Strides of Hope 2011

It is now nearly two weeks since I had the the  privilege of being able to do my bit in the 2nd edition of Strides of Hope held from 21st to 23rd Jan. Despite being unemployed since the beginning of the year I have not been able to make the time to update the blog  as regularly as I would like to(Besides - there is a long overdue project to revamp the blog and creat a version 2.0 - hopefully will be able to get to it sometime this year!). The event this year was much bigger than last year as seen by the summary stats below:

Total number of participants: 624

Total distance run: 5677.6 Km
Total distance walked: 577.5 Km
Total distance Cycled: 5529 Km
Total overall logged distance: 12255.1 Km
Cities  reached out to: Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Austin and New Jersey

The above is in comparison to over 350 runners and over 3000 Kms in the 1st edition of the event in 2010. The event is slated to grow tremendously both in terms of number of particpants and coverage of cities in the years to come. More details are available in the post event report and press release on the SOH website.

My goal this year was to do 5-6 Kms at the flag-off on Friday, run as much as possible starting Saturday night with the goal of exceeding my last year's 81Km and possibly do 120Km+ and also be at the finale in Madhavan Park on Sunday afternoon. I failed miserably in  my overall goal  - nevertheless I had a great time and felt satisfied to have participated and made a small contribution to this unique event.

On Friday 21st Jan afternoon I reached the Home Guards group in Ulsoor by about 4:45PM for the flag-off. There were a number of Runners High folks as well as other runners and cyclists gathering there for the flag off. Everyone was very enthusiastic - the high energy levels were palpable. Nikhil of RFL arrived with all the stuff required for aid stations. Radha Ganesan was interviewing and filming a few participants  - see photo below.

Radha and crew interviewing some of the participants before flag-off

The event was kicked-off just before 530PM with the runners running out of the Home Guards ground into the Ulsoor lake ground and the cyclists heading towards Hebbal flyover , enroute to Hyderabad, soon thereafter.  I ran two loops covering 6.34Km in about 49 minutes with Santosh, Sam and Jacob Bhoopalan. Several other runners joined in. While I was tempted to run longer I decided against it in order to conserve my energy for Saturday night.

I pretty much rested most of Saturday and had a 'semiya-upma' dinner around 745PM. By 8PM I had packed my bags(with extra clothese, shoes, energy bars, bsicuits etc) and was ready. On Saturday, 22nd  Nari picked me up just before 9PM and in a few minutes we reached the Goldman-Sachs parking lot at EGL where the aid station was being setup by a few volunteers. There were also a few runners waiting there. Around 930PM Santosh, Chandra, Preeti and others arrived. Nari and I started our run around 940PM. We ran the first two loops of 9Km each at an average pace of around 7:45 per Km. There were a couple of dark stretches on the route and it helped that I was carrying a small torch. Though I had thoroughly enjoyed running  this stretch at night last year I found it a little more challenging and a bit boring this year.  During these two loops there were about 10-12 runners/walkers on the route including Santosh, Sunand etc. As we were returning to complete our 2nd loop Honda-San joined us. The three of us (ie Honda-San, Nari and myself) did the next 3 loops pretty much together. From the 2nd half of the 4rth loop (from about 32Kms or so) we started following a run/walk pattern.  I am sure Nari and I slowed Honda-San quite a bit but he stuck with us. By the 3rd loop our eyes got used to the darkness and since htere was also reasonably good moonlight we did not really need the torch. The weather was great -in fact a bit on the chillier side as the night wore on. Also during the course of those 3 loops all of us passed a lot of gas (symphony of f*rts!)- intially I felt a bit embarassed and tried to suppress it but later I just let it go as Nari can testify! Farting while running is quite normal - ofcourse it depends on on the food and the timing of the meal before a run - Here is an interesting post on this subject with a bunch of links.

