NAGOYA: He woke up at 3.30am, stuffed his stomach with just one banana and prepared himself for a gruelling 42.2 kilometre run. He was waiting for dope control and drinking water. It's difficult to rehydrate enough to pass urine. It was more than an hour. From 3.30am to 10.30am in Japan, one banana acted as fuel and source of hydration! And he ran 42.195km to be precise.
That is how Sawan Barwal won silver in the men's marathon final on Saturday. The result of a meticulous preparation that involved three months of training for the Games, running 190km a week. And this was just his second full Marathon!
For any ordinary person, the morning was quite pleasant with moisture laden light breeze blowing across the port city of Nagoya. The temperature was around 22 degrees, ideal for a marathon. It was overcast with intermittent drizzle here and there. This was perhaps the best time to go for a run.
But for a marathoner it was different. “Kafi humid tha (It was a little humid),” said Sawan after winning a historic silver medal. For them the condensed water vapours from the Pacific Ocean have increased the humidity around 85-88 per cent and precipitation at a high of 80 per cent. This could lead to loss of fluids and salts – the ingredients that could drain out an athlete.
To understand the enormity of his achievement, one must trace back India’s record in marathon at the Asian Games. This is the first medal outside India, having only previously won in the home Games of 1951 and 1982. Until now, no one gave him a chance to win. Not even officials. But his coach was confident.
Sawan could hardly believe his feat. There are multiple reasons for that. He was born in a village very close to Baijnath Shiva temple in Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh. High altitude training was natural to him when he started athletics as a child. The RBC counts in the hills are always higher and that helps transporting oxygen to the tired muscles and recovery.
Everything else seems providential. He started training for a marathon last year. His first full marathon was in Rotterdam in April this year. He was a 10K and 25K runner but until India's long distance coach Scott Simmons shifted him to marathon, he didn't know what the sport was. Since then though he has created a national record and broken his previous record here. On Saturday, he clocked 2 hours, 11 minutes and 37 seconds, bettering his previous 2:11.58s. He finished behind Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita, who clocked 2:10:49s.
In the world’s context when top athletes are running in the region of 2 hours, this seems nothing. But for India, this is enough to spark a revolution in long distance running. His BMS would be somewhere around zero.
The climb after the 30km mark was challenging. It takes a toll on the tired calf muscles. The race itself was within his limits. His sole intention was to stay with the leading group. He did and when the race got slower he kicked in a bit to build the tempo. “After 15 km, it dipped suddenly to 2.53-2.54 for a km. There were only 5-6 people left in the group and we kept going till the end,” he said.
After the turn at 30 km, the race got faster and there were only 3-4 people left. He was sure of winning a medal at that time.
Simmons explained the reason for shifting Sawan to the marathon. Sawan already had 10K results in 10K. He felt Indians had untapped potential in long distance running. “He is young and had good training for 10,000m, so it would make sense to take the next step. He's run a half marathon, 25K, and showed good potential,” he said.
But for a marathon an athlete needs a specific training regimen. And that’s what Simmons and Sawan followed in the past 12 months.
It was an easy transition as the athlete too was ready. He wanted to win an Asian Games medal. “We talked about this over a year ago,” he said. “It was like, let's first prepare for a marathon. His second marathon preparation was his debut (Rotterdam in April), and his third marathon preparation was for this.”
Interestingly, the first time Sawan prepared for a marathon, he could not compete due to technical reasons. Considering this was his second marathon, the win was even more amazing.
Sawan spoke about his transition to marathon with zest. He said that it was coach Scott Simmons who floated the idea last year. “When I came in touch with the coach, he guided me to try the marathon in the Asian Games. It was on my mind too.”
However, there were issues with his running. Since he was doing 10K he was running a bit faster, not ideal for a marathon. Then he shifted to Colorado Springs in the US along with other distance runners. “There were some good runners in the group who were running at 2.03-2.04 per km,” he said. He is not a novice. He has been running long distances for the last 15 years or so.
It was not until he joined the Army that he knew about athletics. “If I didn't win a medal, it would have been a waste of time,” he said.
There were three 40K runs in the last three months. The athletes do small warmups which are usually 2000 or 3000 metres but the workout is for 40K. “So we did three 40Ks in the last three months,” said Simmons.
With the medal in the bag, Sawan will rest the whole week. Maybe sleep. But with the Asian Championships slated for next year, it'll not be long before he starts his gruelling preparation again.
