My Second Full Marathon

This is the second time I'm doing a Full Marathon (FM). And when compared to the first one, this is way less dramatic (only 2 months training compared to 4 months and no injury scares/doubt of participation) and hence the post itself is much smaller.

Marathon Thoughts

It is October. I guess the registration for SPCM 2020 has started. I'm thinking. It's been around 2 years since I did my first FM. I did a Half Marathon (HM) in July (DRHM 2019) and achieved a respectable timing of 2.04 hours. Should I improve my HM timing or do a second FM ? I did my first FM in 5.15 and I thought there is definitely good scope of improving that time. Panneer (friend of mine and an ultra runner) was also pushing me to do FM in SPCM 2020. Okay, I I will do another FM and probably bring my time under 5 hours. But the training needed for FM is too long and much difficult when compared to HM.

By Googling, I found a short 8 week (2 month) training plan for FM. I made slight modifications and created a plan which had more rest days/strength training and less runs. Aim was to avoid injuries which happened in my first FM training.

Training

I had a relatively stronger running base owing to the HM I did in July. But again I was injured after that and out of running in August and September. I was back to running towards the end of October and it felt good. I prepared my training plan from November and was able to keep up with the plan, especially the long runs on Sundays.

Note that the number of weeks in the training plan is not enough as compared to other proper marathon training plans. Also the mileage per week is less. I wanted to avoid injuries during training and hence the low mileage.

Training log

I should say that the training went well as I had planned. I was running faster when compared to my previous FM training. This actually helped me in saving my knees. Previously I was running slow (to avoid injury), which caused me in under-striding. My knees were impacted more and eventually got injured. Over the course of time I realized that when I'm running fast, both my cadence and stride length were high, which resulted in more use of calf muscles and lesser impact to knee. Any day, I will take calf muscle strain over knee injury. I consciously made sure that my pace doesn't drop too low. In case I get tired, I will walk for sometime after which I will run at my target pace.

For CT (Cross training) I used to do cycling in my apartment gym. On rest days I used to foam roll the tight muscles in my legs. And on ST (Strength training) days, I used to do exercises to strengthen my legs (I wasn't going to overlook this, which was a mistake in my previous marathon training).

I used to run 2 days per week (which is pretty less for a marathon training). One run on Wednesday and another on Sunday. I used to do fast/short runs on Wednesday. I used to run around my apartment on late evenings. On Sunday I did the long runs as part of the training runs organized by Chennai runners (who conducted SPCM 2020). Training runs used to happen in 5 different places in Chennai. I joined the one that happened at Pallikkaranai. I effectively did 5 half marathons on 5 successive weekends which was new for me. The longest run I did was 28 km.

My pace during the training runs were from 6.30-7.00 min/km. For my previous FM training, pace was always in the range of 7.00-8.00 min/km and sometimes above 8.00 min/km.

Pre Race

The 2 weeks prior to the Race day, I was at my home town for vacation. It helped me in tapering and improved my nutrition as well. But it may have went a bit extreme. I started eating more and did put on some weight. Also I missed few runs. But I will take it. Over nutrition and under training is always better than under nutrition and over training, especially in the tapering period.

Race day was on Jan 5th. I started from my home town on Jan 3rd and reached Chennai on 4th. I got the Bib from Panneer, who had already collected it from my office. I bought few Gatorade drinks and drank them over the day, so as to increase the salts/energy/hydration. I also had Carbohydrate rich foods as part of Carb loading.

Race Plan

Pacers are runners who run at a pace such that they complete the run in a particular time. That time is mentioned on the back of their T-shirt or on a balloon attached to them. For example a 5 hour pacer for FM, will complete the FM in exactly 5 hours. We just need to stick with them through the entire run.

My optimistic target was 4.30 hours and realistic target was 4.45 hours. Hence I decided to stick with the 4.30 pacer for as long as I could and probably get my realistic target. Well, this plan backfired. More on that in the next section.

Race Day

Race was supposed to start at 4.00 AM. I had to reach there before 3.30 AM, because the nearby parking spot would get closed by then. So I woke up around 2 AM. I had my breakfast which included 2 bread slices with peanut butter and 2 bananas. I got ready and started by around 2.50 AM. I reached the destination by around 3.20 AM. Parking was well inside YMCA Nandanam and close to the starting line. Place was crowded unlike the previous time. Later I came to realize that the 32km run also would start at the same time (4.00 AM). I met Panneer and took few selfies. Then I did the warm up including stretches and few small runs.