Between each loop we stopped for a few minutes at the aid station to drink and eat a bit - biscuits, chocolates etc. At the end of our 5th loop Honda-San stopped running- he said he would be abck after a couple of hours of rest. I am amazed at how runners are able to do two long runs with a short break of a few hours in-between. Santosh did this as well. Before coming to EGL at 930PM he had taken a few hours break to get some sleep. At EGL also he took a couple of hours break and started running quite strongly thereafter. Towards the end of the 5th loop my back started hurting and I had to slow down considerably - we crossed the marathon distance in just under  6 hours. We started the 6th loop after a slightly longer break  - I changed my socks while Nari changed his attire. In this loopthe back pain increased considerably and I also started to tire mentally. The mind started to say maybe I should not push myself too hard and risk a long term back issue. I have never had an issue with my back during a run and so it was quite worrisome. The pain did not seem to stay in one place- it seemed to traverse across the back. At the end of the 6th loop(54+Kms) I knew  that I would not be able to continue too long. The legs hurt for sure but it was not too bad. However, the back pain was quite disconcerting.  Preeti also advised that it was better not to take a chance with the back. I decided that the 7th loop was going to be my last one. Nari was determined to do an 8th one- I would have loved to give him company but this was one of those days where I lost the battle both mentally and physically. During the return leg of the 7th loop we met tens of familiar RFL runners. This one took a good 1hr 45 minutes to complete and I stopped at the end of it with my Garmin showing 63.4Km in 9hrs 41 minutes!! I felt disappointed that I was short of my goal but at that time I did not think it realistically possible to do two more loops to cross 81Km!! I did not hang around at EGL for too long - I left for home soon after and lay down on the floor. At the end of 90 minutes of sound sleep my back felt better. The legs also recovered in a few hours and a twinge of regret crept in my mind - maybe I could have pushed on and stayed the course a little longer :).  I was able to do 81Kms last year exactly one week after running the Auroville marathon. However, I found it much more difficult this year one week after a fast Mumbai marathon. I guess this is because the body takes much longer to recover after a fast run while recovery is faster and better after a slower run(intend to research and post on this some time in the future). Doing 100Km+ will have to wait till next year now :)

I slept like a log for over 3 hours  after an early lunch and thereafter felt too lethargic to go to Madhavan park for the finale!! While the soreness in the back lingered on for a few days I was able to comfortably do a 8Km run on Wednesday 26th Jan.  Hats off to Santosh Padmanabhan for doing over 230Kms in 38hrs - his passion and commitment to running and helping under-privieged children through Asha is really amazing!! Several others ran/walked over 100Kms during the event : Jagadish, Sunand and of course Honda-San. Not to forget the 5 cyclists who rode to Hyderabad and back clocking  3007Kms in 48 hours with Samim Rizvi alone doing 1237Kms - again an amazing feat of endurance and commitment!!

More on SCMM 2011

While the Mumbai marathon on 16th January was my best ever Full marathon run where I comfortably exceeded my goal of 3:59 by clocking 3:52:48, the last couple of days leading up to the race was quite nerve-wrecking. I usually am quite nervous before a big event specially if I am targeting a specific time or a new distance. Even then this time was different - maybe it was the pressure of aiming to do my first sub 4 hr in India. Or the fact that the last time I attempted a sub 4 hr FM in October 2010 I ended up with cramps and  missed it by a whisker. I felt extremely hungry in the 48 hours before the race eating much more than normal. I was a bit apprehensive of getting to the start point well in time for the early start time of 06:15am. Specially the last 12 hours from Saturday evening after returning home from WTC was a very nervy and restless period so much so that I started feeling light pain in my tail bone. All of this fortunately had no impact in the end as  the race went as perfectly as possible on Sunday morning. 

As has been my tradition for the past several years  I landed in Mumbai Friday evening and went to WTC to collect the race bib on Saturday morning a little of noon. And as usual I met a number of familiar runners from Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. Also met a few new runners as well. As always the excitement, energy and passion among the runners  was great. After lunch at La Flamboyante in WTC I returned to Govandi by about 5PM. One thing I noticed was that Mumbai was less warmer and less humid on pre-race day comapred to the previous years. Was praying that race day weather would be at least s good.  I tried to relax as much as I could. The 2nd  India-South Africa ODI in SA served  a good distraction. I went to bed around 9:45PM soon after India got bowled out for 189 with the intent of waking up around 3:45am. I slept reasonably well and woke up just before the alarm rang. 

I got ready by about 430am and informed the security to send me an auto. Within about 7 minutes there was an auto on my doorstep which took me to Chembur station where I caught the 4:45am train and reached VT station by 5:20am. This can only happen in Mumbai in India - very impressive!In the train I chatted with a bunch of runners who got off at Vadala to head to Bandra for their HM start. Given the segregation of the FM and HM start points VT station was not that crowded. I changed into my shoes and headed towards the entry gate in Azad maidan. While wearing my shoes the timing chip came off from the plastic tag and I had to thread it through my shoe lace. I thought this was not a good start - in the end of course it had no impact. En route I met Pani and Sid - two other veteran runners from Bangalore(see photo below taken inside Azad maidan after finishing the race and collecting medal, refreshments etc).   In side the maidan of course there were a lot of familiar FM runners. After some warm up, I consumed a half of my fourth banana(had eaten 3 before leaving home) and checked  in my bag in the baggage counter and moved to the holding area around 6am. 

