12.5 laps
That was the distance of today's race..
The seminar which started at 3:00 pm and was supposed to get over by 4:30 pm got extended thanks to one of the students presenting on 'Stochastic Linear programming' for a good one hour. I had to rush from the seminar room at 4:50 pm as the race was supposed to start by 5:15 pm. When I reached the stadium at 5:10pm, I got to know that the race was to happen at 6:00 pm(darn!). Anyway, that gave me enough time to warmup. Meanwhile pole-vault was going and many people were attempting it for the first time, which resulted in many getting injured due to lack of technique. I was actually enjoying the time before the start of the race...chatting with a few other participants....This time (unlike last 5k), I managed to water the bushes well before the race, thereby starting the race along with everyone!!
The start saw me in the lead pack...I was 4th..After 3 laps, the third guy gave up and stopped.But at the same time, another guy overtook me and took his place. I wasn't pushing hard, as I wanted to have enough energy to accelerate in the end. The leading guy was by now a good 100m ahead of me. With 6 laps to go, I was 5th and feeling good. Another two laps and I was sort of struggling, but so was the guy ahead(G) of me. My aim in this race was to come 4th no matter what..So when I was failing to cover the gap between G and me, I just kept telling myself to try, try hard...I imagined a rope tied around his waist and I was pulling that rope so that I came closer to him...that helped!!...Now, there were just two laps left..I was 4th and the third guy was far ahead...so my plan was to just maintain the lead to finish.
As the last lap approached, I could hear G's breath nearby..I accelerated and it was very tough as he kept pushing the pace..The last 100m was an allout sprint to finish....I finished 4th and the third guy was from my hostel..Finally!!...Our hostel manages to get some points in athletics!!
My time came out to be 20:05 (previous best - 20:53)...My legs are really shot and I need some good(well deserved??) rest......
Kennenisa Bekele with the WR
A favorite in 1996 and 2000 olympics, El G finally realised his dream at the 2004 olympics with a double gold
4 comments:
congrats on achieving ur PB... great going
Nice going. Go out there and run one hour each day at 7:00-7:30 pace and one tempo a week at 6:40ish pace - you'll be running low 18s for 5K in about 4-5 months. Work on lower leg / trunk strength as well to reduce the risk of injury. Save the speed workouts for later. All my running over the past 5 months has been aerobic - no speedwork - and my times are getting better and better.
@naikutti - Thanks dude
@Thinking runner - That's some great advice - Will try to follow that up - Thanks.
Yeah, but don't start doing that mileage immediately. Build it up over a period of 6-8 weeks.
Post a Comment