Impromptu marathon at Hartford CT

My unplanned 25th FM(28th including the 3 ultras) - the ING Hartford Marathon on 9th October was a bit if a disappointment. After the KTM on September 19th my next planned race was the Bangalore ultra on November 14th. However, when a sudden work related trip to NJ happened on 4th Oct and I found out that the Hartford marathon was scheduled the following weekend I was tempted to give it a shot. Considering my recent running form I felt this was a good opportunity to try and leverage the fall weather and see if I could do a sub 3:55 as a milestone towards my target of a 3:45 in a couple of years. Online registration was closed before I left India. I couriered the filled entry form plus the required waiver form and a copy of my photo id to my sister Mrs. Uma Narayanan as soon as I reached NJ. It was due to her efforts that I was even able to register for the event less than 48 hours before the race on 7th Oct afternoon. In fact, this race is dedicated to Uma and her husband Venkat who chauffered me back and forth a few times over the weekend. I felt quite good when Uma dropped me off at the starting point on 9th morning around 7:15am and with the buzz of runners all around I felt a 3:55 might be achievable. My fallback goal was to better my previous PR of 3:56:49 at the National marathon in Washington DC in March 2009 and worst case plan was to do my second sub 4 FM. I missed all the 3 goals finishing in 4:00:02 – my disappointment was not with my absolute timing(it is still my second best ever) but with the fact I did not meet or better the time target I had set myself for the race – something that has not happened for a while now – probably KTM 2008 and London 2006 would fall in this category. Missing my goals also made be introspect as to whether the effort and money spent in registration was really worthwhile. However, now more than 48 hours after the event I feel that this setback was a timely jolt to bring me down to earth and help me train harder and better with clear focus on goals. It clearly made me realise that doing a 3:45 even in US fall weather is going to be very very challenging for me and weill require a lot of hard work in the next couple of years. Perhaps the focus needs to be more on quality rather than quantity , that is, I need to cut down the number of races to run. Also I need to rethink whether to stay with the 75K at the Bangalore ultra or change it to a 50K in order to focus on a 3:59 SCMM 2011. My path to Boston qualification is to do a sub 3:55 SCMM 2012 and a sub 3:52 SCMM 2013 and hope that I can shave 7 minutes off of that in a well planned, well executed run in the US in fall of 2013. Of course, all this is a long way off and subject to staying healthy and  injury free for next 3 years. While I got over my disappointment of missing my time target fairly quickly I felt terrible for John Durham whom I met and interacted with in the holding area. John ran this race for the 3rd time - last year he missed the Boston qualifying time by a couple of minutes finishing in 3:38. Yes, John is exactly my age. He was hoping to crack the 3:35 timing this year. Unfortunately, he missed it by less than a minute finishing in 3:36:41!!

I reached Uma’s place from NJ around 6PM on 8th evening, got my race gear ready and went to sleep around 10PM with the alarm set for 5:20am. For the first time ever I changed my Garmin to show distance and pace in miles instead of Km. As usual I ended up waking  a few minutes before the alarm rang. We left home around 6:15am as planned and had a fairly smooth ride to Hartford. As soon as we exited the Capital Avenue ramp we saw waves of runners crossing the road. So I got dropped off there and made my way to the holding area where the baggage UPS trucks were parked. That is where I met and chatted up with John. Both of us walked together towards the starting line around 7:40am after I checked in my bag. Given the temperature of 11 degrees Celsius and sunny weather I decided to run in the hallf sleeves dri-shirt rather than full sleeves. A few minutes later I dashed off and joined the queue to use the potty while John went to the starting line. Ofcourse, I did not meet John again as by the time I came to the starting line it was very crowded and I had to squeeze my way to stand between the 3:50 pacer and 4:00 pacer. Unfortunately, this race did not have a 3:55 pacer which is strange as I expected a pacer for every 5 minutes time as was the case in the National marathon at DC.





