Vidya Sagare-D'Souza Applies AI Strategy To Train For Ultramarathons—In A Saree

Vidya Sagare-D'Souza’s journey into endurance was unexpected. What started as a fun challenge among her colleagues turned into a lifelong commitment to fitness and discipline. From 10,000-step walks to 75 km ultramarathons, her evolution was organic, driven by a desire for a healthier life.

What's more remarkable is that Vidya runs these long distances in a nine-yard saree, proving the versatility and functionality of the desi garment. 

This choice was not about spectacle, but about challenging stereotypes around women's fitness and inspiring more women to join her, no matter what attire they're comfortable in.

Parallel to her athletic journey is a professional path in artificial intelligence. With years of experience in automation and systems management, she naturally brought a data-driven mindset into her fitness training. 

Vidya is the ambassador for the 75K Ultra challenge in the upcoming Mumbai Pinkathon, a running event to raise awareness about women's health. 

In an interview with SheThePeople, she shared her preparation for the event and how she applies her scientific knowledge to train smarter, recover faster, and stay motivated.

Vidya Sagare-D'Souza on running in sarees, women's fitness, and AI 

STP: When and how did you first get into marathon running, and what was your goal when you first started?

Vidya: I started doing 10,000 steps a day through my office corporate challenge and won the challenge with a record 1 lakh steps in one of the challenge days (approximately 70 km, my first slow ultra).

My goal was to move towards a healthy lifestyle by taking 10,000 steps a day and winning the challenge as a group.

I completed my first 10 km run in the Mumbai Pinkathon 2014.

STP: What made you choose sarees as your ensemble?

Vidya: As a woman, I have always seen women keeping themselves and their health as the last priority. I started taking women's group short runs and exercise in 2015.

I had a few women in my group who felt they could not run or exercise because they didn’t wear sports clothes, as they were comfortable in sarees or salwar-kameez. 

The main focus here was to get the women out of this mindset. At the 2016 Pune Pinkathon, there was a nauvari (nine-yard saree) Zumba event conducted as a promo run to inspire women to exercise in a saree. In the 2016 Mumbai Pinkathon, I, along with a few other women, ran a 10km in a saree. 

It was a really thrilling experience because thousands of women running around me were stunned by watching me running in a saree. 

It really touched my mind that I have inspired so many women to get rid of the hindrance that they had. I made them believe that attire should not stop them from running.

I further ran a half-marathon in a saree at the Thane Going Pink event. We then translated this into running from Mumbai to Pune, 100 miles in a saree. I further ran 75km in a saree in the Invincible Women (marathon) run for the last 2 yrs.

Can you briefly share your professional journey, how you chose a career in STEM and dived into artificial intelligence?

Vidya: I am a graduate in Science and started my journey in software engineering with coding in Turbo C++ at a manufacturing company. 

After spending 3 years in pharma contracts admin, I joined an oil and gas giant to manage their P2P systems globally. 

AI was always there in my learning journey. After experience of 15 years of automation experience, I got a Doctorate in AI. I was also recognised as one of the Top 25 women in IT Excellence by DIGICONFEX.

How did your background in AI influence your approach to endurance sports?

Vidya: An endurance sport like running just happened to me naturally when I started completing 10,000 steps a day. I realised the endurance power I had.

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AI and endurance went hand in hand for me. Any systematic endurance training is data-driven. Although I am not an elite athlete, buying a Garmin 935 to evaluate my training stats, VO2 max happened due to the AI-driven mindset.

It definitely helped me to train systematically. I feel my body is a natural AI which I train and it learns from the training experiences so it can optimise performances to give me better race timings. 

For me, training for ultras is nothing but data-driven training optimisation. By using AI principles, I can train smarter, recover better and thus run a 100 km and report to the office the next day at 10 am all fresh and energetic!

STP: How do you train for 75 km ultras?

Vidya: Training for a 75km ultra starts at least 4 months before. Apart from weekly long runs, I gradually add 10% mileage every alternate week to reach around 50km a month before and then taper down. 

This needs strength training and yoga twice a week. I don’t follow any special diet. I am a vegetarian and a dal-rice and chapati lover.

STP: What has running in sarees taught you about the versatility of the garment?

Vidya: Wearing a saree for functions or in the office is ceremonial or formal, but running in a saree proves it can adapt to high movement activities. 

Saree is our ancestral attire, very thoughtfully designed to make women look beautiful with essential parts covered and yet comfortable to do any movements freely.

It demonstrates that cultural attire doesn’t have to be restrictive; it can evolve and participate in contemporary lifestyles without losing identity. Running in a saree taught me that the limitations that we always thought were only mental.  

STP: Have you learnt anything about the strength and adaptability of Indian women from your experience in a saree?

I learnt a powerful lesson and want to give to all the women out there the message that they don’t need to leave tradition behind to embrace strength and endurance. 

The saree becomes a symbol of resilience and adaptability, which are essential qualities in both life and sport.

STP: How have your fitness and nutrition needs evolved over the years?

Vidya: I was a fussy eater. I have loved sugary foods since childhood. Although I am naturally an active person. After learning the benefits of running/walking, I have become more active. 

Running in ultra also made me mentally stronger, which I need to be in my demanding role in the IT field. I could learn from the running and nutrition experience and adapt to healthy ways of eating without doing much diet changes. I believe in doing things that are sustainable. 

This helps me keep my body fit, even with minimal exercise in cases when I become too busy at work. I learnt to do small exercise sessions while at work too! These small sessions also act as stress busters and breakers from my hectic schedule.

STP: What excites you the most about running in an event like Pinkathon?

Vidya: Most exciting thing for me in Pinkathon is the sparkle of happiness I see in the eyes of women who do their first run. I have seen many of them, and then make it a ritual to do daily walk runs and small exercise sessions. 

Pinkathon is the world’s only running event with only women running in the event. I have seen shy women going crazy due to the comfort and pampering they get at this women-friendly event. 

This is also only available where new mothers come with their infants to start their health journey. Every woman should run Pinkathon at least once in her life, which I am sure will hook them to continue the running and healthy journey.