The new year, the beginning of a new era. I joined the athletics camp on 10th January, classes thrice a week in the evenings to improve my running speed and strength along with good technique. The workouts given by the coach were very good including interval runs, endurance workouts, drills, circuit training, hurdles, stairs, abs and stretching in the end. We have enthusiastic group of top runners in IISc. So, I was attending swimming and athletic classes along with few hours in the gym. The swimming coach also started giving us heavy workouts for core strengthening and circuit training before entering the pool. So, I have slowly been improving stamina and swimming technique in January and February 2015. Luckily, I learnt proper breathing for freestyle swimming (completing 50 m lap) at the end of January. From then onwards, I after few weeks of practice, I was able to do 10 laps comfortably by mid-March. Then, I decided to do Triathlon as an individual as I was now confident of swimming also, had to ditch my teammates.
Spectrum 2015 was coming up in March and I participated in the Mega Cultural , Sports , Literary , Science and Tech. fest of IISc, Bangalore : Spectrum 2015, in most of the sports events successfully. It is the first time I had successful participation in sports events. It kept all my weekends in on a high adrenaline. I participated in swimming, athletics and triathlon events with 2 bronze medals in 10,000 m run and 4.71 k SnT run.
The first weekend 7-8 March was Aquatics 2015. I participated in only 50 m freestyle and did my personal best (PB). A lot of experienced swimmers participated enthusiastically with few of them grabbing 4-10 medals each. I volunteered for time taking along with the swimmers swimming gracefully.
The next weekend on 18th March were relay events. I participated in the Medley me doing the 300 m lap, 3 x 800 m and 4 x 400 m. We did in a good time overall coming in 4th and 5th positions. It was nice to see many good sprinters sprinting away in IISc.
On 21st March were individual short and medium distance events, and I did the 1500 m in a good time, PB of 5:34 minutes along with other athletic events like high and long jump. The next day 22nd, being the main 10,000 m run at 6:30 a.m, I kept a target pace of 4:30 min/km. It was a flat route, 25 laps on the tracks. It was warm enough with the sun in the horizon and I maintained a constant pace throughout and pushed in the last 3-4 laps. Initially, I was in the 5th position and overtook one after around 1.5 k and the other after around 6 k. The other 2 were well 1 lap ahead of me, so it was difficult to catch up with them. So, finally completed the 25 laps, 10k in 45:52 mins, finishing 3rd with a bronze medal.
The next weekend was the IISc Triathlon, called the Scienceman: Swimming 500 m, Cycling 15 Km followed by Running 5 Km. Only 6 days were left for training, and on 22nd evening itself I did a 15 km cycling followed by 2 km run comfortably, then a 3k run after a break. The following wednesday, 25th march I did my first trial triathlon in 95 minutes. After two days rest, the day arrived, 28th of March, 2015, woke up at 4 a.m. and after pre-race snacks reached the IISc swimming pool for the event. Collected the Tshirt and Bib no. 20. As I registered twice, one without Tshirt, I had two nos. 7 and 20, I choose 20. After some warming up, my turn came for the swim at 7:35 a.m. Started comfortably and maintained a decent stroke pace, and then pushed in the last lap finishing 10 laps in 23 minutes, my PB (previous best being 27 minutes and this is 3rd time I swan 10 laps continuously). Then, changed in running gear and shoes, had some electrolyte and water, and started cycling after 5 minutes at 8:03 a.m. Cycling was a breeze, even though I cycled with BSA SLR Photon, only during the climbs slowed down considerably and finished 15 km in 34:20 minutes, shaving 2 minutes off my trial triathlon. Then started my run at 8:38 a.m, initially it was slow due to fatigue and stiffness from biking, but speeded up after around 2 k and sprinted the last 200 m finishing in 24:16 minutes at 9:02 a.m.
I was 11th among 25 successful individual participants, and I needed to improve my swimming timing, which comes by practice. The event got over by 9:30 a.m. Overall, it was very satisfying and wonderful experience completing my first official Triathlon successfully. Looking forward to more rigorous triathlons in IISc and outside. The same day evening was the prize distribution which I attended and the uninteresting DJ night: similar tunes with no remixing.
The next event was the Science and Technology Run, 2015 the next day, 29th morning at 6 a.m. I thought I will take it easy due to Triathlon previous day only. But, unexpectedly few people turned up for the run and I got the runner's high initially only and was leading with two others first 2 k, then I slowed down a bit leading the 3rd place with none behind me in view, and finished the 4.71 k run in 19:46 minutes bagging a bronze medal. It was one of the few races I did without Runkeeper and did my PB, it was much faster than my 10k race one week back, as I did not keep track of the pacing and ran with the cool breeze early morning. Immediately after everyone finished the race, I was awarded the medal and SnT run Tshirts for everyone. The same evening the Spectrum 2015 end with the dance and fashion show, participants from many colleges in Bangalore.