Finish was just after this arch



The race started from Capitol Avenue in the center of Hartford a couple of minutes past 8am , after a prayer , a couple of speeches from some officials(have not experienced this in any of the other US marathons earlier) and after the wheelchair race and 5K race were kicked off. With both FM and HM runners starting together the start area was very congested. However, once the FM and HM runners separated around the 1.6 miles point things were much better. I started at a good pace covering the 1st mile in a little over 8 minutes – versus my target average pace of 8:58 per mile for a 3:55 finish. I kept a pace of around 8:30/8:35 for the next several miles getting to the 10 mile mark in about 85 minutes at an average of 8:30. Around this point the 3:50 pace leader over took me. The route had more gradients than I expected and took us through the riverfront park of Hartford. In this stretch I met a woman runner who had run this marathon last year when she was pregnant and was now running it again 6 months after delivering her baby( she had also done a 100 mile ultra last year). She just took off and should have finished way before I did. I felt very strong when I hit the halfway mark around 1:54 – I drank a cup of water at every other water station(every other mile) and by now had consumed most of my energy bar. The next 7 miles were definitely tougher but when I hit 20 miles at 2:56 I felt a 3:55 was possible . However, after the 20 mile mark I started to fade pretty rapidly. Both my lower legs started hurting with cramps. At times the feet and the toes froze completely and refused to move. I had started sipping Gatorade at every aid station the last few miles. However,  I had to walk for a few minutes after every aid station before being able to run again. On top of that strong headwinds also affected my pace adversely. By the 24 mile mark I knew that I had blown 3:55. And as I stopped to stretch a couple of times in the 25th mile at 3:49 I knew that a sub 3:57 was also gone and the only thing to focus on was a sub 4. But at this time I think the mind pretty much gave up - something that has never ever happened to me before. I could not carry on through the pain and stopped and walked a few times too many. Some spray on both the legs might have helped but I did not find any at the aid stations. As a result when I crossed the finish line after the Bushnell Park arch with gritted teeth my Garmin showed 4 hrs. I was hoping I had managed just under 4 hr finish but of course,later, I found that my official chip time was 4:00:02! A lot of ifs and buts went through my mind. I could not understand the cause of the severe cramps in both my lower legs – calves, feet and toes. Was it because I ran the 1st half too fast?. I had my usual 3 bananas before the race, 1 energy bar in the first 15 miles and kept hydrating myself. It was not very hot and I did not sweat much so I could not have lost excess salt and other minerals. I was tempted to blame the travel and the hectic work week but this is not my first experience of running in such circumstances. I did not like the course that much and that could have had a role. Another thing is I was probably more timing focused in this race than in most other races which also meant I did not enjoy it as much - neither the chit-chat with fellow runners nor the ambience of the route(which anyway was average). One notable positive was live music every couple of miles in the course. Llater in the day at home when I researched some literature on foot cramps(more on this in the next post)  I realized that the most probable causes were : 1) new shoes – I had done just one 25K run with this pair of shoes 2) over running – having done a grueling 58K just 3 weeks ago. While I definitely need to replan and rethink my training to improve beyond sub 4 timing , in retrospect, I do now feel much more confident that a sub 4 at least in the US fall or spring weather conditions is definitely doable with better planning and preparation.

The results tent in the finish area was very chaotic. There were print outs of results in no particular order scattered all over the table with runners scrambling to look for their names. There were laptops for online search for results that had glitches. Mine and those of several runners gave an error message for a while. When I went back nearly 45 minutes after finishing the race then I was able to find my results online. The food for the finishers was also not that great – cookie, veg soup, apple, chips etc. I reached back home just before 2 PM determined to refocus my training and efforts to improve my FM finish timings. As part of this I need to make a decision on the distance to run at the Bangalore ultra. I will decide this by the end of the week depending on my recovery as well as a few other factors. Had a decent  first run 48 hours after the marathon - a 38 minutes/5Km today(Monday) morning.



