E-Paper
‘Aiming to break national record in London Marathon,’ says Nitendra Singh Rawat
Along with Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York, the London Marathon forms a sextet of the world’s most prestigious marathons, together known as the World Marathon Majors.
Nitendra Singh Rawat only began running in his early 20s, after joining the army, but that late start did not stop him from becoming one of India’s best distance runners.
On Sunday, Nitendra, 32, will become the first Indian to race in the elite category of the London Marathon.
Along with Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York, the London Marathon forms a sextet of the world’s most prestigious marathons, together known as the World Marathon Majors.
Nitendra, who is from a village near Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, believes that running in London will be an opportunity for him to break the four-decade-old national record (2 hours, 12 minutes), set by the late Shivnath Singh in 1978.
The man from Kumaon Regiment was introduced to sports in the army, where he first picked up cross-country running. By 2015, he had established himself as a leading marathon man, but an injury and a disappointing 84th place finish at the Rio Olympics led to a long layoff of 14 months.
Last year, Nitendra began a comeback. In January, at the Mumbai Marathon, he was the best finisher among the Indian men, and 11th overall, which also won him a qualification for the Athletics World Championships in Doha in September.
It has been an incredible return, and Nitendra is looking to build on it.
Excerpts:
How have you been preparing for London?
The first thing I did was to shift my training base from Bengaluru, which has moderate altitude of around 1,000m, to the hilly terrain of Ranikhet where the altitude ranges from 2,000m and above. The focus has been on having a steady weekly mileage of 250km. I train six days a week, and cover almost 40km daily. In the first half of 2018 my weekly mileage was 180-200km per week.
What pace do you generally train at? And what is your longest weekly run?
I train twice a day and my longest weekly run is 35-38km, which is covered at an average pace of 3:50-3:55 minutes per km. But shorter mid week runs of 8-13km are at a faster pace say 3:15 per km.
How do you recover for your next training session?
To stay healthy, good sleep for 8-10 hours at night is important. I also try to get a short nap in the afternoon and a massage. There is always the temptation to chat on social media, but I have switched off my phone. To avoid getting distracted, I hardly communicate with the outside world these days other than my coach and training partners.
What is your goal for London?
It’s difficult to predict time in distance running. But going by my current fitness, I should be able to race below 2:13. I want to break the national record
You began running pretty late in your life, only after joining the army. How did you get to the elite level so quickly?
It has something to do with my childhood. I was born and brought up in a village near Bageshwar (Uttarakhand) that has an altitude of 1,300m. During my school days we had to walk up and down the hills. That might have laid a foundation for distance running.
What needs to improve in India for better performances in distance running?
There is a lack of patronage for marathon running. There are fewer (national) camps for marathon runners. Without camps, athletes are scattered and train individually, and improvement is slow. To improve timing, group running is the answer.
