Monday’s workout was a killer! Upon reaching ULTRA, Coach Rio greeted me with… “Eric… workout mo, 5×1000m at a 4min per km pace +/- 15 secs.”

WHAT?! Crazy!!! After my 2km warm-up, I did some stretches and then I started my first lap at an easy pace to get a feel of how fast I should be going… My first lap was really slow at 4:39.08. Midway through the first lap, I realized I had forgotten to do my drills. I was too preoccupied with the 4min pace +/- 15 secs.

I made an effort to run faster, which shows… I got to do my second lap at 4:19.06, but it still wasn’t enough. It was a few seconds off from the slowest allowable time of 4:15. After the second lap, I was already exhausted as hell.

I tried to push myself further but my body could only muster enough energy to get me to do 4:26.23. After my 3rd lap, Coach Rio had to leave for another appointment. Coach John Lozada (Philippine Record Holder for 800m) asked me how I was doing. I said… “dying” Haha! He asked me my time and said, “ok lang yan, basta maintain mo lang pace mo, bibilis ka din.”

With those words of encouragement, I decided to maintain a constant pace. It was definitely slower but I could feel that towards the last 200m, I was getting faster, as compared to the first few laps wherein I was literally dragging myself to the finish line. My time? Dismal at 4:53.31 but the words of Coach John kept repeating in my head.

I did the same for the last lap and I was faster by 3 seconds, compared to the 4th lap, at 4:50.71. Check out the table below…

Comparing the above table with my previous performance last July 23, I could say that my best time improved but I definitely did not maintain a constant pace all for all 5 laps.

As I was on my way home… I got a text message from Coach Rio which read, “Actually, 4:30 +/- 15 sec yung time. Binabaan ko lang para ipush mo. ” Hahaha! Crazy Coach! Do not trust people who have faces like this one… Hehe!

But thanks to Coach, I will always know that I can definitely do better.