The winner of the Hartford marathon , Michael Wardian, won his 6th marathon of the year -finishing this one in 2hrs 24 minutes 38 seconds. See report here.





KTM 2010 experience

Almost exactly a week since the 2010 edition of KTM I seem  to have fully recovered from the run. However, recovery has been much slower than usual. Though I felt  fine on the evening of the event my body was very sore for the next couple of days due to which I found it tough to get a good nights sleep. Doing the additional 16Km in that terrain and heat took its toll. Usually I do my first ,  short recovery run within 48 hrs(Tuesday after the sunday event). This time I did a slow 4K on Wednesday and then a 7K on Friday  - I struggled in both these runs. It was only after a decent 13K on Saturday that I felt fully recovered and back to my normal self. Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with my achievement of having managed to run/walk 58Km in tough conditions after a good FM finish. As per the official timings on the Timing India results page for KTM 2010 I completed the FM in 4:32:04 finishing 23rd overall and 2nd in the senior category!

On Saturday 18th September we (Chandru, Ravi, Prateek and myself) left Domlur just before 3PM in my brother Chandru's car. Bangalore traffic being at its Saturday afternoon worst it took as an hour to get out of the city and reach the Raja Rajeshwari flyover. After that it was pretty fast going and after one short break in between we reach the start point of the race next to Ranganathittu bird sanctuary a little after 630PM in fading light. The RFL staff was setting up the podium on the starting line. We walked a few hundred meters on the trail so that Ravi and Chandru(both doing their first HM event) could get a feel of the uneven terrain. We reached Country Club located about 10Kms from the race start point a little after 7PM. The room there was just about average and OK for a nights rest before the race. After  an early dinner of dal, roti, and very spicy kadai vegetables we were pretty much asleep by 10PM after deciding to leave by 5:40am in the morning.  I slept well - undisturbed by the heavy traffic on the two major roads at the intersection of which Country Club was located. I had my alarm set for 5am and as usual woke up a few minutes before it rang. Chandru was already up and getting ready.  Thankfully there was no after effect of the spicy dinner. We left Country Club at 540am as planned in coool(almost cold )weather conditions and reached the race venue in less than 20 minutes. I consumed my customery 3 bananas before we left the room. As I was planning to try and run more than 42.2 Kms I carried two energy abrs with me instead of the one that I carry for long runs of over 30km. At the race venue cars were steadily streaming in and being parked on the side of the highway and runners were pouring out of them. As we walked from the parking area to the start point the whole place was abuzz with runners greeting each other and checking about their travel,  time targets etc.



Just before start of FM



The start area was crowded as many of the HM runners had also arrived. It was great to meet and greet a number of familair runners including Dan zico and Amit Joshi from Mumbai. After some brief announcements (as part of which A1 cautioned first timers that though the weather was deceptively cool it would warm up considerably later and one should not be targeting a PB at this event!) the FM started on the dot at 630am. Several  runners took off quite quickly - I started with a pace of about 6:10 per Km and then gradually slowed down. In the first leg I chatted with quite a few runners - Jugy, Senthilanand, Srinivas etc.The trail was pretty much as expected - uneven with frequent patches of embedded stones and grass or other shrubs. One had to constantly keep a vigil to ensure the foot was landing correctly apart from watching out for cows, cowdung, bullock carts and an occasional tractor. Nevertheless, one cannot but soak in the beautiful verdant scenery with the Kaveri canal on one side and  Paddy and sugarcane fields on the other. The pollution free rural setting makes for a great run ambience.  The route was mostly flat except for a gravel strewn gradient around the 9.5Km mark.  After about 40 minutes from start time I started getting overtaken by the faster HM runners including Ashok who was running as effortlessly as ever.

