ADHM 2014 to ADHM 2015 - a memorable journey!

With its international status, Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) is probably India’s biggest running event (or should I say a running carnival!). Anyone who ever participates at ADHM, takes along fond memories and experiences worth cherishing forever. This year’s ADHM was no exception – and having participated in ADHM 2015 (my second participation at ADHM), I have my own share of experiences. However, instead of focusing solely on the race day, I intend to share the build-up to ADHM 2015 culminating into the sweet memories on the race day.

Flashback at ADHM 2014:

There is a bit of background context that I need to share before coming to ADHM 2015, so let me take a step back and take you back to ADHM 2014 (i.e. last year), which happened to be my first participation at this grand event. I had gone into the event with a timing target of 100 mins (i.e. 1:40:00) – I had prepared hard for the big day and was very keen to achieve a sub-100 minutes half-marathon. After a bit of struggle and drag, I managed to complete the run in 103 minutes, missing the target by good 3 minutes. After crossing the finish line, I experienced mixed emotions – joy and despair - at the same time; joy for having completed the run, despair for having missed the target.

A few days later when I looked at the race day pics, the feeling of mixed emotions had primarily transformed into pure despair. It seemed like a sight of misery and struggle – far from what one would expect from a strong finisher. For the first time, I understood what people really refer to as “skeleton dance” towards the ending stages of long distance runs – dropping shoulders, loosely hanging wrists, unsteady head, fatigue written all over the face (see a snap from closing stages of last year's run).

Journey from ADHM 2014 to ADHM 2015:

So, with the dual disappointment of missing the target and a miserably “weak” finish, started the endeavor to improve for ADHM 2015. In my hope to raise the bar, I gave myself a timing target of 95 minutes this year (i.e. 1:35).

I realized that to improve as a runner, I had to focus not just on running skills, but the overall body conditioning – i.e. upper body strength, lower body strength, core strength and cardio-strength. I soon discovered that some of the best work-outs to improve overall body conditioning (for runners) are body-weight based workouts. After all, running is all about carrying body weight – possibly for a longer distance, at a faster pace!

What followed in the six months leading up to ADHM 2015 was a period of intense body weight work-outs - mostly focused on squats, lunges, burpees, pull-ups, chin-ups and push-ups. 

Primary work-outs for ADHM 2015: 

After about six months of grind, I was confident that I had a reasonably good chance of not demonstrating skeleton dance this year and also meeting the target of 1:35 (even though the best I had done till date was 1:39).

The night before the run, I was fairly anxious and couldn’t sleep till very late. I kept wondering how different scenarios might play out on the following morning. The last thought that probably crossed my mind before sleeping was that - previous year I had missed my target by three minutes, it would be nice to have my target miss me by three minutes this year. I decided not to put additional pressure on an already anxious mind and tried to stop the chain of random thoughts.

 29^th Nov 2015 – the race day

The day started with the usual race day rituals – early morning peanut butter sandwich, Enerzal, banana, energy bar etc. I had a clear view of what needed to be done at what time leading up to the 7:05 am start at Nehru Stadium Delhi. Once the race started, I kept reminding myself that it is a long distance run – and not a short distance sprint, so kept moving ahead at the planned pace and curbed the urge to go faster. I was cognizant of the mistakes from last year where first 5 K sprint played its part in last 5 K skeleton dance.

Out of habit, I kept glancing at my watch as I navigated through different KM marks:

• 1 KM 1: Time taken 4:30 mins
• 3 KM: Time taken 12:38 mins
• 5 KM: Time taken 21: 09 mins
• 10 KM: Time taken 42:36
• 14 KM: Time taken 59:45

…the timing at 14 KM mark for some reason triggered the same thought which I had the night before while sleeping – having my target miss me by three minutes was indeed a possibility! I decided to continue as per the pan for a few more KMs and really give it everything in the final 3-4 KMs.

By the time, I finished the race I had clocked a timing of 1:31:20 which was good 3 minutes 40 seconds faster than what I had targeted for the big day. What is more, I was able to wipe out the bitter memories of “skeleton dance” from the previous year’s ADHM. 

Sundeep Singh 

+91 - 98181 19794

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About the Author: By background, Sundeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Given his flair for mechanics and passion for running, he loves to analyze and write about the  finer nuances of running techniques / strategies.