.05    1:06:10

Wed         18th   Run    10.11  1:00:33

Thur        19th    Ride   30.36  1:35

Fri            20th   Run    21.2    2:05:59

The week has given me the confidence that my body can handle long rides and high mileage running provided I do it slowly. Hope to continue to do this at least once a year!!

 

Better than goal Half Marathon on August 14th !

Started doing tempo runs in early July to improve pace towards the goal of a sub 2hr HM in mid August and  added a weekly interval run few weeks later. Consequently, very happy that I was able to comfortably beat my goal and complete a solo HM , as part of the NEBS independence day virtual run, in 1:55:22. This made me the 3rd fastest finisher in the 56-65Y age category!! I managed to maintain a steady pace of around 5:25/Km (between 5:20 and 5:30 ) throughout though it was a real challenge to sustain this in the last 4-5 Kms.  The outliers were Km 1 with 5:40 and Km 10 at 5:13. Had a banana about 20 mins before start and managed the run without any fuel or hydration  - thanks to the moderate partly cloudy Bangalore weather . This now gives me the confidence to train over the next few months for a sub 4:05 Full marathon towards the year end or early next year.

Upping pace is the focus for the next 3 months

Having regained self confidence after a few 30K+ runs  between November 2020 and May 2021, including a solo full marathon, the plan now is to focus on increasing the pace . Of course need to be careful and do this  slowly and steadily without going overboard. A 53 mins 10K on 16th July , fastest in over 18 months, gave me the confidence to plan for targeting a sub 4:10 full marathon pace  in the next few months. This will be an interim step to get back to a sub 3:55 FM. 

 As of now no physical marathon events are scheduled this year in India(in person racing has resumed in the US with  Marine Corps marathon, Chicago marathon and Boston marathon scheduled in the fall). The course of the pandemic and vaccination drive over the next few months will probably determine if physical FMs will happen in India in 2021.  Regardless, I am planning to get ready for one towards the end of the year say November . The immediate goal is for a sub 2 hr half marathon in August(possibly in the independence day virtual run on 15th). Post that I plan to work on a 10 weeks sub 4:10 marathon training plan. 

To help build pace,  tempo and fartlek/interval runs are necessary in addition to long runs. Though I have resumed tempo runs in July,  am wary of fartlek/intervals as they significantly increase the chances of injury. Will relook at this post the half marathon in August. Another consideration post the HM  is whether to switch to a 9 or 10 days training cycle which may give more time for recovery from workouts thereby reducing chance of injury. 

With focused and diligent training and supported by fabulous Bangalore weather I hope to be in a much better shape at year end than I was at the beginning!!

Boston : an impossible dream?

The announcement that the cut-off time for the 2021 Boston marathon, to be held in Oct 2021, was 7:37 made me realise that running Boston again may now be a fading dream .  The qualifying times are already quite tough (3:50 for my age group) - bettering it by nearly 8 minutes seems an impossibility at least for now. Given my current FM time of about 4:30 even getting to sub 4 hrs is going to take time. I should probably plan on qualifying in the next age group where the BQ time is 4:05. However, by 2023, when the qualifying window will open, it is very likely that the qualifying times are likely to be more stringent . The trend has been for it to get stricter every few years due to the growing number of aspirant runners and he fixed field size. The cut off times have also varied - below 2 minutes in 2012-2014 and 2020, between 2 and 5 minutes in 2016-2019 and now above 7 minutes in 2021! The spike in 2021 cut-off time can probably be attributed to the reduction in field size from 30K to 20K runners and the pent up increase in demand due to the 2020 race being cancelled. Hopefully from 2022 onwards the cut-off will go back to below 5 minutes. For now I am thankful that I was able to get in and run the 2014 race and will focus on progressively going sub 4 hrs and staying there at least till early 2023!!

Self-supported, solo, slow marathon

A year ago, between March and May 2020,  I was completely off exercise for a couple of months and again took a couple of weeks break in September 2020.  I resumed running short distances at very slow of 7 min Km in September end and slowly built up the distance between October 2020 and April 2021 doing a 30Km+ run every month starting Dec 2020. The goal was to run TMM 2021 at least virtually if not in person. All along I was apprehensive whether my legs would last the distance of the full marathon and how slow I may need to run in order to complete it.  When TMM 2021 ,which was  rescheduled from Feb 28th to May 30th , got postponed indefinitely  I decided to anyway  go ahead and run a solo FM before the end of May. Happy and satisfied that I managed to complete one in 4:44:42 on Saturday, 22nd May - my 53rd run of 42.2Kms or longer. Though one of my slowest FM finishes it was a great feeling to run the distance after a gap of 16 months  - the longest break between 2 marathons since my first in Jan 2003(Beating the 14 months gap between my 1st and the 2nd FM ). My goal was to run the first half in about 2:10 and the second half between 2:20 and 2:45 giving a best case time of under 4:30 or in the worst case stay sub 5 hrs. Though I possibly could have done it 5 minutes faster glad to have landed exactly in the middle of my goal range!! Also happy that from a peak of 59Kgs the weight is now down to around 56Kgs.

