Pondi About Gautam
How it started
In 2015 Gautam weighed 115 kg and couldn't climb a flight of stairs without stopping. He took up CrossFit to lose weight and get back to the fitness he had in school. Around the same time, a bike store opened below the CrossFit studio, and that's how he found endurance sport. His first timed 10K was in November 2015.
Since then he has raced 10Ks, half marathons and marathons, at least four trail 50Ks and the Comrades Marathon, and started a 100K mountain ultra in Hong Kong. He's a Super Randonneur and has done multi-day bike tours. More recently he has added triathlon, including Ironman 70.3 Goa, and Hyrox to his own racing, and both are now part of what he coaches.
Gautam started coaching runners in October 2019 with three athletes. A chartered accountant by qualification, he spent nine years in tax consulting before becoming a full-time coach in 2022. He also co-hosted The Indian Cycling Podcast's coverage of the 2026 Tour de France.
His coaching starts with understanding each athlete's goals and motivations, then building a plan that balances training with work and life.
Personal bests and results
Qualifications
Certified to coach
- Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) certified distance running coach
- Precision Nutrition Level 1 certified nutrition coach
Athletes
What people say
Nainesh Shah · New York City Marathon 2026Training for a marathon is where good intentions go to die. The plan looks simple on paper until life, work, and your body get a vote. Gautam is the coach who gets that. He keeps it simple. No overcomplicated systems, no jargon, just a coach who understands running intuitively and knows when to push and when to pull back.
What sets him apart is how complete his coaching is. He is comfortable with technology and grounds everything in science, so every workout has a reason and he can explain it. And he coaches the whole athlete: nutrition, strength, recovery, the stuff most running coaches treat as an afterthought.
He also practices what he preaches. Gautam runs triathlons himself, so he never asks you to do something he hasn't done. That matters on the hard days, when the person telling you to keep going actually knows what it feels like.
If you're serious about running, a first marathon or a faster one, I can't recommend him highly enough.
Training with a coach like Gautam is a fantastic learning experience. I had been running on and off for five years and there were so many basics I missed until I joined Pondi Express. The programme helps me stay consistent and fits around my work-life balance. One of his best abilities is how quickly he responds to any question.
Deepesh Shah
Gautam is meticulous with his planning, whatever your goal is. He knows when to push and when to let go. He doesn't make you feel bad if you miss a workout, and he's quick to respond to any query. I enjoy my training with him.
Anupama Donepudi
It's been over a year since I started training with Gautam and I've improved across distances from 5K to the marathon. He has a structured plan for each target race, and he listens to and understands every question I have.
Sunima Dila
Gautam's philosophy leans towards sustainable training and long-term improvement in strength and running capacity. Sometimes he's the grumpy uncle refusing to increase weekly mileage, sometimes he's in full Coach Kabir Khan mode. I enjoy the training a lot.
Archana Bhatta