Since 2024 January, my objective was always to get better at the HM distance and the training focused on only that. My coach, Hugo, had also progressively added mileage, especially from July. This meant a 9 month window to hit 1.35 by February in Chandigarh. We stuck to a weekly mileage of 55-60K until Oct (till Bangalore Marathon and Delhi Half marathon).
Apart from run training, I took help from my friend Parthan from Aug on getting closer to race weight and overhauling my body composition. I sincerely believe this was the real difference maker for me. He opened my eyes on how to be systematic and scientific in this journey with inputs on what experiments we could do to be able to make progress. I also amped up my strength training (twice a week and more recently with an optional third purely focussed on bodyweight) to maintain the balance with running and the nutrition.
When I completed the Delhi Half-Marathon in 1.39, I realized I could gun for a 1.35 time by Feb. Over the last 12 weeks, we gradually increased the mileage to 70-75K with emphasis on higher intensity sessions, thrice a week, through slightly longer intervals, fartleks and fast long runs. With all the 3 aspects coming together, I was able to see a marked improvement in my workouts as illustrated by the different metrics.
Taper Week
I was on a vacation in Kerala (Thrissur and Trivandrum) during the last week of December and with a lot of early morning temple visits already planned, the mileage was forced to drop by design. I did run 2-3 times and luckily the weather there was more or less similar to Chennai. Ended up running close to 36 odd KM in the last week with a mix of medium and high intensity runs just to keep myself fresh.
I traveled to Chennai by the 7.40am Vande Bharat Express from Bangalore to
A) not to compromise on sleep and B) finish my penultimate short run of 7k for the week
I reached Chennai around 12.15pm. Incidentally my co passengers in the train were also traveling for the same event. We ended up carpooling to the expo with some light hearted conversations along the way.
The Expo was conducted at RK Convention centre on East Coast Road and boy was it organized well. I have always been told running events organized by runners tend to hit the right spot and I experienced this first hand. The place was sprawling, meaning people could easily move around without fear of bumping into one another. There were clear signages everywhere and the washrooms were Corporate offices level clean. Bravo Chennai Runners for this! From the different types of brands in the expo to the efficiency and speed with which the volunteers handed over the kits to participants - the whole process was buttery smooth. If I had to really nitpick, it would be on the contents of the goodie bag - There were no goodies/samples unfortunately. This could have really lifted the overall experience. Something to work on from next year, perhaps?
I had booked an Airbnb in Besant Nagar about a kilometer from the start point, Elliot’s Beach. Met some good friends, took blessings at the Alwarpet Anjaneyar temple and wolfed down delicious Ghee Dosa at the legendary Karpagambal mess before retiring to my room. I digress, yes, but the training apart, I am certain the things mentioned above, put me in an excellent mind space.
The half marathon start point was at Elliot’s Beach, Besant Nagar.
I woke up at 3AM and was ready by 3.30AM. My customary breakfast for any run >13K is about 70-75g of banana. Stuck to it but I could definitely feel the nerves and excitement. Partly because I felt well prepared, partly because the previous day was good and I felt in a good space. The temperature was 25 degrees with about 90-92% humidity. I felt this instantly during my warm up run. My warm up routine before an HM consists of 3-3.5K of running at progressive paces, full body stretches and 6-7 strides. Finished that and ran into Chandran, another fellow runner from KTPO, Whitefield, Bangalore, at the baggage counter. Since he did not realize I was through with my warm up his first comment was - “Already so much sweat, imagine what the next 100 min will look like”. (Gulp). We ended up doing the next set of strides together and set off to the start point.
Contrary to Mumbai where the starting line is quite a celebration and the atmosphere, fever pitch, things were little mellow here. There was no separate warm-up/dance/zumba. Clearly the organizers expected the runners to come prepared :)
Given there were just over 3K participants for the event, there was no corral start. Just plain vanilla, First Come First Out of the blocks!
First things first. My sole objective was to hit close to my previous PB of 1.39 (VDHM 24) and Chennai and Mumbai were my planned training races at 80% and 90% efforts before my target race at Chandigarh in February to hit my 1.35 goal there. This roughly translated to an avg pace of 4.40-4:45 min/km and an avg HR of 155-165 over the course.
I knew I had improved a bit from VDHM and thought it would be manageable to maintain the pace post the first kilometer or so after running away from the crowd. I also knew the Chennai course was termed flat but the heat and humidity could pose some challenges. I have always been someone who could maintain the same pace most of the course but never increase or decrease at will. Thus, no fancy plans - Stick to the same pace pretty much, Mani!
From a fueling standpoint, I have been on 3 gels starting Bangalore half and tried the same in Delhi half only to realize the third gel was too much and too late. Since I had not trained any other way (a gel every 6-7K), I decided to stick with it, and not try anything new. Over the last 5 months, I had also trained to run most distances without consuming any water or electrolytes (to save myself from stopping at stations and carrying extra baggage) and felt reasonably confident of the strategy to uphold here as well.
I started the race fairly well and was quick off the blocks. The first KM through Olcott school was flat, clean and the fact that Chennai was at sea level made all the difference! I checked my watch - 4.37, Not too bad - 1K down and on target for 1.40. I also felt a slight blitz past me at this time only to realize our good ol’ Chandran had glided forwarded (And he was aiming to run 1.42 :) ).
