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Nehru Park Marathon – 42K under tough conditions

This run was my second last long training run for Comrades Marathon 2010. I was out of town for the few days preceding Sunday and returned Sunday morning. I had planned to run this one on Sunday late afternoon and finish by late evening at Nehru Park, a slightly up and down route in Chanakyapuri.

I started the run at 4:30 pm, and with the day seeing an all time high minimum temperature recorded in Delhi in the month of April since 1970s, it was not too good at the start. Must have been probably in the range of 38 degrees C. I was thinking of finishing this run in about 5 hours, and got just 5 liters of water with me, a liter an hour. Later I realized how short that was.

The first hour and a half of running was under really hot conditions. I was keeping myself cool by soaking my head with water and having some shade with a cap. By about 10K, I was already thinking if I would be able to do this run to the finish.

Temperature improved after that and it was comfortable going ahead. However, it was getting tiring and no company meant a much more tougher run. At around 31K my mind just switched off and I stopped, thinking this was it, no more running. However, some walking after that and the mind came back to its senses and I was able to continue. It was treacherous from there on with every lap of the 2.7K loop passing very slowly.

Towards the end, my water also ran out, and I borrowed some from an Ice Cream vendor as he was leaving. Also got a Pepsi and drank it with water at my breaks. Had a couple of Ice Creams too at around 21K and 32K. By the time the run finished in 5:53, it was already 10:30 pm, pretty desolate for a place like Nehru Park which is totally empty after about 8:30 pm.

Incidentally, my Garmin showed running time of 5:22, which means I spent about half an hour on my breaks, drinking or stretching myself. In my last 56K run, I had spent 40 minutes doing the same.

Next up – 65KM run on May 2nd. This will be my final long run before Comrades. I plan to do this overnight in Dehradun, probably starting around 10 pm, and finishing whenever my mind stops in the early hours of the morning (or whatever it takes).

Run data on Garmin:

11 replies on “Nehru Park Marathon – 42K under tough conditions”

Neeraj, I was able to do a 40K instead of my target of 65K. Now, I am just taking it easy as it is taper time.

Hey Pranav, no, I have reverted to all-run, no-walk post Mumbai. All my long runs, the 50K, the 56K, and a couple of 42Ks have been without any walking elements and I feel comfortable doing that. Comrades will be attempted similarly (and since there are a lot of uphills, walking is inevitable). All the best with your training, any events on the horizon?

Dear Tanvir ,

do you follow the same run walk strategy for these runs, do you plan to do the same for Comrades?
I have started training again following The “Advanced Marathoning programme ” by Pete Pfitzinger.
The first week i am supposed to do 53 kms, have already done 25, 6 on Saturady , and the remaining on Sunday.

Hey man, this is an awesome post… way to go!! I am sure you are going to burn the Comrades trail..

My best wishes buddy !!

Rahul: I am sure about one thing… it will not be easy come May 30th. But all I can do is to prepare as well as I can and then leave it for the race day.

Keep it up! you are doing good. Delhi ki garmi main 42K, simply superb. You will definitely ROCK at COMRADES

Great going!! I was just thinking, running till as late as 10.30pm in Nehru Park, I would be simply ‘scared’. Wouldn’t that be pitch black at that time?

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