I completed the first half as planned in 2:10  averaging under 6:15 per Km and felt quite strong at this stage. I consumed most of my first energy abr by now. The name on the bib was an excellent feature of this year's event. This enabled runners to call out names of runners they did not know personally and encourage them which is always a morale booster for every runner. This also enabled one to put names to several familiar runners.   While returning to the start point I encountered the 10K  runners some of who were running at a very fast pace. At this time all the 800+ runners were on the trail and it was not as bad as I had thought it would be. I thought that on the narrow sections of the trail one might be impeded by other runners but that was not the case. Yes there were a few points  of congestion but for most runners who were not targeting stringent time goals this was not an issue. Pravin Kumar Takde who finished in an amazing course record timing of 3:17:44 looked extremely strong when I saw him returning on his last quarter of the race. I felt very strong till the turn around on the second loop. After that the impact of the heat began to be felt. When I started the race I was targeting around 4:45. around the 30Km  mark I felt I could do a 4:30. However, as I still wanted to run as close to 60Km as possible I decided to slow down. Around this point I went past Dan who was struggling due to the effect of the heat. I had consumed my 2nd energy bar by now. The aid stations that were just 2Kms apart were a great boon. This is another learning from the previous editions that RFL had made it a point to implement. Any fewer number of aid stations would have made it even more gruelling for the runners and they would not have enjoyed the experience as much. I hydrated myself constantly with water and Lucozade. After the 30Km mark I carried a bottle of Lucozade with me sipping it every few hundred meters. I completed the FM fairly comfortably in 4:32:04 to cheering runners and RFL crew. I had the energy to pick up pace in the last couple of Kms but wisely decided against it.  I handed my medal to Ashok for safe-keeping, filled my water bottle and started on the third loop.

By now (past 11am) the heat had picked up considerably. Of course, while it was warm and humid and many first time KTM'ers felt the conditions were less than ideal for marathon running upto this point I had I felt that it was less hot and humid compared to my previous FM experience here in 2008. I also heard the same from runners who had participated last year. Nevertheless, from here on it got extremely tough - not only was the heat overbearing -  the legs were hurting and it was a hard battle of the mind over body to continue.  I decided to slow down considerably to a 7:15 per Km pace. I also resorted to run/walk which I normally do not adopt . Even in the 3 Bangalore ultras that I have completed I have not walked much. But sensing the gruelling conditions and with the intention of at least covering a 55Km distance I changed my tactic. At about 3Kms mark I met Nari returning from his 3rd loop. He joined me and we ran/walked together for a bit.However, he soon gave up and took the motorbike back. I would not be honest if I said I did not contemplate doing the same. The mind kept reminding me that I had done a decent FM and all this additional effort was quite unnecessary. However, I proceeded  by setting small, manageable goals in my mind - of running upto the tree a few hundred meters away or till I overtook another runner and then walking a bit before running again. I stretched the goal from the 4Km water point to the 5Km turnaround point, then the 7Km water point. I finally turned around at the 8Km mark as I realised that it might take me close to 8 hours to do 63Km. With the food counter scheduled to close at 2PM I decided to try and be back at the start point by 1:30PM. I crossed 50Km with my  Garmin showing 5:46 - taking 24 minutes for the same distance compared to my performance in Bangalore Ultra 2009. My pace slowed down considerably and with the legs fully fatigued I tripped on the stones embedded in the trail several times. This was my lucky day as despite tripping at least 8 times(5 of them in the last 16 Kms) I managed to regain my balance each time . On another day I could very easily have fallen down and hurt myself. Every time I tripped I paused to drink some water and walked for a few meters before jogging again. The volunteers at the aid stations were very helpful. I got my water bottle filled a couple of times.I also experimented by eating a few Parle-G biscuits and peanut butter jelly sandwiches which I have never done before. I paused and stretched at many of the aid stations. My hamstrings and quads were completely shot by the time I touched 55Km so when a volunteer at the first/last aid station offered to use the spray on my legs I gladly accepted it. This gave renewed strength to my legs and I was able to run  the next 2 Kms at a decent pace. I was expecting to complete 58Kms in a little over 7 hours but thanks to this I managed it in 6:57 finishing in peak heat at 1:27PM!! Besides 2 energy bars, some bsicuits and sandwiches I had consumed 2 500ml bottles of Lucozade and at least the same quantity of water during the run.  Though I was tired and hurting I realised that the left Quads that  had been stressed a few weeks earlier did not bother me during the run which was a great relief for the season ahead.

