Tag: Mumbai

Mumbai Marathon 2010 Training: The Maths of Sport

Okay, here’s my plan for the Mumbai Marathon 2010, written in stone. Not too many days to go, so its better to decide now that leaving it for later. The plan is to target a 4:40 finish with Plan A below, and switch to a sub 5:00 strategy with Plan B in case Plan A looks to be blowing apart at half way point.

Plan Basics

I want to try out my tried and tested 4/1 run walk approach, i.e. run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute. With this strategy, the constant aspect here would be the walking pace, which I have taken to be a constant figure of 9.0 min/km. I am banking on this from my experience since this would be the key to any calculations I make below.

So, once I fix the run/walk ratio and the walking speed, all that remains to be calculated (and followed) is the running pace for any scenario which may come up. I have been able to come up with two possible scenarios. They are not foolproof and there is no surety that when Plan A fails, Plan B would work, but this is the closest I can get to plan realistic possibilities.

Best Case Plan (Plan A) – Sub 4:40 finish

Target scenario: Finish 42K in 4:40. Everything works as per plan.

Time:
Run = 4/5 = 3:44
Walk = 1/5 = 0:56

Distance:
Walk = 0:56/9 = 6.2K
Run = 42 – 6.2 = 36K

Target Run pace = 3:44/36 = 6:12 min/km

Worst Case Plan (Plan B) – Sub 5:00 finish

Target scenario: Run till half way as per plan 4:40 finish plan, and then everything blows up. Objective – try recovery by finishing within 5:00

First 21K in 2:20 or less – Done (assumed).
Remaining = distance 21K / time 2:40

Time (remaining):
Walk = 1/5 = 0:32
Run = 4/5 = 2:08

Distance (remaining):
Walk = 0:32/9 = 3.55K
Run = 21 – 3.55 = 17.45K

Target Run pace = 2:08/17.45 = 7:20 min/km

Analysis Summary

So, there we have it. Two plans, one where I am able to stick to a 6:12 min/km pace throughout the run (tough as nails), and the other, where I am able to do this only for half the distance, and then lower a gear to a 7:20 min/km running pace.

For the record, I did a 2 hour run today with 4/1 and with running pace of 5:40 min/km in the much cooler Delhi weather, and by the end, I was still pretty good, though I am not sure how much longer would I have been able to continue with this. A 35K run with this same strategy next weekend will be a better indication. Adding an additional 30 seconds to the 5:40 pace to make it a 6:10 would be my adjustment for the hot and humid Mumbai weather.

Your thoughts or comments on this? Am I being too aggressive with Plan A, is it really realistic or worth the try – even to the half way point (Note: My personal best in a 42K till date is a 4:38 in Gurgaon Marathon a year back, but in much cooler weather, though I believe I am in better shape now).

Mumbai Marathon 2010 Update: A month to go!

Less than a month to go for the 7th edition of the Mumbai Marathon. My training is going good for a third crack at the holy distance at Mumbai. I have gone through a marathon and a 30K over the last two weekends, and my legs, particularly the calves seem to be holding up well. The plan going ahead is to continue with 30K+ runs every weekend except probably the last one where the plan is to make a flying visit to Mumbai to run a 21K training run with friends. And if I can pull out another 42K in between, even better.

Below are some updates on the Mumbai marathon as they continue to trickle in:

Start timings

The Full Marathon, like last year, will have an early start at 6:45 am. The regular start timing is 7:40 am and this is where you should start if you care about things like prize money in the OPEN category, otherwise, advisable to take the early start and avoid about an hour of sunburn.

Looking at the official website, it looks like the organizers have still not finalized the arrangements for the Half Marathon, which for the first time is supposed to start from Bandra and end at CST. The website does not have any start timings for this event, and there are no details on how baggage will be handled to take care of this unique situation of the run starting from one point and ending at another. What I have heard is that organizers will transfer the baggages by road to the finish point.

Route Map

The official route map for both the Marathon and the Half Marathon is yet to be published. I guess it is taking a bit of time since the route has changed big time this year with the inclusion of the Bandra-Worli sea link.

Energy Drinks – a First

For the first time, the Mumbai Marathon (and half) will see energy drinks being provided to runners (and I am not counting Electral water as an energy drink). Organizers have tied up with energy drinks manufacturer Lucozade, I have no experience of drinking this so I wonder how much different it is from the more widely available Gatorade.