So, in the end, Spectrum 2015 was an eventful journey throughout the month of March ending with 2 bronze medals and successful completion of 'Scienceman'. Looking forward to more such events.
Spectrum 2015 was coming up in March and I participated in the Mega Cultural , Sports , Literary , Science and Tech. fest of IISc, Bangalore : Spectrum 2015, in most of the sports events successfully. It is the first time I had successful participation in sports events. It kept all my weekends in on a high adrenaline. I participated in swimming, athletics and triathlon events with 2 bronze medals in 10,000 m run and 4.71 k SnT run.
The first weekend 7-8 March was Aquatics 2015. I participated in only 50 m freestyle and did my personal best (PB). A lot of experienced swimmers participated enthusiastically with few of them grabbing 4-10 medals each. I volunteered for time taking along with the swimmers swimming gracefully.
The next weekend on 18th March were relay events. I participated in the Medley me doing the 300 m lap, 3 x 800 m and 4 x 400 m. We did in a good time overall coming in 4th and 5th positions. It was nice to see many good sprinters sprinting away in IISc.
On 21st March were individual short and medium distance events, and I did the 1500 m in a good time, PB of 5:34 minutes along with other athletic events like high and long jump. The next day 22nd, being the main 10,000 m run at 6:30 a.m, I kept a target pace of 4:30 min/km. It was a flat route, 25 laps on the tracks. It was warm enough with the sun in the horizon and I maintained a constant pace throughout and pushed in the last 3-4 laps. Initially, I was in the 5th position and overtook one after around 1.5 k and the other after around 6 k. The other 2 were well 1 lap ahead of me, so it was difficult to catch up with them. So, finally completed the 25 laps, 10k in 45:52 mins, finishing 3rd with a bronze medal.
 |
| Start of the 10,000 m |
The next weekend was the IISc Triathlon, called the Scienceman: Swimming 500 m, Cycling 15 Km followed by Running 5 Km. Only 6 days were left for training, and on 22nd evening itself I did a 15 km cycling followed by 2 km run comfortably, then a 3k run after a break. The following wednesday, 25th march I did my first trial triathlon in 95 minutes. After two days rest, the day arrived, 28th of March, 2015, woke up at 4 a.m. and after pre-race snacks reached the IISc swimming pool for the event. Collected the Tshirt and Bib no. 20. As I registered twice, one without Tshirt, I had two nos. 7 and 20, I choose 20. After some warming up, my turn came for the swim at 7:35 a.m. Started comfortably and maintained a decent stroke pace, and then pushed in the last lap finishing 10 laps in 23 minutes, my PB (previous best being 27 minutes and this is 3rd time I swan 10 laps continuously). Then, changed in running gear and shoes, had some electrolyte and water, and started cycling after 5 minutes at 8:03 a.m. Cycling was a breeze, even though I cycled with BSA SLR Photon, only during the climbs slowed down considerably and finished 15 km in 34:20 minutes, shaving 2 minutes off my trial triathlon. Then started my run at 8:38 a.m, initially it was slow due to fatigue and stiffness from biking, but speeded up after around 2 k and sprinted the last 200 m finishing in 24:16 minutes at 9:02 a.m.
- Swimming 500 m - 23:30 minutes
- Cycling 15 km - 34:20 minutes
- Running 5 km - 24:16 minutes
Total time taken for Scienceman 2015 - 87:46 minutes; Thanks to my athletics and swimming coach for their intensive training and guidance.
I was 11th among 25 successful individual participants, and I needed to improve my swimming timing, which comes by practice. The event got over by 9:30 a.m. Overall, it was very satisfying and wonderful experience completing my first official Triathlon successfully. Looking forward to more rigorous triathlons in IISc and outside. The same day evening was the prize distribution which I attended and the uninteresting DJ night: similar tunes with no remixing.
The next event was the Science and Technology Run, 2015 the next day, 29th morning at 6 a.m. I thought I will take it easy due to Triathlon previous day only. But, unexpectedly few people turned up for the run and I got the runner's high initially only and was leading with two others first 2 k, then I slowed down a bit leading the 3rd place with none behind me in view, and finished the 4.71 k run in 19:46 minutes bagging a bronze medal. It was one of the few races I did without Runkeeper and did my PB, it was much faster than my 10k race one week back, as I did not keep track of the pacing and ran with the cool breeze early morning. Immediately after everyone finished the race, I was awarded the medal and SnT run Tshirts for everyone. The same evening the Spectrum 2015 end with the dance and fashion show, participants from many colleges in Bangalore.
So, in the end, Spectrum 2015 was an eventful journey throughout the month of March ending with 2 bronze medals and successful completion of 'Scienceman'. Looking forward to more such events.
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