The pursuit of 1:29:xx

As I anxiously stood at the start line of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) 2016, a myriad of memories flashed through my head. I thought about several occasions on which I missed the sub-1:30 mark, I thought about the 4:00am wake-up routine over the last several months, I thought about the fun training moments spent with my close friends over the past few weeks, I thought about the final taper week, I thought about the pasta lunch I had with my close friends a day ago…It felt like a lot passed through my head. Before I could think of anything else, the ‘mad-rush’ started..

The background

Before I describe the journey (or the pursuit of 1:29:xx, as I love to describe it) a bit of a background on how it started. About two years ago, when I had started running I had very limited understanding of what half-marathon is all about. It had started almost out of my whimsical desire to try something new. Why? Because, I had known a few other people doing it. At that stage, I had a simple discussion with a friend at work about what a good finish time looks like for half-marathons. The discussion progressed like a typical conversation between strategy consultants:

Sundeep: “What’s a good finish time for a half-marathon?”

Friend (after a bit of thought and consideration): “It depends.”

Sundeep (with visible exasperation): “OK – that doesn’t help much. Go on...”

Friend (unperturbed): “It depends on factors like your age, body conditioning, how long you have been running etc. etc.

Sundeep (still not happy with the answer): “OK – so for a physically fit runner who has been running for a few years and who is around as old as me…and you can make some intelligent assumptions...– what would be a good half-marathon finish time?

Friend: Officially, if you do it in 3 hours, it is regarded as a formal half-marathon finish; Kenyans can do it in 1 hour. If one does it in within 90 minutes it is considered quite a decent pace”

Grossly overestimating my physical abilities, I told my friend that I intend to do my first half-marathon in 1 hour 29 minutes and a few seconds. The friend had an amused smile. Without saying anything explicitly he dismissed what I had said as an ignorant remark. It didn’t take me long to understand why.

• On 12^th October 2014, I did my first half-marathon in 1:47
• On 23^rd November 2014, I did my first ADHM in 1:43

About a year later, I was able to finish three half-marathons where I came within striking distance of my aspirational timing:

• ADHM 2015 (Nov 2015): 1:31:20
• NDM 2016 (Feb 2016): 1:31:00
• Fastest running and living HM (Mar 2016): 1:30:40

 The gap may have appeared just about a minute or so. However, it was good 60 odd seconds which would just refuse to go away. With that started a serious desire to do 1:29:xx. 

3 months training period: Sep – Nov 2016

It was around September 2016, when the training for ADHM 2016 started in all earnestness. By this time, I had gathered sufficient understanding of what a typical training cycle looks like. However, there still were a few gaps which had to be addressed. In particular, there are three things which I was not doing correctly. I am sharing the same below and hope that it might be helpful for runners with similar aspirations.

Mileage is not everything, but it still matters – probably more than most other things!

I have always been a firm believer that strength training has a huge role to play for any long distance running (and I continue to believe that). However, earlier I often underestimated the importance of clocking mileage and my typical weekly workout schedule would look like 3 – 4 days strength training and around 2 days running. The turning point in my understanding came when I had a chat with Shiv Gahlot, our local Boston Qualifier (once again, if you are reading this – thanks buddy!). Besides sharing some serious training tips, Shiv suggested reading a book on Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger.

This has been massively helpful and I highly recommend this book to any serious runner. Since reading this book, my weekly workout schedule comprises of 1 – 2 strength training sessions and around 4 runs. Once again, in no way undermining the importance of strength training (and it is critical to avoid injuries), but just highlighting how running is important to improve as a runner!

Each training run has a purpose – got to respect it!

My weekly workout schedule now comprises of 4 runs a week – an interval run, a tempo run, a medium long distance run and a long distance run. The beauty and finesse lays in understanding what is the right pace to run each of these runs. Earlier, my tempo run used to be an effort to run 10K as fast as possible. The interval run used to be an effort to do some sprint repetitions. Occasionally, I would also do a 5K and try to achieve my PB without realizing where it really fits into the overall training plan for half-marathon. A lot of these misunderstandings got addressed after reading the book by Pete. The three months leading to ADHM days comprised of very specific runs – to be run at a particular pace (not faster, not slower!) with a specific objective. More on this subject on some other day.

