How Indian distance runner Gulveer Singh trains for speed and endurance

A number of factors in the run-up to the race affected Singh’s performance. He had been training under coach Scott Simmons at his high altitude base in Colorado Springs in the United States, where the average high temperature hovered around the 15 degrees Celsius mark last week. Acclimatising to Doha was a struggle, where the temperature routinely touches 40 degrees Celsius these days. His misery was further compounded by sleepless nights due to an aching tooth.

“The conditions were quite difficult, just really hot. It’s why my coach didn’t say anything after the race because he knew how much training I had put in over the last few weeks," Singh says.“It’s a dream for any athlete to compete at the Diamond League, similar to the Olympics. So it was quite a disappointing result," he says.

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The performance was a contrast to the stellar year that Singh has had so far where he’s smashed three national records. On 14 February in Boston, he first bettered the 3,000 metre short track record, a non-Olympic event. A few days later, he reset his own 5,000 metre mark by clocking 12.59.77 at the same venue and became the first Indian athlete to go under the 13 second mark.

Then in March, he narrowly missed out on the qualification mark for the World Championships in September by 22 milliseconds, registering 27.00.22 at a meet in California. Besides improving his own national record by 14 seconds, it is the sixth fastest time this year and the fastest by an Asian athlete.

“What’s worked for him is the training continuity that he’s maintained, a constant work in progress, even though he’s had to shuttle between India and the United States," says Yunus Khan, a coach with the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune.

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Simmons recalls how Singh reached out to him after failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics last year. In November, he went on to shed 27 seconds off the 10,000 metre national record. But instead of taking a break, he went back to his training routine.

“In distance running, there is no off season. You don’t train hard and take time off because you slip back. It’s a progression and you keep building on what you’ve already achieved. Rest is embedded in the program on a weekly basis and appropriate recovery allows for the adaptation of the things we’ve been working on," Simmons says.

Endurance has always been Singh’s forte since his days in the Indian Army. Hailing from a farming family in Atrauli in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, he had been recruited as a jawan as part of the 23rd Infantry Division. Khan recalls how a Junior Commissioned Officer had reached out to him to have a look at Singh in 2019.

“He was posted in Galwan ghati (valley) at the time and was spotted during the cross country run that soldiers are put through. When he arrived at ASI, he had the talent and the discipline, and was really sincere with the workouts. Once we put him through testing, I was really impressed with his VO2max capacity," Khan says.“We knew we were on the right track when he set a new 10,000m National Games record in Gujarat in 2022," he adds.

Singh, who has been supported by Reliance Foundation since November 2022, has been logging a weekly mileage of 160-170km over the last few months. A lot of the Khan’s training plan has been designed around speed, while endurance has been a constant work in progress. Right before he left the country in early February, Singh took on hill workouts at the High Altitude Centre in Ooty. It was more of the same on the rolling dirt tracks in Colorado Springs.

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“It’s the best terrain to work on, especially in cooler weather where it’s possible to push hard. I had a solid training block under me once I left India and continued working on it in the United States, which eventually got me the national records," Singh says.

Simmons, who has been working with Singh for three years, recalls how the latter used to struggle to keep up with other trainees during the initial days. He is now on par with a training group that features American and African athletes from across disciplines.

“I have different partners like steeplechasers and marathoners. The training is quite different for each one of them. I work on speed with the guys competing at shorter distances and the marathoners on endurance. So, a lot of quality workouts against really competitive athletes," he says.

“His speed has continued to improve and it’s been really interesting to see his development because three years ago, I would not have predicted where he is right now. It’s mostly due to his own investment," Simmons says.

On his return to India, Singh first visited a dentist to extract the niggling tooth, before getting back to work under Khan. His next race will take him to the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, where he will compete in the 5,000m as well as the 10,000m disciplines.

“I’ve worked on every aspect of my running over the last few months and just need to maintain it. That’s all I have in mind going into each race and hopefully it will be enough to get a medal for India at the next event," Singh says.

Life has turned around for Singh since he discovered running. And over time, consistency.

“I’m not sure how things would have panned outhad I been working a regular Army job. These days, it’s all about training and resting and training some more. Running has changed my life," he says.

Shail Desai is a Mumbai-based freelance writer.

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