Kaveri Trail Marathon 2015

Last Sunday the 20th of September at around the same time (10:30 AM) I was 4 hrs 30 min into my first trail marathon attempt at the KTM. I must have been at the 30K mark and starting to really feel the trail, the humidity and the prospect of the last 12K looming ahead like an insurmountable wall. 

I hadn't run a full marathon since 2009. I failed to finish the Mumbai marathon in 2011. Not finishing this time wasn't an option or so I kept telling myself. As we lined up at the start point, Arvind or A2 as he's known among the organisers was engaging in some banter on the podium as we waited for the clock to tick over to 6 AM. His first piece of advice was to not attempt your personal bests in this run. This wasn't the run for personal bests...I was about to find out why. He asked if anyone had cycled to the start point from Bangalore and sure enough one hand went up to raucous cheers from all 180 runners lined up. I was honestly astounded to see the 40-something guy a few feet away who was smiling bashfully as people cheered him. Many hands shot up when asked how many had run all 8 previous editions of this marathon. I just toed the ground and focused on my breathing and allowed a  smile of satisfaction that I actually stood amongst such crazies. The run began with a few cheers and I settled at my easy race pace right at the back of the pack. As anyone who's run 42K will tell you, the run really doesn't start until the 35K mark so I dug deep and focused on my breathing and form. 

Around the 25K mark I was feeling just fantastic. At that moment I felt all my training and hard work and preparation were coming together in one beautiful symphony. I had never felt so good at this distance. My pace had auto-set itself and glances to my watch confirmed that I had settled on my optimal race pace to finish in 5hrs 30. Glimpses of finishing with a smile flashed through my mind's eye and I savagely thrust those thoughts aside. Thinking is the enemy...as Scott Jurek reiterated the other day. A short but 40 degree incline faces you around the 8K mark of the 10.5 out section of the trail. At 28K it's wise to walk and I trudged up this short section. That's when I started to notice how rough the trail was, how my legs suddenly had a mind of their own, how the humidity was rendering my tongue parched despite blissful cloud cover overhead that kept the sun away for the most part of the run.  

From the 30K to the 33K mark I really lost things mentally. It was a real struggle. The sun too came out a few times and when it did, it felt like I was suddenly thrust into a 200 degree oven. The heat was searing and unbelievable. I actually contemplated stripping off my under shirt and simply running on with my singlet at that point. Thankfully, the sun kept playing hide and seek and never really came out till the end. At that point, thoughts of just stopping, sitting down, just giving up all crossed my mind. It also doesn't help one's morale as runner after runner old and young keep passing you. 

This is again when all the training paid off. The stress zone is something I've spoken about in earlier training posts. I told myself well here we are again in the stress zone and this time there's no stopping. I decided to just focus on 1K at a time. At 33K I said let's get to 34...at 34, let's get to 35. I didn't think of anything else. I barely noticed a dazzling cormorant or flocks of majestic egrets or the beautiful paddy fields and canal. Just that number. Just the next aid station. By 35K I was grabbing handfuls of ice and rubbing it all over my body, head and neck. I had already been on the trail for 5 hrs 15 mins by then and I could feel how overheated my body had become. The ice really helped. It was the thing that kept me going honestly. That deliciously cool feeling albeit momentary was what helped me focus on the next K and the next K until it started to rain. But by then I was at the 39K mark and after another 30 mins of forward motion I could see the finish line. The last 50 metres I was accompanied by one of the volunteer-organiser-veterans who saw me through to the finish. My beautiful wife was there too, cheering me on to the finish along with a few other volunteers. My medal was slung around my neck and I collapsed nearby...tired but with that feeling of elation that only comes from having made it across 42K. That last 10K section again taught me a lot...about myself, about life, about what it takes to keep going when all motivational talk and logic seem facetious and things seem darkest and most futile. Finishing was a triumph of the mind over the body. The body had given up long ago but the mind kept me going.

This was my slowest marathon finish. But this was also the toughest course I have run. I also entered this run with the sole intent of finishing. I had no other option given how unfit I was when I set sights on this event and the limited time I could put into training for this event. I look back with satisfaction at the last 5 months. I did what I set out to do. It's now about looking ahead. I suffered from severe bone stress in my right leg after the run and I'm still hobbling as a result. I should be OK in another week. I had initially entertained thoughts of entering the Mumbai Marathon, now that I have a legitimate finish time which should help me qualify. However, I don't want another finish like this one. I want to be able to run strong in that last 10K. I already have the contours of a training plan for the next 6 months charted out in my head. I know the areas I need to work on and the workouts to get me there: tempo runs, interval runs, swimming, strength training and consecutive long runs on Saturdays and Sundays. Meeting Scott Jurek this Friday and hearing him speak about his training routine was just the primer I needed to crystallise what I want to do next. If I remain injury free I intend to purse this routine and continue running down the dream. 

Long Runs 14, 15 and 16

I've been tardy about logging my training here. One inspiring event that occurred last week was my good friend Alokee running a personal best sub-4 hour marathon! Simply incredible stuff! Congrats Kokie and hope to join you in that league in a year or two!

For now, I've been working a bit on my core fitness but nowhere close to the intensity I would have liked to. But being so close to my first full marathon in over 5 years I'm understandably nervous about straining or spraining anything or catching a stitch somewhere. What I have done is religiously keep to my long run schedule.

The last 3 Saturdays have seen me put in a 28K, a 33 K and my last long run yesterday a nice, quick 19K. My longest run of this training plan was last weekend with a 33K. I burnt close to 3,000 calories and was on the road for close to 4 hours. Extremely inefficient use of calories in comparison to distance but there's only one way from here and that's up. Yesterday was fun because I was aiming only for a 20K and I pushed myself hard. I ran 19K at a 7:18 pace which for me is a good 30 seconds faster than my race pace will be.

Right now I feel healthy, my recovery after my almost-half marathon yesterday is excellent. I don't even feel it anymore honestly. This is also the end of my long runs. I'll put in a 12-15K next Saturday and then rest in the lead up to the big day on September 20th. Looking back it's been an exhilarating journey. It started with a 4K run on April 24th. From then till now I've run a total of 11 half-marathon  plus distances which include 6 runs of 30K or more. That's a lot of miles from being completely sedentary and sloth-like 5 months ago. Some of the side effects have been a dramatic change in my diet and approach to food. I've had to discard more than 15 shirts and tees and 3 pants...just too loose. I haven't had a Friday night out in 5 months which has probably saved me some money too! :-)

Now I can just sit back, calm myself and aim to complete the KTM in 6 hours or so.