Marathon Debut

I have been waiting for 13 months to write this post. I considered myself an amateur back then to write about it.

Today, I realized I will always be an amateur in running and there's always something new you can learn till your last run.

The wait is finally over!!

18^th October 2015 

This date will be remembered forever. As my good friend Pav put it, I was reborn again.

The high you get after you complete a Marathon is unmatched; it is indeed a Runner’s high :)

This is my story, the story about how running changed my life. Rather the outlook towards life.

The journey started little over a year ago.

Why did the journey start?

Every journey has a start, the little push, the little challenge, the tiny spark!

 Hear it from me.

There’s an annual relay running event at my work place.

 Back in 2012, I was part of the 8 member relay team to run 3.3km each. That was the first time I had ever run. All I did was sprint the first 100mts and then slowed down to gasp for breath. It was an ordeal to complete 3.3km for a 22 year old whereas people over 50 were doing it comfortably.

Immediately I registered for PUMA urban stampede 5K and was into practice. After around 3 months of practice, I completed the 5K in 24min 30sec. It felt good but I again lost interest.

Thereafter, the next 2 years I was a couch potato. The urge to run was there but could never put the thought into action.

And then last year (Aug-2014), I saw a charity event (10K) promotion on FB and decided to give it a try. My assumption was as I had already done a 5K, 10K should be easier 

(Simply going by the math behind it: P).

I had a good 3 months to prepare for it. Being an Engineer is sometimes a curse, we spend more time analyzing the logic rather than put ourselves into action and practice.

At last, it’s the way you use your brain for gain or pain.

I went with the simple logic of running for 20min every day, no matter what the distance was. I chose a 450 mtr park to train. Initially I could clock 3km in 20min and then I gradually improved. Speed was the only thing on my mind. I wish I had got injured much earlier than it actually happened. I would’ve been a matured runner much earlier and this post could’ve been written much earlier :P.

Back to the story, I trained alone. I had no contact with the outside world whatsoever. At the end of 3 months, I was able to run 4km in 20min. My target was to run a 5K within that much time.

3 Days before the event, as was my routine went for the 20min run again. At the end of 1^st km, I got horrible pain in the left leg calf muscle. I couldn’t run, I just walked back home and then I decided to rest for couple of days and go for the event. I revised my target from 40min to 50min owing to the last min injury and I knew there was no possible way to do a 40min 10K, as my fastest run in 20min was 4K.

 (Engineer at work: P).

 I can’t control my laughter looking at these numbers today.

Event day- 10K debut

I arrived at the venue 30min in advance. As a precaution, I had applied spray all over the leg. At the back of my mind, the thought was still there. What if it pains again? Is it all over?

I brushed away the thoughts and stood at the start line. 

The race began and I was running like a school kid as if the finish line is at the end of the road. I hung along with the fast runners initially :P. After 3Km I slowed down. It was my mind doing all the running, body was just listening to the mind. Every KM mark, I used to look at my stop watch and maintain the pace not allowing myself to slow down.

It was 5km, 2 loops. At the end of 5km, I had very little energy left as I had used all of it in the first 3km.  I also had a myth that if you drink water during running, you will get stomach pain. And so no water during the run. At 8^th km, the calf muscle pain was back but my zeal to complete the event was higher. I somehow made it to the finish line. How I got back home is a different story, I decided never to run a 10km, ever. Better I stick to 5K’s. This is my splits.

Km01: 4:09

Km02: 4:33

Km03: 4:25

Km04: 5:02

Km05: 5:02

Km06: 5:17

Km07: 5:17

Km08: 5:02

Km09: 5:12

Km10: 5:03

I completed my first 10K in 49min 03sec. I was over the moon as I achieved my target time. Took rest for a week and decided to run again. The bug hit me hard; remember the 40min target time is not yet achieved. Believe me, I couldn’t even run for a minute, let alone those 20 minutes.

This continued for 3 weeks, as soon as I ran a km or 2, the pain was back. I didn’t run for a full month, visited a general physician and he advised me to take vitamin D tablets and the pain would be gone in a month. I took it every day for a month.

The pain did go. I started my 20min workouts again.

Day1: Fine.

Day2: Fine.

Day3: Slight niggle.

Day4: Back to square 1.

For god sake, my body needed rest and I never heeded to it. I consulted many doctors and I couldn’t even explain what the problem was as I didn’t know myself what the problem was :D

By then I had joined a few running groups on Facebook and decided to post it in one of them to understand what my problem was.

 Right shoes, Warm up, stretches, warm down, nutrition, training plan- the causes were many. Sadly, I didn’t know that people do all this just to run :)

And this was the time one of the good souls- Guru pinged me personally and understood my history into running. He suggested me to see a physio. That’s when I understood that I had shin splints and it needed lot of rest and proper stretches to keep myself in shape.

