The Elusive PR

The regulars at KLCC have been hitting PRs after PRs for the 5, 8 and 10 laps with such regular frequency. I'm typically better over a longer distance which is why it's been so difficult for me to break 1 hour for the 8 lapper (10.4K). I'd set off according to pace and go crazy after the 3rd lap only to completely fizzle out.

Newton (PM18) on the other hand have PR'd like nothing by simply observing and maintaining pace. And yes, drinking milk. On his egging, I tagged along for another attempt to break 1 hour for the 8 lapper. The strategy: do a warm up lap, then hit 8 laps at 7:00 per lap.

It was very hot when we got to the park and I hadn't hydrated as well as the day before. The warm-up first lap was covered in 8:30 sharp and we picked up pace to 7:08 for the second - Rohaizad tagged along on this one. The 3rd was 7:00 sharp and then I decided to open up the pace in the fourth and surged forward. Didn't felt really fast though and Newton was just next to me. Then I pressed on further in the 5th onwards and concluded the workout in the eighth lap - decided to take the warmup lap as valid as I was already nearing max. If I was fitter, I could've pushed one more lap and lowered the time. And to extend the imagination further (hey, I can dream too, right?!), another lap could've yielded a 10 lap PR as well.

Oh well, another day!

Here was the outcome:
Lap 1: 8:30
Lap 2: 7:08
Lap 3: 7:00
Lap 4: 6:56
Lap 5: 6:43
Lap 6: 6:57
Lap 7: 6:46
Lap 8: 6:36
Total: 56:41.23
Average Lap: 7:05

Finally aced sub 1-hour. And I was surprised I was able to sustain the surge. Except for Lap 6 where I lost the pace a bit, all lap times were progressively faster. An improvement finally, thanks to Newton's egging. Incidentally, Newton didn't do too badly either, coming in about 15 seconds after.