50K PB at the 7th Bangalore Ultra

A fastish first half ,a fall between km 29 and km 30, a PB time of 4:52:22, a 2nd place finish in the senior category (and fifth overall) sums up my 7th consecutive 50Km+ finish at the Bangalore Ultra on 9th November 2013. Though I felt that I could perhaps have managed a  sub 4:45 finish if I had not  lost time due to the fall around 29Km ,overall I was very satisfied with the outcome and the experience. In a way it was probably a blessing in disguise that the fall forced me to slow down as I was running at a faster pace than I had planned to. Having done my regular interval and tempo workouts as per my 'Run Less,Run Faster' based FIRST training program pushing harder on a 50Km run could potentially have increased the risk of injury and fatigue and disrupted the rest of my training for SCMM 2014. The good thing was the bruises due to the fall were minor and my recovery was quite fast. Most of the soreness was gone within 36 hours after the run and I was even able to climb up and down staircases quite comfortably. It usually takes me 3 days before I am able to do that. As a precaution I skipped the scheduled  interval training workout of the week following the race. However, I was able to do a 10K tempo run and 21K long run at the targeted paces fairly easily. 

Waking up at 3:35 after about 4.5 hours of sleep I had 2 small bananas and some walnuts and salted pecans before leaving home at 4:20 am.  As in 2012 I left Domlur around 4:35 am  - with Shilpi Sahu and Shilpa Deo riding in my car(I ended up waking up Naveen who was also supposed to come with us and had overslept. He nevertheless made it to the race start on time !). We waited at the ORR/Hennur road junction for a fellow runner Rajesh Swaminathan's car to join us. Following the well laid out RFL banner directions from the point of right turn from Hennur road we reached the start point at Kingston county just after 530am. After warming up, checking in a bag and using the port-a-loo I was at the starting line by 545am. As usual met up and chatted with a number of familiar runners from around the country while warming up - it was quite a nippy morning.  Post the  customary announcements regarding the race, route, aid stations etc by A1 and A2 the 50K run was flagged off ,on the dot, at 6am, by Rev. Samuel Reddy - a 11 times finisher of the gruelling Comrades marathon.

I started  at about 5:20/Km pace and was joined by Pani around the 2nd Km. We ran the 1st half of the race pretty much together. As a result  I ran faster than planned - completing the 1st 25Km in about 2:12 at an average pace of 5:17/Km versus a goal of 2:20 or so. I had the (Powerbar) energy bar in two installments : at about 18Km and then 27Km. After picking up some water at the aid station at Km 27 I was chatting about my race strategy while running along with a fellow runner bicycling the trail when I tripped on a stone and fell down quite hard. In the process  I scraped both my knees and  my left palm(lesson: never take your eyes of the route specially on a trail where stones, roots and generally uneven terrain is part of the course).Getting up after a couple of minutes I slowly continued my run with blood streaming down both my knees. At the next aid station I washed my knees and hands and with the help of Jaggi sprayed relispray in all the bruised areas. Though I felt much better after a few minutes I decided not to push myself and continued at between 5:30 and 6:45/Km pace. I stopped at every aid station to have water,enerzol and some salted peanuts. I also took a couple of short walk breaks in the 2nd lap. I sensed that I would comfortably better my Ultra 2012 timing of 5:07:31 and if I remained steady do a sub 5. I managed that easily with 6:01 and 5:49 in Kms 49 and 50 finishing 2nd in the senior category behind Pani!

Though it became quite warm towards the end of the 2nd loop it was not very hot. In fact my hands and finger tips were cold till the end of the 1st lap. Another unusual thing about this run was I stopped for a loo break 3 times - in the past it has been once for sure and sometimes twice in the ultra. 

A number of friends did their best times and/or longest distances - though the number of true ultra runners is still much smaller than the non-ultra distance runners in this event the Bangalore Ultra has certainly helped a number of runners achieve distances much beyond their imagination a few years ago!!

