In 2022, my coach asked me what I was doing for Navratri. I told her I was fasting like everyone in my family. She said, 'And you want to run a half marathon five days in.' I said yes. She paused and said, 'Then we change everything about your week.'
That conversation taught me more about training around an Indian calendar than any book did. Navratri is not just nine days. It is a body in a different state. Sattvic foods. No grains. No salt in some traditions. Long stretches between meals. And nine days of running through it, if you choose to run.
What Navratri fasting actually does to your body
The first thing I learnt is that there is no single Navratri fast. There are many. Some people eat one meal a day. Some have only fruit and water. Some eat farali — sabudana, kuttu, singhara, samak — but no grains. Some skip salt. Some skip onion and garlic. The training adjustment depends on which fast you keep.
The metabolic shift
Reducing or removing grains means cutting one of your biggest carbohydrate sources. Glycogen — the stored carb that fuels running — drops within 24 to 48 hours of a low-carb shift. Easy runs are usually fine. Long runs and tempos take a hit. If you've ever felt your legs go heavy at kilometre 6 on day three of Navratri, that's why.
The fluid and electrolyte question
If your fast removes salt, sodium intake drops. Combined with India's October mornings, which in most cities are still warm and humid, sodium loss through sweat is real. Two long runs a week into a no-salt fast can leave you cramping, dizzy, or just inexplicably exhausted.
The mental dimension
Fasting also shifts how you feel about food, about timing, about effort. Some runners describe Navratri runs as some of the cleanest, lightest, most focused running of their year. Others describe them as exhausting. Both are true. The body adapts in different ways.
How to think about training during the nine days
I no longer treat Navratri week as a continuation of normal training. I treat it as a small block of its own. The nine days have their own shape.
Lower volume, lower intensity
Cut total weekly volume by 20 to 30 percent. Drop any planned tempo or interval workouts to easy runs. Move long runs to first thing in the morning, before any extended fast period kicks in. The training stimulus is still there. The cost to your body is much lower.
Use the early morning
Run within 90 minutes of waking, before the fast restarts for the day. This minimises the gap between your last meal and the run. The pre-run snack can be small — a banana, a few soaked almonds, a small portion of farali bhakri.
Move the long run
If your longest run usually falls on a Sunday and that day overlaps with a stricter fasting day, swap it. Look at the nine days, pick the day with the most flexible eating, and put your long run there. Communicate this to your family — most are understanding when you tell them you're saving a difficult run for the right day.
What to eat to keep running through Navratri
The farali kitchen is a runner's friend in disguise.
Sabudana
One of the highest-glycaemic-index farali foods. A bowl of sabudana khichdi the night before a long run will restock glycogen as well as wheat would. Add peanuts for protein and fat.
Kuttu and singhara
Both flours are dense in complex carbohydrates. A kuttu paratha or singhara puri the evening before training holds you through the next morning's run. Combine with curd for protein and fluid.
Sweet potato and banana
Both farali-friendly across most traditions, both ideal pre-run snacks. A small boiled sweet potato 90 minutes before a run, or a banana 30 minutes before, sits well.
Curd, paneer, and milk
If your fast permits dairy, lean into it. Protein source. Calcium. Fluid. Cooling. Curd with sendha namak (rock salt, which most traditions permit) covers protein and a small sodium hit at the same time.
Hydration and salt
The one variable most runners get wrong during Navratri.
Sendha namak instead of regular salt
Most fasting traditions permit rock salt. Use it. It still delivers sodium. Add a small pinch to your water bottle, your curd, or your post-run nimbu paani. Don't run a 20 km long run on plain water if you've been off salt for three days.
Coconut water and nimbu paani
Both farali-permissible in most traditions. Both replenish fluid and electrolytes. A glass of nimbu paani with sendha namak 30 minutes before a morning run is hard to beat for hot Indian October mornings.
Sip through the day
Maintain steady fluid intake through whatever eating window you have. Don't compress all your hydration into one meal. The kidneys handle steady intake better than spikes.
What to avoid
Two patterns I've seen, both painful.
Skipping all training
Nine days without running, in the middle of a marathon block, is not free. Easy maintenance running through Navratri preserves fitness with little cost. Total rest costs more than people expect.
Pretending nothing has changed
The opposite mistake. Sticking to the same training plan, same intensity, same volume, on a different metabolic state. This is where injuries and overtraining show up. Half of my Navratri lessons came from running my normal week on a body that wasn't normal.
A small story
One of my friends, a long-time marathoner in Pune, used to be terrified of Navratri. She would either drop training entirely and feel guilty, or push through and end up wrecked. We rebuilt her Navratri week three years ago: three easy runs, one moderate, the long run moved to a flexible eating day, sendha namak in the water bottle, sweet potato and curd as the daily pre-run anchor. She ran the strongest Hyderabad marathon block of her life that year. Now she looks forward to the nine days. It is one of the cleanest, lightest training weeks she has all season.
The fast does not have to fight your running. They can sit beside each other, if you are willing to redesign the week instead of forcing it through.
Your next step
If you fast for Navratri, plan your training week around it before the festival starts. Use our plan generator to scaffold a lower-load nine-day block. The calculators can help adjust pace expectations during the week. For broader nutrition planning around Indian foods, see nutrition. For training in October heat that often coincides with Navratri, our heat and monsoon guide covers session-level adjustments. If you have a race during or just after the nine days, events has the Indian calendar. Everything else lives at the Running Lab.