My ear buds malfunctioned and shut down at the 30 kilometers mark. In running terms, those “hit the wall” before I did! Last year this was around the same distance that I felt a cramp and shuffled to a 4 hr 17 finish. History repeats?
Wipro Bengaluru Marathon 2023. The annual running spectacle in the silicon valley of India with the “weather acha hai” brand of coziness, attracts thousands of runners and this certainly is the best time of the year to run.
In its 10th avatar this year, a brand refresh, a new title sponsor and some impressive affiliations (AIMS to the credit) had created the right vibe and feeling of festivity in the social media. No wonder, the registrations were impressive at 25,000+ across categories.
Before even starting the training block I had implemented my learnings from the last marathon.
The Training Block
I started my training in mid June. On post analysis of my first marathon I had realised that I lacked structure to the training. I was searching for a 3:30 plan which would have six days of running and a progressive loading towards the end. I compared Hansons, Pfitzinger, Hal Higdon but ended up selecting 16 week 3:30 plan from the Runner’s World UK. Here is the link to the plan(https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/marathon/a776661/mission-marathon-training-plan-sub-330-hours/
A typical training week looked like this:
| Day | Workout |
|---|---|
| Monday | Easy + Core |
| Tuesday | Intervals |
| Wednesday | Easy + Core |
| Thursday | Progression Run |
| Friday | Rest |
| Saturday | Hills |
| Sunday | Long run |
I used to complete the “Run” part of the schedule in the morning sessions, leaving the strength and mobility sessions after the day of work!
This was an interesting plan. As the mileage increased, so did the variations. Every fourth week was made lighter to absorb the work done till that point.
Towards the third quadrant of the training block, the mileage increased to 85+ km per week. The weekend runs were also made more difficult due to progressive loading throughout the week. This is based on the philosophy of getting trained to run on your tired legs.
I had a three week taper before the event. After all the loading, the taper felt restless at first, and amazing later, as my legs recovered with some spring back.
Let me be honest here, I did have a few bad runs in these 16 weeks. I acknowledge, self-doubt is part of the entire process! This was the point I reached out to the awesome running community on X. Some came on chat, some tips were shared, and then I also had an expert consultation on my running gait*, all helped get my confidence back on track.
*Check them out https://runmechanics.in/
The 19:1 Technique
On the last 2 long runs I started trying a 19:1 pacing plan i.e. 19 minutes of running faster than race pace followed by a minute of walk. This is a variation of the popular run-walk methodology from Jeff Galloway promoted by Dr. Will O’Connor (https://drwilloconnor.com/)
I had a 3:30 target this time and the pacing plan was like this
Please note that I would not recommend implementing changes to strategy this late into the training block, the way I did.
Though I live in Bangalore, considering the 4 AM start time of the race, I stayed in a hotel nearby, to get a good night’s sleep avoiding the early morning(/late night) commute. My Garmin did not rate my sleep too kindly. Excitement had played its part.
I woke up at 1:30 AM and broke my PB for the earliest breakfast ever at 2 AM. Warm up, a few songs and a coffee were all that is necessary for the most essential part of the routine. I reached Kanteerava Stadium at 3:30 AM.
The atmosphere was festive! It looked like a decorated railway station with many colorful trains. All set ready for their journeys.
After changing to the race day wear, I found a few runners already using the side track. I joined Suresh Rathod (known as Running Rathod) for a few of his strides. He smiled and said “ hey, are you late for warm up?”.
Was I? Probably.
Hint: He ended up as one of the podium finishers later.
3:50 AM. Warm up done. I followed my warm up by having a banana, water and my first gel.
Race Begins.
