Sawan Barwal had heard a familiar warning before making the switch from track running to the marathon: running 2:12 or 2:13 was considered extremely difficult for Indian athletes.The 28-year-old Army runner from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, decided to treat that perception as a challenge.On Saturday morning in Nagoya, Barwal produced a historic run in only his second competitive marathon, winning the Asian Games silver medal in 2:11:37 and breaking his own national record.Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita won gold in 2:10:49, while China’s Peiyou Feng took bronze in 2:12:13.“This is for India. The medal was important. In the end, the Japanese seized the opportunity and raced away. I did try,” Barwal said after the race.The silver ended India’s 44-year wait for a men’s marathon medal at the Asian Games. The last Indian to win one was Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan, who took bronze at the 1982 Delhi Games.Barwal has now broken the national record twice in the same year. In April, on his marathon debut in Rotterdam, he clocked 2:11:58 to erase Shivnath Singh’s 48-year-old record of 2:12:00. In Nagoya, he improved his own mark by another 21 seconds.But Barwal does not consider 2:11:37 his ceiling.His coach Surender Singh believes he can eventually break 2:09, while Barwal has set himself an even more ambitious target of 2:07 or 2:08.“I think after the Asian Games, I can target 2:07 or 2:08,” he had told India Today before the Games.Who is Sawan Barwal?Barwal is an Army athlete from Mandi who spent most of his career competing on the track. Running began for him at school, where he won medals at the district and state levels, before he joined the Army in 2019.The marathon came much later.After the 2022 Asian Games, which he missed because of injuries and other reasons, Barwal and his coach began discussing a switch to the longer distance ahead of the next edition. He started training alongside experienced marathon runners and seniors, with preparation including altitude camps in Kannur and Bengaluru.His first marathon was eventually delayed after he suffered an injury 10 days before his planned race. He returned in January and began a four-month build-up for Rotterdam.When he arrived in the Netherlands in April, Barwal had almost no competitive marathon experience. Yet he stunned Indian athletics by running 2:11:58 on his debut and breaking Shivnath Singh’s record, which had stood since 1978.“When I ran the first marathon, I had little experience,” Barwal said. “5km and 10km fatigue is different. Marathon is 42km. It was completely new for me.”Why the 35km mark matters to Sawan BarwalBarwal had repeatedly heard from senior runners that the marathon truly begins after 35km.That lesson became crucial in Nagoya.He led the race from around the 10km mark until 35km, when Yamashita made his move. Feng, who arrived as the Asian leader this season after running 2:05:58, could not reproduce that form and eventually settled for bronze.Barwal stayed in contention and covered the final 7.145km in 22 minutes and 13 seconds to secure silver.“I had heard from seniors that marathon is not easy. You realise it after 35km,” Barwal.“After 35km, it becomes more mentally challenging. You have to stay on the course and figure out how to finish.”How did Sawan Barwal train for the marathon?Barwal’s preparation focused heavily on the final five or six kilometres, which experienced runners had warned him would be the toughest.His training included 40km or 42km runs on alternate weeks. He would typically run 40-41km at around 10-20 seconds slower than his intended marathon pace, preparing his body to keep moving after fatigue had set in.His training week could include three hard sessions — speed, a long run and tempo work — along with easier 20-25km runs. His weekly mileage was around 200km, with the long run at the centre of his programme.The biggest challenge, however, was mental.“In my first marathon, in the last four-five kilometres, there wasn’t much going through my mind,” he said. “I was just thinking that my legs should keep moving.”By the final three or four kilometres, he said, his focus narrowed further.“There was only one thing in my mind: I have to go till the finishing line and how I can maintain the pace.”That mindset helped him in Nagoya too.There were 19 runners in the field, and Barwal was the only one who entered with a personal best. Several rivals had faster times on paper, including Feng, whose 2:05:58 was the season-leading mark in Asia.Barwal, however, stayed patient, judged the pace and conditions and ran his own race.He entered the marathon as an experiment after years on the track. Two races later, he has not only won an Asian Games silver but also twice rewritten the Indian national record.With inputs from ANI