I left Kingston county at about 12 after lunch and got back home by 1PM.

The video of the event shot by Runners for Life is available here.

PS. This race report is very late - I started it about 2 weeks ago but could not complete it due to travel over consecutive weekends. 

Less than a week to the 7th Bangalore Ultra

Looking forward to completing  my 7th consecutive year of 50Km or longer run at the Bangalore Ultra on Saturday 9th November 2013. SCMM in Mumbai ,the 10K in Bangalore and the Bangalore Ultra are three events that I have run every edition.  The first five editions of Bangalore Ultra were held in a trail at Hesarghatta . In 2012 the race moved to a new route in the bamboo forest off Hennur road. The first edition in 2007 was an out and back loop of 6.5Km  each way- so runners ran multiples of 13Km. The ultra runners ran 4 loops to do 52Km. In subsequent years at Hesarghatta the route was standardised to an out and back loop of 6.25Km each way so that participants ran multiples of 12Km. And then from 2012 the new route at Hesarghatta is 12.5Km out and back for a loop of 25Km. 

As in the past I do not plan to race at the ultra. That is, I plan to run at a moderate pace without pushing myself too much. The intent is to reduce chances of injury and conserve energy for the two important races of the season , that is, SCMM on January 19th  2014 and the Boston marathon on April 21st 2014. Depending on how it goes in first half of the race my goal would be to do better than the time of 5:07:31 in 2012 - in any case keep it below 5:25; My 50Km timings over the years has been  5:50 in 2008, 5:22:29 in 2009 and 5:24:17 in 2011.

My strategy will be run at an average pace of under 5:30/Km to complete the 1st 25Km in under 2:30 and then pace myself comfortably to try and finish in around 5 hours. Followed the same last year and did the first 25Km in 2:19:19; however slowed down considerably in the second half . This was due to the lingering fatigue from my first sub 3:40 race at Mohawk Hudson River marathon on 7th  October 2012 just 5 weeks before the ultra. This year the gap between my last FM at Hyderabad and the Ultra is much more (11 weeks) so I hope to achieve a timing of just under 5 hours.

The 50Km at the Ultra  will replace the 2nd of the five 32Km long runs that are part of my 16 weeks 'Run Less,Run Faster'  training program from FIRST for SCMM on 19th January 2014 -  I anyway convert one of the five  32Km  runs (usually the last one)  into a longer one of 36Km

6th Bangalore Ultra : 50K/5:07:31..a great trail, great company..a PB

That pretty much sums up my 50Km run at the 6th Bangalore Ultra on 10th November.  And this was as per my plan. The first half took 2:19:19 at a little over 5:30 per Km. The second half was much slower taking 2:48 at 6:29 per Km.   Enjoyed the new  wider, flatter trail at Hennur road and certainly the 25Km loop was helpful though it meant seeing other runners less frequently. Complete results are available here.I finished 4rth in the senior category and 11th overall. While in 2011 with a timing of 5:24:11 I finished 3rd overall. Shows the quality of the runners in this year's ultra and also the improvement that runners are making over years. 

Ravi Venkatesam and I left Domlur at 430am and reached the venue around 5:20am. After the turn into Hennur road from the ORR there were RFL signs and soon after we were part of a convoy of cars heading to the Ultra. It felt a few degrees cooler as we got off the car and walked to the holding area.  the holding area was well spread out and was buzzing with runners checking in their bags, stretching, catching up with fellow runners. I met Tanvir Kazmi of runinfinity fame targeting a 24 hour run. And several friends from Bangalore : Sunil, Jugy, Vasu, Venky etc.