Race day planning matters - Break it into smaller components.

21.1K is a fairly long distance and a lot can go wrong if one doesn’t plan the run. This is where an honest introspection of one’s own physical abilities (body conditioning, nature of flagging during training runs, level of fatigue, typical pace limiting factors etc.) close to the race day is critical. Equally critical is to plan the big day race based on a clear understanding of these factors. A simple race day plan could look like:

For me to finish 21.1K in a given time, I need to do 14K in x minutes. For that to happen, I need to finish 10k in y minutes. For that to happen, I need to do 5K in z minutes…

...and more importantly - understanding if x, y and z are really achievable with the current level of body conditioning.

It often helps to have a close friend critique this and keep you honest in such an assessment. This is where my running buddy Rahul Dhanda really helped me through innumerable discussions close to the big day. The plan for me was simple:

21.1K in about 89 minutes, 14K in about 59 minutes, 10K in about 42 minutes, 5K in about 21 minutes – and yes, we did believe it was achievable.

The big day: 20^th November 2016

When one attaches too much importance to something, it is bound to put undue pressure. I was no exception. The race day almost felt like JEE day or like CAT day for me. Standing at the start line, I was not sure if cracking JEE / CAT was more difficult or if finishing 21.1K in the next 89 odd minutes would be more difficult.

As I anxiously stood at the start line, a myriad of memories flashed through my head. I thought about the previous edition of ADHM, I thought about several occasions on which I missed the magical sub-1:30 mark about a year ago, I thought about the 4:00am wake-up routine over the last several months, I thought about the fun training moments spent with my close friends over the past few weeks, I thought about the taper week that had just gone by, I thought about the pasta lunch I had with my friends a day ago. It almost felt like an eternity before the race started and each passing moment was adding to the anxiety. I kept casually jumping on the spot to keep the body warm.

At 7:10am the race started, and how relieved I was to be able to switch from vertical jumping motion to the linear horizontal motion! The race commenced as per the plan: 5K in 20:10, 10K in 41:09, 14K in 58:30…and finally, yes finally 21.1K in 1:29:39.

It was a moment of joy, joy that can be felt but not expressed..

What next? - Time to briefly cherish the moment and start a new pursuit!

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Sundeep Singh

+91 - 98181 19794

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. Sundeep’s best run till date is ADHM 2016, which he completed in 1:29:39.

Ace your Race at the right Pace!

The month of November is here, and so is Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM). On the 29^th of this month, runners of different ages, professions and nationalities will get on to the roads of Delhi to experience the eighth edition of this vibrant high energy running event. Different runners would have their own reasons to participate in the event. There would be some who would be there to experience the joy of running, some others would be there to experience the euphoria and intensity associated with this mega-event, there would be still others who would be there to achieve their personal timing targets. In case you happen to belong to that last category of runners (with aspirations to achieve your timing target), this article is probably going to be helpful for you.

Over the past few weeks, several running friends have approached me to discuss the best way to pace a Half-Marathon. Incidentally, many of them aspire to achieve a timing target of sub-2 hours at ADHM. Well, the reality is that Half-Marathon is a long distance and a lot can go right or wrong depending on how one paces the run. Additionally, there is no unique way in which two different runners can approach a race, even if they are gunning for the same target! In this article, I intend to illustrate a simple approach in which one can break the 21.1 Km (seemingly long and unmanageable stretch) into somewhat simpler and more easily manageable segments. For the purpose of illustration, I am taking the example of a timing target of 2-hr finish for the half-marathon.

Step 1: Assess the overall objective

If you are planning to achieve a timing of 2 hours for a half marathon, you need to achieve an average pace of 5:41 (mins:seconds) per Kilometer.

Average pace for 2 hr finish = 120 mins / 21.1 km = 5:41

The first question to be answered even before we get down to crafting a pacing plan is to ascertain if this is the right timing target. This is more of a subjective introspection than anything else. For instance, if you have recently clocked sub 2 hrs 10 mins then probably with a little bit of stretch there is merit in targeting 2 hours at ADHM. However, if your latest timing has been upward of 2 hrs 15 mins then probably 2 hrs target for ADHM is too aggressive.