KM 1-6 - 5:44 | 5:15 | 5: 00 | 5: 11 | 4: 39 | 4: 48
The peak Bengaluru moment. You can expect traffic just anywhere. I did not try to wade through the crowd though, kept it easy, there was a lot of time to make up for the lag. When we entered Cubbon park it was still pitch dark. However, this time around the organizers had put lights at a lot of places. Pleasant surprise! Else I would not have spotted the angels in green, the strategically placed staff who were cheering for us. Out to the Dr.Ambedkar Road (Vidhana Soudha road) we were greeted to the pristine view of the Vidhana Soudha. Beautiful! A bit of downhill and the greenery of Queens Park - Cubbon park stayed with us till the sixth km. I was gradually catching up for the lost time at the start. That felt good.
KM 7 to 12 - 4:55 | 5:14 | 4:50 | 4:51| 5:25 | 4:49
Kasturba Road greeted us with an ascent and the rolling hills continued through Chinnaswamy Stadium and many serpentine U turns. I lost count.
KM 13 to 16 - 4:49| 4:49 | 4:47 | 5:18
The M.G Road stretch was like life, easy at first, paying the price later and then reconciling for the rest of it! Jokes apart, keeping race pace at this stretch was difficult. Somehow someone from the crowd just had the right words for me, or I assumed he said “hold this pace sirrr”. I mean sir, how did you know exactly what I wanted to hear at that time? You genius!
Till Half Marathon - 4:54| 5:04 | 4:43 | 5:18 | 4: 47
The uphill while entering Cubbon park was a pain, the first sign of nervousness in me! Then it was a downhill and helped me enter the halfway mark in style. I crossed the half way mark at around 1 hour 46 minutes i.e. going almost as per plan. Tried to show off some speed to the HM line up, but sadly no one seemed interested! So I was out for the second loop.
The Second Half
Unlike the first loop, it was already day time when we entered Cubbon park for the second loop. The men in green were tired waving at us, but they were still going strong. The road was clear as the 2-3 hour marathoners of the world were nearing their finish and they left a lot of space for the rest of us. There is an advantage being a mid speed 3:30 marathoner like me, we get a lot of empty space. Neither fast nor slow crowd to block us. We get better race day pics!
People complain about the route of this race. However I think the route has its own merit. When you have two loops to complete a full marathon, once you close 21.1, you feel more than 50% is done!
As suggested by the genius at MG Road, I held pace till km 30.
Average of 5 minutes/km.
Then tragedy struck. Yes, the ear buds. Now I was all by myself, I am not discounting the meticulous dhol players who were trying their best to pep all of us up. At that point I had an hour to my goal, and 12 KM left in the race.
However, I was getting tired. At times I felt my walk phase of the run-walk of 19:1 was getting slower. Noooo… I was scared even to look at the watch. This feeling stayed with me till I saw the 36th km sign board.
I realized I am not going to hit the wall this time. The long runs, the training and the effort has paid off. That got me into a positive frame of mind. The crowd support towards the last phase was just amazing. Many of them were runners, who did not run the race this time and played a part encouraging us.
The Climax: 41 to 42.195
Time to push. The Kanteerava stadium was just around the corner, this is the time when the marathon becomes a sprint! Turbo mode on, I picked up pace. Crossing the line at my peak speed of the day felt like having a shot of concentrated runner’s high!
I ended up with a 3 hours 32 full marathon. My personal best and an improvement of about 50 minutes from my last one. The best part was, I was not limping, I was not crawling, I was upright walking and still had some fuel left in the engine. This moment will stay with me for a long long time. So this is it from my side, pouring out my emotions just after finishing my second full marathon, where my earbuds had a DNF and I didn’t!
Next up, Tata Mumbai Marathon. After a well deserved rest to my legs, I will jump into the next training cycle. This time, with better strength, better form and a bigger dream.
Soura is a product management professional working in the core banking domain. His work engages him creatively with products, UX, presentations and many things creative. Soura is an avid listener of songs, and podcasts. If he is not running, he would be reading, watching movies, or doing a bit of visual editing. He started running as a hobby two years back and is completely hooked in to the nuances.