How India's ultra runners are gearing up for the IAU 24 Hour World Championship

Ullas Hosahalli Narayana was a part of the four-member team. Though he had the experience of running longer on trails, both in terms of time and duration, he knew little about this particular format. Or the monotony of running in loops on a flat track for an entire day. He was prepared for the effort, but he had little idea on how to fuel or pace his run. Mental fatigue caught up long before the 24-hour mark. After covering 182.462km, he simply stopped running. “It was good to just dive into the deep end to see what it was all about, though we had no idea what we were doing," Narayana, 45, says.

Over the next few months, he put in specific training and arrived at a nutrition plan, executing a satisfying race in Quebec, Canada, where he ran 216km. Then, in December 2018, he raced at the IAU Asia-Oceania 24h Championship in Taipei, Taiwan, finishing with a bronze and a new national record of 250.371km. “Just self-coaching and doing some basic training based on the nature of the event. Running in Andaman’s heat and humidity, while on holiday just before the race, certainly helped. Until then, no one was really interested in this format," he says.

A lot has changed since Narayana’s podium finish, as another 13-member Indian team lines up at the 24h World Championship in Albi, France, on 18 October. There’s been a significant rise in the number of ultra running events across the country, from the high mountains of Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh to the lush terrain of the Western Ghats and the arid environs of Rajasthan. Besides the distance, these races need significant commitment in terms of training for the terrain and weather. But for anyone who wants a taste of ultra running, stadium runs and closed loop races in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh have made it not just accessible but also affordable.

PREPARING FOR THE WORLD STAGE

These races have also handed runners the opportunity to represent India at the world stage, given that the format is typically how 24h and 100km championships are held. “The athletes I coach had to select from a few events previously, but now there are almost twice as many ultras and on different surfaces such as road, trail and track. There is more awareness about scientific training methods and it is helping athletes prepare better," says Santhosh Padmanabhan, coach of the Indian ultra running team.

Most on the team have transitioned to ultra running only over the last few years. The current 24-hour national record holder, Amar Singh Devanda, 29, took to marathons and cross country after joining the Indian Air Force in 2014. It wasn’t until August 2021 that he attempted his first 24-hour run, where he registered 240.8km. The following year, he broke Narayana’s national record at the 24h Asia & Oceania Championship in Bengaluru after finishing 257.620km and at the 2024 edition of the race in Canberra, bettered his own mark to 272.537km.

“When I started out, I didn’t know anything about the sport. Training was similar to how one would prepare for a marathon, though with a lot more mileage. I ate bananas and dates and consumed electrolytes like the rest, without understanding what the body required for these long runs," Devanda says. “It has now shifted to time-based workouts with a lot more structure in place, where we undergo regular testing to understand everything from performance to nutrition."

From a maximum of six-hour runs, Padmanabhan has brought them up to multiple 8-10 hour sessions as part of the preparation. Logging big distances at a go has helped simulate race conditions to understand the challenges one could expect over time. For instance, during a race in Taipei in 2022, Devanda recalls a satisfactory nutrition plan over the first five hours that put him in the leading pack. But he soon started throwing up, which led to severe dehydration. “It’s when I realised the need to train my gut to consume adequate calories. These days, I am able to take twice the amount of calories every hour. Nutrition is as important as the training you’re putting in. And since I’m recovering better after each run, I know it’s working," Devanda says.

A majority of the team has been working together in Bengaluru over the last two months. It has helped them bond better and understand pacing strategies, which is critical for the team championship (where mileage of the top 3 runners from each country is accounted for). A few runners recorded their personal bests over 12 hours in recent weeks.

“For a few months now, we’ve been working with a nutritionist, sports scientist and a strength and conditioning coach from the Enerjiva Performance Team. We’ve put in a lot of work based on their inputs through different phases of training. Each time there’s a hurdle, we’ve sat down to address the issue. That learning has made them a lot more confident, since they now know how to react if it happens during the race," Padmanabhan says.

A SPORT THAT DEMANDS PATIENCE

“Since there’s company, it becomes a lot easier to handle the long runs men tally. The distances get knocked off without us realising it," Devanda says. Any kind of support is critical in a sport which demands immense patience to make small gains. Greek runner Yiannis Kouros took 13-long years to break the 300km barrier (303.506km in 1997) since he first clinched the 24-hour world record (284.853km) in 1984. That mark held until 2021, when Aleksandr Sorokin of Lithuania bettered it (309.399km), before returning the following year to improve on his own distance (319.614km), the current world record.

Just training for the miles takes a mighty effort. It makes it possible for ultrarunners to manage just a few races each year. Narayana, who is based out of Brisbane, worked towards a 100-mile trail race at the start of the year, before beginning his preparation for the track over the last couple of months.

“The first time I ran this kind of race, I hated every second of it and questioned myself on why I was doing it. The next time, it was more like, okay, how much more I can go. But lately, I run with a lot of gratitude and try to be in the present, thinking about the things that make me feel good. That’s until the next wave of discomfort begins. And then I start thinking about something else all over again," Narayana says.

Shail Desai is a Mumbai-based freelance writer.