With Pani and Sid post the race

The gate was opened just before 6:10am and all of us took a brisk walk/slow jog to the starting line. The race started on time at 6:15(flagged off by Deepika and a few other 'celebrities'. Having managed to get myself close to the front of the start line  I crossed the start line in 12 seconds. Vasu and I started together and got off to a good start covering the 1st Km in about 5:22. At this point Ravi Balasubramanya joined us - though a much faster runner he decide to run the race with us(probably due to inadequate training). As always in the first few Kms it looked like there were lots of runners ahead of us. In reality we were probably in the first one third of the pack of runners. Around the 5Km mark Priyankar - another very strong runner - joined us and the four of us then pretty much ran together for the next 25Kms.  The weather was definitely much much cooler than it has ever been in a race in Mumbai and the 6:15am start was indeed a great help. The point of merger with the Half marathon runners was a bit of a bummer as the slower runners came in the way of FM runners impacting their momentum. The four of us managed to weave our way through the crowd reasonably well all the time hollering out for the slow runners to give way and keep our 5:27 per Km average pace.  We had crossed Sid Mallya from Bangalore during this stretch. In the stretch leading up to the sea link Milind Soman and his friends went past us. The Mumbai crowd as was to be expected had special cheers for Milind. (Milind's finish time of 3:49:53 is very impressive and a huge improvement on his time of last 2 years).  In the stretch leading up to the sea link a wide patch of shade had been created by putting up a tall side shamiana for a fairly long stretch. This was a pleasant and welcome improvement. At the sea link we were still running at an average pace of 5:27 per Km. One big change from last year was the presence of two water points on the sea link which was huge boon to the runners. Around the middle of the sea link stretch Vasu slowed down while I continued running  pretty much with Ravi and Priyankar.  I got to the 29.9Km timing point at 2:43:31(5:29 per Km pace) as compared to 2:45:21 at the 29.7Km mark last year. And felt much much stronger  compared to last year. Somewhere at the back of my mind I was hoping that my timing chip was registering at all the mats - at the 29.9Km mark this got confirmed.

Of course, as with any FM the last 12Km is the toughest and more so at Mumbai where you hit the Peddar road flyover in this stretch. Also it got warmer though it was not really hot. At the Peddar Road flyover Priyankar took off- I could not quite keep pace. I just focused on keeping the current pace below 6 minutes per Km. At this point it was clear that I would go below 3:59 fairly comfortably. Going below my previous best of 3:56:49 seemed very possible. Now I hung in there from Km marker  to the next one. As I turned from Marine drive towards Churchgate station for the last 2Kms I ran at a fairly comfortable pace to get to the finish point with a net chip time of 3:52:48!! I felt much less tired at the end  - so much so that I felt maybe I should have pushed harder in the last 5Kms to shave off a few more minutes. However, I am very satisfied specially to have exorcised the ghost of Hartford and achieving the 2nd sub 4 of my career in 26 Full marathons!! Chandra with a time of 3:47:42 was at the finish line. Soon after I met Rajesh Vetcha of Hyderabad runners and also my brother Mahesh and his daughter Divya. Mahesh and Divya had come all the way from New Mumbai to experience the marathon atmosphere and try and take a picture of me finishing. However, he had not expected me to finish in below 3:55(well nor had I expected to do it this year) - so he missed me by a few minutes at the finish line. Below are a couple of pictures taken a few minutes after completing the race.

Two new things were introduced in this year's event:

- there was a 5hr FM pacer and 2hr and 3hr HM pacers; pacers for every few minutes of finish time are common in most international marathons. 

- there were a couple of spray showers on the route to help cool down the runners ; this was welcomed by many runners though personally I did not run through any of them

Overall it was a great run for me and for a number of friends. It maybe a tough act to beat this next year unless the weather gods are kind again. 

with Rajesh after the run

With Rajesh, Divya and other Hyderabad runners

Cracker of a race at SCMM 2011

All the stars lined up perfectly this Sunday 16th Jan 2011 in Mumbai for my 26th FM finish(excluding the 4 ultras). The weather was as perfect as it can be in Mumbai, there was water support on the sea link, I had a good start to the race and excellemt pacing with Priyankar and Ravi  for over 32Kms(and Vasu till half-way on the sea link), my shoe laces did not come off, there were no cramps and the body felt pretty good throught out the run. All of this resulted in not only my fastest marathon finish at Mumbai but my fastest ever marathon time of 3:52:48. This is over 3 minutes faster than my previous PB of 3:57:56 in Washington DC in March 2009. And over 8 minutes better than my  last year's time at SCMM.  Thereby continuing my progression of improving my timing at Mumbai.  I did a pretty much even split covering the first half in about 1:54 and second half in 1:59. My average per Km pace was between 5:22 and 5:29 through out the race. I felt extremely good and not too tired after the finish(unlike last year when I was very drained and nauseous at the finish) which led me to think that maybe I could have pushed harder and tried to go sub 3:50. Well that will certainly be the target for SCMM 2012!

With Ravi on the sea link

A couple of things that could have been better with the race organisation:

• At point that FM runners merged with the HM runners there should have been two clear lanes to separate the two categories; this will help avoid the slower HM runners/walkers impeding the rhythm of the FM runners
•  The narrow entry/exit back into Azad maidan after the race which had hundreds of ill-tempered runners jostling to get in was very frustrating specially for the FM finishers. As in the past there could have been separate entry point for FM runners or the entry/exit should have been broader.

