Did the stars line up this year?

An update on this blog is long overdue, and it is just apt to write about the run at Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon last Sunday (17th January 2016), and also look at how the training went last year.

SCMM 2015 experience
To start with, I was battling stiffness in my left ITB and hamastrings post the 12-hr stadium run in July 2014. This flared up during the Hyderabad Marathon in August. This put me into a recovery mode with minimal training. SCMM 2015 was run with the goal not to induce cramps. I teamed up with MurthyRK (MRK) and Kishore Kumar (President) to run a 5:10 pace. The strategy worked well with me reaching the top of Peddar Road feeling very fresh. I went overboard the next few kms to push myself into tired zone. However the better of cramps caught me after a sudden move at 39K. To summarize, stiffness slowed me down very much in the last few kms, however, I finished at a very respectable 3:42:10. I was very happy because of two factors: 1. Felt fresh after 35K into the race, 2. Pushed cramps to almost the end of the race.

Training in 2015
Time constraints becoming a challenge, I had to drop out of Pacemakers training. However, I continued training on my own with a little bit of deviation. Fortunately, I also found a training partner Vijay (who had done a sub 13:00 4K in his school days). Strong runner, however lacking conditioning and experience. Our training paces coincided so well that training became a pleasure.
The other aspect was that, I was training mostly empty stomach to induce fat burning. Together we had done a few 30K+ runs with 500ml of water and electrolyte between the both of us. Like me, Vijay was also facing stiffness issues and at some point of time, we had to stop training because of that. However, few months of consistent training had improved both aerobic base and fat burn capabilities to a very good degree.
I improved my timing for 10K to 41:58 on a very tough course, even though I was bogged down with cramps during the 2nd half. In Spirit of Wipro Run during September, the cramps was so bad that, I ran with pain from the 4th km. Luckily, I wasn't racing. At this time, I decided to go for treatment (active muscle release) for a longer duration with a physio.
This was a challenge as I didn't know of good physios around my place. Traveling everyday for more than a week everyday wasn't an option. I settled for a sub-optimal solution and convinced the physio about the problems by the third day. The treatment was for a whole 9 days, and every day was more painful than the previous. In the end, the treatment yielded great results, give or take a few days.
Post the treatment, running was totally different. It was like using a different set of muscle everytime I ran, akin to learning running for the first time.

Training for SCMM
Ideally I would like to train about 18 weeks for the marathon distance, and in the worst case atleast thirteen weeks. However, the physio treatment didn't allow me so much time. On top of this, most muscles had to be retrained. It was like re-learning running. Till about mid-November, my long runs were terrible, and anything in excess of 25K proved to be a challenge. I lost about of two weeks of training, courtesy, floods in Chennai and a viral infection post that.
Luckily for me, the next two long runs one for 35K and another for 40K went well, as I had planned. To top this up, I had a week long shutdown at work. I did a couple of long rides on my road bike and a few intense workouts. No work meant that I could catch up on sleep and get good recovery.
Tragedy struck again in the form of a folliculitis threatening to a full blown infection. The 1st picture shows my right leg swollen with the infection, just a week before the race.

Though the swelling subsided in a few days, I was on a weeklong antibiotic course with the last pill on morning before race day. The one last pill was promptly skipped considering the proximity to raceday. However, I completed most of my training with the exception of one long run, the week before raceday.
To summarize, I trained only about 30% of what I would have trained for a normal marathon race.

Prerace Preparations
We arrived in Mumbai the previous morning and stayed in a hotel close to the start. I kept my lunch and dinner light given that I usually have GI problems enroute. Strangely, after all that lost training and the infection, I was feeling good before the raceday. However, I was very skeptical about the outcome on raceday. I was in two minds when coach Pani sir asked me to pace a fellow Pacemaker to a 3:40 finish. Personally, I felt that I might let down given the problems I had in the last week. I didn't want to commit to something that I wasn't sure of.
With Suresh S (running HM) sharing my room, the logistical problem of bathroom was partly solved. Despite the light lunch and dinner, I had bowel movements for a record 4 times with all that pre-race anxiety.
I decided to drop all the extra weight that I would need to carry. No cap, no sunglass and not even a water bottle or changeover clothes to be deposited at the baggage counter. Thanks to that, I could get a fast entry into Azad Maidan, while my friends with bags had to wait for a few more minutes.
Still at crossroads, I carried two pairs of shoes, Nike Flyknit Racers (which have a cramped toebox and you end up with painful feet > 35K) and Vibram Fivefingers (which has less cushioning and hence more pounding on the feet). After Suresh confirmed that the Nikes are lighter, I decided to stick to them. As for carrying the gels and salt caps, I just stuck to my Kalenji waist belt minus the water bottle.

