"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn" - John Muir.
"Life is absurd. Death is certain . But you fill it with ideas, with enthusiasm, with joy." -Reinhold Messner
The inspiration: It was coach Siva and my friend Suren who kindled my interest on ultra runs and more specifically on ultra trail runs (yes they are different :)) Their experience at the Malnad 2019 was too tempting for me to attempt it at the next available opportunity.
The 2020 event had to be cancelled and seeing the way 2021 was progressing I had little hope for a 2021 edition. By March 2021, news started trickling that we may have the 2021 edition !! I was so excited and ALL IN.
Training block:Details about the run were still not very clear, but the coach had already started working on the training plans. I was lucky to have a group of friends with similar interest for the run. Unlike training for marathons, where the focus is on the time to complete 26.2 miles, Ultra marathon trainings focus on endurance needed to complete the distance.The focus is on enduring long hours of run without giving up and maintaining the energy levels (by eating appropriately) and ofcourse avoiding injury
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Stats from my 12Week training for the Ultra. |
Hills, hills and more hills: The Malnad Ultra happens on a rocky terrain in western ghats with a decent elevation. So the coach had emphasized atleast one hill run a week preferably with rocks/boulders and hills. Thanks to urbanisation, we couldn't find a lot of hills with trail roads in the city.
The trail starting at Makki Darwaza near Golconda was our go to place for shorter runs. I loved all the runs on this segment. Strongly recommend this segment for anyone interested in training for ultra runs.It's closer to the city (so you can return back to work) and has good mix of boulders, green pathways and stair elevations to get your body tuned for hilly terrians.
Besides Makki Darwaza ,we also did a lot of reps at KBR (outer loop) , Prestige hills and city flyover route starting at Gachibowli and touching KBR and back. Looking back, I could see our team had clocked really high elevation gain for this 12 week period.
Memorable training runs: The training journey of this run was as exciting and in some ways closer to my heart than the actual race. Specially loved our long run at Rachakonda hills. Coach was particular that we spend 4 hours on feet at a hill to test our endurance. It took us 2 hours to reach the place . It was a labor of (running ) love , but at the every minute of this run was memorable.
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| Golconda Hill trail was our favorite hill training spot |
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| After the Boston Virtual FM |
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| At Rachakonda . One of the most memorable experience of the training. |
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| After completing the Virtual FM at BHEL |
The marathon distance run at BHEL which we completed as part of the qualification , and the 20miler as part of Boston Virtual FM event are some of the other runs that were quite memorable. We had a good time !!
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| The Malnad team. L-R:Tarun,Satish Gantreti,Ravishankar,Satheesh Prakash,Jay Keerthi,Sujai,Veera,Suren Reddy, (Madhan, Siva) |
Want to call out my friends Jay, Suren, Ravishankar, Veera, Tarun, Satish ,Madhan and SP. Not everyone registered for the run. But the entire team trained together ! Training as a group helped us be consistent and go to places and distances that wouldnt have been possible solo.
Thanks to all of you. This race wouldnt have been possible without you!
Race Gear: These runs happen on routes that are mostly raw trails . The route may be muddy at best or filled with slippery slush with huge undergrowth and there could be streams that we may need to cross. As this was a first ultra , I was not ready to take chances with race gear. With some online research and help from coach and past participants,we finally narrowed down on shoes to our liking. Now that the race is over, I can say that a trail shoe was a good call.
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| Lot of thought went before getting the trail shoe. |
There were many places where I landed on sharp stones or my ankle twisted. The rubberized sturdy sole of the shoe helped limit the impact and I avoided spraining my leg throught the journey. Unless you are one of those sage runners who can bare-foot on these hills,investing on a trail shoe is highly recommended.
Besides shoes, I found the hydration bag very useful. I used Evadict from Decathlon. It was reasonably priced and did its job without any leaks or chaffing etc.
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| Pre-race lunch at SaiRam mess :) |
Race week: The race starts from Mudigere in Chikmagalur district. It's a 5 hour drive from Bengaluru.The travel with friends made it very enjoyable! On reaching the BIB collection point, the race director briefed us about the route and things to expect.
Unlike earlier editions, this year's race had to traverse through 'reserve forests'.That meant couple of things - (1) the trail is going to be really raw and closer to nature and some unmotorable places where you are all alone (2)Possible encounters with wild life. Mostly Elephants. (3) very less to no SAG support on some routes. i.e. You are on your own at some stretches. We also got some practical advise on dealing with leeches (very frequent) and lonely male elephants (rare but very dangerous). All of this got me more excited and I couldnt wait to get into the run the next day!
Race Day:
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| Hyderabad Runners at the start point |
0-10K : By the 2K mark , we were already out of roads and into forest and trail paths. I was going at a comfortable and easy pace on this stretch. At the 6K mark ,we reached a temple (NANYADA BYRAVESHWARA) at the top of a small hill The view of the Ettina Bhuja (Ox's shoulder) from this place was incredible!
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| Suren At the 6K point. |
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| Satish at 6K point with the hill (Ettina Bhuja) in the background. |
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| With Madhan and Suren at the 15K point. |
33-50K : The sun at its blazing best by the time we hit the 33K mark.,we were fully out of the forests as we ventured onto the road section of the race. I crossed a steep uphill of about 1.5 kms before reaching the 33K makr. As I retraced the path downhill , I entered the 37mark in 4:45 hours.
A mental game: The finish line was 13 kms away but my body was starting to feel fatigued. Although I have done FM distances earlier this year, I had completed them by 4:30 hours.So this was actually the longest I'd been on the road in a LONG time . It was a pretty weird feeling. My heart rate was good and I was not hungry or thirsty ,but the legs just wouldnt move fast and they felt weak.
Just before the race, the advise from my coach was 'go easy on uphills' ,'dont be shy to keep walking'.Somehow ,this thought came to my mind at that time and I kept walking without breaks.Soon I found myself alone on the roads with no sight of any runner. Fortunately, it was a single road for most of this distance and it was easier to follow the route.
The mid-morning heat was beginning to show its effect on the body.I cooled myself by splashing cold water on my face and head at every SAG point.The last 2kms were very hard to cross but I finally walked through and touched the finish line.
The journey of my first ultra trail ended. But the memories from it with stay on forever !
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| All smiles at the finish line. |
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| Finisher buckle from Anand Adkoli , RD of Malnad Ultra. |
I do not know the reason of being presented a buckle rather than a medal.One practical reason (I guess) may be, unlike a medal, a buckle could be fitted to a belt and you can carry this as momento everywhere you go.Eitherways, it was very satisfying to get the finisher medal after more than 6 hours of hard efforts.
Closing thoughts: Many things could have gone wrong but they did not and I felt so grateful for all the things that went well.My heartfelt thanks to my coaches Siva and Deepali from TRY. The many yoga sessions and brutal strength and core sessions helped me complete the race strong without cramps or any injury to the ankle.I highly recommend TRY for anyone interested in ultra distance runs ,either as a beginner who would like to test the waters or as an experienced runner looking to improve ones distance or finish times.
A key part of the training was higher 'time on feet' which meant which meant that I'd to run longer on both the days of the weekend. And these runs had to be on hilly terrains (and these are farther from my home). All of this meant that I had to be outdoors for most part of my weekends and even some weekdays and 100% in rest mode post run !! It was really frustrating 12-weeks time for the family. But they supported me through this time.Thanks to my wife and son for the support.
As always, grateful to my mom, dad and sister for being a constant source of support in this endeavour ! They were quite worried about the risks and the stress with these kinds of events but they were always supportive and gave me good counsel when I needed it the most.
