The Eastleigh 10km was planned to be a pre-season marker after 12 weeks of base training so I could pitch where I should/would like to be by the time July rolls around and the London Olympic triathlon takes place.
I haven't (shockingly!) been remotely strict with my training plans and my running sessions tend to revolve around the Monday night sprint sessions with Cardiff Tri, the occasional long runs with Joe on a friday and the even more occasional Saturday morning park runs.
With that in mind, I was hoping for a 40 minute finish but would not have been surprised if my result was somewhere in the low 40's. I had been hoping for a sub-40 minute finish which would give a positive indication that not only had I maintained a semblance of endurance and speed despite the marathon training last year, I had actually improved my speed since 2011 when I last did short/middle distance racing with any degree of regularity.
The race was being held down in Eastleigh (Hampshire) which would mean an early start on Sunday morning with a ~130 mile drive to get to the race venue before 10am. I had planned to get an early night on Saturday, but as is always the way with the best laid plans, I ended up watching a film until 1am! So, it was with a slightly fuzzy head and heavy eyelids that I made my way steadily down the m4/a34/m3 to Fleming Park Leisure Centre, Eastleigh.
I arrived in reasonable time and managed to avoid most of the queues at the race HQ to pick up my number. Presumably I was a very late attendee as the hall was practically empty by the time I arrived and I knew the crowd was anticipated to be approximately 2000 strong. The rush through to pin my number onto my shirt and strap the timing band around my ankle was a fairly swift process and I made my way to the start line whilst doing a brief warm up.
Having attended an injury prevention clinic the night before, I was keen to try and put some of my new found knowledge to use and made sure to stretch out and warm up trying to place all the buzzwords like "dynamic" and "fluid-stretching" in to some sort of organised warm up.
Despite the late start to my morning, the less that desired degree of alertness and the rush to the start line, I was feeling pretty good as I lined up towards the front of the pack. It has been quite some time since I took part in a sprint distance race outside of the club events and the Saturday morning park run and it brought back a long forgotten thrill that I hadn't really experienced since mid 2011 before the marathon challenge had really come about.
I was certain that I wouldn't be within the top 50, and casting my eye around this quickly got re-evaluated to top 100 and subsequently top 150 shortly thereafter! But, my legs felt good and full of energy and I had a generally positive attitude as the gun went off and the race got under way.
Now, it is always slightly concerning when the race official starts their commentary with "...and look at that pace, surely they can't keep that up for the whole race!!!" but I had heard that Rob Mullet (GB 3000m steeple chase runner) was taking part as his pre-season warm up, so I had no doubt that he probably could keep that pace up!
I set off, trying to keep to my own pace and weave through the slower runners at the start before setting into my own stride when I had a bit of room. The layout of the start was such that you had to walk past the start line to get to the back of the pack, and so the late comers had simply joined in at the front where they could find a space.
I started off at a 3:45/km pace or thereabouts and had reached the 4km marker before I really had a chance to take stock and evaluate whether I should press on at this pace or ease back off. One of my downfalls in running is that I tend to go off like a bull in a china shop at the outset and burn out before the end of the race, so I had been trying to work on my pacing strategy during the Monday night sprint sessions.
I felt good at the 4km mark and decided to press on before reconsidering at 6km and making a further judgment call. The pack had begun to thin out towards 6km and I found myself at the head of a smaller break off group some 25 metres or so behind the group in front. I am not entirely comfortable with being a leader in a group as I find that my pace tends to mimic the person I am chasing and slackens off when there is no one in front to chase down.
I focus on the leader of the pack in front and slowly but surely ground down the distance over the next kilometer or so, leaving the previous group behind, which bolstered my confidence that the race was progressing well.
At about the 7km mark I was starting to feel a bit tired and heavy and found that my stride was slipping back into my old style of running. Over the last 3 months or so I have been trying to focus on forefoot strikes with a shorter stride but quick leg movements, but in my fatigued state found that my stride was elongating, probably due to the 100+ hours spent doing distance running last year, and I was landing towards the rear of my mid foot.
This regression began to put under strain on different muscles and I soon found the all too familiar and unwelcome "wall" type thoughts popping into my head. Luckily, I have had the opportunity during the longer Sunday swimming sessions to get into a routine of running through checklists when I start getting into this state to force myself to use good (in it's loosest possible terms! perhaps "better" would be more appropriate!) form, even if it means slowing down my pace slightly.
I wasn't the only one that was showing the signs of fatigue though. There was a guy running just in front that was also beginning to slow, sometimes dropping behind me but then catching up as he fought to push though. Looking at my watch and seeing the 8km marker go by, I knew that I was on for a PB time and thought I could use this guy as a way to distract myself, so I began to start cheering him on, trying to get him to stop looking at his watch and focus on running.
With my new pacer in tow, we pressed on towards the finish line with my occasional "inspirational" shouts whenever he seemed to be slipping punctuating the silence. As we rounded the last corner, he managed a sprint/faster stumble type finish whereas it was all I could do to keep my legs moving at a steady pace.
I crossed the line in 38:34 (by my watch), but had a chip time of 38:25, smashing my PB by just over 2 minutes since my last 10km race in 2011.
It was a nice return to shorter distance racing and it bodes well for the up coming season that I still have some pace in me.
I'll be taking a week off from running whilst my calves repair themselves as I have noticed they have become increasingly tight over the last few weeks. I have set out the training plan for April which, of course, I have every intention of sticking to this time and will find a further race towards the end of April to see what improvements if any I have made.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post and I hope you've enjoyed it!
Rob.
