The Real Neel Deal (The Vegan 2am Ultra Runner)

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Meet Neelanjan Banerjee. If that's a tongue twister, breath easy, he's better known as Neel. This man can run long-ass distances and make it look easy-peasy. But to run those distances he has to balance his life in the armed forces, be an all-star husband, father, and dog papa. That means he wakes up at, um, 2am on some mornings just so he can run.

Neel was born in Mohali, Chandigarh and then moved to Gurgaon. Now Gurgaonites, haven’t heard a name like his, so you better believe that in addition to butchering his name he was featured in a whole range of class jokes. 

Right after he finished 12th grade he joined the Armed Forces. Today he lives in Gwalior with his wife Tumpa, his 6-year old son and his dalmatian. Fun fact about Tumpa: she was a year senior to Dhoni's wife, Sakshi. She also makes homemade wine and perfume!

Let's get to know this vegan mega runner, shall we?

You run real long distances. You casually talk to your youtube fans about

doing a 10, 15km, or 20km run on a regular morning. What got you started?

N.B: Well, I am in the Armed Forces, so I am used to physical activity. I love it. I've been running since I was in school. I mean, in school it was a different kind of running. More like football and hockey. Later it was all about endurance running.

I think I started running marathons in 2012 . I owe that to a mid life crisis of sorts. I guess my crises came quicker for me. Running helped me overcome it and gave me  purpose. Anyway, after few marathons, the most logical step for me was to run ultras. Just to put into perspective, a half marathon is 21.1 km, a full marathon is 42.2 km and anything beyond it is an ultra. The ultra races are typically distances ranging from 50 km, 80 km, 100 km, 160 km, 220 km, and then the 24- hour run.

In 2015, I dipped my toes in a 100 km race( Bhatti Lakes Ultra). Training for an ultra is bit different from marathon training. The average daily and weekly long runs are  way longer. That’s why running 90-100 km per week mileage is a walk in the park. But it took me a while to reach the place where I am now. I am still a novice. There are many runners who have a higher weekly mileage and run much faster than me.

What time do you get up in the morning to run? How many times a week do you do this?

  I have to highlight my life constraints to answer this question properly. The first being I have to reach my workplace by 8:30 AM. Two, I had been a single parent for a while.That meant that I had to get my run in on time and be back to wake up my kid at 6AM to send him to school.

With those calculations in mind, I have to get up at 3 AM and get back home by 6 AM for my kid. If it’s the weekly long run, then 3 AM gets pushed back to to 1 or 2 AM. I am used to this time now as my wife has now joined me back in Gwalior. She was working in Delhi for a while. Gwalior has bad traffic that's why I need to finish before 7 AM. I do this  5-6 days a week.

  Are you a natural runner or do you have to work real hard at it? What does your son and wife think about your running life?

I am not a natural long distance runner. I can sprint well. I have to work hard enough to run long. Now in ultras, the cut offs timings are quite liberal, so an average runner can finish the distance if he has done the training and has the right mental approach to it. Despite the odds, I love going on for long hours on trails and roads. I love the feeling of numbness while running and the calmness after finishing.The most common remark I get from people is that I don’t look like a runner. I have a pretty heavy build. 

My son is  too young to understand what and why I run ultras but he joins me whenever I workout at home. My wife is not entirely happy about this crazy pursuit but knows that it's the one activity that keeps me happy and healthy. She has every right  to be mad at me because I am not available to her on weekdays, but she is making the sacrifice by letting me train. I try to balance everything out, but I am tired most of the days. I try to make it up to her on weekends after I am done with my weekly long run. But I have been faltering on that aspect for sometime now.

Neel, the little guy, and his wife Tumpa

  When did you get to know about veganism? How has it blended with your running life?

In 2015, I increased my weekly mileage to train for my first 100 km race. That's when I started catching colds and coughs every week. I would be sneezing continuously for hours, my nose wold water like somebody opened a tap inside, and I would cough like crazy.