Overall though it was a well organised event and many many  friends had a great run and achieved their PBs. Congratulations to all the participants!! It is incredible how runners are improving with experience  -  shows that running as a sport maturing in India and many runners are yet to fully tap their potential. Despite finishing 8 minutes faster than last year my ranking in the veteran category is 13 this year compared to 10 last year! Though oddly enough overall ranking has improved from 90 to 49 - looks a bit fishy!!

Run Less, Run Faster ..the 3Plus2 training program from FIRST

I just completed reading this book and have decided to try this program for my next road marathon in 2011-2012(either Hyderabad marathon in August 2011 or SCMM in January 2012). The weekly mileage advocated by this program is lower compared to most other training programs. The FIRST program suggests running on alternate days 3 times of the week. However, it specifies that each run of the week be of a different type(tempo, interval, long run) and also the intensity of the run in terms of pace. This means though the weekly mileage is lower the intensity of training is higher compared to most other programs. Another critical component of the FIRST training program is two weeks of cross-training which can be cycling,swimming etc.  And hence the 3plus2 concept.

In some form I already do the 3plus2 training. I usually run 3 days and cycle 2 days a week. I also do one tempo run and one long run almost every week. However neither of these are usually done with a target goal pace and I have never ever done interval training program. I am looking forward to doing the the 16 weeks  FIRST program with a target FM time of 3:55 in the 2011-2012 running season.

The challenge of SCMM 2011 beckons

By this time next week I should  be done with my 8th run of the Mumbai marathon (6th FM)and would have hopefully achieved my goal of a sub 3:59 Full Marathon. While I am reasonably well trained and prepared for the event and can take heart from the fact that I have progressively improved my timings at Mumbai since 2006(see below) shaving over 40 minutes, I am well aware that now going below 4 is going to be very tough. Whatever be the training a lot of factors need to fall in place in order to have a good race specially in Mumbai: race start, heat and humidty, aid station support, sleep and rest in the days leading up to the race, mental and physical state on the morning of the race etc etc.

1. 2006        4:42:28 
2. 2007        4:37:16  
3. 2008        4:31:09 
4. 2009        4:13:16 
5. 2010        4:00:56

Of course for the last week or so one has been going through the usual tapering blues that encompass  reduced level of excercise with  higher level of food intake and imaginary aches and pains couple of weeks before an event. The light fever that I had every evening for several days since 31st December has been worrisome and had an adverse impact on my 35K run on Jan 1st.  While the timing of 3:40 was slower than my target time I felt much more fatigued than normal at the end of the run. Anyway, the fever seems to have gone now and my last 15K+ run before SCMM this morning was quite normal.

In order to devise a strategy for my run this year I analysed my split timings from SCMM 2010.

           Distance           Time                Average Pace

• 14.7 Km         01:21:35            5:33 per Km
• 17  Km           01:34                 5:31 per Km
• 24  Km           02:12:55            5:32 per Km
• 29.7  Km        02:45:21            5:34 per Km
• 42.2  Km        04:00:56            5:42 per Km

To shave two minutes off my finish time I need to increase my average pace by 3 secs per Km ie stay within an average pace of 5:39 per Km. My target is to hit the half way mark in about 1:55 at an average of 5:27 and get to the 30K mark by 2:45 at an average of 5:30. That will leave me about an hour and 14 minutes for the last 12.2Km at an average pace of 6 minutes per Km. This is vis-a-vis over 115 minutes I took for the 12.5Kms at last year's SCMM. More recently at the ING Hartford Marathon I got to the 32Km mark in 2:56:46 at an average pace of 5:32 per Km. and ended up taking 6:11 per Km for the last 10.2Kms.

Looking at these numbers makes me even more nervous - it certainly makes me very conscious of the enormity of the challege ahead of me next Sunday morning. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that all factors fall into place on race day and I am fortunate enough to continue the trend of improving my finish time at the biggest road marathon in India!

Here is wishing all fellow runners a great run at SCMM 2011!!

2010 Year end Musings (of a runner)

With the last training run and strengthening session of the year 2010 done it is time to reflect on the year gone by and look ahead at the goals for 2011.  By and large it has been another good year of running which includes making some fantastic new friends and strengthening bonds with other runner friends. I ran four full marathons, one 75K ultra and 81K at the Strides of Hope.  I also invested in a Schwinn  Searcher Sport  and did a long cycling trip thereby more or less achieving the goals I had set myself for 2010.