The Race
After we had finished our warm up at Azad Maidan, as we headed to the start line, the A and B corrals were already mixed up. I quickly moved through people to move to the front as much as I can. However, when I got to the start point, it was already a minute after the race had started. Starting so much behind meant that I had to wade through the crowd all along for the next 2 kms. On the positive side, this also helped me warm up slowly. Over these 2kms I would have lost a complete minute.
My strategy was to stick to the 1st 10K for 51 minutes and hit the half time mark at 1:46/1:47. I had to drop down pace if my HR hit 165. Though the minute was lost, I got to the half time mark at around 1:46:30, just as I had planned. I went past coach and gang just around the 9th km mark. They were running steadily. Given the late start, I also met several people en route. Bhasker Sharma, Sandy, Vinit Mehta, Sunil Shetty, Narayan, Sameer, Mani Iyer, Gajendra, Shivnag. This gave a good boost to my confidence.
As I was getting on the sea-link, I was running alongside Roopali Mehta, and I took the winds asking her to stay close and stay behind. I was closing on Neera by this time, and the gap was around 100m.
Both me and Roopali stuck together till the 29th km, with me asking her to move ahead if she wanted as I was stiffening up. At this time, I was feeling great with my HR still in the low 160s, and I was hitting target pace of 5:00 easily.
Just short of the 29th km, I coughed badly because of dry throat and this rippled through my left hamstring resulting in cramp. To add to that, I stopped suddenly. I walked about twenty paces, let the cramp ease up and continued ahead. A quick check on my Garmin, and the pace was 5:15. A back of mind calculation meant that I'll lose about 4 minutes in the remaining distance. By this time, Roopali was ahead by about 150m. Thankfully, this gave me a moving target, as I ran cautiously without aggravating the cramps further.
I would take another 11 km to catch up this 150m distance.
As I reached Peddar road, I was feeling great. I chugged along though the pace dropped to 5:30. As I reached the top, my HR read 168. Phew, this gave me lots of confidence, though I could still feel the cramps. I used the downhill to relax, without pacing up further.
The next thing I remember is that my feet started paining around 36K (as expected), thanks to the cramped shoes. The 39th km and 40th kms never seemed to come, with all that pain.
By this time, I was closing in on both Neera and Roopali. While Roopali had stopped on the route, I quickly gave her a shout, but she was going to take longer. As I passed Neera, I asked her to tag along. In her own style, she asked me to carry on.
The cramps would strike one more time, but I had no room to play with this time. I dropped the pace further and chugged along without stopping.
The usual drama of screaming for the way ahead and weaving through the walkers continued in the last km, till about 500m to go. From here I sprinted all the way to the finish of 3:35:36 (17 seconds better than earlier). Both Neera and Roopali ended up with gold in their respective age categories.

With Roopali Mehta (Picture courtesy: Prasad Naik)

Am I happy?
Dragging me away are ...
1. A week before the race, I wasn't sure if I would race or not, and took antibiotics for a complete week.
2. Most of my training was washed out. I did only about 30% of the required training for the marathon.  My long runs weren't on track till about a month to the race.

On the positive side,
1. My weight has been on a steady decline. During the 1st week of January I tipped 60kg on the scales. This is the least I have weighed in over two decades.
2. I had been regular to the gym, and have been building a good aerobic base.
3. Positive attitude through the race. At about 25th km, I was feeling a bit tired. I reminded myself that this is usually the toughest part of the race, and chugged along.

To look at the last four years, 2013 and 2014 were wasted opportunities with cramps ruining my race post 25km. 2015 was an extremely good finish, given that I was recovering from a serious ITB injury. While 2016 is just another year gone by, I have positives to count on.

1. The long nemesis of cramps is being dealth with (professionally).
2. My fat metabolism has improved and my body composition is getting better.
3. A perfectly executed race on the nutrition front.

Did I give a 100%?
Absolutely. As I am writing this blog (three and a half days after the finish), I can still feel the soreness on my glutes and hips. Even after five gels in the race, I felt tired on the race day and the next. And that makes me happier to have given a whole hearted effort.

The deeper you dig...

Here's my experience of the Hyderabad Marathon I finished last Sunday.

Just to set the context correctly, I had done a 12-hr run covering 95kms in Bangalore Kanteerava stadium three weeks earlier. I had also done a marathon distance at the hilly TRORT course the previous week. (I have done two 100K+ runs over the last two years). I have run the same course last year as a four and a half hour pacer. Having said that, (I expected) the challenge this time around would be to see how much I have recovered from the 12-hr run. And I haven't run anything at all in the interceding three weeks.

My plan (otherwise without the 12-hr run in the equation) was to run a competitive timing and to push for a 3:30-3:45 finish based on the feel and the conditions. When I started or planned for the run, I just couldn't predict my capacity. The plan was changed to a easy run with some of the Chennai runners (including my college buddy Manivannan Vangalur), aiming for a 4-hour finish.

I started the run slowly and did the first few kms at a 5:25 pace, allowing time for water. For the first loop around Hussain Sagar lake, I stuck with Naresh & Sridhar. At the end of the loop, I fell behind to attend a nature call. I joined the Chennai runner gang of Manivannan, Praveen Giriya and Arvind Kumar, allowing them to catch up for a few seconds. The first 10K was finished in around 55 mins.

The next 10K was a chatty run with the gang, and all of us were maintaining a good pace. As the day broke, I started to notice that my HR was unusually high for the effort being put in. (It was in the 170s, while at TRORT it was sub-150 for three-fourths the distance). Life continued on despite the higher heart rate till the 20th km.