Cutoff Times

The Marathon will see a cutoff at 12:40 pm, which is 5 hours 55 minutes from the early start at 6:45 am. Pretty decent I believe, unlike the earlier cutoffs which were generally in the 5 hours vicinity.

Mumbai Marathon 2010 Route Decided: A new history!

Well, well, well. This is one incredible news, and to which a friend of mine had given a hint, and which I really thought was just one of those rumours going around. Incredible as it may sound, the 2010 Mumbai Marathon will see the half marathon and the full marathon starting from different points. Amazed? Read on.

And as decided tentatively earlier, the Bandra-World sea-link is finally confirmed part of the route as alluded to in my earlier post here. This one amazing piece of beauty and excellence is now part of the Mumbai marathon history!

Marathon – Half Marathon : Different routes

For the first time in the history of the event, spanning seven years, the half marathon at Mumbai will not start from the same point as the Marathon, i.e. Azad Maidan, Mumbai CST. Instead, it will start from Bandra, and will end at CST. It is also confirmed that the half marathon will also take the route of the newly opened Bandra-Worli sea-link. I tried checking out distances between Bandra and CST on Google Maps via the sea-link, and it was coming out as 18.8KM, so I guess the organizers will be able to make that a 21K route comfortably if they want. Check the below sample route I drew using Google Maps to roughly assess the route distance (not actual route).


View Larger Map

The decision from the organizers was great for two reasons. First, it gives a chance to 14,500 runners who will be running the marathon and the half marathon to experience the new route with the Bandra Kurla sea-link, making it an iconic and historical part of the Mumbai marathon route.

The second reason is even more important from a logistics point of view. Last year there was an absolute chaos when the Elite marathon runners who started at 7:30 am came to overtake the half marathon (and marathon early start) crowd which had started at 6:45 am. Except for the top few, the rest of the elites really struggled to go through the sea of runners, some of them even had to run on the sidewalks just to avoid the crown, and it was really very disappointing. I had feared that this would mean scrapping of the early start, but fortunately, the organizers have found a way out, and what a way it has been. Well done guys!

News source: PTI news

Mumbai marathon 2010 registrations open July 9th

and close August 18th (or as soon as running places are filled, whichever is earlier). I know last year many of us were left out just because we thought that things don’t work like this in India. Well, now we know, they do.

Event website: http://scmm.indiatimes.com/
Update (July 21): Registrations for Half Marathon and Dream Run (open category) closed. Wow, that happened pretty fast! Just the 42K left now.

Update (July 9): Registrations Open. For Online Registration click here.

So, if you are thinking of running the Mumbai marathon on Jan 17th, 2010, be ready on July 9th, because, there is going to be a mad rush for registrations, and the 42K and 21K seats are going to run out fast, India is really running!

I remember, last year there were lots of runners from Delhi, and from our Delhi Runners group, and the Running and Living folks. Lets party at Mumbai coming year too!

Note: Entry fees raised to Rs 500/- (including cost of disposable championchip). There is also news to the effect that 2010 Mumbai marathon route may use the newly inaugurated over the sea link between Worli and Bandra. Now, won’t that be fun? Here’s what Race Director Hugh Jones had to say about the sea link…

“There’s something about running besides open water that’s very appealing. We will look at the best possible way to integrate this new feature into the race route besides taking advantage of the outstanding views of the city skyline available from it.“

Another news, like last year where they had an early start of 6:40 am for the non-elite runners (elite start was 7:30 am), this year is will also see an early start (though the exact timings are yet to be confirmed). I had thought we would not see an early start this year, with the way the elite runners were disrupted in their running when they caught up with us early starters, they simply had to wrestle their way through the mass of people. All elite runners except those in the lead pack had to suffer that fate, and I am sure this did not go unnoticed. Maybe the organizers will handle this better this time.

Have fun!

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What is it with the Mumbai marathon 2009 results

Something is not quite right between Mumbai marathon organizers and the chip timing folks. First the results were published, then taken down, then published again. And now this on the ChampionchipUAE website. Does anyone have insider info on this?

from championchipuae website:
…

Results » Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2009 18/01/2009

Results for this event have been suspended pending settlement of client account.

We apologize for any inconvenience.