 2010 Highs

• My best marathon timing of 4:00:51 in India at SCMM 2010
• 75K at the Bangalore Ultra 2010 in course record time of 8:56:04
• PB 5K time of 22:55 at the Duathlon 2010
• My longest ever distance of 81Km run/walk at Strides Of Hope 2010
• Longest ever cycle ride to Nandi Hills covering 133Kms in 8hrs 15 mts

2010 Disappointments

• The transition times at the Duathlon 2010 that messed up my overall timing for the event
• Not being able to go for Athens marathon due to a personal reason
• Quads injury in August possibly due to the long cycle ride
• Missing my target times at ING Hartford marathon (FM)  and Midnight marathon (HM)  by a whisker

2011 Goals

• Sub 3:59 at SCMM 2011 - it will be challenge to shave nearly 2 minutes of my last year's timing
• Other marathons
• Auroville in February
• Hyderabad in August (target sub 3:55) - hopefully this will happen in 2011
• Kaveri Trail Marathon in September
• Bangalore Ultra Marathon in November (50Km or 75Km)
• Ambitious goal of sub 48 minutes in Sunfeast World 10K in May
• Stay on feet for 24 hrs and cover 120Km+ at Strides of Hope 2011 in January 

Of course, with a likely new job in 2011(31st December is my last day of work at my current job and I am starting 2011 with a few weeks off) I am a bit apprehensive as to whether I would be able to keep up my running schedule of the last few years. As usual I hope to start the New Year with a run - I have managed to do this since 2003. This year I am targeting 35K with a bunch of BHUKMP runners - my longest since Ultra 2010 and the last long run before SCMM 2011 two weeks away.

With Midnight Marathon done, the focus shifts to SCMM 2011

After the Midnight marathon on 18th December , where I ran a 'Half Marathon' , the focus now shifts to the Mumbai Marathon on 16th January 2011.  I had a reasonably good run at the MM completing the 22Km Half marathon in 1:52 at an average pace of  5:07 per Km (vis-a-vis an average pace of 5:02  per Km in 2009 and my target pace of  4:58). Yes, the race organisers goofed up badly in calibrating the run loop as a result of which HM runners ended up doing 22Km instead of 21.1Km and the FM runners 44Km instead of 42.2Km! It is ridiculous for such an error to happen in a professionally organised event specially as it was a straightforward road route that could have been  easily measured using a Garmin. What made it worse was when the race director from Crossover (Neeraj Varma) initially refused to accept that there was any issue with the distance calibration. When pressed and told that it was more than it should be he dismissed it casually saying as long as it is not short there was no issue - shows complete lack of appreciation of the training and effort required to run these distances.

The incorrect distance was not the only issue with the event this year which was poorly organised compared to last year. When we reached the bib collection counter around 10:30 PM after leaving our car in the parking lot of Ramagondanahalli School a few hundred meters away we were shocked to find that all HM Bibs were over. It looks like the organisers did not keep asid bibs for runners who had resgistered online in advance. After a long wait and lot of confusion runners were given bibs of other events such as the relay with HM scribbled on the bib. Soon even these bibs were over. And several HM runners ran without bibs - they were apparently given the timing chip free of charge. Collection of the timing chip was another big chaos with a long, slow moving line. Apparently these got over as well and several runners were left to run without one. I, like many othe runner friends, had decided not to take the chip - given that the timings were anyway not accurate last year. I collected my finishers medal and certificate(with time inserted as per my wish) soon after completing the run. Thirty minutes later there was a huge queue for this as well. And (what a surprise!) the organisers ran out of these well and have promised that they would be couriered to the runners. I understand non of the FM finsihers received either the medal or the certificate. With such a pathetically organised event I need to think hard whether to do this again next year. The only positive is the race itself cannot be easily screwed up since the run route is very short and this serves as a good tempo run towards my training fro Mumbai which follows a few weeks later.

The HM and FM were flagged off at about 12:14am after some announcements and speeches from the organisers and a local politician. I managed to pull myself away from the crowds after a few minutes and keep an average pace of 5:03 minutes per Km for the first two and half laps(11Km). The route was on one side of the divided road so there was complete traffic control. There were frequent water stations and thankfully the volunteers wanting to ink the bib at the turnaround point were missing. It was nice to see many familiar runners on the course multiple times - many doing the HM and several the FM. Chandra, Athreya and Manoj were running quite a blistering pace. My pace dropped  to 5:11 in the second half and I finished in 1:52:53. Though I missed my target by 3+ minutes(assuming about 1:48 for 21.1Km) I am satisfied. I was not feeling great either physically or mentally throughout the Saturday before the run and started the run lacking confidence that I would be able to hit my target. In any case I find it difficult to push hard in shorter distance runs compared to maintaining a reasonably steady pace in a longer run. Congratulations to fellow runners Meher and Amrita for finishing 1st and 2nd in women's FM and Arundhati and Neera for the 2nd and 3rd positions in women's HM - all of them have won decent prize money which is great!

