Chamkaur Singh - Doing 5000m in 15min 17sec (30/10/2010)

Chamkaur Singh - Taking the bull by the horns.

Picture 1 - Chamkaur, setting his sights on doing 15min 00sec for 5km track race.

On 17th October, Chamkaur Singh did a good time for the 5km road run in 15min 17sec. Later on, over a period of two weeks, he brought his time back to a competitive time of 8min 48. 46sec in 3000m on 30 Oct. That showed that Chamkaur Singh is coming back to form, to my perception. He believes and shares with me that his standard as compared to previous year, 2009, is better and is hoping to get 15m 00sec in time to come, possible this year or middle of 2011. I have asked him some questions which will benefit serious athletes in a form of interview. So now let us look at his answers.  

An Interview With Chamkaur Singh - 3000m and 5000m National Record
holder.





How has your training been coming along?

My training has been going on well. I am ahead this season when I compare my times of this year's to last year's. Moreover, I did not have much interruption in my training. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will still be healthy for the next few months.

What is your mileage like at this point of time?
Currently, it is between 100 to 110km, doing 6 days of 9 sessions per week training.

What is the training phase now? Preparatory? Specific or season itself where you need to taper and peak and then do transition by between 2 weeks to 6 weeks?

Currently, there is a progressive transition to the racing phase. I am building up towards the track season here in Australia which starts in mid Oct and ends in early April 2011. Tapering is only done towards certain important races where we feel we might get good depth and competition from the races.

How many days per week will you do strength training?

I do not do any weights session in order to gain strength. Strength training is done through doing hills sessions and we do that once a week. The reason is because we are having a smooth transition to racing season. At the same time, we are gradually showing less importance to hill work over time. I am about to do once a fortnight hills, instead of once a week of hills.  This is to get to the specifics of getting faster.

Can you tell us about your strength training at this point of time?
Basically, we are doing grass hills on a Saturday morning which will something like 3 to 4 sets of 100m, 200m, 100m, 200m with a 3 to 5 mins recovery.

What kind of time are you targeting for in the upcoming races on 13th Nov (3km) and 25th Nov 2010 (5000m)?

I am hoping to better my last week time of 8.48mins for the 3000m. My best for this event is 8.31mins and whole objective for this race is to get as far away from the 9mins so that it will give a good buffer for the 5000m. Hence, ideally a sub 8.40mins will be nice, so in that way I will know that I will be having about 20secs of buffer if I run 9mins for the 1st 3km for the 5000m. As for the 5000m, I would like to run close to a 15mins flat. I did a 15.17mins on road. This is a good sign that an improved time for 5km track may take place anytime, I hope. 

Can you tell us about your 3000m national record that you broke in the past?

It was somewhere back in 2003. All I can remember is that it was a club championships and I wasn't expecting to run quick and the idea was to come in top 3 to get the points for the club. I did the 1st km was 2m 50sec and it felt comfortable, hence, I kept pressing the 68s pace per lap. I had a runner, Jamie Harrison, behind me who was, at that time, having a better personal best time than me from the 3000m to the 10000m. I did the 2nd km in about 2min50sec and I was feeling the intensity of the pace then. However, because of Jamie, still behind me, I kept holding on to the pace. I was surprised that I managed to hold that pace when I was already feeling fatigue. Jamie beat me in the last 200m and I came in 2nd with a time of 8.31mins.

Do you have any injury at this point of time?

I don't have an injury that is stopping me from running but I am having a couple of niggles and I am keeping a close eye on it. It is best that I don't talk about it. I have this theory that if you talked about your injuries then it will come back and pay you a visit :)

What are your plans for the future?
I will be running the New South Wales State 3000m Championships on 13th November 2010 and also take part in the Victoria (Melbourne) State 5000m Championships on 25th November 2010.