Olympic Fever and Leo Manzano

The Olympics are just around the corner, starting July 27th and finishing up on August 12th.  Like most people, our eyes will be glued to the television to watch these amazing athletes.  In Austin, we’re lucky to have a few of them in our midst.  You can often catch them at the shop, at one of our free Tuesday night track workouts or at a J&A/High Five Events triathlon.

One in particular is Leo Manzano who qualified in first place in the 1500 meter run.  You’ll see him racing in London; read some of the thoughts that might be going through his head as he competes.

Sub 4 Minutes in a MILE? by Leo Manzano

Many have gone as far comparing running Sub 4 Minutes in a mile to climbing Mt. Everest, which is also thought to be equivalent to running 100 miles in a day, or basically, holding your breath until you pass out. Your heart and lungs feel as if they are going to explode, all while you still push your limits to see how you can go! Before anyone had been able to run that fast, it was presumed that if anyone did, their heart would explode causing an instant death, that is, until after Sir Roger Banister proved them wrong, when he broke the four minute mile running it in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

As we all know, a mile is exactly 1.609344 km, or 5,280 feet. To run an actual mile on the track, you have to back up 9.344meters from the finish line. Many people run the 1600m and call it a mile, but this is not the true mile. The true mile is 1,609.344m. That means to run a sub -four minute Mile you have to run at an average speed of 15miles an hour per lap, or less than 60 seconds per 400 meters.

To run a sub four-minute mile is easier said than done. The first lap is always easy, just a lap where you get into the rhythm of the pace, the legs usually feel good and all you focus on is hitting the pace 59, 60sec. The start of the second lap, you still seem to be in it, you press just a little bit to make sure your’re on pace, you know the 3rd lap is coming and you start feeling fatigued. Your’re not even half way done yet you might hit 1:59 at the end of this 2nd lap, and you know your’re on pace. Coming into the 3rd lap of the Mile, things start to happen, the legs start feeling heavy and a burning sensation creeps on in. Now you know that you’re really starting to work. Pain sets in and you know that every step that you take it just seems like the pain is exponential. The 3rd lap is always the hardest as though stricken with a mental block of heavy bricks in your legs. Hitting the 1209.344meter mark you know that you only have 400 meters left in the game. As soon as you realize that, something in your mind clicks, “I’m almost done, only 400meters to go! Alright lets go!” Although you still have that burning painful sensation your knees start to lift, perhaps it may be from all the hard work you’ve put in and the willingness to move forward as you saw the clock hit 2:58, 2:59. 400m to go! 300m to go! As every hundred meters goes by you’re still fighting but you don’t even think about the pain. The only thought in your mind is run SUB 4 minutes. Then as you pass the last 200 meter mark, the clock hits 3minutes 29 seconds. All you keep telling yourself now is, “Push!,Push! All I have to do is run 30 seconds the last 200m”. Its seems like you can’t go any faster, you’re already maxed out, lungs burning, legs burning maybe even a blood vessels in your head feels like it might burst/pop. But you push! 100m to go, 50m to go, 30m to go – DONE!!!! 3:59.86-This was my experience running my first Sub-Four Minute MILE and now it is yours.

The Mile, like the Marathon, and the 100m has always been a prestigious race, the perfect race, true sport, no time outs, no half times no substitutions and the clock never lies. The Mile is a true sport that tests our wills, our strengths, our weaknesses, and our inner selves, to see how much you really want it. And best of all is that it doesn’t matter if you are a sub-four minute miler. It doesn’t matter who is watching, what they think, all that matters in the end is that you’re competing against yourself and if you’d like to against others. The Mile is like life, sometimes you win, sometimes lose, it hurts, sometimes you have to fight for position, you may fall, you may crawl, sometimes its painful, but in the end you are still moving forward and there is always an end.

Follow Leo on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook! And don’t forget to sign up for the Manzano Mile - a true mile, coming up in March.