Musings of a runner: Times

Intro

This blog as might be apparent from the title has to do with running, biking and basically other outdoor individualistic sports, sometimes extreme, such as rock climbing . But don't be surprised if you find articles on work, personal life, music and even philosophy, this blog is an exception in this aspect in the blogosphere of running blogs and I am trying to revamp the blog to make it more runner friendly. You might want to look at the sidebar titled 'categorised', which as is obvious, categorizes my posts into different areas of interest.
The other thing that might interest many people is a section on 'running videos' and 'general videos' on the side bar, which I keep updating now and then.
I plan to bring in more posts on running and biking, with some added colour, so as to make them 'complete'. That's about it for now.
As a post-note, I have run a half-marathon, but I am yet to attempt a marathon, which through some concerted effort and time should happen in the future, but that ofcourse is not the culmination of this blog, it would on the contrary be something to jumpstart this blog onto new vistas.

Friday, September 30, 2005

Times

I ran a 1500m today. It was a great race..12 guys lined up at the start..I was joking with someone about competing for the last position....The race started off at a quick pace...There was a guy deliberately trying to get in my way..That was his job I guess..as he faded away after the first lap..
This event is part of the inter-hostel championships held every year and the competition between the hostels is really fierce. The hostel which I come from is very poor in athletics, and we rely for the shroyeter cup points from other events like football, hockey, etc..I am trying to change that trend but have been unsuccessful so far..Coming back to the race, there was one guy who was running close to me. I overtook him initally and I was fourth after 3 laps(300m to go), but he came back strong and I couldn't catch up after his surge..I finished fifth with a timing of 5:07(previous best- 5:20). This guy had finished ahead of me in the 800m race too..so it was doubly bitter for me to have missed the 4th position(it carries points).

Tomorrow's the 5000m race(the toughest track race according to me) and the field lined up will have more or less the same participants as for the 1500m, but, there will be some specialist 5000m runners making an appearance. Believe me, the distance racing scene in iit madras has never been so good...It's going to be a tough race tomorrow as it requires a lot of focus and tactical moves, like, when to surge and when to holdback, and more importantly when to start kicking towards the end(say with 200m to finish,etc). I have a good finishing kick but I faltered in the 1500m today, as I ran a fast 1st lap(1:10) and hence had little energy left towards the end.
My previous pr in the 5000m is 20:53, but I believe I can go below 20 tomorrow, provided my gameplan works. As for my gameplan, it is going to be a steady and a little slow start and a gradual increase in speed through the race. The thing about 5k is that, the real battle starts at the 2.5km mark, when you are at your worst, especially if you have started out too fast...
Slow and steady wins the race!!!

2 comments:

The Thinking Runner said...: That's a good 1500 time. You have good anaerobic ability, but you could improve your aerobic fitness a lot. More miles!; 3:14 pm, September 30, 2005
Arbit said...: Yeah..But work here is heavy especially this sem..next sem could see some base-training.; 11:30 pm, September 30, 2005