Briefly after the 20th km marker, I felt a slight twitch on my right ankle. (This was just one aspect I was unprepared for the race. I had forgotten to pack my salt tablets). Quite thankfully, Arvind had a bunch and I borrowed one from him. The next few water stops, I was screaming for salt till I felt that it was brought under control.

Through this ordeal, the gang managed to build a lead of 200-300m. At 28th km, the dreaded Gachibowli flyover wasn't diffcult, but I took a longish walk break at the peak, not wanting to push the HR higher. This was the slowest km clocked till then. My 4-hour target had gone for a toss by now, and I mentally adjusted the target by 5 mins.

Suresh (fellow-Pacemaker) was standing near the fork-point, where the half-marathoners split, and cheered me up. After the turn, I realized that Manivannan and Arvind had slowed down, and were walking. I gave a shout to Manivannan and caught up with him. Arvind had realized that 4-hr target is dead, and was going to walk the rest of the course. I too joined them, and the next few minutes was spent chatting and maintaining a run-walk strategy.

We hit the 32nd km marker at 3:30. A quick mental calculation and I suggested to Mani, "Let us do run-walk and tartget 7:30/km, we'll still finish sub 4:30". Arvind must have been too tired by then, he joined and then dropped off. Mani too fell behind to stay with him. As I started to run, my right ITB had become very stiff, and was very difficult for me even to lift up the right leg.

The option of walking was ruled out. I was condemned to running the next ten kms as whatever pace I could manage. I have run-walked many marathons. The comfort factor is that if you get too tired, you take a little break, give rest to your running muscles, and walk. But today, that life support had been removed. Either I run to the finish or DNF.

I have run in Hyderabad for the last two years. The first year, I did a half-marathon, and it rained toward the finish. Last year, it had rained the previous day, and the temperature was cooler. The Sun God, having missed the race for the last two years, blessed AHM amply compensating for those years as well.

As I chugged on, my pace would sometimes droop to 7:30/km, the danger line for the 4:30 target. I was expecting a bit of shade after entering the Hyderabad Central University campus. But the terrain was completely parched. One of the volunteers commented that we didn't have any rains this year during the monsoons.

Each km marker I crossed, I would check against the time left for me to cover the remaining distance. The markers were about 600m off initially, but that difference was made up in the last few kms up till 41st km. The 42nd km was again off. Each of those markers, I calculated my target pace and it was a close call to the 4:30 finish.

I am accustomed to walking at aid stations to aid water intake. But today was different. I had to invent a new style of walking mimicking the running motion, not to engage the ITB muscles. Sure, the volunteers at the aid stations must have a field day just watching me.

As I reached the 41st, just at the gate for the stadium, there was a pleasant surprise. The entry gate had been switched from the farther one to the nearer one. There were runners all along the place walking in droves. Unable to raise my voice, I just kept signalling to them to give way. To my surprise, the 42nd km marker was short by atleast 400m (with the 41st km seemingly in place).

While, I wasn't able to stretch myself and sprint, I had enough juice left in me to up my cadence. I picked up a little pace, and moved faster towards the finish. A few more seconds must have passed before I realized and stopped by stop-watch. It read 4:26:15.

I tell my friends that long distance running is like a sand-pit. The deeper you dig, the deeper it becomes, and more it holds. Not even in any of those three ~100km runs, I had to dig in deeper as I had to do today. My back pushed to wall, I had to keep running with the sun beating down brutally. To my luck, this run was capped at the 42nd km.

Two marathons and a 12-hour run in the last four weeks, and I cannot ask for more. I will not, for sure. My next step is recover well, before taking on another big race.

As I had mentioned earlier, the weather was brutal today. Some of the fellow runners didn't have kind words for the organizers. But here's my honest opinion. "If you think that the weather is tough, you should be sitting indoors than running. The organizers and volunteers did their best to support the runners. Hydration support on the course was excellent, with the volunteers holding water bottles, electrolyte and other refreshments every two kms, and more often in the final kms."

Mysore Bangalore Run - The Genesis

Having finished the TCS10K in May 2013, albeit in flying colors, I was preparing for the next event. After considerable thought and deliberation I let go of the training for Hyderabad Marathon, as I couldn't afford to mix the training with ultra-distance runs. It is during this time, I was in constant touch with Shreyas for planning ultra runs though none of them materialized. Shreyas had indicated that he wanted to do an ultra distance run, preferably Bangalore to Mysore. 

My plans for the rest of the year were scuttled by a long-pending US trip, both for work and personal purposes. I decided not to register for Bhatti Lakes last minute, as I had to travel the week before that. The much anticipated Bangalore Ultra was also missed.

Having missed Ultra distance runs in 2013, it was always in the back of my mind to run an ultra distance nearing 100 miles in the coming months. However, the plans were put-off till SCMM. 

A month after SCMM, when I approached Shreyas, he had many ideas, but we couldn't conclude on how we could make the run practical.

I had known earlier that Shreyas was trying to arrange a ultra-run with Vishwanathan Jayaraman, a barefoot popularly known as the Hubli Express. When I approached him, he readily said yes, and that he could affort only a single day run, which led us to finalize on Bangalore to Mysore.

When I approached Dharmendra, he readily agreed. However, he had some constraints with the dates as he was involved in organizing many events on behalf of his group Proton Runners. The only date he had in mind, March 9th, seemed to work with all the three of us.