Step 2: Understand the constraints and race-day conditions

This is probably the most critical step to appropriately plan a run and primarily involves two aspects – (i) understanding the race day conditions, and (ii) Understanding the current level of body conditioning (and pragmatic expectations of one’s own abilities). These are explained below:
  

Understanding race day conditions

There are several aspects that one needs to look at to understand the race day conditions. For instance, some of these could be (non-exhaustive list below):

• Negotiating crowd: If you are targeting a sub-2 finish, chances are that you have been lined up in sections B, C or D in the race start sections. This means you would have to negotiate crowd in the initial few kilometers, which means you will essentially run at a pace slower than the average target pace (which is actually not a bad thing as it allows the body to warm-up and is a desirable thing to do – crowd or no crowd).
• Race timing: Most of our local running events are designed to start the race at around 5:30 – 6:00 am. However, the Half-Marathon run at ADHM has a staggered start with section A starting at around 7:10 am, and then other sections starting with a time offset of around 5 mins. Hence, you will likely be running till around 9:15 to 9:45 am, and by that time sun would have assumed full effect. If you are one of those who does not necessarily enjoy running in the sun (like me), this may have an implication on your running pace in the last 4 to 5 kilometers.
• There may be other race day considerations such as elevation, humidity level, availability of hydration points etc., which may need to be factored into your running plan (some of these may not be big considerations for ADHM, as the course is fairly flat and the weather conditions are the best that one can expect for a running event; however, these would be big considerations for an event like Airtel Hyderabad Marathon).

Understanding current level of body conditioning
This is critical so that one can appropriately plan a pace for different segments of the race. Again, for the purpose of illustration, some of these considerations could be:

• Split timing: Unless, one is an elite runner, chances are that we are not gunning for negative splits (second half faster than the first half). During my training runs, I have found that I tend to take approximately the same time for the first 11 km, as I take for the remaining 10.1 km, i.e. in terms of timing, my time at 11 km mark tends to be the mid-point of the race. This could be an important input into my racing plan.
• Pace towards the end: Similarly, during the training runs one may observe that in the last 4 -5 km, average pace is around 20 – 25 seconds slower than the average target pace for the race. This is a common observation as by that time fatigue has already set-in and it adversely impacts the pace.

The above are some of the considerations that one may factor-in to develop a pacing plan. Please note that these are not exhaustive considerations, but just trying to illustrate what kind of aspects one can think through. Once we develop a thorough understanding of these constraints and considerations (and that really is the purpose of training runs), the next step is to put it all together in the form of actual race day pace plan. This is important as each consideration really has an implication in terms of how best to pace the race. For example, following figure highlights how each of the above considerations can be translated into a pacing implication:

No.	Constraint	What does it mean?	Pacing implication
1.	Timing at 11 km mark approx. represents the half-way mark (in terms of timing)	For a 2-hr target, need to cover first 11 km in 60 mins and next 10.1 km also in 60 mins	Average pace for: first 11 km is: 5:27 next 10.1 km is: 5:56
2.	Negotiating crowd in the first few kilometers will mean slower than average target pace	Average target pace for first 11 km is 5:27 (see point 1 above), but average pace for first 3 km would be around 20 - 25 seconds slower (let’s say 5:50)	Simple math will show that avg. pace:   for first 3 km is 5:50 for km 4 to 11 is 5:19 (this will allow one to achieve overall average pace of 5:27 for first 11 km)
3.	Fatigue and sun in the last few kms will slow me down	Average target pace for last 10.1 km is 5:56 (see point 1 above), but average pace for last 4.1 km would be around 10 – 20 seconds slower (let’s say, 6:10)	Simple math will show that avg. pace: for last 4.1 km is 6:10 for km 2 to 17 is 5:47 (this will allow one to achieve overall average pace of 5:56 for last 10.1 km)