Already 3 months down without running. Next 2 months was slowly getting back in to the running manifesto.

At the same time, he introduced me to a running group- Burners. There has been no looking back since I joined them. They have become my heart and soul. They are my closest friends too.

During this period, I restricted myself to running in the ground. 2 times a week. Of course no 20min runs :P. It was 3km, 2 times.Running on the mud had little impact helped me recover faster.

And then I registered for my second 10K, this was on a tougher course. I was not recovered completely yet.

I decided to give it a try and try to do a sub 49min which is equal to my debut run. It was complete disappointment; I took 57min 49sec. Sadly, I don’t have the splits to share. There was no way I could increase the speed. So getting back to 49min was a challenge, forget 40min.

The struggle was harder; I could slowly get back to form. i.e., pain free running but still time was a distant dream.

This was the turning point in my runner career. I decided to chuck timing and concentrate only on distance. To all the newbie out there reading this, this the golden rule of running. Conquer distance and time will follow through. 

6 months of almost no running. And then I’ve slowly transformed to a distance runner. I did a few 11K’s, 13, 15 and 17. This was the time I decided to try a half marathon. In 3 months time, I was ready for a half marathon. The time bug slowly started showing up, I had to subside it or compromise on lot more things. I took it easy. I did my first HM in 1:47:47. This time, it was not about time. I completely enjoyed my first half marathon. Immediately I registered for a full marathon at the advice of Guru.

And then within 2 months, there was a 10K run in the same course where I had managed 57min 49sec.

As I was more matured now, I thought I should try a sub 48min as my tempo runs were at around 50min.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed this run and also found that even pacing is the way to go. Positive or negative splits take a toll on me; I really like the even pacing stuff.

 45min 09sec was a shocker. This is what happens when you outweigh distance over time. Conquering time is just a matter of time. 

After this run, full marathon took priority and I started religiously following what my mentor had to say.

I split my week in to

Monday- Rest day

Tuesday- Speed intervals

Wednesday- Aerboic/ core exercises

Thursday- Tempo run

Friday- Hill repeats

Saturday- Cross train (Cycling)

Sunday- Long runs (Preferably LSD)

I’m yet to start my core exercises full-fledged; I tried to incorporate it here and there. For my marathon, the plan was to do distance training as mentioned below.

23K, 25K, 25K, 23K, 27K, 26K, 29K, 23K and finally a 32K over the weekends. So I should be ready within 2 months for the full marathon with one month time to taper down.

I couldn’t follow the training plan religiously and had to push my longer distances towards the end.

In order to simulate the race conditions, I decided to do my 32K on a tougher terrain in tougher conditions. I started at 7am hoping to hit some sun.

I chose a wrong time. It got very hot and for the first time during my running, I experienced cramps. After 27K, I could barely run. Did a jog+walk and finished the 32K. I realized the importance of fuel now.

Till now, my practice runs only included water and enerzol, occasionally I had bananas. Now, I realized the importance of bread jam, energy gels and salt tablets.

From drinking no water to having a full course meal during a run is itself a transition :).

The week thereafter I had registered for a trail run (Kaveri trail Half marathon) and I was 5 weeks away from my full marathon. 

The course was beautiful and I was planning a sub 1:40 which I thought was doable. As I started, it was completely flat, I was on a song. I completed the 10K in around 46min and then the return struck me hard, not sure if it was because of the previous week run in the sun or the present day run in the sun or the trail itself. After 17^th km, my right leg gave up. I walked a couple of time and finished my run in

1:46: 16. 

Had I stuck to the 1:40 Hrs timing pace, maybe it would’ve worked out but I just couldn’t resist running fast there. So I hit the throttle early and lesson learnt :P.

Now, the focus was back on full marathon. A month to go and there’s this exam feeling all over.

Mine being an amateur group, we had too many people debuting their full. So it was test of nerves. Couple of times, I got intimidated by others doing multiple 30K’s and was wondering if I was under-trained for the event.

All these thoughts were dispelled at once by Guru, he said I was on the right track and not to compare with others. Some more gyaan from Karthik, he looked into my training log and advised me to run the FM much slower than my training runs. It was his experience speaking there, he knew I wouldn’t agree to it. He asked me to consider it. He spoke about it multiple times on multiple days. This time I listened to him. It was my last training run, initially was planning to do a 35K but I couldn’t push beyond 32.5K.

