World TCS 10k 2024 - Let your legs do the running, your mind do the pacing and your heart do the pushing.

The renowned carnival run of Bengaluru that portrays the run culture in every fitness enthusiast in the country and infact is the home ground event - TCS Bengaluru World 10K. The last edition saw me running into a new PB but wasn't a chase to glory for sure. With the number of Ultra runs and elevation gains in covering those milestone, it did take my on road performance notch above my past events. The humble part is even after a decade plus years of running, I am able to maintain the pace in the shorter format of the course. These sprints have kept me alive in the game of chasing PBs but since the Ultra, It just started getting into my comfort zone but there were burn outs at times too which had to be looked into. The answer was simple, be the judge of your recovery period and strength training.

With a month left after Ooty Ultra, the weekly mileage had to be controlled knowing the category A event is scheduled in May and TCS was only a sprint away which had to be carried out carefully and not fall prey to injuries in the attempt to achieve the best out your performance. Having said that I was showered with love and wishes from dearest TimTim who whole heartedly gifted me her Brooks Hyperion Elite 3 to make the chase a little easier. This just laid the expectations and had already started building the stress within. Well, after all it's the part of any sporting event and especially when people look up to you, you are bound to set example in the right fashion.

The run above was a result of breaking in to the Brooks that now has built an early bond of pace sustainability. But a long way to go before I could jump into conclusions. Time shall tell!

But first up, the schedule of the run just didn't go down well with most of the runners. A 5:10am start for open 10k is going to demand a very early rise in the morning or should I say in the night to make it to the start point.

The BIB collection is yet another ritual that needed some effort to travel to one end of the city but was quite delightful in terms of the stalls and brands are display at the venue.

And as usual the partners in crime and the focus areas post the run was on point ☝️.

With 5:10am gun time , your race to the star line will start from the time you wake up. Leaving an hour early for the parking did not help us in making it in time, guess an hour and half could have been fruitful or may be a two hour buffer could do the job. This definitely cuts down on the number of sleep hours the night before and indeed be taxing. A minimum of 5-6 hours sleep should be ideal for such early wake up calls.

The plan was to wake up by 3am and leave by 4am considering 20mins travel time which was done at ease, but the way to the parking lot and to enter the parking lot took the equally the same time and then heading to the start point which was a kilometre away from Lido mall took another 5-7 minutes. The entry to the holding area of Category A closed and that lead us to be part of the larger group. With few minutes left for the race to start, we were stuck in the chaos and the crowd and could not do much as there was hardly any space to move ahead. An hour finish time with all this happening around is what could be pictured. This reality struck me when it was past 5:10am and we were still walking towards the start line. I literally felt pity and thoughts of not making it to a PB was out of the window. As soon as I crossed the start line, I wanted to ensure I give in all it takes to tackle the crowd which was a daunting task till the end of 6th kilometre and could have proved fatal as I just missed a few instance of getting toppled over and under the other runners and the banners and standees alongside the road.

This was a left right, zig zag, criss cross race and a testimony to all those strength workouts for my dear legs. At times, it just got on to my nerves when as I could not longer focus on the pacing strategy and neither was the hydration that went as planned. All you had to do is to wary of no crashing in to other runners and run on the sidelines of the road. By now, I had stopped looking at the watch knowing this isn't going as planned and all I wanted to do is to not give up and see how much longer is this ordeal going to last. A little bit of relief came in past the 5th kilometre but I still couldn't find a straight headway to change gears.

Btw, the miles after running down next to Sapna plaza and towards commercial street is a good decline of approximately 3kms before you work you way towards the last gradual incline that ended at 9th kilometre followed by a flatter surface and then the 100-200 meters towards the end of the race.

The outcome was a PB and was cut short by approximately 2 mins 20seconds of the TCS 10k 2023.

The official results

The pace that wasn't cherished as much but happy to have set the bars higher for my next 10k. Four fastandup gels consumed in this process.

Link to sports timing solution.

https://www.sportstimingsolutions.in/results.php?e_id=78282&e_name=Tata%20Mumbai%20Marathon%202024

There were times when I stressed out thinking if I had missed any of the timing mats when I continued the criss cross journey from the word go. But gladly was done with all the bucket feeling.

So what changed this time? Guess those elevation gains were the usual ones, could be the weight loss and to top it up tried a shoe from Brooks fondly presented to me by TimTim. Apart from the hard hitting surface and feedback to my feet while running, I did not experience any discomfort.

Brooks Hyperion Elite 3.

Definitely a short run companion but I don't see me using it for a Marathon or the Ultras. A half marathon would compliment well and those no brainers 5 and 10ks at times.

Strava stats

https://strava.app.link/NF2P0j43jJb