Since 2024, I’ve been a fan of the Pfitzinger methodology because long runs & higher mileage are the stimulus I respond best to and the 12w/70mi plan helped me improve significantly. His choice of long progression runs that start off easy and progress to 10-20% slower than Goal Marathon Pace (GMP), helped me massively.
So for this cycle I was aiming for the same 12w/70mi cycle but a family wedding meant that I could only execute a 10w cycle. I rushed back into training with a hard LR & the achilles complained immediately, forcing me to take another week off and then some work travel ensued … surely, by now you see the trend. I ended up executing a 8-week block, which (you guessed it!), included the 2w taper.
If this report is on GeeksOnFeet, you should know that SRK’s was right when he said “in the end everything becomes alright, otherwise it is not the end” 😀
The 6-week block had to be long, hard, specific so I made 3 major changes
Mid-week MLRs became GMP progressions: I started with 3*(3k @ GMP/1K float) going up to 4* (4k/1k) and eventually a 3*(6K/1K). I ran this workout 5-times in the entire block, with 1 week being a 10 * (1K @ GHMP/1K float) this was the “see god” workout. These taught me how to hold GMP while adding 23-24K mileage midweek
LR workouts: In the 2025 FM cycle, I had already moved to LRs being workouts that start slower and finish fast, however this cycle I shifted the “start slower” to Steady pace (which I defined as GMP+30s). And I turned this also into a progression, starting with 3K-16K-10K (WU-Steady-GMP) and going up to 3K-16K-16K.
Fuelling: I’ve always been able to consume gels on the run but I was indisciplined on the quantity & timings. Last FM I used 4 gels, eating them whenever I felt like. But this year the plan was to consume >60g of Carbohydrates every hour and see how high I could go. I consumed gels in large quantities on training runs, even when I didn’t feel the need for the gel it went in - I exceeded 60g/hour on all MLR & LRs.
Technically there is a 4th change but I didn’t do it sustainably so I can’t claim with confidence that it worked - this was the idea of back-to-back long runs, so Saturday would be a Steady + GMP run and follow up on Sunday with another Steady long run, both being >32K runs. The Mondays after, however, were always a story to tell 😀
I did not change a few fundamentals:
Look up the Pfitzinger plans on Runstrong to get started; I am yet to meet a runner who has not benefited from adhering to his plans - they are demanding but so is every Full marathon race!
Disclaimer: I obviously do not recommend a 6-week FM build!
I travelled into Delhi Friday morning, having forgotten that I had used a 3-day carbo load protocol last year (538g of CHO per day!). So Friday morning onwards I started to carb load, eating lots of rice, bread, oats & sweets, while also loading up on electrolytes. Since we travelled as a group I could skip the visit to the expo for my bib pickup, which saved me precious time on Saturday.
The pre-race Saturday morning is now a ritual - start at JLN stadium, run 6K, go to Lodhi Gardens, breakfast at The Blue Door at Khan Market, sit at the lucky table, order the same breakfast, stuff myself silly, express shock at the bill, get back to the room, freshen up & catch up with friends & family. The only difference this time was that the 6K run included 2 * 20s pickups.
We started the jog ~7am in the morning and it definitely felt “a bit warmer than last year”; by the time we finished the run & were mildly sweaty, it became “colder than last year”. Basically it was either colder or warmer!
A Haldiram’s rice bowl dinner was had at 730pm and then I continued to nurse the quads, did clam shells, other adductor & hip flexors exercises until bed time, which was at an ungodly 845pm because everyone else had already crashed out!
I’m not much of sleeper but a 2am wake up for a 4am start seemed obnoxious so the alarm was set for 220am & after a quick bathroom trip, I was at the lobby, dressed appropriately for the occasion - everything as per the dress rehearsals - except that I was loaded with more Gels than a Cowboy with guns! We took a cab to the stadium, checked in & hung around until 3:30 to start the warm up. At 3:30 Aravind & I started our usual warm up routine a short jog & 4*100m strides, having done it innumerable times, this didn’t feel different. I had the pre-race gel (Unived regular gel). Then it was time for a bio break and jogging over to the start line & I realized we were far behind the start line & would have to weave through the traffic for the 1K - last year this was my slowest K (5:0x) of the entire race and I was hoping to avoid that. After a quick word of thanks to the gods, to family & a brief prayer, it was 4:05 and we were off.
