This was long time coming and finally, I decided to move ahead with this change.

This blog originated as my personal training log at tanvirkazmi.blogspot.com. It soon became an avenue for me to discuss all things related to running in India and the blog got its own domain name in tanvirkazmi.com (and known popularly as the “Running Without Limits” blog).

As I developed more interest in running, I started sharing news and updates from events beyond the borders, and all around the world, whatever caught my attention. The domain tanvirkazmi.com was now getting strained, and a bottleneck in developing the overall profile of the blog to reflect its new found character. Another rebirth happened, in the form of runinfinity.com and this blog started to gather a lot of international audience as well.

These changes had a flip side too. A lot of the regular readers of this blog were primarily interested in reading about my training updates, basically, a personal experience. I understand that bringing everything under a single banner was probably not the brightest idea, and so, it was decided that I keep the two identities separate. Me, my training, my goals … and the running world out there and related stories and updates from events around the world.

So, from today, there are two blogs. The original blog – tanvirkazmi.com is reborn, and I will use it as a medium to update my personal experiences, training progress, lows and highs of running. runinfinity.com will continue as the worldwide running news and updates blog.

For folks who would like to subscribe to either of my blogs (RSS or email), here are the subscription links from feedburner.

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Okay, here’s my plan for the Mumbai Marathon 2010, written in stone. Not too many days to go, so its better to decide now that leaving it for later. The plan is to target a 4:40 finish with Plan A below, and switch to a sub 5:00 strategy with Plan B in case Plan A looks to be blowing apart at half way point.

Plan Basics

I want to try out my tried and tested 4/1 run walk approach, i.e. run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute. With this strategy, the constant aspect here would be the walking pace, which I have taken to be a constant figure of 9.0 min/km. I am banking on this from my experience since this would be the key to any calculations I make below.

So, once I fix the run/walk ratio and the walking speed, all that remains to be calculated (and followed) is the running pace for any scenario which may come up. I have been able to come up with two possible scenarios. They are not foolproof and there is no surety that when Plan A fails, Plan B would work, but this is the closest I can get to plan realistic possibilities.

Best Case Plan (Plan A) – Sub 4:40 finish

Target scenario: Finish 42K in 4:40. Everything works as per plan.

Time:
Run = 4/5 = 3:44
Walk = 1/5 = 0:56

Distance:
Walk = 0:56/9 = 6.2K
Run = 42 – 6.2 = 36K

Target Run pace = 3:44/36 = 6:12 min/km

Worst Case Plan (Plan B) – Sub 5:00 finish

Target scenario: Run till half way as per plan 4:40 finish plan, and then everything blows up. Objective – try recovery by finishing within 5:00

First 21K in 2:20 or less – Done (assumed).
Remaining = distance 21K / time 2:40

Time (remaining):
Walk = 1/5 = 0:32
Run = 4/5 = 2:08

Distance (remaining):
Walk = 0:32/9 = 3.55K
Run = 21 – 3.55 = 17.45K

Target Run pace = 2:08/17.45 = 7:20 min/km

Analysis Summary

So, there we have it. Two plans, one where I am able to stick to a 6:12 min/km pace throughout the run (tough as nails), and the other, where I am able to do this only for half the distance, and then lower a gear to a 7:20 min/km running pace.

For the record, I did a 2 hour run today with 4/1 and with running pace of 5:40 min/km in the much cooler Delhi weather, and by the end, I was still pretty good, though I am not sure how much longer would I have been able to continue with this. A 35K run with this same strategy next weekend will be a better indication. Adding an additional 30 seconds to the 5:40 pace to make it a 6:10 would be my adjustment for the hot and humid Mumbai weather.

Your thoughts or comments on this? Am I being too aggressive with Plan A, is it really realistic or worth the try – even to the half way point (Note: My personal best in a 42K till date is a 4:38 in Gurgaon Marathon a year back, but in much cooler weather, though I believe I am in better shape now).

Less than a month to go for the 7th edition of the Mumbai Marathon. My training is going good for a third crack at the holy distance at Mumbai. I have gone through a marathon and a 30K over the last two weekends, and my legs, particularly the calves seem to be holding up well. The plan going ahead is to continue with 30K+ runs every weekend except probably the last one where the plan is to make a flying visit to Mumbai to run a 21K training run with friends. And if I can pull out another 42K in between, even better.