Step 3: Put the plan together

As illustrated in the steps above, based on an understanding of race day conditions and our current body conditioning, we have segmented the overall 21.1 km into 4 segments as shown below:

Step 4: Follow the plan

Once you have done the due-diligence of identifying what formula works for you, the next important (and probably the hardest) step is to stick to the plan on the race day. For instance, the plan in the case we analyzed above is shown below: 

There invariably would be an urge to go faster than the planned pace in the initial few kilometers. However, it is important to keep following points on the radar:

• Do not try to beat your plan; after all, it is your own plan! If at all you had the ability to do better than the plan, it should have been factored into the plan in the first place.
• Having said that, it is important to listen to your body signals – if you constantly get a message that you can go faster than the plan (may be because of race day Adrenalin), conserve that energy for the last segment. Do not be lured by the desire to go faster in the initial few segments and risking your performance in the closing stages of the race. Remember you are more likely to realize your best timing potential by finishing strong (and not by starting strong).

I would just reiterate that each individual has to identify his / her own pacing plan for the race day (based on an understanding of self as well as the race conditions). The better one understands the real conditions and factors them into the pacing plan, the higher is the likelihood of beating the target on the race day.

All the best for ADHM 2015 and looking forward to meet you on the race day!

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 deeply analyze the  finer nuances of running techniques / strategies. Sundeep ran his first half-Marathon on 12th Oct. 2014 and within less than a year of running, he achieved a personal best HM timing of 97 minutes. 

About Boot-Camp Yellow: Founded by coach Jatin Arora (in 2013), Boot-Camp Yellow is an outdoor workout experience that redefines fitness through structured training and sustainable nutrition. Our outdoor training offers broad programs that are suitable for any level of fitness. Our program is based on Cross-Fit methodology. For more details, please visit: http://www.bootcampyellow.com/. To book a trial class, call / whatsapp: +91-99104 09992

Day Breaker HM...from PB to PW, all in 12 weeks!

19^th July: Day Breaker Half Marathon

Due to incessant rains over the past few weeks, I had been anxious over the days leading up to the event. Every few hours I would check the weather forecast for Sunday morning. I had been silently praying that the forecast of rain and high humidity would not come true. After all, this was going to be my last event before the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM) scheduled for next month and I was keen to get a good uninterrupted run before AHM. Well, part of the prayer did get answered – thankfully it did not rain, but the unanswered part (i.e. the part related to humidity) was about to offer me the toughest weather conditions that I have ever run in!

Just like in any other event, I was in my own zone prior to the race kick-off. I was warming up in a corner and silently hoping to improve my PB (personal best) timing of 97 minutes, which I had achieved about three months back at Nehru Park HM. Just then my coach Jatin Arora walked up to me and offered a coaching tip:  

“Today is not the day for timings and records. It is very humid – don’t push very hard and focus more on completing the run safe and strong” – whispered Jatin softly in my ears. It was almost as if he had read my mind.

“Yes Sir – I understand that. Today is not the day for timings and records” – I replied, without meaning a single word of it!

Shortly thereafter, the run started and I started chasing the target time of 97 minutes. The run seemed to have started well for me. I was not running very hard so that I had sufficient energy left for a strong finish. At the same time, I was not running slow either, lest it becomes difficult to catch-up towards the end. I seemed to be moving at just the right pace.

Out of habit, I kept glancing at my stop-watch at all major milestones:

• 1 km – 4:30
• 2 km – 8:52
• 5 km – 22:49
• 10 km – 46:38  

I made a quick mental calculation and realized that I was pacing well. With a mild negative split (which I usually manage), I would have been around 97 mins mark and with a little bit of luck probably a little under 97 minutes. What I didn’t realize was that it was the adrenalin rush of the event day which had me going well till that time, but that couldn’t have been sustained for another 11 km in that atrocious humidity.

By around 13 km mark, I was badly drenched with sweat. The effect of humidity had started showing up and it felt like the engine was running out of ammunition very fast. It was around that time that the wisdom of Jatin’s advice started dawning upon me. The spirit had started dropping, but somewhere I was still hopeful of completing strong.

