by Sumitra Joshi

TMM 2020 – A Dream Race

My previous times at TMM were as follows:

TMM 2019 – 4 Hr 43 Min (3rd Marathon)
TMM 2020 – 4 Hr 14 Min (5th Marathon)

The urge for improvement started after TMM 2019.

I did some self-assessment and my main weakness was muscle cramping during the race. To overcome this I myself had to work hard. Every time we can’t keep blaming the weather. So I started strength training very seriously (3-4 days a week). Berlin marathon was good in terms of timing but I still felt slight cramps after 16k, so I was not satisfied.

After 2 weeks of down time post Berlin, we immediately started TMM training. Overall plan and paces,etc was the same as before but with slight increase in mileage compared to Berlin training.

Few things which I adopted as told by coach:
1. Tried to follow the prescribed paces in most of the workouts.
2. Instead of looking at individual lap pace, I used 5K intervals for long runs.

Another thing is I learnt to talk while doing all my runs (credit to my run buddies Amit & Rahul) which helped me to distract myself from pace, distance, etc.

TMM Training went well with two confidence boosting races Runathon & Bajaj with a time of around 1:58 for both. The last 32K long run was close to my race pace.

For TMM my aim was to do a consistent pacing & remain strong post race. Plan was to run with Rahul & Amit but unfortunately we could not meet before race. This time I took a pre-run drink before the race (which I had tried in Bajaj race too). It helped me to control my pace in initial kms & I started consuming gels after 9th km onward at every 10kms.

I kept my watch on average pace screen & focused on the next 5K at a time. After 5-6K I found my rhythm and was bit relaxed while running. I kept my average pace around 6:00 and did not try to go fast. After 17-18K I was feeling more fresh. I had bites of banana at 22nd & 30th K which helped to boost my energy (This again I had tried in my long run).

At the 32K mark, I knew today is my day. I just needed to execute the plan properly. Surprisingly for the first time, on Pedder road I ran nonstop. I did not push for faster pace on downhill but was more conservative on downhill. At 40K, the elite runners zoomed past me. I felt more energetic and was looking forward for 41st km where our team was standing to cheer. Manoj joined me in the last km which helped me to push further and I was happy to be able to run at tempo pace in the last km. After the finish, the watch was showing 4:14:14! I could not believe that I ran at this pace. All the hard work of the last one year had paid off! Best part was that for the first time I felt fresh post the race. A better seeding (line up) for comrades was the icing on the cake.

One more thing I learnt over the year is I stopped obsessing about race timing & ran the races with a free mind. This dream run which will remain special forever!

Thanks to coach for always supporting & controlling my enthusiasm! Also thanks to my run buddies & Team Motiv8 who always keeps inspiring me!