The final-final-but-still-a-draft plan was 47:xx (10K), 1:37 (HM) & 3:14 (FM), this was Aravind’s plan so I just decided to go with it.
The first K was smooth, some weaving through traffic as I got up to pace, I didn’t look at the watch but it felt like I was in the range, so I just pressed on and caught up with Aravind, much like last year. We ran alongside for about 4-5Kms and I was feeling the pace a bit too hot to handle, so I eased off and let Aravind glide away.
At that moment, Manohar joined alongside, as a 3:17 marathoner at Ahmedabad, I knew he was in great shape & my race would be fine if I was with him (I think he felt the same, each imposter trusting the other!) We kept a steady pace, I wasn’t looking at the watch but Manohar diligently called out the splits every K and they were all in the 4:34 - 4:37 range, so we were in a good spot. Somewhere along the way the HM came up at 1:37:xx, and I felt confident that Aravind’s plan might work for me today.
Last year I picked up the pace after the HM, but this year the pace was already high so I kicked the ball down to 28KM and then went faster. By now I was already inhaling gels every 40 mins, so the engine & legs were still strong. At 28K, I started to drop the pace by 5s per K, with an aim to get to Aravind before we reached India Gate, but the man was nowhere to be seen! I thought I misjudged the race and just then saw him on the other side of the road, phew! Probably a few hundred meters ahead, but it took nearly 5kms of chasing to catch up, and then it was all normal - having run with Aravind 100s of times over the years, there is trust that if we’re together we’re going to get things done. We started to pick up the pace at India gate & for a brief few Ks I was leading and Aravind was behind, last year the same thing had happened, but Aravind came back strong as I started struggling. Both of us managed to catch up with Pankaj Dayama, I could barely believe myself because the entire race I was calling him out when he passed on the other side and we were running alongside him!
Everything was good until 39K, we turned right and my old nemesis was waiting for me - a short hill - I got dropped hard by Aravind & Pankaj and the gap grew to 200m or so, in that moment there were no emotions (thankfully!) i just had to catch up with them for a 3rd time (and 3rd time is the charm isn’t it?), so another pursuit ensued after 40K to get back to the pack, saw Chirag slowing down, mumbled some words of encouragement & continued the pursuit, At 41.5K like last year, Aravind & I were together as we turned towards Sai Baba Temple road, I repeated last year’s dialog verbatim (“we’re going to beat <time goal>”) and we hobbled over the cobblestone pathway.
Legs were good after the last pursuit (4:29/41K), and Pankaj was blitzing away, so I made another effort, bringing in 4:1x pace and tried as hard as possible to catch the man all the way to the finish line, but remained 2s behind Pankaj, the watch showed 3:13:06, I was ahead of the 3:14 plan but within the 3:10 - 3:15 range, and toeing the line at Hopkinton seems possible with a 6:5x buffer!
Pankaj, Aravind & I were within seconds of each other so obviously had to thank each other for pulling us through. Vineet Sadhu came in 2 mins later, Manohar followed a minute later, Sugandha crushed it and then Satish, Raji, Lattika, Bhagya delivered incredibly inspiring performances, I just hung around at the finish line to celebrate their finishes before hobbling over to the baggage counter for more beaming pictures. Sure the legs were sore but the cheeks were sorer from all the smiling!
I felt like I had cheated my way through the training block but one can never complain after a PB!
3 main learnings
Looking forward to more discomfort and tighter embraces as the 10K block starts and then another FM build commences for the Chicago marathon in October.
Harish is a Bangalore-based technology consultant with a passion for B2B SaaS and product management, who also actively pursues distance running.