get a plan, stan
More from knackered downunder…
Australian long- and middle-distance champion Craig Mottram’s slogan is simple: “keep with the program”. No matter who you are, get a plan for any race and — just as importantly — be prepared to finesse and change it, if conditions deviate from your assumptions.
The 26-year-old Mottram took first place in the 5,000 metres on Sunday night at the World Athletics Tour in Melbourne. “Tonight I did what I did to Bekele in Athens last year; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
In other words, a good plan doesn’t always work, but that doesn’t mean it should be chucked away immediately.
“If I can get so good at it that I can beat anybody, then that’s the plan. I covered the final 400 metres in 53-54 seconds tonight and I might need to go 49 seconds to win at a major championship,” said Mottram.
Kenenisa Bekele is the Ethiopian runner who Mottram won against in September 2006 at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Cup in Athens. Again, on that occasion, Mottram attributed his win to a plan: “The plan was just to hang on and unleash hell with 950 to go. And then to get away and hope that Kenenisa was tired, which he obviously was.”
But Mottram made clear that any plan should not be set in stone and might need to be tweaked. Last year in Athens, his original plan involved following Bekele and making a final dash at 950 metres before the finish.
“But Kenny obviously took it on very solid and I went with 900 to go. Then we slowed up and then I went again with 500. Then I felt him on my shoulder and went again, and tried to stay alert. I learned at the Commonwealth Games that once you let them get past you, it’s hard to get that back. You can’t let anyone past,” said Mottram.
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