I had paced my run at 5:25~5.30 per km. His advice worked, after 25^th km, I was going strong because of the reduced pace. This is when I heard that Nagaraj is pacing the 3:45 Hr bus in the marathon. My initial target was 3:30hrs but this being my debut, I didn’t want to screw it up and make it a 4:00 Hr+. When I suggested this to Karthik, he said this would be the right choice to make.

Fortunately soon after that, Nagaraj had returned from his ironman event and was running in BU. Me, Karthik and Nagaraj had a good discussion about running, nutrition, training and their upbringing. They are both down to earth and keep ego at bay. This is what I like about people.

Believe me! I could sleep in peace. Neither school board exams nor my engineering exams could intimidate me so much.

A few times, the thought of 3:30 finish crossed my mind but decided not to gamble.

Event day- Full marathon debut.

Distance is just a number for runners. When you have a good day, you feel like running the next morning. When you had a bad day, you still want to run to burst out the stress.

Running is modern day yoga. The interactions you have with yourself, calmness of the nature, waving at fellow runners, the sickness you get when you miss your runs is a life in itself. 

I love the way people plan the runs. Remember this at 10K, this at 22K, don’t forget the last gel at 35~37K.

Oh, I really enjoyed it.

Waking up earlier than your normal training days and waking multiple times during sleep and realizing still on the bed and not at 27^th km sends shock waves. I had a troubled sleep although I had compensated for it by having a sound sleep the previous day. 

We decided to car pool for the event. We went there a little earlier. Karthik made us do dynamic stretches and a few warm up runs. Body was flexible and the heart rate went up- A good sign. With so many people around you at 4:00am in the morning, you know you’re not the only mad person out there.

Mind just went blank looking at so many people at the start line, adrenaline was rushing. I located my pacer- Nagaraj, he was a good 200m ahead of me at the start line. We waved at each other. There was already a big contingent around him. I decided to stay back and follow him. I didn’t want to get carried away.

Lot of people increased their pace initially I didn’t want to do it (Remember- Strong finish, not strong start). I could spot him after around a km and joined the bus. Things were going very smoothly, lot of people around. I was moving in front of the bus, it was hard to control the rush inside. He gently reminded me multiple times over the run not to move ahead but to stay with him. I thank him a lot for it.

We maintained an even pace all along. 5:10~5:20 per km. We relaxed in the down hills, put in a little extra energy during the climbs. The volunteers and the hospitality were too good. I took water at the 6^th km, not my sign but just wanted to be on the safer side. My plan of using the gels was first one at 8-10 km, second at 16-18km, third at 26-28km and the last one at 34-35km, have bananas at half way mark.

This almost went as per the plan. We could finally see daylight at around 18^th km, I could see the faces of the people in my bus now, till then was only hearing the voices. They were a motivated lot, too much of positivity around. We exchanged water, enerzol, bananas, it didn’t feel like a competition at all, more like another practice run and we were being led by a great leader. Nagaraj ensured we were all sticking together, he went back, he came forth and kept the momentum up. 

During this time, we could see the elite runners cross us.

 Wow! What a sight to watch them, maybe some day! :P

At 24^th km, we could see other buses going towards the half way mark and realized we had the maximum people compared to other buses (4:30Hr, 5:00 Hr).  I felt myself like a robot then, just running at a constant pace. 

At 32^nd km, looking at my energy Nagaraj asked me to go ahead and get a better timing. I listened and I moved ahead. This was the last 10Km, felt good initially but then I couldn’t get water at all. Aid stations were too crowded by the half marathon crowd. I regretted leaving the bus. I had to chew the last gel without water and I was stopped at a traffic signal, this irritated me. I could see the bus behind; I decided to move ahead rather than slowing. 

I finally met all of them at around 39^th km. I couldn’t pace with them as I was tired, I could barely hang on to them and finally at last km, they started increasing the pace while I couldn’t.

Anyway, can’t have everything your way right! I don’t regret going ahead of the group. Some hydration during the end could’ve definitely helped me. Last Km was tough but it is nothing when you’ve 41km behind your ass. Last 300m sign board was a bliss, I’m about to become a marathoner, the feel was great :).

I could see my running mates who had completed their half marathon, I got some instant energy and did a sprint in the last stretch to the finish line. Full marathon done and dusted. Oh!  It is hard to control emotions at the finish line. I was 30sec behind my bus, not bad. My overall time was 3:46:16 against a target of 3:45:00.

I was more than happy, it was not about time, it was about journey, it was a beautiful journey indeed.

I am always indebted to my running group- Burners, friends who always encourage me, fellow runners who are always motivating you, Bangalore runners Facebook page- lot of insights there and my parents and relatives who don’t understand why I run :).

Finally I would like thank My lord, Krishna for giving me a opportunity to serve him this way :)