After brief words from A1 and A2 the race started exactly at 6am. There must have been about 150 runners for the 50Km category. Hari Menon and I decided to run together as he was also targeting a finish between 4:45 and 5 hours.  After the first Km of broken road from the holding area the rest of the route was mud trail mainly through bamboo and eucalyptus forests.  It was great running with Hari and learning more about his running and cycling experiences. I was surprised to learn that he had never run beyond 31Km. However, he had a very strong HM at KTM this year. After about 6Kms into the trail we started to see runners from the longer distances who had started an hour earlier returning back. Between the 10Km and 12 Km mark(BTW - there were no Km markers on the trail which was disappointing and not expected of RFL) my shoe laces came off twice. At this time Hari Menon took off and I could not keep up with him. I decided to run at my own pace - did 12.5Km in 1:08:39. Soon after the turn around point Vasu and Pankaj Rai caught up with me and from then on for quite sometime the three of us ran together.  They are fantastic company and we talked about various topics. After the 35K mark Vasu slowed down while Pankaj pulled a little ahead of me. At the 37.5K turnaround I spent a couple of minutes helping Praveen with the sumo wrestler stretch to help assuage the stress in his groin muscles. Towards the end I caught up with Pankaj and we sprinted the last 200m and crossed the finished line together. Of course, Pankaj finished the race 7 minutes faster than I did as he had started his race late. 

Hari finished his first Ultra(including a first FM distance run) in an incredible 4:23:28 and was awarded second position in the men;s open category. As a result I was awarded the 2nd runner up in the senior category though I actually finished 4rth! Many runners did incredible timings in the 50Km  including Madhu from Egypt who ran her first ultra in 4:35:44. Also many runners including Ravi venkatesam did their 1st ever ultra.

The food was much much better compared to previous ultras as well as KTMs. We left from the venue around 1:45 and reached home a little after 3PM after another wonderful race experience!!

Less than 48 hours to the 6th Bangalore Ultra

With under 2 days to go for the 6th edition of the Bangalore Ultra  the buzz is building up among the running community not just in Bangalore but across the country. The Bangalore Ultra is India's 1st and largest Ultra marathon. The event has grown in leaps and bounds since the first edition in 2007 with not only more number of participants each year but also newer categories as well as other innovations from Runners For Life. After 5 years of the race being at Hesarghatta , this year the venue has moved to the bamboo forest off Hennur road which is something for all the ultra runners to look forward. to. There have been a couple of RFL runs at the Hennur road forest route including one in April 2009 when I did the 9th of my 12 marathons in 12 months. The new route for the ultra seems to be flatter and less uneven apart from being a 25Km loop (12.5Km out and 12.5Km back) instead of 12.5Km loop. From a logistics and organisation perspective it will be challenging for Runners For Life - as there will be no support of a resort. Port-a-potties, changing rooms, large holding area, food, waste management etc will need to be taken care of. With the experience of over 5 years in organising high quality running events behind them I expect RFL to do well and meet the runners expectations. 24 hours run and splitting the event between 2 days are the other changes that have been brought in this year.

Since my last marathon - Mohawhk Hudson River marathon on 7th October - I have been in a dilemma as to whether or not to participate in the ultra this year. Had I met my timing goal of 3:38 the decision would have been easy. However, since I am now targeting this time for the SCMM in January 2013 the advice from my coach Bill Pierce as well as running coach Dharam is to skip the ultra and focus on training for the Mumbai marathon. While my head also says I should focus on training for the Mumbai marathon and not run the 50K I decided to go with my heart. Having been involved as a core team member for the 1st edition of the event and having run 50Km or more every year since then I am keen on continuing the streak as long as I possibly can. I am verye xcited about the new route off  Hennur road and am glad that I decided to register for the race. Hopefully this will not have an adverse impact on my training for SCMM and more importantly on the race itself. Well one will have to hope for the best.

