All set for Singapore Marathon

Its time to leave for entering the unchartered waters of Singapore Marathon. Just a couple of days now for putting to peace the unrest which was triggered in August. Its has been 4 months of practice, a lot of hard work for sowing the seeds, and finally the time for reaping the harvest.

I still fear whether the 33km I did in practice would hold my legs for the 42km journey. I still fear if that 6:24 pace is going to eat my legs a little short of the magic mark. It is really swimming in unchartered waters, and I have to see if I am able to come out dry. Anything under 5:00 hr would probably still be good, but not good enough.

I am sure that the early start at 5:30 am (did I hear the Mumbai marathon organizers snore) would be a big boost. 40,000 runners, a flat course, great atmosphere would all help me to keep going.

Hyderabad Half Marathon 2007

I would have loved to run this race, which took place yesterday (Nov 25th), but for my commitment for the Singapore marathon. This was the first time that the Chip Timing was introduced in any race in India, other than the Mumbai and Delhi runs. It was reported that about 30,000 runners participated in the run, which included smaller distances like the 10K also.

Winner Mens 10K : Vipul Saharia
Winner Half Marathon: Henry Ho (Kenya)

News coverage: KeralaNext

Update [Dec 4, 2007]:
The complete results are now available on the ChampionchipUAE website at:
http://www.championchipuae.com/hyderabad/21.html

It shows 126 finishers (male+female) for the Half marathon, though I guess there would be more participants since this is just the number for runners using the timing chip. However, the results do not tally with the results published in the media after the run. The names of the winners seem different both for 10K and 21K.

End of the taper days

This weekend finished what was the last week before the Singapore marathon week. It has been some really lazy couple of weeks now, not too much of running, smaller distances. I ran a fastish 10k midweek to check up on my pace, did it at 6:10 compared to the 6:24 target. Today was a longer 13k which i did below my race pace. I am still skeptical of maintaining the 6:24 throughout the race, but I will try.

My visa should be ready in a couple of days. This weeks focus would be to get me and my baggage ready for the trip. Vaseline and duct tape are a must for me. A small handbag is all I should need.

Final big run before Singapore

Yesterday evening, I ran my final long run, and from now on, its taper time. I ran a distance of 34.75 KM as per my Polar RS200SD footpod, which would translate into actual run distance of 33 KM, given a 5% calibration error (my 21K at Vodafone half was shown as 22K). Total time taken was 3 hr 58 mins. The first 7K were extremely tough and all the time I was thinking about whether I will be able to finish the complete distance. The next 14K were the best with little or no fatigue, and then gradual building up of stress in my legs for the last 12-13 kilometers. My legs were still strong towards the finish, and I ran the fastest pace during the last 1.5KM stretch to complete the run under 4 hours.

So, overall, things look pretty good. I was thinking of doing about 2 KM more yesterday to make it a round 35 KM, but it was late in the night, and I was anyway over the scheduled distance to be run (32K). My earlier estimate of a 4:30 finish now seems a stretch, and I would be happy to do the run under 5 hours. I would also try to work on my speed, and that should help me to cut time, since I am doing good on the endurance front.

BTW, this was the longest I have ever run, either in practice, or in a marathon (yes, I ran less that this in the 2006 Mumbai marathon, the rest I walked). The last time I ran a 32K in practice was in 2006, and I had done that in 3:57, and I remember that I was really drained out towards the end of that run. Running the last few hundred meters was the biggest challenge then, while in my 33K run yesterday, the last 1.5K was the strongest I ran, and even after that, I was not really busted.

Singapore Marathon ahoy!

Less that a month remaining (26 days to be precise) for my second full marathon. I skipped an entire week's of practice after the Delhi Half marathon on Oct 28th. Did a 27K run last weekend though I was planning to do a 30K. But with no running all of last week, my legs were not up to it and I had to stop at 27K which I did in 2:59.

I took my calculators out after the run and it seems that with this pace I would run the 42K in about 4:40. A lot of that depends upon whether my legs are able to continue running... since any walking, like my experience from Mumbai 2005, and the timing goes out of the picture. I think I would be satisfied if I am able to do this in below 5:00 hrs, atleast I want to cross the finishing line with the event clock below 5:00 (which may mean a net running time of 4:50 given the fact that it may take me up to 10 minutes to reach the starting line will all the runners (10,000 full marathon runners) ahead of me.

I also read in some of the blogs that Singapore marathoners are released in groups categorized as runners with target running times of 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, etc. I think I would stick to the 5:00 group in that case. I am not sure if there are any pacing groups for every half hour, like 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 finish. It would be great if I am able to find and run with people with similar time goals as that would surely help me a lot and keep me motivated throughout the run.

Next weeks target is the most important. I am targeting a 35K run. This will be the final long run, and would be a great indicator of how ready my body is for doing the 42K.

Bangalore marathon 2007 postponed

The Bangalore International marathon organized by Crossover has been postponed (once again), to Dec 30th. I think this is the second postponement of the event. I have already written a lot about the attitude of the organizers, so I don't think this deserves any more space.

Please take Dec 30th with a pinch of salt. Experience tells me that no date from Crossover (organizers of Bangalore marathon) can be relied upon. In fact, I think I am responsible for creating more confusion by publishing any proposed dates which have little relevance or "holding" value. Maybe I should stop writing any posts related to the Bangalore marathon to avoid all this.