Below are some updates on the Mumbai marathon as they continue to trickle in:

Start timings

The Full Marathon, like last year, will have an early start at 6:45 am. The regular start timing is 7:40 am and this is where you should start if you care about things like prize money in the OPEN category, otherwise, advisable to take the early start and avoid about an hour of sunburn.

Looking at the official website, it looks like the organizers have still not finalized the arrangements for the Half Marathon, which for the first time is supposed to start from Bandra and end at CST. The website does not have any start timings for this event, and there are no details on how baggage will be handled to take care of this unique situation of the run starting from one point and ending at another. What I have heard is that organizers will transfer the baggages by road to the finish point.

Route Map

The official route map for both the Marathon and the Half Marathon is yet to be published. I guess it is taking a bit of time since the route has changed big time this year with the inclusion of the Bandra-Worli sea link.

Energy Drinks – a First

For the first time, the Mumbai Marathon (and half) will see energy drinks being provided to runners (and I am not counting Electral water as an energy drink). Organizers have tied up with energy drinks manufacturer Lucozade, I have no experience of drinking this so I wonder how much different it is from the more widely available Gatorade.

Cutoff Times

The Marathon will see a cutoff at 12:40 pm, which is 5 hours 55 minutes from the early start at 6:45 am. Pretty decent I believe, unlike the earlier cutoffs which were generally in the 5 hours vicinity.

What a weekend it was which just went by! My training for the last few months had seen more downs than ups. Now that I recall, it has been about 50KM of running in the preceding 2 months. Thats right, this includes a fitness check run of 7KM a day before the Delhi Half Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon on Nov 1st after a month of injury layoff, and then the 3rd Delhi Runners Half Marathon at Jahanpanah Park on Nov 22th.

Finally, looks like things are changing for the better. Within the last 8 days leading up the the weekend, I have done 90KM. This includes the 2nd Running and Living Marathon on Dec 6th, a couple of 9KM practice runs after that, and then a 30KM long run the weekend gone by. My aim is now to do a 30+ KM run every weekend leading up to the taper for the Mumbai marathon, maybe even running a 42KM again in one of those runs.

The 30KM last weekend was done at Rose Garden / Deer Park, a beautiful place to run which I visited for the first time. Lots of trail to run on, and good company of runners all preparing for the Mumbai marathon, so there’s no shortage of motivation and enthusiasm. My calves and ankles seem to be holding well with no recurrence of the pain I have been feeling till now. As always, I could not contain myself on the evening of the 30Km run and played and won a Badminton tournament in my residential society, reeling of 5 matches, including 4 really tough ones within 3 hours.

The next weekend long run is also scheduled for the Rose Garden / Deer Park circuit. I am very excited about that, since I hope to meet a lot of new members of the Delhi Runners group, which has been growing by leaps and bounds, and all group runs have seen increasing participation. In fact, today Mint – The Wall Street Journal also printed an article about running with groups, and which featured Delhi Runners as well.

Well, a month and 2 days to go for the Mumbai Marathon, which leaves precisely 4 weekends in between. Considering a two week taper, I need to put in at least two more 30K+ runs, and maybe another 30K run with a couple of weeks to go.

Oh, and finally before I press the publish button, another thing happened which made this weekend complete and so satisfying. Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield for the first time since 2003! Go Gunners!

The signs were ominous. I was really short of match practice (training) before the big day, which had crept up really fast. The last few months had been woeful. First, I got this left calf injury when preparing for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 4 weeks before the event date (Nov 1st). So, it was almost no running in between trying to give myself time to recover.

On the other hand, I was being silly going out on weekends occasionally to play Badminton (practicing for an upcoming tournament). And even playing football one fine day just for the heck of playing it. So, my training basically comprised of a couple of half marathons and a 10K since Nov 1st.

So I was off to Gurgaon at 4:00 am in the morning on Nov 6th for a 5:30 am early start the 2nd Running and Living Gurgaon Marathon. I hitched a ride with my running buddy, Mayank, and his bro-in law and we were there at the starting line by 5:00. It was fun again meeting old friends and making new ones, all through the day. The run started around 5:30 am though the half marathon runners were let loose only a couple of hours later. It was 70 runners for the 42K and something like 300+ for the 21K.

As always, the first 21K is like a training 21K, nice, easy, relaxed and consistent with no real pattern to it, and with no foreboding of what lies ahead. Me and Mayank ran together, and company takes away a lot of pain and worrying thoughts too. I was running with half an eye on the Mumbai marathon, India’s finest marathon, and notorious for the high temperatures and higher humidity. I had a chat with Ian Ladbrook, the elite athlete coordinator at Delhi and Mumbai events, and he had suggested that to acclimatize for Mumbai, run with multiple layers of clothing to keep the body extra warm and sweating profusely. So, I was running with 3 layers on top, a sleeveless running vest, a full sleeve running shirt, and a warm jacket on top.