Though I am in a shape to run the 50Km in about 4:45 or so  this year, I am going to try and take it easy and not push myself in order to conserve energies for the next race. My best time for 50Km  was 5:22:24 in 2009. I should be able to beat this time comfortably. By what margin depends on how the race goes. My strategy  will be to do the 1st loop of 25Km in  about  2:18 at an average of 5:30 per Km and try and do the second half in 2:30 at an average of 6 minutes per Km to try and finish around 5 hours. A lot will also depend on the weather on race day - if it rains then this new route is going to be very slushy slowing me down. Very warm weather will also take a toll on the pace in the 2nd half. My main goal with the Bangalore Ultra  is not the target time but as always to enjoy the route, race ambiance and the tremendous comradarie of fellow runners doing 50Km or more -  I understand that nearly 50 runners are doing either 75Kms or 100Kms or the 24 hours category!!

5th Bangalore Ultra

As mentioned in my previous post I thoroughly enjoyed the 5th edition of Bangalore Ultra finishing 3rd in the open category in 5:24:17 well behind stalwart runners Athreya and Honda-San. The run went as per plan -I completed the first 25K in 2:24:24 and the second 25K in just under 3 hours. I missed my PB by a couple of minutes - though this is not that relevant as at the Ultra I usually do not push myself and also take longer breaks at the aid stations and chat up with fellow runners. Also, the new route was tougher with several turns and a long stretch that was specially gruelling  and quite brutal with stones and roots strewn across. I was lucky not to hurt myself though I tripped a few times in the 3rd and 4rth loops.

Though several runners did  not like this route I thought it was quite a good change from the route of last few years. It was harder on the legs for sure and a few runners did hurt themselves. But that's all part of the challenge.

We(myself , Ravi,Rajesh and Satish) left Domlur just before 430am and reached ONV by about 535am despite getting lost a bit on Tumkur road. There were quite a few cars parked already and we had a fairly long walk to the start area. By the time I got changed into my shoes, used the restroom and deposited my bag at the baggage counter it was under 10 minutes for the race to start. A1 and A2 were on the podium talking to the runners. As usual met a number of runners from across the country including Tanvir from Delhi and Bhasker Desai from Mumbai. It was great to have Madhu - the 'originator'/'founder' of Bangalore Ultra flag-off the 50Km event. Kudos to Madhu for bringing the Ultra to Bangalore!! The 50Km  run was flagged off at 6am sharp. Right after the first 100m or so the route was different from the past runs. It was quite cold at the start of the race - the sun came out later and it became quite warm.  Sampat and I ran most of the 1st loop together.  As usual it was a 6.25Km out and back loop.  I crossed   Sundar Purush, a 75K runner, completing his 1st loop. Sundar a runner from Chennai lapped me in my 4rth loop on the way to completing his 75K in a an incredible time of 8:23 - amazing time specially for such a tough course. As daylight broke I noticed quite a few familiar 75K and 100K runners  - over 30 runners were running these distances!!

The trail was quite narrow in parts - towards the end of my 1st loop and again in the middle of the 2nd loop I bumped into the slower 12.5K/25K runners. I had to slow down considerably to squeeze my way through.

After about 34Km towards the end of the 3rd loop my left glutes and calf started hurting and my pace started dropping quite a bit. The last lap was quite slow taking almost 1:37 at an average pace of nearly 7.5 minutes per Km.  The cheering announcer and crowds at the turn around point was an encouragement to keep going.

I managed to come 3rd in the 50K open category because many of the better runners(Sid, Bhasker Desai..) did shorter distances.  After the race I hung around with friends  before having a wash and lunch. The food was once again below par. We left ONV around 1PM and reached back home around 230PM after another 'Ultra experience'!! I realised that I was one of the few runners who has run 50K+ distance each of the 5 years. The two others I could think of are Athreya and Jacob - the winner of this year's 100K!!

5th ultra experience beckons!

It has been a  poor  3  weeks running wise. I managed a 35Km  on 22nd Oct and a 30Km on 29th Oct -the only 30Km+ runs since Hyderabad marathon on 28th August.  However my left glutes and left calf were stressed  at the end of both these long runs though I did not run either of them too fast. Therefore I went through(albeit briefly)  the thought process of whether or not to run in this year's Ultra and if so whether to downgrade to below 50Km. I made up mind pretty quickly to take a chance and do 50Km thereby trying to keep the streak of an Ultra run for the 5th consecutive year.