Chandru and I had lunch  around 2PM at Young Island and then along with Hiren and Anuradha we drove back to Bangalore reaching home by 6PM.  I celebrated my run in the evening with a couple of glasses of red wine. Though I had run 58Kms in challenging conditions I did not lose any weight - by next morning my weight was back to 60Kgs/132 lbs. In fact, for 2-3 days after the run I felt ravenous and ate more than usual. While I had achieved my goal of training for a ultra I have  decided to give this year's GR 100 Bhati Lakes 2010 a miss and have registered for the 75Km event at the Bangalore Ultra on 14th November.

Nearing the end of 1st loop



Finishing the FM



KTM 2010 : My Second longest ever run..in tough conditions

A quick post to report that I had an excellent run at the 4th edition of Kaveri Trail Marathon yesterday(19th September). I completed my 27th marathon(including 3 ultras) quite comfortably in approx 4:32(official chip timing awaited) - well within my target time of 4:45 and 10 minutes faster than my timing in KTM 2008. This gave me 2nd position in the senior category behind Sid who finished in about 4:10.  As planned,  I continued running the third loop which was extremely tough as it had become very hot after 11am. However, I managed to run/walk and complete another 16Km(I turned around at the 8Km mark)  minutes thereby clocking a total of 58Km in 6 hrs 57 minutes - again meeting my goal of doing between 55Km and 60Km as training for a longer run within the next 60 days. This is my second longest distance ever after my 81Km in 13+ hours in Strides of Hope in February 2010. Will post more details of the run with some pictures and official timings by end of the week .

Preview of KTM 2010

I collected my bib for the 4rth edition of the Kaveri Trail Marathon(KTM)  (19th September) on the way back from an  easy paced  15K/1:37 run today at Cubbon Park/Sankey road followed by breakfast at Konark hotel with a bunch of fellow runners.  And am now pretty much set for my 1st Full Marathon of the season after a break of over 6 months - the last Full Marathon + run being the Strides of Hope a week after Auroville 2010. As usual, in the week leading up to a race I plan to run a 9K and a 6K on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

After today's run following the  35.8K/3:48 last Sunday I feel re-assured that the quads injury is behind me. KTM is one of the most beautiful and at the same time gruelling races in the country. With one of the Kaveri canals on one side and beautiful open fields on the other side of the trail it is very picturesque. However, the uneven terrain, humidity and heat with very little shade cover makes it tough for runners.  I have run the FM at KTM only once - in 2008. It was the 3rd of my 12 marathons in 12 months and my slowest finish in that series with a time of 4:42:16.  I ran the HM in the 1st edition of KTM in 2007 - having run a FM in Richmond, Virginia just 8 days before the event. Last year(2009) I gave the event a miss - as I took a couple of months break from distance running  after completing the  12 in 12 in July 2009.

In my current form and fitness level I should be able to do better than my 2008 timing at KTM. However, I am thinking of being on the trail for the 6.5 hours that Runners for Life is planning to support runners on the course. If I manage to do that successfully I should be able to do between 55Km and  60Km - this will enable me to test whether I am ready to take on the 50 miler at the Globeracer event Bhati Lakes 100 miler on 19th October. Therefore, I am looking at maintaining an average pace of between 6:40 and 7 minutes per Km which should still enable me to complete the FM in about 4:45. Of course, a lot is going to depend on the weather that morning and how the first loop(21Km) goes. And I will need to strongly resist the temptation to make a fast start with the other FM runners. Also, with a participation of nearly 1000 runners across the 3 event categories(FM, HM, 10K) the route will be crowded after 8am and this could affect the average pace for some period time. One good thing is that the FM is scheduled to start at 630am this year.Also, I will be having the company of ultra runner Santosh   who is also doing 60Km+ plus at KTM as part of his training for the 100 miler at the GR event.    Any which way I am looking forward to enjoying the ambience and the race and do the best I can!!

