Oops, Premature e-Jubilation, and Miscounting Laps

It happens to the best of us, except for 400m one-lap sprinters.

I’m referring to miscounting your laps in a distance race, and kicking for home too soon.  One lap too soon.  But it happens more indoors than outdoors.  Even in a four lap 800m race.

Yes, there is a lap counter, and yes, there is a bell or gun shot at the final lap.

And yes, there are lapped runners who confuse things (save that for another story).

It happens to the best of us, including Kenenisa Bekele and Jenny Simpson at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in 2005.  And there are more stories, I am sure.

The moral of the story?

Stay focused.

Pay attention.

You have one job.

Take Tyrosine and DL-Phenylalanine for mental alertness if you must.  Taking RedBull or SNAC’s Vitalyze is good except for the added caffeine (and sugar in RedBull’s case), which helps sprinters, but you may (or may not) want it for a distance race.  And please, test it in a training or time trial environment first!

Video courtesy of MileSplit.