Harmilan Kaur Bains felt sort of a weight had lifted off her shoulders when she broke the two-decade old national record within the 1,500 metres at the 60th National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal “I can run freely now,” the 23-year-old said just after clocking 4:05.39 to erase Sunita Rani’s Busan Asian Games mark from 2002 Parental pressure has been a continuing shadow for the daughter of two former athletes, one an Asian Games medalist .
Father Amandeep Singh specialized within the 1,500 metres and mother Madhuri Singh is an Asian Games silver medalist within the 800 – incidentally from Busan. they might micro-manage her career. She ran both events and therefore the constant advice and expectations had proven detrimental for the athlete earlier.
This time Harmilan travelled on her own to Warangal. Her father reached the town a few of days later and watched the race from the stands sort of a spectator. “They are very involved and put not just me but my coach also struggling . they might want to understand every little detail. they might give advice like ‘If you train such a lot some time are going to be this’ or ask inquiries to the coach like ‘why is endurance not happening? How will you run with this workout? I needed to travel on my very own ,” Harmilan says.
Her coach Suresh Saini convinced her parents to prevent the constant monitoring. “His theory was I needed a free mind,” Harmilan says On Thursday, after the race Amandeep clicked a selfie together with his daughter who posed with the trophy . But she didn’t hear any unsolicited advice.
Running without expectations is merely a part of the rationale why Harmilan could become a national champion. From a private better of 4:14.68 at the beginning of last year, Harliman has improved by nearly 10 seconds. Shedding weight, that specialize in intense speed workouts and improving biomechanics has helped, coach Saini says.
Improving efficiency
“Last year her body fat percentage was 26. Now it’s 15 per cent. She had disturbed running mechanics. We also worked on improving bio-mechanical movements which makes her a more efficient runner. Also due to lower muscle mass her speed wasn’t the simplest . that’s why I made her do tons of uphill running like 60 metres, 80 metres in Dharamshala where we trained,” Saini, a sprint coach who had been responsible of national relay teams, says.
Even in training, the coach keeps Harmilan on her toes. She trains with boys who clock four minutes within the metric mile The diligence paid off when she rewrote the national record which also helped her recover from the frustration of not qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
Dealing with periods
In June, at the Indian Grand Prix-4 Harmilan clocked 4:08.27 to boost hopes of a Tokyo berth but in her next competition, the national inter-state she struggled to 4:15.52. Her cycle upset her rhythm, she recalls Just before the race I got my periods. I ran to the washroom as I had back pain. I even have run with periods earlier but this point it happened too on the brink of the race. I had many cramps due to periods. Also it had been extremely popular ,” she says.
In Warangal the conditions were near-perfect. “I think it had been about 26 degrees. Weather was too good.” There was a minor hiccup before the Open nationals. She had participated within the 400 metres at a state meet and felt her hamstring tightening up. Her coach stopped track workouts I didn’t touch my spikes for every week . i used to be little worried about the Open national. My target was the national record. But the coach was confident that i might pull it off.”
Harmilan is on an eight-race streak since the beginning of last year. She hopes to travel from strength to strength to form up for the lost years In 2017, she injured her knee due to excessive workouts and it took her nearly a year to return back. She got the opinion of doctors in Delhi and Bengaluru but the diagnosis wasn’t good. “They told me my career was over. I had to wear a knee cap which cost Rs 20,000.”
A cook, a saviour
Help came from the foremost unlikely source, a cook at the training centre in Dharamshala. “He had helped hockey players get over injuries by giving massage. he’s a miracle man . there’s some kind of magic in his hands. I can say that cook uncle cured by knee injury.”
The first setback was in 2013, when as a 13-year-old she failed a dope test. The local doctor in Mahilpur had prescribed her medicines for tonsillitis then went AWOL when he was called to testify before a National Anti-Doping Agency panel. “I was participating within the Under-14 category. i used to be very sick some time past . I had no coach. Can someone knowingly take steroids at that age? When the time came for the doctor to offer his version, he panicked and left. He didn’t even produce his degree. It came as a shock to me. I lost two years.”
Having a national record in her name has now eased the pain of a difficult past. A burning ambition to be the simplest has been fulfilled. “My first-ever race was a zonal meet once I was in school 3. i used to be a category topper in academics but finished second within the race. I wanted to quit sports due to the runner-up finish . within the next race I won, my photo was published within the paper. From then onwards it’s been only sport on behalf of me .”