Kieren, is the no-problem man. As long as it didn't clash with this exams, he was ready to do any distance, any where, any time. Shreyas had some constraints with the dates, with some upcoming family events conflicting with our date. However, with the four of us opting, we had critical mass, and I decided to start planning. 

Dharmendra had another constraint that he wanted to participate in the Bangalore Unity Run which was scheduled on March 9th. So we tweaked the event around, and changed the start point to Mysore, that would enable him to attend the Unity Run.

With the date finalized, I approached Giridhar Kamath, (who is like a Eveready battery, always full of energy, and always ready), who readily agreed. He had been the backbone of the support team, committing the first support car for the whole duration of the race. Brijesh had once mentioned that he would crew me for my next Ultra, and I used this opportunity. He was the trainer-cum-coach, who kept us fit through the run with his stretches.

Sakthi joined in after I posted the event on facebook.

While Saroja wanted to join in, she wasn't sure how to. With Dileepan opting in two days before the race, that brought in new strength to the team. The second support car had been very valuable. It is like oxygen. We only notice it, when we dont have it. 

Kieren filled in his share with the two volunteers he brought in. Andrew Teron, cycled and ran through the course, and was with Kieren for the duration of his run. Joshua Fernandes, who stuck to Vishy, for a major part, and with me during the last part. Like Andrew, he also spent time on the whole course either on his feet or on his wheels.

Patrick had been planning to run a longer distance run, and joined in to fulfill his marathon for his birthday. Patrick and Shaiju started along with the Ultra runners, and completed a marathon. This was Shaiju's first marathon ever.

Dharmendra brought in Jen Chocken, who finished 42K on feet and another 8K on wheels, to complete 50K for the day.

We would have been happier if we had someone who was medically trained, either a qualified doctor, or a physiotherapist. That didn't materialize till the last minute. We decided to carry on, without any medical support.

Another year, still more to learn

The preparations for Mumbai marathon were going full steam in September, with the coach preparing us for longer and longer runs. The first setback happened in Mysore Marathon, when I was feeling stiffness in the left hamstring. This pain apparently disappeared after ten minutes of warm up. A visit to a local physio followed, and came up with nothing.

Every half-marathon has been a painful experience for me, with me having energy during the last few kms, but couldn't push, running on the brink of cramps. This year was no different. I ran two HMs, DRHM in July and Mysore Celebration HM in October. In both cases, the experience was the same. The stiffness that occured in Mysore pushed me on the backfoot for two weeks.

A long pending trip to the United States materialized. I was thrilled at first, at the opportunity of running on traffic-free roads. And I trained after arriving in US, but only for two weeks. My hectic travel schedule soon caught up. With sleep and rest taking precedence over workouts, meant that a better part of the training was missed.

As I arrived in December 1st week, I had seven weeks to go for SCMM, which was just sufficient to prepare for the distance. As I would soon find out, I had lost a considerable amount of training base. A quick discussion with the coach led to reworking the plans. I needed to boost my core strength which had always been my weakness.

The next setback came in the form of a weeklong vacation to Goa. Although I didn't miss any training, this one came in the form of good food. And with it, extra weight. At the end of the vacation, with two weeks to go the race, I was 3kg more than my preferred racing weight.

And hence the preparations began. I went on a special diet, which will be revealed after patenting it. I kept tracking my weight everyday,  doing my core workouts. Two everyday, each of twenty minutes, the core workouts, were aimed at taking me to the startline with just sufficient strength. And thus, was my preparation for the greatest organized marathon in India.

Prerace:
As luck would have it, we were spared from the massive traffic jams after arriving in Mumbai. With all the expected delays at the expo, and a late lunch, Dipankar (the Ironman) and myself checked into our room at 4pm on the previous evening. With the race next day, the next two hours were wisely spent sleeping.

With the group leaving us to catch up for dinner, we spent an hour walking to each and every Kamat restaurant in the Fort area, only to find that they had finished dinner already. We must have walked for atleast an hour. I kept reminding Dipankar that it will take only a short hard sprint to make the pre-race carb-load effective. With him declining to join for the sprint, dinner was finished in the restaurant downstairs.

Missing dinner also meant that I couldn't catch up with the rest  of the team for race planning. A short discussion with the coach left me confused. While I was confident of running a target of 3:30, his plan meant that I would have a deficit of 4 minutes into 32nd km, and it would tough to catch that up in the rest of the race.

The start:
Come morning, butterflies kept flying in my stomach. An extra visit to the toilet meant that I missed the group starting from the hotel. I was worried if the stomach would bother me again in the race like last year, when I had to hit one of the toilets on the course. All roads in Mumbai led to the marathon start at that hour.  I was pleasantly surprised to enter the subway station before we were led into Azad maidan.  I didn't miss much as I caught up with the team for the warm-up. I would manage to miss the team once again and finally catch up with them at the start line. Finally, all was well at the startline.

At the start, I had an half-hearted plan to join coach, atleast for the first ten kms. However, I tagged along  Rama(krishna), another member of our group, expecting the others to catch up. Rama is a 1st time marathoner, but a strong 10K runner. My expectation was that he would finish the target time comfortably. The first 10K was done in 48 minutes, about two minutes faster than what I was expecting. Rama would have run much faster if I had not held him and slowed him down.

