Mumbai diaries...

Recently, I get to write about my marathon running stuff for my company's in-house magazine after insistence from my manager. I drafted after initial reticence and it is yet to be published. I thought it would not be a bad idea to share my thoughts on a blog as well. And in the process of doing it (for the first time), I am realizing how good it feels to actually reflect upon your life, thinking about it deeply and differently. I enjoyed it thoroughly and look forward to continue it. As it is the maiden post, I might be writing way too much trying to collect it from the start. So, get the heart to handle the blahs and read on. 

The ‘Why’ mystery

As I imagine the instance I crossed the finish line at Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon'16 on 17th Jan in my 2nd marathon distance ever, the most domineer feeling I can recall is utmost euphoria and endorphins rush. Even with those numb legs, drained energy level, and sweat drenched body, something was pushing me to ecstasy. The face expression and body language manifested pain and suffering but somewhere within, I was as calm as MS Dhoni batting in the slog overs and at the same time as violently happy and gleeful as Virat Kohli catching one of the Australian openers. It was real contentment coming my way after achieving my target of finishing the race in 3 hr and 15 mins. 

Why not!!! I had sacrificed some vital sleep over countless weekend mornings to head out for those (pretty) long training runs, got up early on weekdays to execute those killing HIITs and excruciating tempo runs, restricted myself to not eating or eating stuff with Zero consideration of 'taste prospect', playing mind games with lactate threshold, VO2 Max, target pace, weekly mileage, key workouts, cross training, taper and countless other jargons to (supposedly) improve aerobic conditioning and musculoskeletal integrity in the build up to race day. 

It is precisely this particular scent of things you get as you leap past the finish line that have folks lined up at the start line next year to experience it again. Your mind is inundated with feeling of satisfaction, having broken your last personal best and you wonder how much more your body is capable of. You take up the resulting innate challenge to beat yourself and rise time and again. It was my 2nd attempt in a row at full marathon after starting to practise running in late 2012 and I find it almost compelling to be at Mumbai every 3rd Sunday of January year on year with new targets. It might seem cranky of someone living in Delhi to come over to a distant city just to run a marathon, but that perception fades away as you personally experience the charm of running the queen's necklace and worli sea link, and above all the love Mumbaiites bestow upon runners which makes it quite less of a pain to travel that far.

Some of the office peeps wonder why in hell would somebody travel to Mumbai at own expense and punish his very own body with crazy miles on foot. Kind of questions my other runner friends might well relate to have often bombarded on me too...did you actually ran all those hours without stopping? Did u win the race? What career prospects does this freakish thing offer? What prize and certificate did you get? And a lot many other preposterous questions. Well, I sometimes answer truly with a submissive explanation that it gives me happiness, I am competing with myself, I am getting better by the day, i am good among the amateurs, we get t-shirts, free bananas, finisher medals and blah blah blah... Sometimes it's just a dull smile and other times I start to wonder myself how inexplicable these questions are, even to me! The last strange incident in this regard was my father asking me about my timing when he made call after the race. I told him I took 3 hr 15 mins to finish it, and the next question was about what is the world record at a marathon. I was near stunned at his seemingly unimpressed gesture when i told him Kenyans have done it in 2 hr 3 mins. Son, you need to get better was the inaudible tweet i sensed coming out of the mobile phone. It’s a kind of near-humiliation we amateurs have to go through often while interacting with expert Non-practitioners of the sport.

Training times

Let me start with the last year's version of the race, my maiden attempt at a marathon in Jan'15. I was obviously so excited about it but cautious at the same time. Anyone with a half marathon timing of 1.30 would have aimed for a sub - 3.15 target at full after discounting 10 mins for exhaustion in late miles and 5 odd minutes for hot humid weather as a rule of thumb but i pre-emptively reined in my mental speed horses for it was my first at something as gigantic as a marathon and settled for a comparatively meek 3.30 in my head. It ostensibly was a special endeavour and was going to stay in my memory for donkey's years. The day was no less a lesson as it turned out with the swing of clock. I had underrated the distance, gave it a shot with lousy training with timing aim sky high at 3.30 (at my fitness level that time). Past mile 20, inevitably, my legs turned deadwood and the slave body simply refused to obey the master mind. The next hour to the finish line was the longest one I have ever experienced. I could barely manage to finish a sub 4 hours race with 3.42 net time, imparting me the first hand wisdom I'd implement in my future races.