The 21K was hit at 2:18. By the time we hit 32K, I was already getting hot under the collars, and was trying to think of how it feels in Mumbai at this milestone. I felt a certain familiarity between the two situations, and by the time I was on the last 5KM stretch, it was almost as if this was Mumbai. I was down to run walk frequently (instead of the 17/3 which we were trying for the first time), and having the same horrible time as always in Mumbai. My face was getting dry and salty very soon as if there was no water left in the body, and I was desperate for any water stops. The last few kilometers required all the motivational thoughts and incantations I could muster. I finished in 4:48, 10 minutes slower than my last years time at this event, and my second best marathon time ever.

So, it was overall a very satisfactory experience, maybe a bit beyond my expectations as well (actually, I started with a 4:40 thought, but then runners always get over-optimistic before the runs, don’t they, especially senseless ones like me). I hope this run, and further training holds me in good stead for the Mumbai Marathon on Jan 17th. I am still thinking of what it will feel to run over the Bandra Worli Sea Link.

Special thanks to the organizers, Rahul Verghese, founder of Running and Living, for organizing this great event. It was managed exceptionally well, something which was appreciated by each and every runner. Runner support was excellent in the form of great nutrition at each water stop. Gatorade, biscuits, chips and bananas were in plenty all through the 42Ks when at most of the other events, it is actually difficult to find water in the latter part of the run!

Complete race results awaited. I will post them here as soon as I have them.

Well, well, well. This is one incredible news, and to which a friend of mine had given a hint, and which I really thought was just one of those rumours going around. Incredible as it may sound, the 2010 Mumbai Marathon will see the half marathon and the full marathon starting from different points. Amazed? Read on.

And as decided tentatively earlier, the Bandra-World sea-link is finally confirmed part of the route as alluded to in my earlier post here. This one amazing piece of beauty and excellence is now part of the Mumbai marathon history!

Marathon – Half Marathon : Different routes

For the first time in the history of the event, spanning seven years, the half marathon at Mumbai will not start from the same point as the Marathon, i.e. Azad Maidan, Mumbai CST. Instead, it will start from Bandra, and will end at CST. It is also confirmed that the half marathon will also take the route of the newly opened Bandra-Worli sea-link. I tried checking out distances between Bandra and CST on Google Maps via the sea-link, and it was coming out as 18.8KM, so I guess the organizers will be able to make that a 21K route comfortably if they want. Check the below sample route I drew using Google Maps to roughly assess the route distance (not actual route).

View Larger Map

The decision from the organizers was great for two reasons. First, it gives a chance to 14,500 runners who will be running the marathon and the half marathon to experience the new route with the Bandra Kurla sea-link, making it an iconic and historical part of the Mumbai marathon route.

The second reason is even more important from a logistics point of view. Last year there was an absolute chaos when the Elite marathon runners who started at 7:30 am came to overtake the half marathon (and marathon early start) crowd which had started at 6:45 am. Except for the top few, the rest of the elites really struggled to go through the sea of runners, some of them even had to run on the sidewalks just to avoid the crown, and it was really very disappointing. I had feared that this would mean scrapping of the early start, but fortunately, the organizers have found a way out, and what a way it has been. Well done guys!

News source: PTI news

Yesterday, I received the acceptance letter from the event organizers of the Delhi Half Marathon (both email as well as the paper), and also the event booklet with details like the route map, start time, and other arrangements for the race day. Since I was a “really” quick registrant, I got a running number of 4004, which probably means I was the 4th person to register online!

The Half Marathon (21KM), the main event of the day, as always starts very late at 7:30 am, which means most of the finishers will see the finishing line well past 9:30 am, and believe me, it does get hot by that time even if it is Nov 1st, and it really hurts when you are beyond the India Gate! In case you want to check out the Google map of the route, with GPS and elevation profile, head to mapmyrun.com. Remember, there is one flyover on the route, and it comes twice (going out at 4KM, and coming back at 16KM), so be prepared to adjust your running accordingly (a prudent decision for beginners would be to walk over them, or run with smaller steps).