My training has been below par the first two weeks of December - due to travel to Chennai in the 1st week of December for a wedding and short holiday(during which I ran only once) followed by travel to Tirunelveli where I had an upset stomach. However, with the 32.2Km run in 3:22 at GKVK this morning my training for Mumbai is back on track. The next two weeks are extremely critical in order to be in shape for a sub 3:59 on 16th January. I plan to do a tempo 10K run this week and next week with a fastish 20-25K in the weekend. And finally a 36Km  run on the 1st of January after which the tapering will start. Also need to ensure that one stays away from sickness and injury which ofcourse is never under one's control.

48 hours to Midnight marathon 2010

With just about 48 hours to go for this year's edition of Bengaluru Midnight marathon I do not feel as prepared and ready as I would like to be. With 2 birthdays, a wedding in Chennai and a small holiday in Mahabalipuram I have done less running than normal and much more eating than normal in the last 2 weeks. This has resulted in my adding about 4 Lbs of weight since this year's ultra . As a consequence I am quite apprehensive about bettering my time of  1:46:03 from last year. My goal is/was to run below 1:45 , that is, at an average pace of 4:58. It is certainly going to be very challenging. In general my body finds it much more difficult to sustain a fast pace for a longer period of time as compared to doing an average, steady pace for longer distances.  My strategy is going to be to try and do the first half  in under 52 minutes and the second in a bit over 53 minutes.

Hopefully the organisation of the race will be at least as good as last year.  The route is going to be the same. With an out and back loop of 2.1 Km traffic control and aid station support should not be an issue. I hope this time there are no volunteers at the turnaround point wanting to mark the bib of runners with ink. This was very annoying last year and  impacted the momentum of runners which anyway is affected by so many turnarounds. The short loops are also a  bit  boring more so for the  runners doing the FM which includes many of my friends from  RFL .  I have decided to run only HM in this event and use it as a tempo run for the FM in Mumbai in January.  While this event is not as well organised as RFL events it is reasonably popular being only one of two road races in Bangalore(the other one is the 10K held in May). Of course running at night, though not palatable to all runners,  is a unique experience!

Ultra(2010) experience

As mentioned in my previous post I had a great 75Km run at Bangalore Ultra 2010. However, the last few hours leading up to the start of the race was not that good. As  usual I was  quite restless the previous evening/night. (Thankfully I had a pretty good night's sleep the previous two nights which is important as most runners end up being tense and restless the night before the actual event). Though I had dinner around 8PM and went to bed just after 9PM I kept getting up to check that I had packed everything: towel, extra shoes, socks, T-shirt, cap, the energy bars etc etc. Eventually went to sleep around 1030PM and woke up before my alarm went off at 2:20 am. Praveen Singh picked me up around 3:15. With a roadblock on MG road due to the metro cosntruction work we got delayed a bit getting to the parking area outside Bowring Institute on St. Marks Road. Meanwhile Dharam had reached Cubbon Park and called a couple of times. When we finally got dropped off at Cubbon Park by Jugy at about 3:40am and I got into Dharam's car I suddenly realised that a plastic bag with my running shoes and the timing chip was missing. I was extremely flustered at this discovery and quite unsure as to what to do next when , much to my relief, a runner waiting for the RFL transport came by and gave the bag with the shoes . I was still quite disturbed and forgot to thank the good samaritan properly. Dharam and I set off in his car with the Vasu, Nari, Praveen and Sumanth following in Vasu's car. It was several minutes before I calmed down.  Fortunately, our drive was quite quick and we were able to get to Our Native Village in Hessaraghatta by 4:30am. The  large flourescent sign boards  providing directions to ONV placed thoughtfully by RFL along the way were useful specially those driving to the Ultra for the first time.

On the podium before start of the race

Starting the race

Of course, the starting area was buzzing with the energy of runners - a lot of familiar ones plus many new faces from Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and outside India. At the beginning of the path inside ONV leading up to the start area was a 'on-the-runner' baggage counter where runners could store small items that they may need at a later stage during their run such as sunglasses, cap, gels, energy bars etc. This was a useful innovation from RFL. I stored one energy bar and cap here while I carried another 1.5 energy bars with me. Next to the stage was a second baggage counter where I stored my bag with extra shoes, socks, shirt and towel. Runners were busy taking pictures, checking on each others' training, timing goals etc while waiting for the start of the race. LED torches were given out to runners starting at 5am as it was pitch dark at this point. After a few announcements from A1 and A2 including the course records for the various distances the run was flagged off at 5am sharp. Running in the dark with a torch was quite an experience. Though I have done this at Auroville marathon a couple of times. I felt quite unsure of myself and started off much slower than planned.  By the time we approached the 2nd Aid Station I had to take my first of several comfort breaks. By this time Nari and I were together. We pretty much stayed together for 2 and a half loops. It was great to see Santosh Padmanabhan running comfortably despite having run over 100Km since 5PM on Saturday(13th) along with Kavitha pacing him on her bicycle. It was highly inspiring  and every time I saw them I got renewed strength to continue my run. The run route was mostly same as the previous year - vast green fields with sparse trees along the way, damp grass, mostly red mud, stretches of narrow, uneven paths and a couple of gradients - all making it  a challenging race. The one difference in the route was the turnaround point. The grove of trees through which we ran after the road section before turning around had unfortunately been destroyed.So the turnaround was on the road section itself. Once it was daylight I was able to pick up pace and maintain it in the second loop.  Nari and I completed 25KM in about 2:38 as against our goal of 2:35. By this time I had eaten half an energy bar. Unfortunately, the weather gods were not as kind to us this  time unlike the last two years. By the time we started our third loop the sun was out nice and bright. It was clear that runners, specially those doing longer distances, were going to have a tough time in the warm weather.

