End of Level 2 - 26km Run (Mumbai Marathon 2010)

Twelve weeks of the eighteen week training is over. Two-Thirds done, six more weeks to go. Level three of training begins....

One long run after another. Life is about one Saturday morning to the next. This feels like a period of transition, shedding the cast of an over-worked & stressed out executive and dawning the new mould of a blood-pumping & efficient running machine.


After the last long-run and the struggle i had to recover, I had started my recovery led work much earlier in the week this time around. Following the same pattern of run for the three weekdays as coach Higdon suggested, I increased the focus on stretches, and was bit surprised to see myself stretch better as I progressed. I have always been a poor flex all through my armature athletics years in school. So even the slightest promise in it gives me pleasure beyond measure. And at the end of third decade of living with these joints, it only feels better. It was almost like one of those past life corrections i had to make amongst other things to make my peace with life : Will make up for lack of reading, spend more time with parents, will stretch well once :)..like that.


My goal going into Saturday's 26km run was to manage the same 7 Min/Km pace as last week’s 24km and finish in 14 minutes more than last week’s 2hr 43min. For that I was not relying on sleep the night before for its always a disturbed one, full of odd dreams. Like the one I dreamt when i bought my Heart Rate Monitor was that my Heart Rate while rested was 14 per minute. Kept me worried through my sleep. That's another, the heart rate monitor, my new gadget whose exact benefits I am not sure of. But somehow I can see if I keep my heart rate in check, I don't seem to over shoot on pace and injure myself. And sticking to an average heart rate also helps get a good timing. The disturbed sleep before the run is an important part of pre race conditioning, because it’s bound to happen on 16th January 2010 too (day before the Mumbai marathon). What matters is if you have slept well the night before that. Long Runs are the very critical to pre-race conditioning, and by that I don't just mean the distance you run. It is the run to re-create every scenario from race-day. So I have been shifting them to mornings, starting at the same time as race, experimenting with pre-race food and drinks while in the run. Am not being extremely pro about it, given it’s my first marathon, but it’s interesting to note certain ways in which my body reacts. Like having milk instead of fruits before run ensured that I felt my first hunger pangs around 13Kms instead of 9Km. Whether to have a liter of water before a liter of ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution)or the other way ( it’s a 2hr+ run, two liters do as of now). I know it would be difficult to get these things right on the day of race, but one can try.


The day before the long run I referred to the online advice from Coach Higdon. It said - "Next week you'll run a shorter distance as part of a stepback week, so tough this out". There is something about a coach telling you to give it all, you feel backed up, more than before, and you want to do it. The conservative estimates go out of the window. I have always been a coach's boy, hell bent on doing as told, every time, without fail. This time too, it seemed like I had a new shot of confidence, to tough it out. I tried a new route; kept a small paper with distance markers and time to help me pace well, geared up, and headed out to 'tough' this 26km out.


My legs felt stronger at the start, there were clear improvements from last week's run. For most part of the run I felt like there was a lot left in me. I managed to stay steady and in control for longer. I switched to cap with the Sun rising to my right. Took my usual half-way water break to buy another liter of water, mixed it with ORS and headed back .Somewhere I also realised that I could make a considerable improvement in my timing by running this 26Km in the same time as I ran 24Km. That would be something to clearly demarcate my improved performance with. But the hard Sun on you in the closing stages threatens to eat into any goal and reduce it to just finishing it fair. It did for me too. The last 6km was difficult, not to ignore that the road was not flat, but I realised i was not suffering much if I walked the ascends and make it up while descending. "Just keep the heart rate at check and don't stop" - I told myself. I thought I stopped to walk more than i should have, not to forget the dust and traffic piling up around you at the closing stages which are not encouraging either, though i don't worry over it because race day won’t have them. Sun, however, would stay, on race-day too. So i had to battle it. Maybe it’s because of energy drain, that my jaws had begun to stiffen by the end of long run: happened last week too. In all, when I finished, I realised I had put enough effort in the first half of the run to not let any of these effect the performance.

Finished the 26Km in the same time as 24Km. Tough as promised. Wanted to inform the coach, but i have not paid for that :). The training is a free download. Let’s hope he reads this...haha.

Twelve weeks of the the eighteen week training is over. Two-Thirds done, six more weeks to go. Level three of training begins, and it does feel like three levels. Started with conditioning (level 1), followed by hardships (level 2), and now heading for maintenance & improvements (level 3).