The Great Delhi Run (6KM), starts at 9:30 am, and is mostly a huge mela with all sorts of folks in colorful costumes, and trying to promote everything under the sun. If you are for some serious running, stay away, or get out of the blocks fast before the circus starts rolling, cause it would be really difficult to get past once the fun starts.

Now this is some breaking news about the king of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, coming to Sadi Dilli for running at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Nov 1st!

The actor, who is a Delhite himself, is euphoric over the idea of running with Delhi for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in November.
Shah Rukh was born in Delhi, and lived here for more than two decades in Rajinder Nagar. He studied here, met Gauri for the first time and even started his career with serials like Fauji and Dil Darya.

The actor stated that when Airtel invited him to be a part of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on November 1, he simply could not resist it. “The very idea of coming back to my own house, returning to the same streets and mingling with Dilliwallas while they take to the streets was extremely tempting. It almost feels like Delhi has got its very own carnival. And I can’t miss it for anything,” King Khan reflected.

Lets hope Shah Rukh joins us on the roads unlike Saif and Kareena last year, who were happy to wave from the comfort of their high perches at the specially constructed dais! My guess, SRK will probably start in one of the charity runs, run a 100 meters, and go back to his perch. I won’t blame him though, even if he attempts to run further, it would be difficult, the Delhi public probably would not let him run, and probably may carry him aloft all the way!

It was a familiar story at the Idea Chennai Half Marathon 2009, with Kenyans dominating both the mens and womens divisions. John Wembusa, ranked 42nd in the world, won the mens event while Nelly Jepkurui (ranked 15th) won the womens event.

As per the organizers, about 60,000-70,000 runners took part in the various races on the day, but then, we can always take these statements with a pinch of salt. Rain played a bit of a spoil-sport when it came pouring in between. International marathon runners from Kenya, USA, Singapore and Malaysia also took part in the race.

For a change, the arrangements on the race day were reasonably okay as per the local running community members of the Chennai Runners group. Some photos of the event can be seen on picasaweb here. Complete timing results for the event awaited.

Results summary:

International Men:
1. John Wembusa,

2. Daniel Cherviyout,

3. Tewodros Shiferaw.

International Women:
1. Nelly Jepkurui,

2. Rose Kosgei,

3. Ayelu Lamma.

National Men:
1. Deepchand Saharan,

2. Arvind Kumar,

3.Ajay Kumar.

National Women:
1. Panpa Chanda,

2. Sukanya Mall,

3. Rameshwari.

Well that is, besides writing a lot of posts covering various international marathons. The fact is, I have been trying to keep up with my running as well. This month of fasting gone by was one of the best running and fasting months I had. I hardly missed a run the entire month, and instead of running in the mornings, it was running in the evenings, either before breaking the fast, or after.

The thing which I realized is that without water and after fasting for the whole day, doing the longer runs does get difficult, and you tend to tire out quickly, which for me happened around 9-10KM mark. I guess this long run would probably be equal to a regular 15KM run in effort.

What next, well just about one month to go for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (Nov 1st). 35 days to be precise. I am training for it well, and hope to get my personal best at the distance. I am looking forward to do a sub 2 hours run, but how far below 2 hours will I go will depend on how much focus I am able to maintain on my running in the days ahead. Lets say I will be delighted with a 1:55.

Nov 1st will also be a special day because that’s when the registrations for the novice runners for Comrades Marathon 2010 start. So, if all goes well on Nov 1st morning, by evening, I should be registered for Comrades as well. And I know I will need all the motivation in the world to keep my date with this 89KM event, scheduled for May 30th, 2010.

I have already registered for the Mumbai Marathon (Jan 2010), so after getting through with the Delhi Half, the next focus would be to get a decent time at Mumbai marathon, since that would also be my qualifier marathon for Comrades. Though qualification can be achieved with a sub-5 hours marathon, but I can’t just target a 5 hour finish and hope things go just as planned, not with Mumbai. So, my target would probably be in the range of 4:40 at Mumbai.

December would also see a couple of marathons in the NCR, the first being the Nov 6th Running and Living Gurgaon Marathon, and the second should hopefully be the Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon. I would probably do these as training runs rather than with any time goals, just nice and easy.

So, that’s what keeping me going these days. Mostly. We also organized a couple of group training runs for our running group Delhi Runners. These were organized as Half Marathon runs at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, probably the best location for running in Delhi. The first event on Aug 29th had about 35 runners, the 2nd one on Sep 20th had 84 runners, and though I did not run, it was a great feeling getting people together, and meeting such passionate folks from around.