Rob Danson's Running Diary: Christleton 5k...aaaaand relax

The final race of my latest training block and targeted series of races came around on Friday night with the Christleton 5k. It is one of the fastest events on the racing calendar and has a reputation for producing quick times. When I was selecting races that I hoped could provide the best opportunities for me to dip under 15 minutes, along with Mid Cheshire, this was the one which I felt afforded me the best conditions to have a real go at that target.

Seen as it was the last targeted race for a few weeks, I also decided that it would be the best time I have to take a brief break from training in order rest up and recuperate from all the little niggles, strains and aches that start to build up over a prolonged period of consistent training. Last week's periformas problem is a prime example of my body just starting to let me know it was getting ready for a bit of a rest in order to come back refreshed, ready and raring to go for my Berlin marathon build up, which will get underway in earnest in the next couple of weeks.

The last big push before Christleton started with a steady ten mile run on Monday, before returning to the track to do a similar session to the Tuesday before Mid Cheshire. Before that race, I had done 6 x 800 metres at an average of 2 minutes 19 seconds. We decided (me and Rob Affleck) that the session had obviously worked pretty much perfectly in order to fine tune me ahead of the race, so we aimed for a repeat this time around. Again, we did 6 reps, with a starting target of 2:20 per rep. As it turned out, we both ran a little bit faster than anticipated, as I chased down Rob off a 10 second handicap over the two laps. I felt really strong and consistent in my rhythm and actually decided to reign myself in through the last couple of reps, to save myself for the race. I finished up with times of 2:15, 2:15, 2:17, 2:16, 2:17 and 2:19 for the session - representing an average of 2:17, some two seconds per rep faster than I did on the same session a few weeks ago.

I felt great, and eased up through the next couple of days, dropping down to just a 30 minute jog on Wednesday and 8.5 miles in about an hour on the Thursday. I had done all I could do and was ready for the race to come around.

Unfortunately there was one last little twist as a real spanner was thrown in the works on the evening of the race - in the form of motorway traffic and two traffic jams! We had set off in (what we thought was) plenty of time, some two and a half hours prior to the start time, however, despite our estimated time of arrival starting off on the sat nav at 5:58pm, we eventually only arrived at the race HQ just after 7pm - with numbers still to be collected, and a start time for the race of 7:15! Usually I would do up to 3 miles for a warm up, along with a series of short sprints, and lots of stretching. There was no time for any of that on this occasion and a steady run up and down the kilometre between race HQ and the start line was all I had time for - squeezing in near the front of an already packed front pen.

The build up hadn't exactly been ideal, but at least I had made it to the start - in a way it took some pressure off, and I reduced my expectations slightly, just aiming to run as best as I could in the circumstances, enjoy the challenge and see what happened.

As we got underway, I settled into a nice group headed initially by Vis and Sciacca of Sale Harriers through the first kilometre or so, then gradually I worked my way through the pack and took my turn at sharing the workload at the front. Knowing the course from last time around, I knew that the course was very similar to Mid Cheshire, with a fast start and finish, and a bit of an uphill section in the middle, between 2 and 3k at the end of the first loop. I knew it was important to start well, but make sure I left enough energy to attack the final 2 kilometres after the hill, and that last time out I had probably overlooked it on the uphill section and faded a bit towards the end as a result.

As it panned out, I actually ended up heading the pack through that section, but I didn't mind as the pace just felt nice and controlled and consistent, and it was still quite a nice big tight pack too, which would help in the final kilometres.

The pace couldn't have been much better through those first 2 miles, with splits of 4:48 and 4:49 leaving me bang in position for an attack at my best time, unfortunately I began to tighten up a bit in the third mile and the pace dropped a little with a 4:55, but the work with the pack of Johnny Kay and Karl Darcy (both Bolton) and Adam Sciacca (Sale) meant that I didn't drop too much and was able to keep on track for the sub 15. A big sprint finish to the line brought all four of us in within two seconds of one another and all dipping under, with me finishing 3rd place in 14:57 behind Dejene Gezimu (Liverpool), who had ran away from the field in the final two kilometres to take a comfortable win and Johnny Kay.

I have since had my first couple of days off, enjoyed with a spontaneous trip away to Paris courtesy of Moll! I might not have done any running over the weekend, but we certainly did plenty of miles walking as we explored the city!

I know that this is meant to be a running blog, but I will sign off with a couple of pictures showing some highlights of our trip ☺️