I kept watching my heart rate, and never allowed it to exceed beyond 165. On uphills, it went over to 170s, but was soon brought down.

With Rama shooting off after 10kms, I caught up with Suresh Seshadhri, who was running strong, than what we have known. A brief chat followed, and he whispered that he was trying to BQ, conserving all the energy. I kept up to him and assured him that I'll lead him to the finish.

I was feeling strong headwinds as we reached the sea link. My immediate reaction was to tuck along behind somebody to escape the winds and conserve energy. With Suresh ahead, I offered to shield him from the wind and asked him to draft me. He lost patience after a while and moved ahead. I would notice later that this was the steepest stretch on the sea-link. I was tagging along with him for the next five or so kms.

As the kms passed one by one, flashback of last year's memories caught up. This was the same stretch I was running double faster last year to catch up with the rest of the team. As the 25th km passed, I was a bit happier. That's where I caught cramps first last year. I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten one of the salt pills and took them.

Suresh was running ahead of me, pushing the pace higher. I was catching up with him, not wanting to push it. And then, it occured, a sharp shoot in the left hamstring. This had been my weakness all along for this year. Knowing the routine, I walked and stretched the hamstring for a few seconds and took off. Having lost about a minute in the process, and the next kms, coming in at 5:05-5:10, I wasn't worried much. I still had a bank of a minute and a half.

I ran the next few kms, looking ahead for Suresh. I couldn't find him anywhere. He must have gone fast. As I continued along the stretch of Marine drive, the faster runners were crossing in the opposite direction. Our pack of lead runners Bobby and Brijesh passed. While Brijesh was looking ok, Bobby was dying. He has had a minor issue in the last week, and that must be taking its toll. Soon, I spotted other faster runners including Manoj.

Cramps stuck in the 32nd km again and the routine followed. And this would cost me the remaining 90 seconds. I was starting to be worried about the target now. Just then, Coach Kothandapani Sir and Neera passed me. That gave me a morale boost, and I continued along with both of them. Neera, having already pushed till then, was very tired. She was holding on to the second position in the women's category. I cheered her up and continued with them.


My agonies continued and I soon left them to go. I gathered all the energy that I had and focussed firmly on coach, who was running ahead of me, and pulled myself. Then came the dreaded Peddar road uphill. My pace dropped as I continued along. I kept telling myself, that there is a gradual slop all the way to the finish.

Apart from this dreaded uphill, Peddar road is also known for the numerous residents coming onto the streets to support the marathoners. You would see them as early as 6:15am during the starting leg of the race. In general, crowd support in Mumbai is far better and would lose only to the active running community in Chennai. There will be people at all places. But in Peddar Road, they'll be in droves.

I make it a point to cheer the kids in the Peddar road, when I pass along. I happened to encounter two kids, the first who couldn't let go of the water bottle. The second got a "Thank you, Chotu" in the hindi I knew.

Soon, I caught up with coach. By this time, Neera had gone ahead. Worried of a hamstring pull that happened last year, coach was holding himself. He was still in lead for a podium position in the Senior Veteran's category.

As the race progressed, the kms were hard to comeby. My feet were feeling cramped in the Flyknit racers, and was causing lots of discomfort. I wasn't feeling tired. However, missing to notice a few of the km markers, brought some of the morale down. As we were running the 39th km, I was running along with coach, and I had pull in my left calf once again. I had so much of strength left in me, but couldn't stretch long enough for a good stride.

Walking at a brisk pace, I stretched the left hamstring hoping that this would be for the last time in this race. Once again, with coach ahead of me, I caught up pace, and was running pulling my left leg along. The streets were flooded with the late half marathon finishers who were walking blocking the way for running. I kept screaming at the top of my voice for them to move away.

Five hundred metres to go, I was screaming at the top of my voice. Both of us were running in tandem, one behind the other.

Four hundered metres to go, I told coach to carry on, as he could sprint to the finish. I knew, if I pushed harder, I would cramp again.

Three hundred metres to go...., weaving through the sea of half-marathoners, ...

Two hundred metres to go...,

One hundred metres to go....

At last I got the courage to sprint to the finish, and ran within the limits of my cramps. I finished a couple of seconds behind coach. As I stopped my Garmin, it showed 3:35:56. This is two and a half minutes better than my last year's record.

The top runners in our group had a wonderful race, with both Brijesh (3:18) and Bobby (3:19) finishing below 3:20, and Brojen (3:29) finishing below 3:30.

Neera had finished almost a minute ahead of me. 

 As I see in my Garmin log, my heart rate was the highest at the finish.

PostRace Thoughts:
As I look back into the race, a lot of things worked well for me in the race. I tried a mix of Accel Gel and Gu Roctane, and it went down well. The salt capsules worked with the cramps limited to only the left hamstring and left calf muscles. I knew this to be a limitation.

As for the shoes, I took a big risk running in the Nike Flyknit racers. While these are lightweight, the toebox is narrow causing discomfort. I didn't have a good experience in the half marathon I ran last October.