Had the usual anxieties in the  the lead up to the run even though it was not a real event. One big factor was to carve out the optimal route with minimal traffic and optimal gradients. The other was the weather. It rained quite a bit on the evening/night of Thursday and Friday and it looked like I might need to push my run to Sunday instead of Saturday. However, late Friday evening it stopped raining and I decided to go ahead. Overnight, I also pretty much decided on my run route.

Woke up at about 4:40 and left home at 5:25 or so. Parked the car in the area betweeen Ramohalli market and Balaji Srinivas temple and started running at 5:37am or so. After a couple of loops on Doddalamara road took my first fuel break after 23Km in about 2:20 at an average pace of 6:07/Km. For the 2nd and 3rd loops I stayed off the main road. It became progressively warmer and challenging to keep pace. By the time I ended the second loop covering a total of 37Km I was at the 4 hr mark and my average pace had dropped to about 6:30 per Km. The last 5Km was a real struggle with the  fastest Km being 7:15 and the 38th Km(when I walked a bit) being 8:10 pace. Overall I ended up doing 42.5Km in an elapsed time of just under 4:45 (include 6 minutes of inactive time for the two fueling breaks) at an average pace of 6:37.

After completing the run 

Though I have run quite a few unofficial marathons in 2008-09 as part of 12 marathons in 12 months this is the first ever solo run of this distance. The previous longest solo(non event) run was about 40K way back in 2002 when I was training for my first ever marathon. 

I thought this was my slowest ever full marathon. However, later realised that following are my FM times slower than 4:40 in descending order:

22/04/2007       Flora London marathon                4:47:56

30/04/2006       New Jersey marathon                    4:47:03

22/05/2021       Solo Ramohalli run                       4:44:42

19/05/2007      Bangalore midnight marathon       4:44:36

28/06/2009      RFL Bellandur run                         4:43

15/01/2006      SCMM                                           4:42:28

19/10/2008      Kaveri Trail Marathon                   4:42:19

Still, nothing to complain about. As barring injuries I should be able to, over a period of time, get the FM time to around 4hrs. Only after I get there can I start thinking about a potential BQ again - even thinking about that right now sounds like castles in the air!!

TMM 2021 rescheduled again

With the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic ripping through the country it was no surprise that TMM 2021 will NOT happen on 30th May 2021 as had been announced couple of months ago. After the first edition in 2004(then call SCMM due to SCB  being the title sponsor), all subsequent years the event has been held on the 3rd Sunday of January. Therefore  this year the race should have happened on 17th January which ,ofcourse, was not feasible. Procam announced the May 30th date for the event in late Feb after the first wave of the pandemic was subdued.  It will probably be another 2-3 months before a new date is announced for TMM 21. Personally, I think it is likely that the 2021 edition won't happen and the next TMM will (hopefully) be in Jan 2022.

This leaves me with a dilemma. Should I further prolong the already longest ever gap between running two full marathons till  I can run TMM21 or some other FM race? Or should I run a self supported FM on my own? Since running my second FM in April 2004 I have run more than a marathon or an ultra marathon every year between 2005 and 2018(except 2015). Since Malnad ultra in Oct 2018 I have been able to run only 2 FMs - TMM in January 2019 and January 2020.  After restarting  running in November 2018, post recovering from peroneal tendonitis in the right ankle, I have managed to do a 30K+ run every month since Dec 2020 as training for TMM. Depending on how it goes over the next few weeks(the pandemic and the second vaccination shot) I hope to run a 4:30-4:45 FM on 16th or 23rd May.

Getting back into the groove albeit slowly

There is no update on TMM 2021 after the announcement that it is scheduled for 30th May - whether there will be a physical event for limited number amateur runners and if so the criteria for the same is not known. Taking the rescheduling of TMM 2021  from Feb end to May end as a godsend I am focused on gradually getting into shape to run a marathon. 

Glad to be making decent progress towards that with consistent running  and cycling mileage of about 40-50Km each  and 3 strength training sessions per week with personal trainer Sfor the last 8-10 weeks. Am now able to clock few sub 6m Kms specially in the shorter week day runs. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can take it to below 5:45/Km pace  - I do not intend to push beyond that for now. The right ankle seems to be holding up OK though there is still occassional  discomfort and swelling.  The weight while continuing to yo-yo is slowly moving downwards. Hope to continue on this trajectory over the next 8 weeks with 3 more 30K+ runs before TMM -  in the March end, 3rd week of April and mid May timeframes.  

