I started training seriously for the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon after a less than ideal TCS World 10k event at Bengaluru. That left me with approximately 4 months from June to September to train. My weekly mileage until June was about 50 kilometers, and my half marathon PB was 1 hour 36 minutes. At that point, a goal of 1 hour 24 minutes seemed too ambitious, so I knew something had to change drastically for it to happen. I am not a fan of following a rigid training routine, and instead decided to make just 3 changes to my training - increasing my monthly mileage, slowing down paces during training, and eliminating the rest days. This approach is unconventional and may not work for everybody, but I feel that running under the sun in June and July with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius made me accustomed to the discomfort that was bound to follow in an actual race.
My monthly mileage in June, July and August was about 300, 375 and 350 kilometers respectively (most of it much at about 5:30 min/km pace), and I decided to sign up for the half marathon event at the Hyderabad Marathon as a reality check. I managed to cut about 7 minutes from my earlier PB on a Hyderabad course full of flyovers which was a sign that my training was on the right track. Hence in September post Hyderabad I decided to take my monthly mileage up to 400 kilometers, and increase my easy pace to about 5 minutes per km until the race day.
Tapering is something I have always struggled with, but on the advice of a trusted friend I decided to not train for just 1 day before the race. I was doubtful about that, but decided to follow it. Only thing different during the week before the race was my carbohydrate intake, which I’ve increased by eating more rice, sugarcane juice etc.
Thankfully, the expo was held near India Gate this time (which is a central location to most people in Delhi) which has cut down the time and effort required to reach the venue. The expo in itself was smoothly managed and picking up my bib hardly took 5 minutes. The sponsor tents, however, were too crowded so I skipped visiting those.
The race was originally scheduled to begin at 6:40 AM, but after a lot of complaints about the heat it was moved to 5:20 AM. I couldn’t sleep well the night before and was feeling drowsy when I woke up at 3 AM. I usually don’t eat before a race, but I did get a small cup of coffee to keep me fully alert and ready for the challenge.
Reaching the JLN Stadium has always been a pain because of the road closures around India Gate, which is essentially the central roundabout for reaching most places in Delhi. However, this time the organizers tied up with Delhi Metro and started the service across the network at 3:45 AM. This was a lifesaver for a lot of people including me. The starting point was about 1100 meters from the metro station, and I decided to just use that walk as my warm-up. I still had doubts whether 1:24 was on or not, but all I was sure about was that it was going to be much faster than Hyderabad.
Credit must be given to the organizers for correcting the mistakes from the 2022 edition, as there were at least 10 metal detectors at the entry gate instead of just 2 (which led to a delay of about 30 mins to just entering the stadium). Also last year the corrals were not properly enforced which led to a chaotic first kilometer, but this time there was a hard segregation in place. The restroom facilities also improved considerably over last year.
Even though the corrals were enforced, the A lineup was still too crowded to my liking, and I decided to run the opening 5km at about 3:50 pace and then eventually slow down to an average pace of 4:00. I was expecting to feel tired after this opening burst, but I felt I could continue for a few more kilometers at 3:50 pace. So I decided on the fly to take the risk of hitting the wall and maintained that pace for as long as I could.
Things went smoothly until the 12th kilometer and I was averaging 3:49 per km, which is when the half marathon route overlapped with the 10km run route till the finish line. This was a big pain for all the HM runners as that 10km pack was at 8:00 pace at best, and too many people were stopping randomly while running to click photos. I am certain that I ran more distance than required just to find my way through that huge wall of people, and my average pace dropped down to about 3:55 for the last 9. Other runners cited issues with heat too, but I never felt that thanks to the thankless miles in June and July.
As usual with Procam events, the 500ml Bisleri bottles were quite ideal for grabbing without slowing down, and I made sure to take one at every hydration point. I drank a small amount and discarded the rest to avoid stomach cramps. For fueling, I consumed one Fast&Up gel 10 minutes before start, and then after the 6th, 11th, 16th and 19th kilometer marks. I decided to use my Vapor Fly Next% 2 for this race as well, which might have played a part in my strong finish.
I finished the race in 1:21:40 which is beyond my expectations and the goal I had in my mind.
Strava Link to my race activity
Due to sustaining a sub 4 minute pace for the entire race (when I was unsure about even running 10 km under 40 minutes), my calves and thighs cramped badly and I had some trouble walking around. My heart rate was elevated too, but thankfully ice packs and a towel were available at the finish line which helped a lot. The medal collection area was smoothly managed, however, the post race snacks were a massive let down. Handing out unhealthy food items like confectionery, high sugar beverages etc has become a norm, but better alternatives should be available. I managed to walk (limp) to the metro station and get back home.
I think this race will serve as a reminder to me that seemingly over-ambitious goals can be achieved in a relatively short period of time with the right amount of training. But then it was a good day for me and it might not be possible to replicate or better this performance in a short span of time. Based on this experience, I will continue aiming for 350+ km monthly mileage until the next races on my calendar - Tata Steel Kolkata 25k in December, and Tata Mumbai Marathon in January 2024.
Sanchit is a software engineer who started running as a hobby and got addicted. If he’s not running, he’s probably thinking about his next run or surfing Strava. He can be reached out on Twitter @sanchit3008 or on Strava at this URL.