The cramps also meant that I got enough rest periodically in the race, and wasn't tired at the finish. Much of the slowness in the second half was due to the constrained movement of legs than to tiredness.

After missing much of training this season, it was a good experience, getting myself ready for the race. Discipline in both diet and exercise helped. I did have a better base, but the machine wasn't well oiled and was ready for a breakdown. Training runs (especially long ones) didn't go very well, with me bonking on a 35K run two weeks into the race.

Considering all of that, this is a race performance to be happy with.

The goal for next year is to overcome these cramps and have a strong race of 42 kms. Till that day next year, the dreams will continue.

5K Splits: 23:55, 24:06. 23:48, 24:45, 24:19, 26:43, 27:25, 28:20, 12:35 (for 2.4K as per Garmin)

A Dream Run (still in waiting)...

Dark clouds all around, a mild drizzle on the face, and dash of salt in the breeze that comes from the Bay of Bengal. Running in your home town is always a pleasure, through the roads, that you once roamed as a kid. Most of the prominent buildings haven't changed, contradictory to what has happened in the rest of Chennai.

The week leading to the race was extremely busy at work, which meant that I could get only an average of four to five hours every day. The misery continued because of the night train journeys with the marathon day packed in-between. Luckily, this meant that my legs are adequately rested for the week. Still, I didnt skip my pre-race carb-loading with biriyani on the Friday before raceweek.

To Vibram or not to Vibram:
Knowing that I run faster on Vibrams, the question would arise why the hell do I want to go back to regular shoes for a race. Vibrams are faster, but running on minimal shoes need stronger calf muscles, for which I am yet to adapt.

With two days to go for the race, I picked up a small skin tear on my left sole in the arch, and not where the foot rests, because of a freaky accident (stepping on a sharpened pencil). It was only a skin tear, and not a muscle injury.

Regular cushioned shoes meant I'll have to cut-down my target time. Vibrams meant a big risk of injuring the calf muscles even though the distance is half-marathon.

Finally I decided on running with the Vibrams, after trying it out in the lobby the night before the race. I was sure, it wouldn't be a painful exercise, however the variable of my running form shifting subconsciously was still open.

The Target:
I wanted to go 1:35 finish, with an average pace of 4:30 per km. It seemed doable and the recent interval training runs gave me enough confidence.

The Prerace Preparation
The raceday morning was cool, but humid. We didn't feel the heat at this point.
I lost about twenty minutes in the morning because of some transportation issues. With the lost minutes and the rush in getting race bag checked in, I forgot to to have all the essentials that I had planned in my pre-race meal.

Also we reached the startline late, the first minute was a complete walk, and that continued for a few seconds after crossing the startline. I was waiting for Pani Sir, Murthy and Brijesh to join, but grew impatient and waded through the crowd for the next 500 metres. They might not have caught up. After 500m, and crossing a lot of familiar runners, I settled in nicely behind Kieren, who was running slightly faster than me till the half-way mark.

Pacemakers Murthy, Brijesh and Bobby (L to R)

The Race
Till this point everything was ok, except for the drink they had provided as glucose, which tasted more like rasna. I stopped once and walked once to sip it completely.

After the turnaround, I was my usual self exchanging a lot of greetings with the runners in the opposite direction. As I was reaching the first water point (after the turnaround), somebody called out my name, and I turned to see who it was! There was a sharp twitch in my right calf muscles. I stopped and walked about ten metres to the water stop, had salt and lime and continued cautiously. I maintained the same 4:30 pace.

It all seemed ok, till I reached the lighthouse. I might have slowed down to a 4:40 pace. After that point it was a big push, with me feeling more tired than usual. At two points, I stopped at a water point to completely sip in the water/glucose. As I continued to look at my watch, it looked like the 1:35 target was off atleast by a few minutes.

Coach Kothandapani

The last few kilometres were a struggle, with Bobby and Brijesh passing me in the last 500 metres. The thought of tailing crossed my mind when both of them passed, but with the risk of cramps I held back.

The finish
In the last kilometre, I was hoping atleast for a PB (sub 1:40:20).

The sign read 300 metres, and my Garmin showed 1:37:52. Though the 300 metres is within 90 seconds, I miscalculated and picked up pace. The final stretch was loose sand, and when I reached the finish, I stopped my Garmin at 1:39:29.

The website lists is at 1:39:00. Not a big difference given that I am capable of a sub-95. I'll wait till the chance comes.

Pacemakers gang at the finish!

Bangaloreans had a blast with three of the four golds cornered within them. There were huge celebrations at the finish point with runners dancing to the tunes of tamil numbers played by the local band.

The race organization was extremely good. Kudos to Dream Runners for pulling it off.

Edit: I noticed in one of the photographs that the starting mats were a few metres ahead of the entry barriers, which meant I recorded a better finishing time. The official finish time is 1:39:04

Reflections on SCMM & some research on Cramps

First, thanks to all of those who has been part of my 'marathon' efforts.

Having a brilliant coach like Kothandapani (fondly called as Pani Sir), meant that I was well trained for the run. Not only does he train you, but also sets you good competition (even at his age).