There were aid stations at every KM and they were all exceptionally managed by the volunteers.
I continued the same way until 3K after parting ways with Chandran only to realize I had slightly improved my pace to 4.33. This was also the stretch over Adayar flyover that had a 9m elevation gain. Gulp. Could I try getting greedy and run just a bit faster and see what happened later? At the exact same time, I caught up with Raj (Rajakumar Chinnappa), a veteran runner from Chrompet Cheetahs so seemed to be running at a similar but slightly higher pace. The only motivation I needed to answer the previous question in the affirmative came when he remarked “Apdiye podunga Sir (Keep at it the same way, Sir)”. I asked if he was running to finish between 1h.38m-1h.41m and we agreed to maintain a pace closer to 4.30 min.km. My heart rate was closer to 158-160 and I felt really eased by now. I am at a pace of 4.24 min/km by the 4th KM. With Raj by my side, I realized we could maintain a sub 4.30 pace and ended up running the next couple of KM at an avg of 4.25. At this point we were not sure who was pacing who :) The only other time I had run alongside anyone was during the Bangalore half where I had the pleasure of running with Mandar (Amdekar), until he decided to drop me towards the end. Took my first Unived Espresso Cappuccino gel!
The 6th KM of the course takes you through Madhya Kailash junction through Tidel Park and this is the slightly dodgy part. There is poor lighting and the road is uneven with a few potholes due to the metro construction. We took the left towards Thiruvanmiyur and past the bus stand onto the ECR. From here it was one straight road all the way up until the finish.
ECR is a flat flat road and I was able to continue maintaining a 4.28-4.33 pace along with Raj. Raj had friends supplying him with electrolytes around the 12th KM (coinciding with my 2nd gel) and was graceful in sharing. I was laced up in my Puma Nitro Deviate Elite 3 which I really liked, but for some reason, I felt a lot of heat build up underneath my right forefoot. I altered my stride a bit to land slightly more on the outer side of the mid foot. I also tried to consciously increase my cadence whenever I felt the ‘heat’ more.
They say when things are meant to happen, there will often be help to make that happen! Around the 16th KM, I missed grabbing it at the near end of the station as another runner abruptly stopped in front of me. I did not want to stop and I continued ploughing ahead. I must have gone ahead by 200-250m when an elderly volunteer ran behind me, handed a bottle over and said “Don’t worry brother, You’ve got this”. Sir! and all the volunteers from Chennai Runners - thanks from the bottom of my heart.
At the 18th KM, I popped out my 3rd gel but knew I would not need the full pack. I shared it with Raj, took another sip of electrolyte from him and was all set to finish strong. We reached the entrance of the Indian Maritime University, Uthandi at the end of the 20th KM. This is where the full-marathon runners continue further up straight while the half-marathon runners take the turn into the University for the final stretch. Once we entered through the gates, there was a mild incline where a couple of elites shouted encouragingly “Bhai aage down hai, Chalaa ja”. I realized I could really up my pace for the last stretch and consciously increased my stride length to run smoother. This is where I parted ways with Raj. I ended up running the last kilometer at an avg pace of 3.57 finishing strongly. I looked at the finish line clock and realized I had cracked the 1.35 marker and was largely in disbelief for the first minute or so.
The first feeling was one of disbelief partly because I had not planned for this and partly because I felt quite strong and fully in control. This finally turned into, should i say, happiness when I realized I could get closer to my 1.30 goal in the not so distant future.
And oh, What of the medal! The lighthouse with the spinning light design is quite the looker! Screamed Chennai and Oozed class. Chennai Runners - Take a bow!
I would have loved to soak in the atmosphere, devour the brilliantly laid out breakfast and spend time with the rest of the folks longer but had a train to catch back to Bangalore at 9.30AM.
Learning from the training and the race:
The single biggest learning from my training has been that I responded slightly better to faster-longer workouts and I intend to continue this with Hugo until I hit my goal.
I also learned the importance of strength training and nutrition without which none of this would have been possible.
Though I am a solo runner, I did feel having 1-2 folks running at a similar pace during the race is enormously helpful to keep the motivation up. I hope to find more people like Mandar and Raj in my other races.
I also experienced first hand how thoughtfully and meticulously a race can be executed when organized by people who truly understand the nuances of different types of runners
Overall Experience of the Race:
One can’t complain much when they get more than what they set out for, can they? I have only been running for 2.5 years and have not run a lot of races. But FCM 2025 and the entire team of Chennai runners - You have my heart! What a brilliantly organized event. Every single thing felt on point. No doubt I will be returning every year from now!
What is next in training?
After running 1.47 at Mumbai in Jan 24, I had set out to break into the sub 1.40s with a distant dream of being a 90 min Half Marathoner. I had broken the sub 90 min goal with an intermedia milestone of 1.35 by Chandigarh in February 25. I feel odd about being ahead of schedule. I intend to stick to my plan and see if I can still run a 1.40 half-marathon in Mumbai a fortnight from now and better this performance in Feb. Nervously excited for Chandigarh!
Mani is an amateur runner running for the past 2.5 years and still discovering about the sport everyday. He aspires to get better at strictly the Half Marathon distance, with a very recent personal best of 1.34 at Freshworks Chennai Marathon 2025. Mani works on New Initiatives at the tech startup, Gokwik in Bangalore.