 Due to the slightly earlier start most runners(including myself) are driving to the Srirangapatnam/Mysore area the previous afternoon so that they can get a good night's rest before the race. It is great see to an event that started out in 2007 as a training run for the 1st Bangalore Ultra grow in stature to be such a popular event by itself. This year more than 50% of the participants are doing the HM. About 140 runners have registered for the FM and the remaining 300+ will be doing the 10Km. Once again, looking forward to the fun next Sunday!

Month end musings August 2010

August has been a mixed bag. Started the month with the 'Mega' cycle ride to Nandi Hills on 1st August that I enjoyed tremendously. The following weekend , that is, 6th through 8th August I spent in Sankarnagar in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. During this weekend the Lucozade Urban Stampede was held - the 3rd edition of the event was a great success with participaton from 294 teams from 81 companies and 22 non-corporate teams. Once again Toyota bagged the top two positions. See here for all winners of this edition. Three teams from my company Mformation participated in this years and all the runners had a great time with many of them doing their personal best times. Having been involved in conceptualising and sponsoring the 1st edition of Urban Stampede it is a pleasure to see the event grow in size and stature.

Though I had a couple of very enjoyable runs at Sankarnagar soon after return I started suffering from a niggle in my left quads. Despite the pain the left quads I ran a decent 27K on 15th August at EGL. However, towards the end of that week the quads started to hurt quite a bit. Therefore after consulting with sports-physio Preeti, I decided to skip the RFL Nandi hills run on 22nd August. It turned out to be a great run based on reports and pictures from fellow runners who participated. I can imagine how it must have been - having experienced it myself 3 years ago- the only time I have run up and down Nandi hills. Well, it looks like forgoing the Nandi hills run and a forced lay-off from running and cycling is the price I have to pay for the Nandi Hills cycling during which period I ran 70Km and cycled 150Kms in a space of 8 days. At least that is what I think caused the stress in the quads. The only other possiblity is my shoes. I have over-used my current pair and am trying to break into a new pair - this transition could have also caused the stress. I have stayed with Addidas Super Nova cushion ever since I started long distance running 9 years ago. This model has now been replaced by Addidas Glide. Since I have not had any issue with the Super Nova cushion I assume the likelyhood of the shoe being responsible for the quads strain is low. Ofcourse, one can never tell.

Anyway, for 7 days from 20th to 26th August I stayed off running and cycling - my longest involuntary lay-off since the knee injury of 2003. I do consider myself fortunate to have stayed injury free for an extended period of time and hope that I have the good fortunate to stay with similar frequency of injury related lay-off(which is part and parcel of a runners life!). Forced lay-offs are never fun for a runner - it always makes me feel miserable and low on enthusiasm and energy. One gets the feeling during this period that one is likely to put on weight. Even my truncated strengthening sessions at Manipal did not got too well.

After nearly two weeks I ran a slow 21K today - my left leg (quads and toes) did not feel too good towards the end. Feel very worried and apprehensive about the upcoming Kaveri Trail Marathon and the 2010-11 running season. I had planned the following over the next 6 months:

• 
  
  Kaveri Trail Marathon(KTM) on Sept 19th
• Globeracers Bhati Lakes 100 miler on Oct 17th - 50 miles (tentative)
• Bangalore Ultra on November 14th - 50K if I do 50 miles above or else 75K if I skip the above
• Bangalore Midnight marathon Mid-December - probably a fast HM
• Mumbai marathon - January 16th 2011
• Auroville marathon - Feb 20th 2011

Now, I will  tune the above depending on how my left leg takes the full marathon at KTM. As of today it looks like I will have to skip the 50 miles at Bhati Lakes 100 miler and do the usual 50K at the bangalore ultra. Will know by this time in 3 weeks!