Training with 'Pacemakers' group, there's always constant competition, which makes you perform a notch above what you can. Apart from seasoned runners like "Barefoot" Bobby, Brijesh, Murthy, Neera, and of course, never-aging coach Pani Sir, there is also a brand-new level of competition from the emerging runners: Brojen, Bharath & Harish. And then, there are others (Pradeep, Gopal, Jagdish, Dileepan) who have a near 100% attendance record, and there are others who just motivate you with their smile, eg. Saroja. With all this company, the training workouts are just fun, no matter, how much ever the intensity is!

To look into what happened at Mumbai Marathon for me, I'll have to isolate two separate factors.
1. Race-day preparedness (in terms of the bowels)
2. Racing strategy.

Race-day Preparedness:
I had been a dieting freak all of last year, and my quickest way to lost weight without causing any harm is to have a light meal for supper. While this has helped me well, in terms of weight management, it might have worked otherwise, when it came to races. To the extent that I had been affected in two races before Mumbai (Chennai Marathon & Midnight 10K) and yet I paid no attention.

Carb-loading is an often abused word in a marathoner's dictionary. Runners (at least me) use the excuse to binge on whatever comes across in their sight. Though I had been disciplined, my eating habits leading to race day meant lighter meals for supper. On closer introspection, the heavy meal on the night before wasn't required.

I started my carb-loading on Friday (2 days before), and the pre-race night dinner was not adding much value, compared to the trouble it caused. Having a good stomach for the race is of prime importance.

Racing Strategy:
Running as a group for the 1st time, I was all excited to blaze the streets of Mumbai as the group. The plan was to stick to the group for the 1st 10 (or even 20) kms. So much that, I slowed down at two different points to let the group catch up. (I never bothered about walk breaks earlier, and felt that the time would eventually be recovered).

When I lost considerable lead to the group, the immediate plan was to stay at my own pace till 20kms. I would have eventually caught up with the group. But in reality, there were two small sprints (one each to catch Pankaj and Bhasker Sharma), and larger sprint to catch up to the group. This one was gradual and lasted nearly eight kms (17 to 24, as I see my Garmin data). The bottom-line is that I didn't stick to my plan in all the anxiety/excitement to catch up to the group.

I should have had a racing/pacing strategy, or more importantly, backup strategy, in case my original plan was to suffer a setback.

And now coming to Mr. Cramp,
there were a few thought shared, , one on fatigue, by both coach and Neera, and the other on Magnesium, by Anoop.

Though not documented very clearly (dont have enough resources to share), fatigue plays an important role, when it comes to cramps. I had trained for a certain pace, which means, my body (all running muscles) has adopted to that pace. If I run faster than my training pace, that puts extra load on the muscles. In a longer distance event like the marathon, the extra load over a sustained period could eventually lead to a breakdown and cause cramps.

Here is my evolution since I got cramps (at a much lower pace) in Auroville last year.
Auroville: Cramps at Km 17. (Pace: 10kmph) Resolution was to take more Gatorade
Hyderabad: Cramps at Km 18. (Pace: 12kmph). Gatorade didn't help. Switched to Salt (electrolytes)
Salt worked well in CTC Buckingham Marathon, and Ultra 100.

SCMM Training: 35K Time trial (Cramps at 28th Km): Looking at the data, this happened when I was trying to keep up with Brijesh and Murthy in the third loop at GKVK.
SCMM Marathon: Cramps at 24th Km: Ran 8kms faster than normal preceding the cramps.

If atleast I could have paced myself well, (keeping to the pace I have trained for), I might have avoid the cramps.

To summarize: There needs to be a overall training plan, which includes something other than running to take that extra load. In simple terms, cross-training, plyometrics, weights, could help one take the extra load.

On Magnesium:
I had been using Himalayan Pink salt, on the general notion, that there would be a wider spread of minerals. (It is my belief that medical science cannot capture and solve each individuals problems. And the solution lies in adopting simple practices. I would have stuck to common rock salt, if it wasn't refined).

The spectral analysis of this salt says that there is .16g of Mg per kg. That's negligible considering I might be ingesting 1g of salt at a time. Obviously, this salt lacks in Magnesium, and doesn't have balanced electrolytes.

It is also well known that electrolytes play an important role in muscle expansion/contraction. Magnesium also pays an important role as documented here. (This particular site talks exclusively on Magnesium.) So, to substantiate the claims, I also looked up at the composition of Endurolyte. Endurolyte contains the main electrolytes Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium in near-equal quantities. (Also they are chelated for better absorption). In addition, Endurolyte has an overdose of Vitamin-B6 (330% of daily value per tablet), which plays an important role in Gluconeogenesis.

I wish I had stuck to the simple solution of Endurolyte, given that I could have imported them. They aren't readily available in India. For those, who cannot get Endurolyte readily, the easiest and also the cheapest solution would be to stick to Enerzal which has an identical composition of electrolytes.

Ironically, Enerzal is the same energy drink supplied all through the route in Mumbai marathon. I had been avoiding it for the fear of taking it along with Endurance Gels. While I did avoid it during the initial stages of the race, I was taking it during the later stages post the cramps. Maybe this could explain how I sustained the race-pace even after getting bogged down by cramps.

The energy drink that I currently use (Gatorade) has helped me run without getting tired, but hasn't helped me in avoiding cramps. It might be a good reason for me switch over to Enerzal.

