Mumbai Marathon
The mumbai marathon is fast approaching.
One of the best things you can do in training to prepare is to practice your race pace.
What makes a great marathon is being able to sustain your goal pace through the entire race.
Doesn't it suck when you get to a certain point in the race and you just run out of energy?
I've been there.
As a 2:19 marathoner I've at the ups and very down downs in the sport just like any other runner.
I've run over 3 hours and even DNF'd a few times.
Keep in mind the best runners in the world have off days and the marathon is not like the mile or 5K.
The TATA mumbai marathon will challenge you but I hope some of these tips will get you to the finish line in record time.
What Makes The Mumbai Marathon So Special?
The upcoming marathon in mumbai is one of the world's greatest marathons.
It brings runners from all over the world and has a very generous prize purse for elite runners.
The race also offers a wide variety of races distances to complete in and charities.
The marathon in Mumbai consistently raises large sums of money to help those in need in India and around the world.
As you can clearly see from the graphic here to the right Mumbai is doing something right.
Why Run The Mumbai Marathon?
You will be competing in one of the world's top marathons and helping people you don't even know.
The mumbai marathon is also a very fast course.
If you are seeking a new personal best for the marathon distance RunDreamAchieve can get you to that goal.
You've made a wise choice in signing up to compete in Mumbai.
I wish I would have registered to compete at this race when I was competing on the international level but do plan on running it in the near future.
The India running scene continues to grow in one of the world's most beautiful countries.
What Can Be Done To Better Your Current Marathon PR?
Have you ever reached a point in the race where you just run out of energy?
Are you seeking a new personal best time but need a new strategy?
Running low on motivation and patience?
My goal as a marathon and long distance running consultant for athletes around the world is to help you create this…
Leverage.
The biggest hurdles most marathoners face are:
- Not being able to hold their goal race pace for the duration of the race
- Not drinking enough fluids in the race
- Going out too fast and paying for it in the later stages of the race
- Not being able to react when an athlete surges in the race
- Not getting enough sleep the week leading into the race
- How to stay calm before the race and during the race
The biggest reasons for these pain points are:
- Not spending enough quality miles to make goal race pace feel easy
- Sipping at water stations and simply ignoring available fluids during the race
- Staying patient in the early stages of the mumbai marathon and being able to attack in the latter stages of the race
- Not doing enough high intensity training so that athletes can surge when other runners try to break them in the race
- Staying up too late or taking the race too seriously causing unneeded stress and worry
Key Strategies To Set A New Personal Best At The Mumbai Marathon
Check Out The Blog Purchase A 5K To Marathon Training Schedule Today
- Focus on your long run
The biggest reason I dropped over 21 minutes off my marathon was this key strategy.
Gradually increase the length of your long run and the pace at which you conduct it.
This one trick helped me go from having a personal best of 2:43:36 to 2:19:35.
How did I go from being able to run 26.2 miles at 6:14 pace to 5:19 pace?
Obviously, this is a significant jump in ability here.
It wasn't that I was talented.
I cannot write in a blog post how much hard work I had to put in to break the 2:20:00 marathon.
It took me from November 2002 to December of 2007 to get from 2:43 to 2:19.
My key advice to you in preparing for the mumbai marathon is this.
Run 1 of your long runs at a harder pace followed by 2 weeks at a very easy relaxed pace.
Below are some common examples of how I would conduct my long runs.
Obviously, we all have different time goals in mind so adjust these to fit your needs.
I simply want to give you some ideas that you can mimic and see how it works out for you.
Long Run Ideas
Goal: sub-2:22:00 (5:25 per mile pace)
16 miler – 4 miles@6:05 pace, 4 miles@5:45 pace, 4 miles @6:30 pace, 2 miles@4:50 pace, 2 miles@5:50 pace with last 4 miles @ 6:30 pace
22 miler – 5 miles@6:30 pace, 5 miles @5:15 pace, 5 miles @6:00 pace, 4 miles@6:15 pace with last mile in 4:45. Jog 2 mile cool-down
24 miler – 6:15 pace for entire run
18 miler – 4 miles@5:45 pace, 2 miles @4:55 pace, 5 miles@6:00 pace, 5 miles@5:45 pace, 2 miles @6:35 pace
Note: do not do these types of runs every week.
These types of long runs take a lot out of you so please take caution and give yourself two weeks of easier running.
Do you see how the pace is sporadic and nice chunks of these long runs are at very intense paces.
The goal is to hold goal marathon race pace for 26.miles.
It means nothing to tell someone you were on pace for 18 miles but fell apart the last 8 miles of the race.
The key is training in such a way as to win the prize.
The prize may be just to finish for some runners. Completing a marathon in and of itself is a success.
You may desire to break the 4 hour marathon or perhaps you have a dream to break the 2:20:00 marathon barrier.
It can be done with enough hard work and patience.
Fartlek Runs
I would highly emphasize implementing fartlek and tempo runs into your mumbai marathon preparation.
Remember, the key is to get race pace to feel easy.
If you spend enough time at paces that are much faster than your goal race pace you are going to be successful.
I would do all kinds of various distances with my fartlek runs.
Examples of fartlek workouts were as follows:
5×5 minutes at 165 BPM (beats per minute)
10x1K on the roads at 170 BPM
1 hour of 1 minute hard (165-70BPM) followed by 1 minute easy (130-40 BPM)
3×15 minutes at 165 BPM
Adjust these distances to fit your needs. I am a big advocate for heart rate monitor training.
I used the Garmin 620 for many years and still do but am think about getting the Nike apple watch.
This will make it even easier to monitor your runs without having to wear a heart monitor strap on your chest.
Tempo Runs
Tempo runs are the bread and butter of making a marathon a success.
They are extremely taxing on the body so I would highly advise jogging two days after tempo runs.
Notice I wrote jogging meaning so slow a child or your grand parents would be ahead of you.
This is a common trait I saw in the Kenyans I lived and trained with.
They take their easy days extremely easy.
Tempo runs are usually run at heart rates of 88% to over 92% of your maximum heart rate.
Again, this all goes back to making your marathon goal race pace feel easy and sustainable.
The mumbai marathon have 6 key distances to choose from. All of which you can significantly compete well in using these strategies.
These race distances are:
- Marathon
- Half marathon
- Open 10K run
- Dream run
- Senior Citizen's Run
- Champions with Disability
It doesn't matter the race distance the tips and strategies in this post are universal for all race distances.
If you are seeking a new way to prepare for the mumbai marathon I've created 5K to marathon race pace training schedules.
They are backed by a 30-day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied in anyway.
I'm confident you will see significant positive changes in your running by following them.
I've given you a small glimpse of some key workouts you can start implementing in your preparation. There are other great marathons in India to choose from such as:
Pinkathon – all women's marathon event
These small changes will help you take significant time off of your current marathon personal best.
Leave a comment or contact me if you have questions.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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