Though it gets a bit boring to do 6.25Km out and back multiple times the great thing about this loop is that one gets to see the other  runners multiple times irrespective of the distance they are doing. The energy and enthusiasm that the comradarie and cheering each other generates is  amazing. As we were completing the 1st loop we met numerous familiar 50K runners. And then of course the 37.5K, 25K and eventually the 12.5K runners when doing the 3rd loop. Around the middle of the 3rd loop Nari started to slow down and fall behind.  I picked up my 2nd energy bar from the 'on-the-run' counter at the start of the 4rth loop. In this loop a few runner friends who were not participating in the event this year namely Gopal, Prasad and Mac joined me for a short while. Gopal actually ran with me almost the entire 4rth loop and this helped me tremendously Without his company and engaging conversation I would have definitely done a much slower time. I ended up doing the second 25Km  in a little over 3 hours nearly 10 minutes faster than my target.  Each time one went through the start point Atul or one of the other organisers enthusiastically called out the names of the runners - this was a nice tonic to start the next loop with.

Before starting my 5th loop I walked to the baggage counter and changed my shirt and also my socks and shoes. This of course involved transferring the bib and the chip. While transferring the chip and tying the shoe laces my quads cramped quite severely giving me a bit of a scare. However, I felt OK after I ran slowly to the aid station and refueled myself. Needless to say, the last two loops were very challenging. After about 55Km or so the legs started to hurt all over , specially the Quads, with occasional (mild) cramping. From this point on I stopped at every aid station, drank a lot of water and Lucozade, ate oranges and generously used the Volini spray on my legs. I then stretched for a few seconds and walked briskly for a few minutes before starting to run again. This is something that I had experimented with during my additional 16Km run/walk at KTM 2010. That  experience enabled me to cope with the tired legs and body and warm weather in a pre-determined manner and I was able to do close to 7:30 per Km pace when running.  I caught up with Chandra at the Aid Station around the 60Km  mark in the 5th loop and was able to slowly push ahead. By this time I was certain that I would be able to finish in about 9:15 or so.    

Surprisingly for me I felt really great in the 2nd half of the last loop even though it was past 1PM and  the few  runners on the trail were distributed sparsely. Once I realised that a sub 9 hr timing was within the realm of possibility I picked up pace and almost sprinted the last 2Kms finishing the race in just over 8 hours 56 minutes!! At this point in time I felt strong enough to  perhaps turn around and attempt one more loop - however I decided against that.  I think I am very fortunate that my body is able to handle heat better than most other runners.  Chandra finished a few minutes after me in 9:09. Praveen completed in 9:41 and Nari in 10:22 - the 3 of us doing our 1st 75Km at the Ultra!! I thought the lunch was quite ok this time around though many other runners felt otherwise.

Overall very satisfactory event including great organisation from the RFL team -despite the harsh warm weather runners enjoyed themselves thoroughly! Several runners did their longest ever distance and many achieved their PBs. And hats off  to the 100K runners ! Of course I was aching all over for a couple of days. Special mention must be made of the stiff upper back and a new purple toe that I collected . And the fact that the right glut and hamstrings were sore for longer than normal - it is ususally the left side that is weaker and hurts more.

Now on to the last event of the calendar year which will be a Half Marathon for me at the Midnight marathon on 11th December.

Great 75K run at Bangalore Ultra 2010

A quick post exactly one week after Bangalore Ultra 2010 to say that everything went as per plan on race day and I had an excellent run bettering my goal of 9:30 by a good margin. I finished my 75Km run quite strongly  in 8:56:04  - a course record for the distance - this despite the weather being much warmer than it has been the past two years. With an easy paced 11Km run today the recovery has also been quite smooth.

Lots of runners did amazing timings this year specially from BHUKMP. Click here for the list of winners and here for full results. Here are the top timings for some of the distances/categories.

