TMM HM Race Report

Date: 19th January, 2025

Start Time: 5:12 AM

Distance: 21.1Kms

Starting Point: Reti Bunder Maidan, Mahim, Mumbai

Net Elevation:70 m

Goals:

• Achieved PB: 2:10:43

• Achieved: 1:56:35

• Goal: Below 2 hours

Training:

Before Aug 2024, I never took running seriously. The max distance I had run till 2024 was 10k to qualify for a trek. I ran my first HM distance on Aug 24th, 2024 as part of a causal run. Then, decided to run my first HM race in Mysore on Sept 1st, 2024, which I finished strong at 2:10:43 timings. One fine day, I heard about TMM being a Runner’s mecca, especially in India, and thought to try it out. Also, wanted to prove to myself that I could run HM distances not just once and to make Running one of the strong legs in the Triathlon. Applied online on the TMM website, hoping to get an entry. Got confirmation of acceptance on 26th Sept, 2024 and started training on 26th Nov. That is around 8 weeks of training.

The training primarily consisted of Intervals, Hill Sprints, Strides, Mile Repeats, Tempo, Progressive, Easy and long runs. I had to miss the Training in Dec last week due to family vacations. I was running for 4-5 days a week and my peak week mileage was around 80Kms.

My last couple of weeks training program looks like below:

Since we didn’t know my race pace, decided to participate in the Decathlon 10k event on Dec 22nd, 2024. Finished the 10k race with 49:10 timings comfortably. Though the ini=al target was to finish below 2Hrs, we realised we could push and try to do around 1:45:00 in the TMM. So for the TMM race, thought of doing it as a progressive run and set the workout as below in Garmin Watch:

Pre-Race:

I touched down in Mumbai on Saturday around noon. Went to the service apartment I had

booked in Bandra. I checked in, had lunch and headed to Expo. The experience at the Expo was something else. There were a lot of stalls and runners. I spent quite some =me visiting each stall and ended up buying a couple of items as well at a discounted price. I had planned to visit the HM start point in the evening. However, after interacting with the Cab driver while returning from the expo, I changed my plan and decided to not go considering the traffic congestion in Mumbai in the evenings.

I finished my Dinner early. The dinner consisted of Salad and Burrito Bowl:

I finished the dinner around 6:45 PM, arranged all of the race-day gear, set the alarm for 2:45 AM, switched off the lights, put the mobile in silent mode and went to sleep. But, as it happens most of the time, I was not getting sleep. I rolled left, and right and slept on my tummy, but I was not getting sleep. Finally, I was able to fall asleep around 9:45 PM, which happens to be my routine sleep time.

Race-Day:

Woke up at 2:45 AM. Finished my morning routine. Had overnight oats, banana and pomegranate. Did warm-ups and I was ready to leave the room at 3:45 AM. All of a sudden, while collecting the electrolyte pouch, I noticed the Pre-workout sachet in my bag and had it.

The distance from my room to the starting point was around 2.8 km, which I walked and jogged. It took around 30 Mins to reach the starting point. It was a nice warmup. Once I reached the place, interacted with fellow runners, re-filled water and electrolytes and moved towards the holding area. I was in Wave C with entry to the holding area at 3:30 AM and the race start was at 5:07 AM. When I reached the holding area around 4:30 AM, I noticed that people from Wave D and E were present in the holding area as well. Below pic shows how packed we were in the holding area.

I started the race around 5:12 AM with the crowd. I was finding it difficult to run in the pack, forget about maintaining my pace. I dodged a few elbows and sidestepped fellow runners. I thought maybe the crowd would thin out after 4 or 5 km. Before I realised the distance I had run, we were running on the Bandra-Worli link. Running on the Link road was special with all the lights. I tried looking at the sea for the view. But all I found was dark. I somehow managed to keep my pace around 5:20 in that crowd. When I was getting down the sea link, I saw only a handful of people ahead of me. I thought for a second that now I can run freely with my pace. But, soon ran into another bunch of crowd and that crowd seemed never-ending when I looked at it from an elevation after a distance. Later when I was crossing one runner, I realised that now I was running with Wave B people.

I found a third water station and grabbed a water bottle. I was about to open the cap when I realised I had already finished 2 250 ml of Bisleri water and 100 ml of Electrolyte. I was just in my 10th Kms. That made me wonder if I am drinking a lot of water than my normal runs. By the 12th KM, I started to feel discomfort in my feet. They were hurting really bad. I thought it might be a cramp. But, I had run or experienced more harsh conditions than the race day and never experienced cramps. I made a conscious decision to forget the workout set and fall back to my initial target of 2Hrs. I got some spray from the crowd and continued, but the pain didn’t reduce rather, it became more. At one point, around 13th KM, I realized the pain was around the arches in the feet and it became so painful that I thought of removing the shoes and running in socks. Then, I remembered the consequences it might have. So, continued to run around 5:15 pace. Then came the Peddar Road. I had heard of its elevation from people and I was curious to experience it. After passing the Peddar road, I realized why people talk about it. It’s not just about the elevation, but you are crossing it while in the 15th Km of your race, which makes it a little difficult. I ran on Peddar Road, giving high-fives to kids and waving to the public, cheering us.

Around 16th Km, I noticed a runner was flat on the road and volunteers were giving CPR. I continued with pain and again around 18th Km found 2 runners flat on the road and volunteers attending them. I ran for another 400M and heard an ambulance to the right side going to pick up those runners. But, it didn’t stop the crowd and the runners from continuing. In fact, one of the runners I overtook around 19th KM was shouting to everyone to listen to their body, respect it and not rush to finish the race. For a moment, that felt so real. Especially after passing through those scenes and my foot aching. But, I knew it was just my foot and not my cardiovascular that was in pain. I continued and crossed the finish line with a timing of 1:56:32.

Gels consumed: I consumed 4 Fast&Up gels in total. Each at 5Kms, 10Kms, 15Kms and 20Kms.

Electrolyte Consumed: Fast&UP Around 500ML.

Water Consumed: Around 1.2 Ltrs

Post-Race:

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I removed my shoes and sat on the median. I looked at my feet and they looked like the below:

My feet were completely swollen near the arches. Then, I realised I should not have worn the new Deviate shoes I bought. I had run only around 10 km in them before using them in the race. Also, made me realise that I might have overpronation. I went to the medical area to seek help but was re-directed towards the ice-pack area. I took the ice pack and sat on the ground for about 20 Mins keeping my feet on Ice. Then, went to the recovery area, hoping to get pain relief. The physio just suggested keeping ice and no other solution. Realizing that I might have to bear the pain, I decided to head to my room and rest. I collected the medal, took a pic and limped out of Azad Maidan, hoping to catch a Cab.

I tried booking a cab for 20 minutes but was not successful. Finally, boarded a train from the Church Gate, de-boarded at Bandra and limped to my room, which was around 800 M. Reached the room around 10 AM. 

Once in the room, I had breakfast and a protein shake. I freshened up and checked out of the service apartment around 11:30 AM. Reached the airport around 12:20 PM.

My Learnings from TMM:

TMM being my second race, a couple of learnings from it:

- You might not be able to alter your sleeping cycle in one day. I tried to sleep at 7:30 PM on the race pre-day, which didn't work. Maybe trying to reset that cycle one week before the race might help.

- Never take a pre-workout before running. That made me drink a lot of water and also my heart rate to go up.

- Never run in new shoes on the race day. I made a mistake of doing it and will never do it again.