Race was flagged off at 4.00 AM. As I said it was a bit crowded at the beginning. Nevertheless, I found my way through the crowd. I found the 4.30 pacer. There were 2 of them and as per their plan, they were running separately with a gap of around 500 m between them. I got myself in that gap and continued running. I soon realized that the humidity was very high since I was sweating heavily. Temperature also was not as cool as one would expect for a day in early January.

For the 4.30-4.45 hour target, my plan was to run 9+ km for each hour and hopefully complete the remaining 5-6 km in 30-40 minutes. Things went according to plan in the first 3 hours (actually much better than planned). I mostly ran (without walking much) the full 3 hours and was taking electrolytes/water at the aid stations to ensure I'm well hydrated.
1st hour - 10 km
2nd hour - 9.5 km
3rd hour ~ 9 km

Perfect till 3 hours/28.5 km. I was thinking may be I will achieve my optimistic target of 4.30. Even if my pace drops I will achieve 4.45. I had a 1.5 km buffer to achieve my target of 36 km in 4 hours.

Well my left calf muscle had different plans. In addition with the body getting tired, the calf muscle cramped at around 32 km. I stretched the muscle and was able to get moving, but at a much lower pace. Time target started to slip and I realized 4.30 is not a possibility any more. 4.30 pacer went past me and I couldn't keep up with him.

At around 34 km, cramps got real bad that I couldn't run at all. I checked my timings and I realized I may slip my target of 36 km in 4 hours. I kept walking fast. I tried my level best to run as well, but it cramped very fast. Somehow I achieved 36 km in just above 4 hours.

Now I know I can't run at all and hence I won't be able to achieve my target of 4.45. I have 6 km to the finish line and to finish in 5 hours I have to complete it in less than an hour. I decided to go with full walking strategy. I know I can finish a km in 9.30-10 minutes by walking alone. So by that rate, I may be able to finish the FM in 5 hours. Any small run that I might be able to squeeze in between will be an added bonus.

Yeah so it started. I was able to complete a km in 9 minutes and even less by very small runs. By being extra careful, I made it sure that at the slightest hint of a cramp I stopped running. This strategy worked and finally I finished in 4.55 hours.

Word around was that everyone struggled because of the humid weather and weren't able to maintain their expected pace/finish in the expected time.

After the race, I was really tired. I was not able to stand up for long times. It was around 9 AM. I got the finisher medal inside VGP resort and took finisher pic. Then I went to the Volini stretching area, where they provided stretching for the tired muscles which was very helpful. Later I went to have breakfast. Standing in those long queues with tired legs was no fun at all. Anyways got the breakfast and had it with Praveen (friend of mine). Later I met Dhaneesh (friend). I took pics with both Praveen and Dhaneesh.

Afterwards I had to get to the starting point where I had parked my car. They had arranged bus shuttle service. I got in one of them and reached back at YMCA. I got down at YMCA entrance and had to walk all the way till the parking spot (around 1 km). Finally reached the car, drove back and reached back home. It was around 12.15 pm by the time I reached back home. Almost 9 hours since I left for the marathon.

Race Result

Probable Mistakes

Probably I pushed too much in the beginning of the race, leading to the struggle after 32 km.
Not taking energy gel - I didn't feel this tired after my first FM. I'm assuming it was because I didn't have energy gels as I had in my first FM.
Short longest run - My longest run was 28 km in training and that too only once. I should have done a 30 km run if not 32 km.
Preparation time of 2 months (8 weeks) was definitely less. Training mileage per week also was less. But I will take it.

Comparison with my first FM

I completed the race 20 minutes earlier compared to my first FM and now I'm a sub 5 full marathoner.
I didn't get injured (no knee issues) while training or during the race.
I didn't have to take any pain killer during the race.
Never I wore knee brace during training or during race, unlike the first time when I used to wear it during all my runs.
Stopped listening to music while running. They say music masks the signals from the body while running. I find it to be true. Pains will get masked, pace may go beyond the target pace etc.
Didn't take energy gel (mentioned as a probable mistake above)

End Note

This FM was the realization that running under time pressure will make the race less enjoyable than usual (unless the set time is realistic). Runners please note that the training log that I have shown in the beginning shouldn't really be used as a reference for running full marathons, unless your aim is just to finish. Refer to standard marathon training plans available online. I will confirm in future blogs if the mistakes mentioned above were really mistakes. I will have to avoid them in future and see if it all goes well.

I'm really happy to have improved my time and have become a sub 5 marathoner. Thanks to my family/friends, SPCM organizers and volunteers (at aid stations). A stronger finish could have been even better, probably next time. :)