York Marathon

 Three weeks ago, on 15th May, I crossed the finish line of an FM or Ultra for the 55th(*) time at the York, marathon and half marathon ,PA in 4:27:33. It was in line with my expectations based on the struggle of the 34K run in Bangalore 3 weeks prior to the event.  I started the training cycle in January with a target of 4:10 and quite stupidly switched to a plan for 4:00 in Feb and struggled to hit the goal in all 3 runs in any of the weeks. April was even worse probably caused by a sciatic nerve after the solo drive from Tirunelveli on 30th March. Due to this and the plans for travel and sightseeing in the 2 weeks prior to the event I abandoned any timing goal and decided to enjoy the race and complete it between 4:15 and 4:30.  I managed to get in some training runs during the week of 2nd May and 9th May in Arizona and NY respectively. Also did quite a bit of walking/hiking  in Bryce canyon national park, Grand Canyon , Sedona, and Flagstaff.   Fell a couple of times during these runs - tripping on the uneven footpath of Tempe, Arizona, and gathering some skin scrapes on the legs and hands, slipping on the pathway in  Bushmaster Park in Arizona. Did some of these runs without my Garmin 310XT device as it started taking an enormous amount of time to catch the GPS satellite. And just before the race the Garmin strap broke - so I hardly looked at it during the race. (normally during a long run or race I try and adjust my pace based on the cumulative average pace ). Though I turned on the Garmin and ran with it in my pocket the race data did not get recorded in the device(or maybe I inadvertently deleted it when fiddling with it to fix the data upload issue post the race). So I was glad that I carried my phone in the race and turned on the Racejoy application suggested by the race organiser . This is the first event that I ran with a headphone listening to the audio of an edition of The Economist magazine.

(* the 55 finishes include 6 RFL-supported runs during the 12 marathons in 12 months spree in 2008-09 and a solo self-supported marathon during Covid-19 in May 2021.  )

The 350Km drive from Brooklyn to York on Friday 14th, May took about 8 hours with a couple of breaks including  3 hours in Jim Thorpe enroute.  We checked into our Airbnb around 6PM. On 15th morning walked down to the YMCA building close by and collected the bib. There was hardly any buzz about the race in the area - just a handful of runners who had come to collect their bibs. 

Walked to the beginning of the Heritage railroad trail after collecting the bib. While the route was very green it did not look as flat as I had expected.  

After walking around downtown York and taking in the various plaques with nuggets of American history ,ate pizza on a bench along the trail and returned to the Airbnb. Decided not to do any sightseeing that afternoon and relaxed in the room. Had early'ish dinner at Hamir's Indian fusion restaurant. 

Went to bed around 10:15 and woke up at 5am after a reasonably restful night. After imbibing the usual banana(large one) , almonds, and pumpkin seeds left for the start point at 5:55am. The first of the runners were to start at 6am and my slot to start was 6:30. It was a partly cloudy morning with a  temperature of around 15c The start area was low-key with a bunch of runners warming up, few spectators, and not much other activity - the dullest I have experienced in an official event. After warming up and using the porto loo , turned on the racejoy app and started the race a little after 6:20am. 

Ran the first mile quite fast in less than 9 minutes - the half-mile road part was all downhill. The trail had several gradual gradients especially when crossing the railway track. I ran at a pace of between 6 and 6:15 per Km completing the first half in about 2:09 at a pace of 9:49/mile(6:05 per km). The trail was lush green, slushy in parts due to overnight rain. Encountered light drizzle on and off.   One or more runners were in sight most of the time though I ran alone throughout(again a first that I hardly chatted with any runner before, during or after the race) . There was a mile marker every mile and an aid station every 2 miles. Though there were volunteers at most turns/vantage points I did get baffled with the route at one point and almost made a wrong turn. The Racejoy application called out my mile splits , cumulative pace and expected finished time which started with 3:54 at the end of the first mile and then moved from  4:05 to  4:15 for the first half and then upwards of 4:20 on the last 10Km. The kudos sent thru the app by various family members and the 3 songs were welcome motivators.  As usual, the pace dropped quite steadily between 6:20 and 6:40  after 25Km. Managed the 2nd half in about 2:20 at an average pace of 10:36 per mile or 6:35/Km to finish at an overall pace of 6:20 per Km. Pretty much the same pace as the Goa river marathon in Dec 2021 which had a much tougher route and higher  humid conditions. 

The post-race snacks were nothing to write home about - chocolate milk, potato chips, pretzels, apple etc. Foam rolled and stretched on an exercise mat in the finish area for a few minutes before walking back to the room. Overall happy to have completed my 10th international full marathon - 8th one in the US (others: New Jersey marathon twice, Richmond marathon, Suntrust Washington marathon, Hartford marathon, Boston marathon, Western pacific marathon)  in spite of injury woes, below par training, and the travel/sightseeing before the race.  Based on the recovery runs so far, including the slow 21K on 4rth June will need to get my right hip/sciatic issue fixed before getting into the next training cycle to target a sub 4:15! 