This year, it was kind of a revenge run for me after the erstwhile fiasco. Determined to train hard, I had promised Mumbai that I'll come back stronger than ever. Things went fairly well all year with all support and camaraderie from Sunday run club friends who have become an extended family to me. Participation in SCMM have become an yearly picnic for us and post-race time in Mumbai before we head back home is all beer and skittles. Also had the opportunity to execute some killer training runs with Aman Yadav, a good friend and an avid runner. It was him who insisted to add a gps watch to my training arsenal to monitor training pace and other metrics and honestly, that has had an enormous impact on my rate of improvement this year. Kudos to you bro.

It all went superb with some hiccups like the shin injury around October end after Musoorie half and the chest infection in November that compromised my performance at Airtel Delhi half marathon. But the turnaround happened quickly with strong show at Grand Prix run and Adidas 12 hr relay run in December. These two races turned out to be big confidence boosters as i could maintain sub 4.30 pace with ease for around 30k distance. 

Race experience

Given all these equations and the big deal I had made out of this race in my head, pre-race jitters were inevitable. I felt quite anxious on Saturday after reaching Mumbai and could sleep for just 5 hrs the night before race despite trying hard to make it more but that actually had meagre effect, may be the last moment nerves are helpful to alert you and improve brain function, hope somebody hunts for a scientific probe on this. At the expo, I happened to meet Nakul whom I acquainted just a week before at the Manger trail training run. With about same targets in pace, we decided to start together at the start line to pace each other as any distance runner would be able to tell, how much great mental help is it to have someone by your side to push you as you transition into a devitalized state. Fortunately we could find each other in time amid the chaotic start line scene. 

The race started past the start line at Azad Maidan well in dark at 5.40 am and quickly proceeded alongside sea as everyone fought their way zigzagging through runners full of blazing energy. It wasn't long before we could spot the profuse sweat on the faces of non-coastal denizens, runners like me who travelled to the place last night and were far from getting acclimatized to the humidity levels. It's difficult to train for it with 100% of your training runs happening in rough Delhi winter. I'd tried it by running 3-4 times in the hot afternoon with 2-3 layers of cloths on, in past couple of months assuming that I am simulating hot Mumbai weather. Don't know how much of physiological stimulus I was able to get out of it, though mentally It was a comfort. So to cut short, I was able to maintain the target pace 4.30 without much lactate burning my legs till 28-30k. As the innocent legs started to protest against the evil mind and it grew louder with each passing step, it was the time for mind to show the stubbornness it has attained over training against the unsavoury acts of sundry body parts. Amid fierce altercation, heart and legs had no choice but to scream and follow their master. In last 10k or so, no specific plan works for me. It just becomes how not to stop putting one step ahead of the other. Unlike last year when I hit the wall around 32k, I didn't take any walk breaks till the finish though my pace dipped significantly. Negative splits, perhaps a good thing to practice, never comes to me in a race howsoever keen I am to practise it...something on my learning agenda. 

Closed for repairs?

Resting is considered an important part of the train-race-recover cycle. But in my case, I am a little puzzled at the state of things. Whether I am recovering from the hard effort yearlong! May be or maybe not. My weekly mileage has not gone beyond 50 km barring a few weeks whereas there exist some monsters who hover around 80~100 and still indulge in no whining about it. This is actually a mild amount of training vis-a-vis grand marathon preparation plans doing rounds in running circles. Three weeks past the race, I am yet to start some tangible workout apart from some daily chores turned workouts like deliberate stair work at office and society building, hill (stair) sprints at metro stations and whatever other opportunity I get to pump my heart. As Aman put it rightly during a conversation after Mumbai....' tune kiya kya hai jo rest chahiye'. I perhaps don't require such long snoozing, it's just a fading aimlessness which will subside as I set goals for the year ahead. I will think about it soon and clear the haze.

For time being, let’s chase around. Happy running!!!