After collecting my bib today and now with less than 36 hours to go before the event I am less nervous than I have been in the past before an event. This is probably because I have decided not to worry about a time target for the race. I anyway have never run the ultra with aggressive time goal - for me the Ultra is a race to enjoy the route and the comraderie and energy of other runners and have a good time.(It is not , in my personal experience, easy to run a very hard race and also have a good time though of course the joy of beating the time target makes up for it at the end!). In the last 4 editions of the event I have run 52Km, 50Km, 50Km and 75Km respectively and have ended up finishing in the top 3 in my age category. In 2008 I completed the 50K in 5:50 and in 2009  I managed it in 5:22:24. Therefore there is some implicit peer pressure towards timing and a podium finish. However, that is not going to be my primary focus. My priority is to enjoy the race,finish strong and ensure the strain in the left glutes and left calf  does not get worse so that I can start training for Mumbai 2012 in right earnest a week after the ultra. Having said that ,if all goes well, I do hope to finish between 5hrs 15 minutes and 5hrs 30minutes. I am intending to do the 1st 25Km in about 2:25 at an average pace of 5:45 minutes per Km and then depending on how I feel at that time take it from there.I am not sure what impact the route change is going to have on the pace. In any case I am looking forward to enjoying another ultra experience!!

It is amazing how the event has grown over the last 5 years. With over 200 runners running 50K+ and an incredible 30+ runners doing  the 75K and 25+ doing 100K  the Bangalore Ultra  is on its way to becoming a true ultra event. Personally I hope within the next 3 years there will more  than 50% 50K+ runners in the event !!

Inspired to run Comrades and other ultras

So far my experience of ultra running is limited to the three 50Km runs at the Bangalore ultra. After reading about the stupendous accomplishments and experiences of Indian runners at Comrades Marathon 2010 I am inspired to run  a few ultra marathons around the world.  To start with , I have added the Comrades Marathon  ,considered arguably the greatest ultramarathon in the world with the tag line of 'the ultimate human race', to my longterm running goals. The first Comrades Marathon took place on 24th May 1921 starting outside the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg with 34 runners. It has continued since then every year with the exception of the war years 1941-1945, with the direction alternating each year between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the so called up & down runs.  Now it attracts thousands of runners from around the world. Here is some amazing statistics from the event in 2010 which as the 85th edition.

Entries: 23568
Entrants who met the qualifying criteria: 17627
Starters: 16480
Finishers: 14343

The Comrades has a qualifying criteria which includes completing a full marathon within 5 hours. Apart from the distance of 89Km an additional challenge is to complete the race within a time limit of 12 hours and also reach interim milestone points within specified time limits failing which runners are taken off the course. Keeping in mind my goal of running Boston marathon in April 2014 I would probably look at doing the Comrades in May 2012.

While the Comrades marathon is one of the best known ultra marathons, there are hundreds of other ultra marathons held in Asia, Europe and Americas. Other very well known and extremely challenging ultras are the Western State endurance run and Badwater ultra.  Closer home a popular ultra is the Addidas Sundown marathon which is a 84Km night race held in Singapore. And another spectacular race is The Himalayan 100 mile stage race. Also Globalracers is now organising some interesting and challengin multi-day endurance event sin India.

More on Bangalore Ultra 2009..

Had a pretty nervous and restless week leading up to the Ultra on 15th November 2009 - sensing a few aches and pains and a mild sore throat. The gloomy weather also added to the lethargy. However, the weather became a bit better toward the end of the week and the excitement of participating in the 3rd Bangalore Ultra became palpable as I interacted with a number of fellow runners while collecting the running bib on 14th afternoon.