Training woes continue

 There has barely been a week, in the last 6 weeks of training, when all 3 runs have gone as per plan. Intervals have always been a challenge. However, in the past I have usually comfortably met the timing goals of the tempo and long runs. However, now I am having trouble with all three runs . Probably the body is taking much longer to recover whether from a lower back strain(due to which I lost a week of training in March) or a run workout.  A 32Km run was planned for today at MP+9 pace. However by Km 10 my pace started slowing considerably and I just did not feel comfortable in the run and abandoned it after 25K at 6:31/km pace.  I have not done a 32Km run since 19th Feb - the longest such gap when training for a marathon. I managed a 30K on 6th March and 31K on 26th March. It looks like the long (550Km) drive back from Tirunelveli on 30th March has adversely affected my right glutes and right sciatic nerve.  My self confidence for the race on 15th May is very low - apprehensive  whether I would have the physical and mental energy to  be able to complete it . I need to ensure a reasonable 32-35K run on 24th April to build back the confidence . And bank on cooler weather and flat course to finish in a reasonable time!

Feb training struggles

 Lot of eating and drinking and several late nights , due to the visits of R and U and celebrations galore, derailed my marathon training quite a bit last month. While the weekly mileage was more or less ok, there was hardly any week in which all 3 training runs(interval, tempo and long run) went to plan. Switching from a goal of  4:10  to a more aggressive sub 4 , periodic GI issues and the couple of added kilos also contributed to this. The long runs went as per plan but the intervals and tempos were below par. Have always found intervals to be tough but the tempo runs have usually not been a problem.  My legs were just not moving fast enough resulting in mental weakness as well at times. Planning to make a couple of changes for the next few weeks:

- take  two days off between the run workouts - this may require converting some of the long runs to shorter easy runs

- do the intervals in the Ramohalli layout or the tracks in Bangalore university

The other option I considered is to do one of either intervals or tempo runs in a week, that is , alternate between these two. However,  the long runs being fairly on track with focus being to improve pace  decided on the above approach. If the above changes do not help then I may consider doing fartleks instead of intervals .  These and the tempo run all are supposed to help with speed and endurance.

Though training with  the 4 hr plan  for the York Marathon in York, PA on 15th May would be happy if I can finish in 4:10 or even 4:15. 

Meanwhile the Delhi marathon that was postponed from 27th February is now scheduled for 27th March. As it is supposed to be a flat, fast course where I am hoping to do a sub 4 in Feb 2023 I am tempted to run this year to get familiar with the route.  Will need to decide in the next couple of weeks.

2022 plan

 2022 has started badly for physical races due to ongoing 3rd wave(omicron) of the pandemic. For the 2nd consecutive year Tata Mumbai Marathon is not being held on the usual 3rd Sunday of January. The 2021 edition did not happen. Hopefully the event will happen later this year. I am planning to target my BQ in 2023 at Delhi and towards this was keen to run the event this year to get a feel for the flat course and the weather. However the event has been postponed from its scheduled date of 27th February. I am now training to run in the US in May as part of a 4-5 weeks holiday there(pandemic situation allowing). The two marathons that I am looking at are the Potomac River Marathon in Washington DC on 1st May and York YMCA marathon and half marathon in York, PA. Both of them are small marathons with less than 1000 runs and both are mostly trail. Of the two York seems slightly better  - however it will be in the middle of the trip and so the legs wont be as fresh. Still I am leaning towards and will target a sub 4:15 time. Other than this the year is pretty much open ended. Assuming races restart  I will target a sub 4:05 in one  towards the end of the year. 

2021 : Come back year

After lowest ever mileage of 870Km last year , 2021 was a good come back year with approximate running and cycling mileage of over 1500Km each. My TomTom GPS watch went belly up in early November and the Garmin 310XT that I have been using since then is not uploading my workout data as the Ant+ stick is not being recognized by the PC. Given that I restarted longer distances in November 2020 and was still in base building phase, I was happy that TMM 2021 got rescheduled to May 30th and began training for it. Due to the 2nd wave of the covid pandemic Procam announced the postponement of the race in the 2nd half of April and given the situation they could not give a concrete date.  Since I was anyway on a training schedule for May end I ran a slow self supported marathon on 23rd May. After this the focus shifted to increasing pace with the first goal being a sub 2 hr half marathon and then eventually a sub 4 hr marathon. I achieved the former on 14th August. (Sub 4 hr marathon got pushed to 2022). In the following week I achieved my highest ever mileage of cycling and running combined clocking about 200Km over 7 days(63K running and 128K cycling). Was happy to end the year with a full marathon at Goa on 12th Dec though falling far short of target time . Was fairly consistent with strength training 5-6 days a week - 3 days of virtual training with personal trainer S, 2 days in the gym for UB and LB strengthening and a day of resistance training with therabands. Body weight wise started the year at about 59Kg and ended at around 56.5Kg with quite a bit of fluctuation between 55 and 57.5 on a day to day basis. 

Overall a satisfying year with the peroneal tendonitis issue  hopefully put to rest on which to build on in 2022 towards a possible BQ  in 2023!!

SKFGRM 2021 - enjoyable experience despite missed goal

 

Crossing the finish line - PC MC

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outside the restaurant post lunch

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

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

Lead up to Goa River Marathon 2021

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

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

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

Training for the Goa River Marathon on 12th Dec 2021

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

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

Stretching limits

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

Summary of the week:

Saturday 14th   Run  21.12     1:55:22

Sunday   15th   Ride   98        8 hrs with 90 minutes break

Monday   16th  Rest   

Tuesday  17th   Run   11.05    1:06:10

Wed         18th   Run    10.11  1:00:33

Thur        19th    Ride   30.36  1:35

Fri            20th   Run    21.2    2:05:59

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

 

Better than goal Half Marathon on August 14th !

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

Upping pace is the focus for the next 3 months

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

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

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

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