 I hired a nutritionist, posted questions on ultra running Facebook groups, but nothing helped. I knew that with increased running the immune system would take a hit . It's only the right food that can help maintain it. I read some books and listened to podcasts by vegan ultra runners. That's when it struck me. If I went vegan I could perhaps train without suffering so often. So, in April 2017, I decided to turn vegan.

 I am Bengali by birth and have grown up eating fish, meat, and sweets. People jokingly say that Bengalis must have been cats in their previous life because of our fondness for fish. People around me have a hard time understanding why I have decided to walk this path. It’s no use explaining because in general, people don't get it. After turning vegan, the colds and coughs have stopped completely. I can train more consistently. My recovery time after runs have improved and I feel much better. I even ran a 100 km race on 06 October 2017  virtually on fruits because they served curd rice for lunch. Overall, I feel that going vegan was the next logical step.

Running fuel

Good old south indian vegan

What's a typical food day for you? Get real specific.

My diet is really simple actually. No fancy stuff because Gwalior isn't the place for fancy. Breakfast is a big smoothie with 2-3 bananas and some other fruit like apple/ papaya/mango with a spoon of peanut butter, chia seeds and a handful of cranberries plus mixed nuts. I use plain cold water to mix it with. Lately I have started making Dalia with sautéed onion, tomato with some veggies as well. If my wife is in good mood, she makes me a bowl of Poha.

Mid day snack is a fruit - banana or an apple.

Lunch is rice/roti(3), a katori of dal, and two different kind of veggies. For veggies I mostly eat cauliflower, lady finger, bitter gourd, and cabbage cooked Bengali style. Along with the food, I love a piece of raw onion and some papad.

Evening snack is a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit. If I am famished, then I may make myself a bowl of Maggi with green chillies.

Dinner is same as lunch except I don’t eat rice at night. I am a big black coffee junkie. I drink copious amounts of coffee without sugar throughout  the day.

I drink alcohol once a week and that's only after my weekly long run. No booze on weekdays. Race day nutrition is a whole other discussion. I won't even get into that. 

the winning smoothie

who needs cheese?

 What's the weirdest thing that has happened on a long distance run for you?

I love this question because I've faced one of the most bizarre incidents. I wrote an article on this too. If you want to read it click here. 

 In 2015, I was staying in Bengdubi, a small town near Siliguri, West Bengal. This place is famous for wild elephants. The same year, I registered for a 100 km race.  I had a scheduled 40 km run. I had to get to work in the morning, so I started running at 2 AM. Crazy, right?

On my first loop, there was a dark patch on the road where the elephants used to frequently cross over to the jungle. As I was running in that dark patch, I came face to face with a lone male elephant. He was merrily munching on some leaves. We were about 10 feet apart.We surprised each other. He stopped munching, let out a terrifyingly loud roar and started to chase me with his ears flapping and his trunk raised. I thought I was a dead man. I ran my fastest 100 metre, jumped a drain, and went right  inside some house that was nearby.

I changed my route and finished my 40 km. On reaching home, I woke my wife to tell her the story. She also chased me for waking her up! Just kidding! She heard my story and told me that I was mad. Then she went back to sleep.

It's the life of Neel. For real.

 It's a fantasy world. You are not allowed to run. But you can do any other physical activity on a regular basis. What would that be? Why?

I would do scuba diving. I love that sport. I am a certified Advanced Open Water Diver from PADI. The beauty of the underwater world, the thrill and excitement, well it's something to die for. 

Tumpa has to put up with this

So reader people, isn't this guy wild? 

Yes, yes, I do think this fellow is wild and amazing. How do I make him a part of my life?

Well, just shy of literal stalking, you can follow and keep in touch with Neel in 4 easy ways.

Keep up with Neel and his life and running adventures on his youtube channel 

Be FB friends with him

Follow him on twitter

Keep up with his blog 

Happy Dog

Till then keep it real. Keep it kind. 

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