As has now become the norm for any long run I woke up on 15th November a few minutes before my alarm rang. Partha and Sridharan reached the Domlur signal as planned at 4:20 after picking up Rohit from Diamond district. Due to the discussions we were having while driving and the construction work happening in the area we missed the right turn to Hesaraghatta and had to drive up 3-4 Kms before we could make a U-turn and return. We were fortunate that we decided on Saturday evening to advance our departure time by 15-20 minutes - else we may not have reached the venue on time. We managed to get there barely  20  minutes before the start time. The direction banners with the ultra logo enroute were quite helpful .  We crossed a few runners runnign with torches - these runners had started their race at 5am. The energy and the comraderie at the holding area was amazing - lots of familiar runners and many new ones too!

The race started bang on time at 6am after a few announcements from A1, A2 and Atul of Runners For Life. I started at a moderate pace - my goal was to do the first 25K(2 loops) in about 2 and a half hours and then do the remaining 25K in as close to 3 hours as possible. It was perfect weather for distance running and stayed that way through out the day - partly cloudy, breezy at times and intermittent ligt drizzle - what more can one ask for of the weather gods? The route is 6.25K out and back - the number of loops varies depending on the distance one is running. This provides a great opportunity to see and cheer other runners multiple times during the run - a unique characteristic of the Bangalore Ultra.    At about the 2Km mark I sighted Honda San  and other 100K/75K runners on their way back. And what an incredible race Honda had - completing 100Km in 10:23 in what seemed to many of us effortlessly.

I completed the first loop in under 1:15 and the second one in just about 2:30. In the second loop I ate my energy bar.  I ran a bit with Saptagirish and also with Rohit. I  met Amit from Delhi runners and Masao Nakayama who had come over from Singapore to run the Ultra. A stretch of the route in the forest route was wet due to overnight rain and one had to be careful. Also, once the 25K and 12.5K runners hit the trail the route was cramped for space in sections. Though it was great to see so many runners coming all the way to run these different distances and it is great for promoting running and also for RFL's business, opening up the 12.5K distance at the ultra is a subject of debate and diasgreement among distance runners.  I started to slow down a bit in the third round as my stomache was hurting. Nevertheless, I pushed on the cheering from other runners helping me quite a lot. Unlike the last two Ultras I was more focused on timing this time and did not stop for too long at any of the aid stations - which were as usual well stocked. However, apart from the 3 bananas before the start and the energy bar during the run I did not eat anything else. I mostly drank only water - only in  the 4rth loop I had some electral. By the time I started my 4rth round I was quite confident of comfortably bettering my previous year's time of 5:50. And felt that the target of  sub 5:30 was achievable.  I managed to push my tiring legs and wavering mind to finish in 5:22:29 - 2nd in the senior men's and 7th overall. I had to immediately dash off to the loo - as A1 said when I crossed him towards finishing the 4rth loop- a price well worth paying for sahving 28 minutes off my last years time! Rohit finished shortly thereafter completing his first run beyond 35K in an excellent time of 5:40:30.  I was quite happy with the race and the event overall. Not having digital clocks at the start point was disappointing and the food was a huge let down again.

The Ultra is by far the best race in India for any runner to run their longest distance ever. And this is testified by the number of runners who ran 75K and 100K this year. And the numerous runners who did their first 25K, 37.5K and 50K!  It was truly amazing to see runners like Jugy, Rahul Verghese and Leona complete 75K and then Athreya, Melvin and Sunil Chainani completing 100K! And what about the ever smiling Chandra who ran a strong 75K for a second year in a row in 9:23! Overall all the runners from BHUKMP had a great outing at this year's ultra. Click here for RFL's fortnightly newsletter covering this year's ultra and a couple of the standout runners.  And here for complete results. The winners of the 50K,75K and 100K events are listed here in a friend's blog. Pictures from Monica's album and Ramesh's album on Facebook.