By around 15 km mark, the hope had also started dropping and it felt like I would have to run really well from there on to not hit my PW timing (personal worst, if there is something like that)!

By around 17 km mark, I was so drenched with sweat that it felt like I had taken a shower. Each step gave a sensation as if the shoe had been soaked with water by landing in a water pit. By now, I knew I had to do something different to even complete the run. Amidst dropping spirit and dropping hopes, I decided to drop-off my T-shirt too. I realized that with the amount of sweat it had soaked, just taking it off and squeezing out the sweat would probably make me carry half a kg lesser.

Shortly thereafter, the run came to an end and I did manage to achieve my PW by clocking 1:49 beating my previous PW of 1:47. The time I took for the run was about 2 minutes slower than my previous slowest run and a good 12 minutes slower than my PB of 97 minutes. All in all it was a good humbling experience with some great learnings, the most important one being – follow your coach’s advice.

On the positive side of things - despite the atrocious weather, the euphoria and the enthusiasm at the finish line was there for all to see. For me, the highlights of the day were:

1.       Coach Ravinder Singh did it again!
Rain or no rain, humidity or no humidity, route permit or no route permit (remember Nehru Park HM instance), Coach has developed a knack of organizing great events one after another. Here again, observing the celebrations and sumptuous meal at the finish line was a grand experience. It is no wonder that on the same day Coach was honored by TomTom (Global leader in navigation, sports watches etc.) for his contributions in the field of running and promoting running as a way of life.

2.       All running groups rocked!

It was great to watch my fellow runners from Boot Camp Yellow (BCY) and other running groups running hard under testing weather conditions. Everyone was a winner and could hold his / her head high for taking on a challenging run head-on. And may I dare say, none more so than the youngest member of BCY group (Rahul) – who completed his first half-marathon yesterday at a young age of 14. I heard one of the fellow runners commenting - 5 km before 5 years, 10 km before 10 years and 21 km before 21 years are all great accomplishments and I couldn’t agree more.

I have to admit that before reaching home, I was feeling a bit embarrassed to share the result of my slowest half-marathon with my wife. She made the job easier by saying that in such an unforgiving weather even standing still for 1:49 is commendable, running for that long certainly is a huge achievement. I am not sure how true that is – given a choice, I would rather run for that duration than stand still. Nonetheless, it did help me overcome the disappointment of my slowest HM.

...So, What next?

Next month I am travelling to Hyderabad to participate in AHM. I have heard a lot of nasty stories about the difficult terrain and weather conditions at AHM. Personally, I would have wanted to achieve anything but my PW in the last event before going into AHM next month. However, that was not to be and the only next step from here on is to prepare stronger and harder. As I earnestly start preparing for the next event, I so much hope that I get to label my next blog in September as - “AHM 2015...from PW to PB, all in 6 weeks!”

…but I know it’s easier hoped than accomplished!

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794

PS: I am releasing the August edition of my blog ahead of time because I want people to read it while the experience of Day Breaker Half Marathon is fresh in their memories!

Add a little lean...to run faster and stronger!



My previous two blogs have been focused on the mental and motivational aspects of running. For the June edition, I decided to take a detour and write about a technical aspect of running. I have to admit that of all the technical details that I have learned over the past year, this has to be the one that I have found most impactful. As I continue to learn and master this technique ahead of ADHM 2015, I thought it would be worthwhile to share this with my running companions.

As a rookie runner, I often observed skillful runners effortlessly gliding through the air, as if there’s some mysterious force of nature supporting their motion. Up till about six months back, every time I came across an efficient runner like that, I used to feel envious and felt an urge to increase the intensity of my strength training to get stronger calves, quads, and hamstrings. It used to be my humble attempt to build stronger leg muscles which would one day allow me to run equally efficiently. However, I soon learned that there are distinct ways in which runners run - some rely on their muscular strength alone to create the running motion and then there are others (the more skillful ones) who learn to literally use the ‘mysterious forces of nature’ to support their running motion. The two styles are very different – a difference that I like to describe as ‘Hard’ running vs. ‘Smart’ running. In this edition, I am going to talk about the latter, i.e. the smart running technique.

