Felix Sanchez will aim at defending his world title in Paris (© Getty Images)
Hello everybody,
Last week, I ran a 400m in Mexico City and finished third in 45.22. I would qualify that experience as an interesting one.
I had never run at altitude before and therefore didn’t know how my body was going to react. I felt very tired during my warm up, everything seemed to be really slow, it was a strange feeling.
I usually have a strong finish so when I got to the 110 metre mark I thought everything was going fine as I was almost in line with the rest of the field. I didn’t have too much ground to catch up so I thought I could make it.
I started going for it and was catching up ground but then with 50 metres to go I started feeling dizzy, everything was blur around me and my legs didn’t respond. Basically everything people told me I would feel after crossing the finish line, I felt it with 50 metres to go.
After the finish, I collapsed. I asked my manager (Tony Campbell) to pass me some water, I was having real trouble. The guys had to revive me for at least one hour after the race, they had to give me oxygen and they even called an ambulance.
I knew the altitude was going to affect me more than the other quarter milers just because of the way I train. I don’t train like a sprinter. My training is more similar to middle distance runners so I think that I was affected like distance runners are.
On another subject, I have recently done a commercial for a cell phone company back in the Dominican Republic. It is currently shown on television and it aims at promoting the Pan American Games. It says something like ‘Get ready for the Pan Am’.
I can’t wait to be at the Pan American Games. In a way I am glad they take place before Paris because there is an awful lot of pressure on me. People keep asking themselves why but there is.
Ok there will be a great deal of pressure in Paris as I will be defending my world title and if I do I would be the first man to do so since Ed Moses. The pressure also comes from the fact that I will have to face Diagana in his home country. He’s the world number 2 and he’s not that far behind me, he always pushes me to the tape, so that in itself will be tough. But on a realistic scale the pressure will be even higher at the Pan American. So if I do well at the Pan Am I will feel over confident in Paris.
Felix