Countdown to Bangalore Ultra 2009

It is just about a week left for  the 3rd edition of Bangalore Ultra. I did a reasonably OK 38Km run in just under 4 hours at GKVK on 31st October - my longest run since the marathon in July. It was not a great run as I struggled a bit in the last 2Kms. Today I ran a 1:56 20Km at EGL. Will do two short runs probably on Tuesday and Thursday this week leading up to the Ultra on 15th November. With close to 600 runners slated to participate,  this year's event is going to much bigger compared to last year. Though a bulk of the runners are going to be running 25K or less it is amazing that over 20 are doing the 100K!  The 50Km event that I am running has over 100 runners this year. The last two years I have clocked 5:51 at this event. This year I am targeting to do closer to 5:30 which I should be able to achieve barring any last minute injury or sickness. I hope the weather is as perfect as it was last year. Of course, like the last two years I am not going to worry too much about the timing - I am looking forward to enjoying the comraderie of fellow runners and the wonderful ambience of the route and the race!

The Nike+ Human Race 10K

After some dilly-dallying I decided to go ahead and run the Nike Human race 10K on 24rth October with the goal of trying to complete it under 50 minutes and if possible under my  Sunfeast 10K 2009  time of  48:24. We ( myself and 3 others : Parminder, Shahid and Rajeev) left Domlur a little after 2:30PM - reaching Clarke's Exotica at just about 4PM - the traffic was a little more than we expected. There seemed to be a over 1000 runners in the starting area. Since everyone was wearing the red Nike race T-shirt the holding area was a complete sea of red.  Though at the time of picking up the race kit we were given a colour band based on estimated completion time this was not strictly enforced. I sneaked through the crowd and positioned myself towards the front. The race was flagged off a little before 430 PM by cricketer Sreesanth. Mahesh Bhupathi and Anju Bobby George were two other sports celebrities who were part of the event. I took off at a pace of about 4:35 per Km and ran the first Km in about 4:45. After that my pace started to drop. My stomach started cramping and I felt quite dehydrated. It was sunny and warm when the race started and I had lunch a little later than planned. Also, it probably was the side effect of indulging in a couple of drinks of  single malt on Friday night in the company of some relatives who had come over for dinner. Unlike at Sunfeast 10K I felt so thirsty that had to stop at each of the water stations which was every 2Km. Nevertheless I managed to get to the 5Km point in just over 25 minutes. The route was quite nice - completely within the resort property. At a couple of points enroute there was live music.The weather cooled off in the second half - this definitely helped me sustain my pace. Then with a little over 1 Km left I managed to accelerate a notch  to finish in 49:32 overtaking 'veteran' RFL runners Sunil and Jugy. Though a minute slower than at the Sunfeast 10K I was quite satisfied. For most runners like me who normally train in the mornings running in the afternoon has its challenges.  As per the results on the Nike website I finished 63rd among the Bangalore runners and 11644th globally among all the runners across the different cities where the race was held!

The men's winners in Bangalore were all from the army and clocked a little over 35 minutes. Among the runners I recognize,  ANS who is also from my age group, clocked an amazing 42:13 and finished 10th among Bangalore runners.Globally the fastest time clocked was 28:42 by a runner in Berlin - extremely impressive considering the world record for a 10Km is 26:17:53 set by Kennesa Bekele of Ethiopia in Brussels in 2005. Post the run we had some snacks and beverages and a foot massage before heading back around 630PM. We did not stay back for the live music and the dinner. That evening I felt quite fatigued even more so than I do after a long run. I crashed early and even skipped my Sunday morning run/cycling. This is probably due to pushing myself that too during an afternoon run- I do not seem to have the muscle strength and stamina to sustain a high pace for a period of time. Overall, I enjoyed the experience but now I need to focus on the Ultra on 15th November. My long runs have gone for a toss due to the cyclothon, sickness and now the 10K race - my last 30K run was on 27th September. I hope to get in a good 35K+/4hour  run this Saturday before tapering off!.

To run or not to run Nike+ Human Race on 24rth October?

