Sunday 17 August: 5K trial

I decided to do a 5K pool time trial today: the time was 1:37:11 (a bit off my best of 1:36:49) but I hung in there.

My splits: 9:11, 8:47, (17:59) 8:39, 8:32, (35:11) 8:42, 8:48, (52:43) 8:53, 8:53, (1:10:30) 8:51, 8:57, (1:28:19) 8:52

I then cooled down with 500 of different strokes.

Last year:
1:36:51 for 5500 yards; 1:14 at 4250; first 1000 was 18:06. (april 6)

1:36:49 for 5500 yards (PR). 1:14:32 at 4250 (ironman), slowest 500 was the first (9:08), then 8:49, 41, 42, 38, 38, 43, 46, 50, 53, 56. (march 11)

What happened is that I a swimmer jumped in my lane to split it (acceptable etiquette here) and I sped up to lap him as many times as I could. Note that this 1000 yards was faster than any other 1000 yard segment.

At times my mind wandered and I had to bring it back.

Afterwards, I walked 7 miles in beautiful sunshine; to be honest I’d almost rather have a bad weather day as good weather brings out the 10 mile per hour cyclists and the 20 minute a mile walkers who say “oh, Hiiiiiiii” at me when I am starting to hurt.

When I get tired, I get grumpy, though I think that I keep it to myself.

Last night, I enjoyed the women’s marathon.

BEIJING – The weather was a factor in the Olympic women’s marathon Sunday _ just not in the way the runners feared.
ADVERTISEMENT

Instead of muggy and pollution-choked air, the field raced 42 kilometers (26.2 miles) through the streets of China’s capital in conditions that gold medalist Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania glowingly described as giving her a boost.

If this was the first big track and field test of these Olympics, Beijing passed easily.

The 38-year-old Romanian won in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 44 seconds. Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba, the reigning world champion who entered as one of the favorites, finished in 2:27:06, one second ahead of China’s Zhou Chunxiu.

“The weather helped me a lot,” said Tomescu-Dita, the 2005 world championship bronze medalist who lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado. “I’m very happy because it’s not very, very hot.”

Injuries were a bigger factor than anything else.

World record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain had to stop several times to work out pain in her legs _ she decided to race in her fourth Olympics only earlier this week even though she’s recovering from a stress fracture in her thigh. She settled for 23rd place, nearly six minutes back.

They showed film clips of Radcliffe winning the New York Marathon and in those she looked downright emaciated (e. g., the way that good marathon runners look when they are in shape). But at the games, Radcliffe looked, well, maybe more like a fit 5000 meter runner (oh so slightly less emaciated).

The race for sliver was tight:

Tomescu-Dita entered the 91,000-seat Bird’s Nest to applause, but the crowd saved its loudest cheers for Zhou’s back-and-forth scramble with Ndereba for second.

They entered together and Zhou, seemingly propelled by the energy in the stadium, briefly pulled ahead. When Ndereba passed her in the final 50 meters, the crowd fell silent.

“My aim wasn’t to beat the Chinese or any other nationality,” said Ndereba, who won her second Olympic marathon silver in a row. “We were fighting at the finish line.”

Unfortunately, I missed the men’s 10,000 meter:

BEIJING (AP)—Kenenisa Bekele has successfully defended his Olympic 10,000 meters title in a games record, leading teammate Sileshi Sihine again in an Ethiopian 1-2 finish.

Bekele hit the front 450 meters from the finish Sunday and crossed in 27 minutes, 01.17 seconds to beat the record he set at Athens four years ago.

Sihine, who was second at the Athens Olympics and at the last two world championships, took silver at 27:02.77, and Kenya’s Micah Kogo won the bronze medal in 27:04.11.

Haile Gebrselassie, 35, who won the 10,000 at the 1996 and 2000 Games, faded to finish in sixth place. He switched to the marathon after the Athens Olympics, where he finished fifth in the 10,000, but opted against competing at the marathon in Beijing because of pollution concerns.

Photos from here.

Advertisement