24 Km. Of Experiments & Learning - Mumbai Marathon 2010

My road back home. The point of changeover from taxi to rickshaw,or the other way. The 100 rupees distance. 12 Kilometer. Bandra changeover point. Bandra to Andheri. This is the route i take everyday to work and back. Only this time i ran it. It was my Saturday long run distance - 24km, longest so far.

There was nothing i did not try to get my body in shape for this run, so i will not be able to tell what exactly worked in my favor, that i could finally stand at the starting point at 7 in morning feeling fresh no less than a little sleep that nagged. Going by the last Saturday's 16Km run, i was more sure that i wont manage this 24Km. What worried me more is that i knew i will not stop, that was not an option, which meant that i would gather an injury, which i was scared of. I have been in a whirlwind of thoughts post the 16Km run, wondering and googling every bit of information i could gather from myself and Internet, anything, that would get me back in shape for that longest run. So at 7 in the morning this Saturday, i had behind me a list of attempts, to recover.I stretched with as much focus as i ran,i drank as much water as i could imagine my body to bear,made my last run slower than the slowest just in hope to condition yet not exert,and finally a combiflam and Thai foot massage....something had to work. And it did.Don't know how much, but it did. All i knew was that i was steady enough to start, and that was all that mattered.

It all seems better when you are done with it.Its not the same when you are in it.And specially this run, for which i chose morning to acclimatize with the actual marathon weather conditions, the heat.Powai to Bandra is not the best patch of road to run either. Into the first 4Km i was wondering what i was acclimatizing with, heat or dust. The first muscle that turned sore were eyes. Next would be nose, with garbage stench out of overfilled dumps. And i overestimated the extent of laziness of mumbai on a Saturday, as i saw the increasing number of people on road. India is certainly turning digital i can assure, for most eyes that i ran past were stuck on the cool device that was strapped on my arms supplying music to my ears, my Ipod Nano. I almost forgot about the heat.


I was prepared this time, not exceeding the decided pace, had planned my run to the end, four phases of 6 Kms in 45mins each.However as i ran, i realised that 45 could be 40, i was comfortable at 40minutes. The fun of that 40 builds as you reach the third and fourth phase.After my first 12km i stopped over at a store to pick another liter of water, mixed it with Electrol and was yet under my time. However i sensed a struggle to keep up when i reached 18Km, not to forget the heat that was building up. I had to tell myself that it was this phase that mattered the most, the most critical part of the training, what this run was all about, to take my body to that level of exhaustion, drain it of all the energy and wait for it to react and make me better equipped the next time i stretch my distance, from 24 to 26 to 28 to 30...leading to 42km. Thanks to the swarming crowd across different patches of Andheri (who were now moving around like a sea of ants who were just disturbed by a naughty kid) i had to take walk breaks, which in fact helped me sustain more than slow me down. The last patch of this longest run had the most anti-friendly atmosphere. With heat and people all over. I ended up walking a lot of it. And in all i lost only 3 minutes. Finished with relative ease (did not fall or sit down).


This was probably one of my most well planned run and i learned more than i ever have. Am i ready for the 42? No. But this did an ample lot to my road to it, told me that i am on the right one.

Yes, i have begun my next round of experiments.....a brand new heart rate monitor. Lets see where i get with that.