 

Iconic TMM is scheduled for 30th May, 2021

 The Tata Mumbai Marathon (formerly Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon) , by far the largest road race in India, has been held on the 3rd sunday of January since 2005(the 1st edition in 2004  was held in February). Of course races around the world have got disrupted in the last 12m and so has TMM. The 2021 edition , that should have taken place on 17th January, has now been scheduled for the 30th of May as per the press release of the organsiers Procam International made on 9th Feb 2021. While the Mumbai weather is likely to be warm and humid at the end of May personally this gives me more time to train and try and run a decent marathon. It is not yet clear how many amateur runners , if at all, will be allowed to run in Mumbai itself. Whether in Mumbai or virtually in Bangalore I am looking forward to the event.  And breaking my haitus of running a marathon. Since 2005 this is the first time there will be a gap of 16m between two marathons!

On the training front the preneal tendonitis seems to be easing off with perceptebly less swelling and pain around the ankle area during the run. I am now able to pick up the pace in shorter runs managing a couple of 60m 10Ks in January. The 33K run in January also went better than the one in December. The goal is to sustain a weekly running and cycling mileage of 40-50K for the next 3m with at least one run of 32K+ and a cycle ride of 2.5hrs every month. The pace of the long runs is still at least 1m/Km slower than my usual pace. For now I am not looking at increasing this pace. Want to run the FM in May, take it easy in June and then maybe work towards increasing intensity assuming the ankle injury does not recur and one stays otherwise injury free! 

Another forgettable year !

From the time  I took to long distance running in the early 2000s,  the year  2019 (  and the 2019-2020 season) was by far the worst year running wise except for 2003-04 when I had knee issues after completing my first Full marathon. After the nadir of  2019 one thought things could only better from there.  As it turned out 2021 was a complete disaster.  I hit a personal low in terms of  running mileage clocked  (approximately 1200), no of cardio workout days(185) , no. of runs over 25Km(just one apart from TMM 2020) , period of no exercise(6 weeks from mid March to early May) and duration without runniong (10 weeks from mid March to early June). And a record weight gain of 4Kgs to top it. 

Of course, 2020 was a terrible, forgettable year globally affecting millions of people through displacement, job losses, sickness and death of dear and near ones. In those terms I have certainly been among the privileged and must count my blessings - no one except R has lost his job among my family and friends and except for the  change in lifestle due to WFH, lack of travel and socialising the pandemic has'nt adversely impacted most people I know pesonally. Outside of running 2020 has actually been good for me - R's wedding in Feb followed by a wonderful holiday in Gujarat were the highs before the pandemic struck in India. Working full time for Mentor Together enabled me to fullfill my goal of working at a NGO and provided an enriching and satisfying albeit very hectic experience. 

Getting back to the running  - the perenneal tendonitis that hit me in November 2019 (due to which I had the 2nd DNS of my running career by skipping the Spice Coast marathon) continued to trouble me throughout 2020. The 6 weeks following TMM in Janaury were anyway lowkey in terms of running due to the wedding and the holiday. As I started picking up the training in the last week of Feb the swelling and pain around the right ankle grew. Physio sessions at IMSMTC (which in my personal opinion were useless and ineffective) got disrupted by the lockdown. Post the easing of the same I consulted Dr. P at Sparsh. When the paid and swelling did not reduce despite the hip and ankle mobilisation/strengthening exercises I consulted Dr HK of Ossicare. Based on the MRI that revealed fluid accumulation around the pereneal tendon he prescribed some medication and ultrasound physiotherapy and complete rest from running or any impactful exercise for 3 weeks. Though the pain and swelling subsided by about 60/70% it did not go away. The Dr suggested surgery as an option. However I decided to give it time instead. After the break in the second half of September I restarted running with much lower intensity : distances shorter than 10K at 30% slower than usual pace. Over a 8 weeks period I gradually increased the distance while keeping the pace between 6:20 and 7 per Km(compared to 5:20 and 6 before this injury). Was delighted to end the year with a 30K/3:30 hr run though the last 5 Kms was quite a struggle. 

With no phyiscal running events being held post Feb and several weeks of lockdown imposed restrictions, 2020 was not a bad year to recuperate from injury.  With the continued uncertainty of the dates and format of physical races in 2021, the focus is to build on the current momentum to run a sub 5:15 FM in TMM 2021 (tentatively scheduled for late Feb)- which is probably likely to be a virtual race.  The other goals for the year, at this point in time, are to build strength, reduce weight below 56Kgs and run a sub 4hr marathon in the Oct/Nov time frame.