The training block for this race began in September after a week of altitude training in Ladakh. I didn’t follow any of the traditional marathon plans; I just wanted to focus on achieving a fast time. Followed basic training principles of training volume, while putting some quality runs at fast paces as the training progressed.
I had been struggling to maintain my usual 300 km monthly mileage until August due to injuries, so I aimed to gradually work my way back to that level. September and October in Delhi were quite hot and humid this time, which helped rebuild my stamina slightly more quickly. I ended September with 270 km, but an ankle injury caused my mileage to drop to 200 km in October.
I ran two half marathon races (Wipro Bengaluru and Vedanta Delhi Half) in October to regain some racing experience since I had not competed since TMM 2024. I hit the wall during the Bengaluru half and finished in 1:57, likely due to the lack of fast miles in my training, while the Delhi race went smoothly, resulting in a 1:23 finish (I like to think it was due to the home advantage).
November through January are tricky months for training in most of northern India because of the pollution levels, which means making the most of relatively cleaner days to log miles. I managed to run on about 18 days in November and finally achieved a 300 km month. I didn’t pay much attention to my pace, as distance was my only focus at that point. December was surprisingly better this year in terms of air quality, allowing me to run outdoors on 15 days (plus 10 treadmill sessions) and log about 430 km. The highlight of the month was the first week, during which I logged 150 km for the first time. Most of these runs were completed at a relaxed pace of 5–5:30 min/km, with some shorter runs at a pace of 4–4:30 min/km.
By the time January started, I felt ready to switch to faster workouts on a more consistent basis. I maintained a weekly mileage of around 100 km, but my average pace improved from 5:00 to about 4:28 min/km. I also incorporated a few key workouts, including time trials for the 5k and 10k in early January, a 30 km run at roughly my target marathon pace of 4:00 min/km, and a half marathon time trial on the track. The cold weather helped, and, as expected, I set new personal bests in every event—from the 5k to the half marathon.
February was mostly about recovering from a heavy January, so I capped my daily average distance at 10 km, maintaining a moderate pace of 4:30 min/km. I must add that nearly all of my runs started around 5 PM — no morning runs.
There was a lot of pre-race confusion because the race website did not provide key details such as the route map, starting point, and race start time. I arrived in Chandigarh two days before the race, and luckily, the hotel I chose was not far from the starting point. The expo was well organized, and a pasta lunch was provided for the participants. However, some information was still missing - specifically, details about the facilities available along the route and conflicting statements regarding whether gels would be provided during the race. I decided not to risk it, so I brought along four Unived Elite 180 gels. I spent most of the day before the race sightseeing with my friend Nikhil, and we managed to log about 10 km of relaxed walking.
My pre-race meal was a few dates, which I had also been using during my training as a quick boost. One of the biggest advantages of an uncrowded event like the CFM is that you can show up just 10 minutes before the start, allowing you to sleep a bit longer. The weather was quite cool (around 10°C), which made me consider using a thermal inner; however, I ultimately rejected that idea in favor of familiarity. The race was flagged off at 5 AM for both full and half marathon participants, with the full marathon consisting of two loops of the same course.
The field quickly spread out within the first few minutes, with the half marathon lead pack exploding away like shrapnel while the lead marathoners and other half marathoners followed. I had expected that at least one side of the road would be completely blocked for the race; instead, only a single lane was available, which made things trickier and caused another runner to constantly brush against my arms. However, my race plan was simple: run the first 37 km at roughly a 4:00 pace and then push harder if my body permitted it. I planned to take gels at 10, 20, 30, and 40 km, and caffeine tablets at the 15, 25, and 35 km marks — a strategy I had already tested during my faster training runs.
In addition to the narrow running space, the route presented other challenges such as poor traffic management, smoke from nearby fires and vehicles, and suboptimal hydration support. I believe that vehicles traveling on the same road as the runners posed a genuine risk to our safety, and I even saw a few diversion cones broken during the second half of the race as buses and other vehicles used the race lane for overtaking. Some of the hydration point volunteers may not have been given proper instructions, as they were sitting on chairs behind the table instead of handing out bottles — causing me to miss three of my planned water stops.
Apart from these issues, the race unfolded as I had expected, and the half marathon took me about 83 minutes. I ran with my friend Nikhil for the entire duration, and I felt we paced each other quite well, even though it was unplanned. Around the 29th km mark, I began to lose some pace as slight fatigue set into my quads and glutes, but it wasn’t significant enough to affect my performance for the next 40 minutes. Things went south when I consumed my third gel after the 32nd km — it likely didn’t even reach my stomach and caused me to vomit twice (I believe this happened because I hadn’t practiced taking gels on an empty stomach). At that point, I knew that a 2:48 finish was no longer attainable and even a sub-3-hour finish would be tough. Had I seen a race organizer on a motorcycle at that moment, I think I would have gladly accepted a DNF. Fortunately, that was not the case, and I somehow managed to run the remaining 10 km in 56 minutes, giving me a finish time of 3:06. It was a personal best by 20 minutes, but still nowhere close to what I had hoped for.
Strava Link to my race activity
The nausea felt pretty bad for a few hours even after the finish (the missed opportunity felt worse). Luckily it got better after some walking and medicines. Nikhil ran a blazing 2:49 race and was the first runner up, and we had a mini-celebration for that. The only upside of blowing up in between was that my legs still felt relatively fresh, and I resumed my next training block the next day itself.
Even though the race didn’t pan out as I had expected, it imparted some very valuable lessons such as the importance of proper race nutrition strategies. The training block behind the race was solid as well, and I hope to build up on it for my next event - a 6 hour stadium run in Panchkula. The key things to focus on would be my choice of gels, intra-run electrolyte options and incorporating a few morning runs in my schedule.
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.