A matter of mind - Run up to the Paris Marathon

“It is what you do in the dark, that puts you in the light” – Under Armour ad featuring Michael Phelps

When you drop out of a race mid-way like I did at the SCMM 2016, what gets beaten is not the physical aspect alone but the mental framework. Post the wonderful race I had at the Spice Coast Marathon at Kochi in November 2015, hours of training had gone in during the run up to the event and it just fell apart during the course of a mere 5 days prior to the big one in Mumbai. A couple of silly mistakes and a lesson well learnt. The Dubai Marathon which happened a few days after Mumbai had proved very satisfactory for the Indian runners and did play a bit on my mind.

Yet I did know that my chance at a redemption was fixed for April 3^rd, but did not know how that will turn out to be. Till around the beginning of February, the body was still weak, and the mind not too sure how the return will be. This was also the period to make some structural changes. The biggest decision I did was to turn Gluten free. I had read about the link between asthma and gluten, and also the positive effects of pursuing this diet in having a fitter body. You may call it the Novak effect to a certain extent:-) I wanted to conquer the weakest link in my arsenal which was the respiratory system and would not have minded doing a few things differently to make that happen! Today my understanding of this diet is still evolving but I would like to stay on it for a little bit more time to get to some conclusions.

By the first week of February, I decided to get back to my training plan which has been centred around the “Run Less Run Fast” program. Since December 2015, I had followed the specific plan which would get me a time of 3.10 and went ahead with the same. Slow and steady, I could find my mojo in the training sessions. By mid - February, I was hitting decent speeds. But lack of race practice since November was bothering me. In cricket, we always used to say – One needs to go to bat, thinking about the last big innings one played! For pure mental reasons, I needed that validation of confidence before the Paris Marathon. The IDBI New Delhi Half Marathon was an obvious choice given the course and the temperature. Going in to do a 1.27 kind of time, I did some killing out there with an authoritative 1.23. The purpose accomplished, I was back to normal training.

There are a few pointers which give you an indication of your fitness levels. If that 1.23 was one, there were a few others in March in the run up to the event. I seemed to be consistently doing paces far better that the 3.10 program. In my last 32 K run, chatting with a friend of mine who was supporting me on a bicycle, I casually mentioned that today’s pace will probably get me to a 3.02:-) The Yasso’s which I did at the Gachibowli tracks in Hyderabad, went off well indicating a time close to 3.00. When such things happen, your mind at a sub conscious level starts thinking about a sub 3! I asked a few people around what it takes to do a sub 3, and everyone was unanimous in their view that it is indeed very difficult. However I was pretty sure about one thing – in the latter part of 2016 some runners will go under a sub 3 and that will open the gate for others! The above was indicative of the mind I was in.

The other critical change I implemented were the deep tissue massages. For the amount of intense training I was doing, the muscles needed to be in top notch condition. I went for a deep tissue massage 4 times within a period of 1.5 months. This I can vouch for a fact played a significant role in keeping me relaxed and in condition. Apart from my intake of real foods, it was great to have recovery and hydration done with some of the best nutrition in business. As always I never take gels in my training and this custom stayed through. And 2 weeks prior to the race, I started following my usual routine – no alcohol, avoiding curd at night, no fruits post evening, nothing cold and drinking tons of water!

As the race day got near, there were plenty of wishes! I even had a message going around in 94.3 FM:-) A few of my good friends wished me for a sub 3, and I am sure they too said that in half jest, figuratively letting me know that I go ahead and do well! Little did anyone know what was in store – My target though had been fixed; 3:05 to 3:10 was on cards!