Let’s think about it very fundamentally – what exactly is running? Wikipedia says running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Well, not exactly the definition I was looking for to explain my point, but still it will do the job. The key point here is ‘rapid movement on foot’.

So that raises the next important question – what creates this motion? About few months ago, I would have promptly answered this by saying – “muscular strength in the human body”. However, that answer is only partially correct. To understand this point, think of a simple wooden plank hinged at the bottom and delicately balanced in a vertical equilibrium position (as shown in the figure below).

What happens if we give a gentle horizontal nudge at the top of the plank? The plank gradually swings and falls horizontally on the ground. In the process of this rotational fall, there is motion induced in the plank. What induced this motion? There is no muscular strength in the plank as it is an inanimate object. Clearly, it is the force of gravity that induced this rotational motion. In fact, laws of physics tell us that the plank (of same volumetric dimensions) would fall on the ground in the same time irrespective of whether it is an iron plank or wooden plank (i.e. strength doesn’t matter here!).

It is the same "mysterious force" (i.e. the force of gravity) which efficient runners learn to use effectively to support their motion. To understand this, think of human body as a plank (or in more technical running terms and as students of Chi running will tell you, a "column"). Imagine for a moment that the body is fixated to the ground momentarily (akin to the hinge that we saw in the case of plank). What happens if such a body is gently nudged to fall forward? This is exactly what efficient runners do.

• In state 1 (refer figure below), the column is nudged forward.
• In state 2, we see that the column falls freely under the force of gravity. Mind you up till this time, the muscular strength of legs has had very limited or no role to play.
• In state 3, the runner recognizes that it is a human body after all and it doesn’t have the luxury of falling down like a wooden plank. It is at this time, that the legs come into action and move forward only to catch the body from falling.

Try to repeat this sequence of activities 1-2-3 (i.e. nudge-fall-catch) in a continuous flow and what you get is the “motion of a skillful runner effortlessly gliding through the air”.

The most important thing to note here is the role of legs in facilitating this motion. If one can learn the art of executing this running technique efficiently, all that the legs have to do is to move forward at the right time to catch the body from falling and setting it up for the next cycle of nudge-fall-catch. From an execution perspective, this technique requires the body to be in a state of permanent lean during the state of running motion. Usually a lean 2 – 4 degrees (from the vertical) is all that is required to minimize the load on legs and to effectively utilize the force of gravity to create a ‘pull’ that supports the forward motion of the body.

What I have just shared is the basic principle of a good running posture. There is wealth of information available on this form of technique. However, for beginners who want to start practicing this posture, here are three absolute essentials:

• Practice keeping the column (i.e. arc ABC in figure below) straight. This means that you should lean from your ankles and not from your waist. Leaning from waist results in an unbalanced posture which can lead to back injuries and also results in a crouched poster, which inhibits effective breathing while running.
• The point of impact where the foot lands on the ground should be behind the vertical line dropped from body’s center of mass. In the figure below it means that if the body is moving from left to right, then point E should be towards left of point D. In practice, to achieve this you may have to reduce your stride length a bit, but it’s worth it.
• Lastly, the angle of arm bend at the elbow joint should be close to a right angle. For my friends who hail from an engineering background, here is the rationale - your arm swing is like a compound pendulum and a right angle bend at the elbow results in the shortest effective length of this compound pendulum. Now the time period for the swing of a compound pendulum is proportional to square root of effective length of the pendulum. Hence, keeping a right angle bend helps in reducing the time period for one complete arm swing. This results in a higher swinging frequency of arms and correspondingly higher stride turnover, as hands and legs move in synchronization).

Following figure depicts the absolute essential points in maintaining the lean which can help gravity support your running motion.

I must add that learning this running form is easier said than done. Usually there is a tendency to bend from the waist instead of bending from the ankles. Below are some rare moments where I found myself executing the lean posture reasonably well.

Do let me know what you think about this essential running technique (i.e. maintaining a slight lean while running). Also, please share what are some of the other running forms that you believe are essential to maintaining good running efficiency - I will be happy to cover them in the next editions of ‘Reflections by Sundeep’.

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794