37.5K Men's Open
1. Nitin Gupta 3:14:54     2. Thomas Bobby Philip 3:21:35  3. Abhishek Roy 3:32:39 

37.5K Men's Senior
1. Ashok Nath 2:58:26   2. Kothandapani K C 3:17:12    3. Ajith K 4:17:01 
37.5K Women's Open
1. Shilpa Deo 4:24:44     2. Vaishali Kasture 5:03:38 

50K Men's Open
1. Nigel Armstrong 3:57:04   2. R.Srinivasan 5:06:10   3. Priyankar Mukund 5:19:33 

50K Men's Senior
1. Paul Hemson 4:54:24  2. Siddesha 5:07:06  3. Daniel Richarad Vaz 6:14:27 

50K Women's Open
1. Meher D'Mello 5:09:12  2. Amrita Mitra 5:37:04 3. Roshni N Rai 7:01:12 

75K Men's Open
1. Bhasker Sharma 8:56:04 2. Chandra Sekhar Katuri 9:09:31 3. P Sundar 9:22:09

75K Men's Senior
1. Randeep Singh Arora 11:17:16 2. Jagdish Damania 12:27:34 3. Ravi Raman 13:09:54

75K Women's Open
1. Fumie Terahata 11:07:31 2. Vineeta Singh 11:23:20 3. Sabine Tietge 12:35:53

75K Women's Senior
1. Chandra Gopalan 12:59:39 

100K Men's Open
1. Jacob Boopalan 11:09:59 2. Athreya Chidambi 12:06:19 3. Praveen Kumar Vakde 12:39:04 

100K Women's Open
1. Cath Todd 11:03:00  2. Emma Rogan 11:33:12 

Countdown to Bangalore Ultra 2010

With the Bib and T-shirt collected a couple of days ago, the last training run done and the pre-race ritual of a haircut and nail clipping completed, the 48 hours countdown   to the 4rth edition of the Bangalore Ultra on 14th November has commenced. And the excitement and nervousness is building up among the running community in Bangalore. Any RFL event is now highly anticipated by the running community in India and the ultra is ofcourse the most challenging of these events. Personally for me this is going to be the longest run in a race(not counting the 81K run/walk at Strides of Hope in February 2010). After running 52K at the 1st edition of the Ultra in 2007 and 50K in 2008 and 2009 I am targeting the 75K this year.  With training runs of 58K and 53K within the last 2 months I am reasonably prepared for this. The lingering mild cold and sore throat is a bit of a concern. And of course the various (hopefully imaginary) aches and pains - which runners experience during the last few days leading up to a race. I know it is eventually going to be a battle of the mind on race day. Though the route has changed a bit this year it is still a 6.25Km out and back course. Running 6 laps to complete 75K could get a bit boring (and lonely towards the end) .This will certainly add to the challenge. One will also have to see how it will be to have 800 runners on the trail at the same time. I assume some of the faster 25K and 37.5K runners will be hindered a bit.

With over 50 runners registered to run distances of 75K and 100K this Sunday, the Bangalore Ultra has come a long way in the last 4 years mirroring the growth of long distance running community in the country. There are several good friends from RFL who are among the 27 runners registered to do the 75K this year: Praveen Singh, Dharam, Chandra Gopalan, Sabine, Preeti, Nari, Jugy etc. And ofcourse Chandra Karturi will be doing it for a 3rd year in a row!! He was the winner in the 75K category last year with a time of 9:21:45.

Here is a summary of the top mens performers  of the last 3 years for this distance:

2007 (78K)

1 Jacob Boopalan 7:38
2 Mukesh Singh 8:57
3 Madhu Avasarala 9:03

(Note : these are amazingly awesome timings!!)

2008  (75K)
1 Athreya Chidambi 9:05:43
2 Chandrasekhar K 9:30:00
3 Subramanian K 10:39:19

Senior
1 Sunil Chainani 11:20:14

2009 (75K)
1 Chandra Sekhar Katuri 9:21:45
2 Navin Thangiah 10:19:52
3 Nandesh P 11:37:40

Senior
1 Jagannath Raju 11:16:25
2 Rahul Varghese 11:30:30
3 Ajit Oak 14:58:00

My goal is to try and complete the 75K in around 9.5 hours at an overall average pace of 7 minutes 36 seconds per Km. Depending on how it goes I would be thrilled if my timing is close to 9 hours. However, I will be quite satisfied if I am able to complete in under 10 hours and feel strong at the end. Dividing the race into three parts of 25K each my plan is as follows:
- First  25K in about 2 hours 35 minutes at an average pace of 6:15 per Km
- Middle 25K in about 3 hours 10 minutes at an average pace of 7:30 per Km
- Final 25K in about 3 hours 45 minutes at an average pace of 9 minutes per Km
 
I have set the high pace alert in my Garmin to 5:35 per Km to avoid going too fast(in the first couple fo laps!) and low pace alert to 8:45 to manage the average pace during the last two laps.
 
Finally I hope the weather is as perfect as it was the last two years with the sun not coming out till after 2PM. Here's wishing the RFL organising team and all the runners a wonderful, enjoyable event!!