Bengaluru Marathon - Birthday FM.

The spark to run an FM on my Birthday came up when I was on my way to Sinhagad Epic Trail. I discusssed the thought with Raju garu and Srikanth , my fellow runners who have the same day as their birthday and they accepted the plan immediately!  And so it was, a sudden plan to celebrate our birthday with an FM.

Birthday boys with medal post FM :)

With Raju and Srikanth. We birthday on same date (Oct 6).

Training:  Unlike the TMM, I did not have a time goal for this race. I wanted to have a good race without cramps.Many had warned me that Bengaluru Marathon is not an ideal place for a PB due to its many U turns and loops.I thought anything faster than 3:50 hour finish is a great win!

The plan was to ramp up the mileage slowly after SET and focus on a good HM at Hyderabad Marathon and then use that base to hit my desired goal at Bengaluru.

I had a good training block from the start of August to the 3rd week of August.I was able to sustain my TEMPO runs well.Thanks to Gopal who accompanied me on these training sessions and pushed me hard. 

With Gopal after one of those hard but satisfying TEMPO sessions.

I had a good race at NMDC Hyderabad Marathon.Was able to hit a course PB at the Hyderabad Marathon route (1:45:52), easily one of my best HM performances.

An unexpected travel : The next week, I had to travel to Taiwan on office work.It was a short trip with very little time to recover from jet lags. Yet, I managed to do couple of runs .I stayed in the downtown so I had an opportunity to run around the iconic Taipei 101.

Managed a couple of runs while at Taiwan.

Travel fatigue/Jet lag: After returning from Taiwan, I run 2 30+ runs in lead up to the FM.I felt energy levels go down post 25K with these runs.In the first run, I bonked and hand a run/walk finish.I moderated my pace for the second long run.This was better but still not quite comfortable.My confidence levels plummented and even a sub4 looked a best case result by this time :s.

32K with 26K  5:05 to 5;10. Bonked at 26K 

34K at 5:20 pace.. Struggle post 28K

26K with 24K at 5:20 pace. Managed better. 

Met Hrishitha and Darshan after 2years. Happy faces.

There were a lot of factors and most important one was office work.Friends suggested that its a mix of travel fatigue and improper carb loading and fueling strategy.I made some corrections to my carb loading and also the gels strategy (Fast&Up --> Unived).

Race preparation:The 2 long runs prior to the race was a good learning experience. I came prepared with good carb loading.I skipped visiting the EXPO and also had a decent pre-run activation using the video from coach Rama.My family members were kind enough to not make big plans for Saturday night.I signed off pretty early as the marathon starts very early. 

Race day: In the morning, I had a cup of oats soaked overnigt in water and my trusted bread+peanut buter combinatin. It had rained the previous day and the stadium area was still damp.I reached the venu on time.There was no air flow at all at that time. My plan was to stick to 5:20 to 5:25 pace until 25K and then push myself for the remaning section.

0-3KM : I was being quite cautious for these initial kms .The pace was almost close to 6 pace.But I just kept my calm and navigating the crowds in this section. It was cool and there was no rain.

3-6KM : The legs felt warmed up. I can also see that this section is a good downhill. I kept the pace in control so that I do not excert myself.

Initial kms. The weather was pleasant.

7-12KM : I do not recall a lot from this section as it was pretty dark.I think this was inside the cubbon park area itself. I felt this run to be similar to the Coimbatore (Half Marathon) in some sense. I took sips of my first UNIVED gel at 8 and 10K mark.

12-16KM: I was in a large downhill stretch with the MG Road Metro station to my side. It was a good descent ,so more than the downhill, I was worried about the uphil on the return :) Fortunately , I did not excert myself here and completed this section with good energy in reserve.

Downhill on the MG Road segement.

16-21KM : We were now back in the cubbon park + start line stretch. There was a short uphill in this section ,which I believe is around the 18km followed by downhill all the way to the start line.Had gels at 15,18,20k mark.

At half way mark.

I felt satisfied that the run went good until now. I felt I had not pushed enough and took it too easy but there is no point thinking about it now.

21-42KM - As I started the second loop , I felt better seeing the people at the start/finish line.I also felt relieved that 50% of the run is now down. I kept my pace under control and this continued until the 23K. 

Heavy legs post 24K: My pace started to drop at 24K to around 5:30 pace. From here I was not able to push it to a higher pace no matter what I tried. The legs felt very heavy. The HR was under  control and the breathing was normal, but the legs just did not move. 

Just going in the flow. 

Final Stretch

I had faced this earlier at my Chennai FM too I managed to shake this out only at TMM in the beginning of the year. Inspite of this, I did few run walks and finally completed the race. The time read 3:53.Slightly disappointed but I was so happy that I completed my run at a sub4 timing and that too without cramps.

Finish Line ! Happiness 

Hard won.

Fueling: 

Pre-run: Used oats soaked overnight in water and one bread with Peanut butter. This kept me full until the need for the first gel came up at 8K.

Gels:  Except for 1 date at around 4K, this race was fully fueled on Unived Gels. I stuck to the non-caffeine one for this race. I find Unived too sweet to be consumed in a single short. So I decided to take sips of Unived at regular intervals. Gels at : 8,10, 15,18,20,24,27,33,35,38. A total of 4 Unived Salty lemon gels.

Hydration: Race day had ideal weather with higher humidity but cool breeze  and no sun at all for the entire duration (Bangalore runners are quite lucky ;)) .I was not feeling a lot of sweat loss. I stuck to small sips for water .I didnt quite like the flavor of the electrolye .I hope the organizers fix this for the next edition.

Route management/Overall experience:  Many had cautioned me about the crowd slowing us down in the second half.But I did not face it.The organisers have done a good job of starting the HM at 6:20AM . 2:20 minutes after the start of FM at 4:00 AM.If you manage to complete the first half by 2:15, you need not be worried with crowd interfering you in the second half.The route was well lit and with flood lights and there were no pot-holes and no water logging (inspite of a shower the previous night).Hydration points were OK but not at the same level as Hyderabad marathon.The weather was a significant plus point compared to Hyderabad marathon. I would recommend BM as a good course for PB on your Half Marathon.The route is not pancake flat but the elevations were not brutal like Hyderabad. The full marathon may not be quite exciting or challenging as its just one more loop of the half marathon.

Closing thoughts - 'Yeh dil maange more'! -As always the coach was expecting a better timing. He called me immediately to know the reasons I didnt push in the second half.I didnt have any.

Looking back I feel that I should have pushed harder in the first half, perhaps 5:10 pace upto 24K and then allow my body to slow down for the second half. That would have definitely saved a minute or 2 and I would have hit my goal of a 3:50 timing.

Another friend suggested that I train for strong finish in the training runs instead of cool down in the end. A negative split 6K after a 21K. These are things that I will be trying in the coming races in 2025.

With some of the strong runners at the finish line.

With my runner friends from Bangalore !! 

Friends from Coimbatore!

With my family ! All had participated in the BM.

For now,I am glad to have completed a run on my birthday.The recovery was awesome and I was back in action by 9:00 am.Glad to have wife,SIL,BIL and their partners participating in this event.I am proud to have inspired my family to get into running:)