SCMM 2013: An opportunity that was missed

We never knew when the race started, as all of us were expecting a line-up at the start. As we got to the gate after the pre-race warm up, it was very crowded, and runners were getting to go out. All of us joined the crowd and raced to the start line, by which time, the start line had already been opened, and people were running past it.

While that separated myself and Bobby from the rest of the group, the others were running together about twenty metres behind. My first priorities were to get the Garmin HRM going (I am not sure why I wanted all that HR data in the first place). Everytime, I did a scan, the Garmin would pick up  many HR monitors in the range, and would not lock to the one I was wearing (which was borrowed, thanks to my good friend Murthy, who was also running the race). Finally, I had to go a little bit wide off the course, and away from the runners to get it going. Till this time, it was status quo, with Bobby and myself running together, with the rest of the group following about twenty metres behind.

As I was tuned to the idea of running along with the group, I let slowed down, let them pass and joined the paceline. The group had coach Pani sir, Brojen, Brijesh, Bharath, Murthy and now myself. Each of us were taking turns leading the group, setting the pace for every km.

The first separation from the group came at Peddar road downhills. Being a fan of downhills, I let myself roll the legs, and was more than fifty metres ahead of the group.  Shortly ahead, I took a short walk-break for the group to catch up. (I use walk-breaks regularly on my long runs, to rest the running muscles for a small time, before picking up and running again).

All was well until the 12th km, when I felt I need to take a loo-break. As luck would have it, a portable toilet was just around the corner, and I quickly got off from the group. After I quickly *did it*, I got back and started running. When my Garmin beeped at the next km, I would realize that I have lost 80 seconds, thanks to my little break.

After a quick calculation, I figured that I could catch up with the group at 21st km. (My target pace was 5:00/km while the groups was 5:10/km, which gave me a 10 seconds advantage). I ran the next few kilometres at exactly my target pace 5:00 +-1sec. Just before taking the Bandra-Worli sea link, I would cross Sandeep, who I had met two weeks earlier at RFL's fortnightly run.

As I reached the Worli-Bandra Sea Link, there was another runner from Bangalore. I would pass by Pankaj Rai on the bridge, while catching up with Bhasker Sharma was little tougher and meant more work. I didn't mind the extra pace as I was running faster to catch up with my group. All this time, my goal shifted from maintaining my race/target pace to chasing the group.

Finally at the 24th km, I was behind the group by about thirty metres, and I felt a sharp shooting pain in the left hamstring. My nemesis and my dear friend, the cramps would catch me. Not wanting to lose time, I quickly took a pinch of salt from the packet I was carrying, and walked as fast as I can, almost doing a 8 minute walking pace. Onlookers should have been surprised at why I was walking instead of running. A few minutes later, I was running back to normal, albeit at a reduced pace. Now, my goal shifted from chasing the group to covering the next 18kms with minimal damage to my target. 

During this time, a lot of people passed me, including Bhasker Sharma, Kieren D'Souza (Ultra 100 finisher), and Paripurn. As I got back full throttle on my feet again, I kept chasing Bhasker.

At the 30th km, as I cross, Murthy who had been caught with my dear friend cramps, gave me a shout. Surprised I turned back, and gave him the pack of salt I had. I was in two minds as that was the only pack I had. Though not much was left, it might have carried me to the finish line. Chasing down Bhasker, I took Enerzal wherever they were offering while continuing at the target pace.

Strangely I felt a little tired, when I was crossing the foot-overbridge, at which point of time, I still had 8 more kms to go. Pedder Road climb was a struggle, as I would lean forward and increase the Cadence, I also saw the pace drop to 10kmph. I caught up with one of the runners running ahead and chat with him. Luckily, he gave me a salt tablet which I took at the next water stop. 

It was a pity that I could not make full use of the downhill. I could swing my legs completely. 

The next few kms were a struggle as neither water nor enerzal was available anywhere along the course. (All of it had been emptied by the half-marathoners).

I got a sigh of relief as I was 40.6km on my Garmin and exclaimed only one more mile to go.

As I crossed the 1000 metres to go, there was huge relief. Just when I thought I could sprint to the finish line, my dear friend Cramp reminded his presence.

I took a quick walk break, and then ran close to my target pace, but slowly and steadily to the finish line, to finish with a time of 3:38:30.

Naturally, I am a little disappointed that I could not finish the race strongly. Given that I had 18 more kms to cover, when I got the cramps, the damage isn't significant.

As I went over the splits, this is what I found. The 10kms leading to the cramps were the fastest 10K I ran in the race at 49:10. Maybe, that'll help me look in a different direction, than mineral salts.

As for SCMM 2013, the race was superbly organized. There was wonderful people support from Mumbaikars all through the course. The route was excellent, Marine Drive and Sea Link in particular. The weather, amazing. There wasn't better that I could ask for.

There were some things that could have been better, like the how the race started, and water/refreshments along the course in the last few kilometres. By far, this would be the best race to be organized in India. Hyderabad might come a little closer, but crowd supports pulls in big points for Mumbai.

The story of my good friend Cramp is too long to be covered now. Stay tuned, to find out more.