The Nike 10K Human race is not an ideal one for long distance runners training for the Bangalore ultra on November 15th. Plus the race is on a Saturday afternoon and at Clark’s Exotica located quite far from the city. Therefore, it is not surprising that many RFL runners have decided to give it a miss. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead and register for it mainly because the NGO partner for the race is Dream A Dream and also a few others from my apartment community were interested in participating. The thinking was if I did a 10K in around 48 minutes , the same time as I took in Sunfeast 10K 2009, then it could serve as a good tempo run. Also I had planned my long runs in such a way that I could take it easy the weekend of 24th/25th October . The intent was to do a 4 hour/35K+ run on October 18th with a bunch of BHUKMP runners after gorging on Diwali sweets and savories on 17th. And follow this up with a 30K run on 31st October. Unfortunately, due to a massive stomach upset I could neither hog nor do my long run this weekend. For the 2nd time in less than 8 weeks I fell sick(does exercise increase or decrease immunity – a topic that needs to be researched further!). Due to this I am now in two minds about participating in this race. I am thinking maybe I will skip the 10K race and get in the 4hour/35K+ run instead. Will need to decide latest by Thursday. The irony is that I felt well enough by Sunday night to do a solo 21K/2:01 run this morning!.

More on this year's Ultra experience

The past week since the Ultra I have been pigging out with a couple of buffet lunches at the Unwind Island and dinner at Jalsa on Outer Ring Road(all official as my Manager from the US was visiting).

Last Sunday, Vetcha Rajesh (who stayed over with me on 15th November) and I left home by city taxi at 3:30am to ride with Dharam in his car from Cubbon at 4am. On Old Madras Road half way to Cubbon Park I felt quite low on suddenly remembering that I had forgotten my Garmin 305 at home. Having got used to running with one I was despairing that I might not have such a great run without it. The ride to ONV was very fast and when we were there by 5am I regretted not having pushed Dharam to take me home to pick up my Garmin. So when Dharam offered me the use of his Garmin I took it up. Even though the unit did not have the Average pace as one of the display settings I am quite certain that, without it, I would not have managed as good a run. Dharam - thanx very much for letting me use your Garmin.

About 70+ runners started off at 6:30am after a motivational speech from Madhu - the race director and visionary behind the Bangalore Ultra. We havce certainly come a long way from the time in September 2006 when Madhu first posted the idea of organising an ultra in Bangalore. This time there were 4 aid stations which were well stocked as expected. Almost 4.5 KM of the 6.25 Km route was open. Though the trail was beautiful, had the weather god not been so kind and provided the perfect running weather , all the runners would have had a much tougher time. The last 500m or so to the turn around point was a real magnificent stretch. At the turn around point in the first loop one of the runners from the opposite direction shouted to me saying I was in the 43rd place. I was not surprised - at the pace that I run I am usually middle of the pack in the first half of a race. I completed 2 loops (25Km) in about 2 hours 45 minutes. And then of course the pace started to drop. In the first 3 loops I ran quite a bit with Gopal and Lingraju . I am very satisfied with my 5 hrs 50 minutes completion time which gave me an overall 9th place among the 50K finishers. While I felt quite strong at the finish , with an average pace of 6 minutes 55 Secs per Km and average heart rate of 153, I don't think I can ever push myself to run beyond 50K or so. The one problem I have is I cannot pick up my running rhythm if I talk a walk break of more than a couple of minutes. And I believe it is almost impossible to go beyond 50K distances without walking for fairly long stretches. Hats off to Jacob Bhoopalan and Mukesh Singh for completing 100Km and several runners who did the 75K : Sunil Chainani, Manoj Bhat, Athreya etc. And the amazing achievement of Santosh Padmanabhan of Asha Foundation who ran 156Km in 24 hours with Doc Rajat and Shumit Vatsal giving him with 127Km and 100Km respectively. Shows there's no limit to which the human body can be pushed with the right physical and mental training. Check the complete results of this year's event and the pictures. Also the pictures from Sabine and Anita. Overall, the event was well organised and I look forward to the most runner friendly race in India going from strength to strength.