Although I was slightly disappointed with my time that day, I had seen enough from the event to know that on another day, with more competition, this was a very quick course. A few months later, the race got handed the English Championships, and in turn this meant that a rapid and stacked field was put together. I knew that I simply had to be in on it, and that this was a genuine occasion for a shot at setting a new pb.
My main concern coming into the race, was whether I was sharp enough and had that very top end speed, having not done much in the way of genuine fast pace work for a few months. What I have been doing well though is running lots of hard tempos, fartlek sessions, progression runs and most importantly for me - racing.
My recent races have all gone well, and as a result my confidence levels have soared in recent weeks. The final part of my preparation this week, was to do a short and sharp track session - my first since November - just to prove to myself that the speed was there and that I could cope with the 4:50 pace that I needed if I wanted to clock my first sub 15.
The track session couldn't have gone any better. Rob Affleck set up the session for me and acted as my hare to chase down, setting off before me and making me work to close him down over each rep. We did 6 x 800 metres, off a 90 second 200 metre jog recovery. We had targeted me coming away with an average of 2:25 for each rep - which would represent a solid 3 miles at race pace. What I actually produced was something a little bit quicker than I had anticipated, but better still, I grew in both pace and confidence as the session developed. My six reps were as follows: 2:21, 2:21, 2:20, 2:18, 2:18, 2:18. My average time for each rep was just under 2:20, or about 4:40 pace per mile. More importantly, I actually felt controlled throuout, and knew I had more left in the tank. For my first track session in so long, I was delighted with that outcome.
The rest of the week leading up to the race was spent just ticking over with a mixture of steady paced and easy running, making sure that I was fresh and ready for action on Friday night. Rather than concerning myself with hitting certain mileage goals, I decided to just go out and run for an hour on Wednesday (9.3 miles at 6:28 pace) and then cut down to half an hour on Thursday (4.4 miles at 6:51 pace).
Another couple of key aspects to this week's build up was that I have recently made a slightly more conserted effort to fuel myself better. I've had plenty of rice, pasta and jacket potatoes - as burger and chips have become more and more a thing of the past for me. Also, I have started taking on board a lot more water, and even (very slightly) less caffeine! Furthermore, I have been very fortunate to be put on a few easier jobs this week and managed to escape early on Friday to rest up ahead of the race. Even down to my mum offering me a lift to Cheshire took away the stress of having to drive an hour and a half to the venue. My parents and Molly have always been so supportive of me and my running, I am so lucky to be surrounded by as many people as I am that care and help me in every way possible to be the best that I can.
Rob Affleck has been a huge influence on me and has taught me to plan my training and races properly, whilst also listening to my own needs and targets that I'm aiming for - I personally don't think that I could have hoped for a better coach for my own progression so far and I am massively greatful for all his help getting me to this point. Hopefully we can continue to progress and keep making the strides that we have together so far.
As I already knew what the course was like, I knew that it was vitally important to get off to a good start, without getting carried away with the pace set by the lads at the very front end, as the second and third kilometres were largely up hill and would be more about digging in. As we came through the first k marker, we were told that we had gone through in 2:42. My first instinct was that this was a bit fast - especially seen as 3:00 average was the requirement for that sub 15!
But I knew that it was all time in the bank and that I was now ahead of the rate, we then went through the mile in 4:27. In the past, going through in such a fast pace would have ruined me and I would have fallen to pieces, but I am definitely building my endurance now, and I managed to hold it together as we began the long section of climbing back up the hill. I heard another shout as we went through 3k that we were on 9:00 which meant that I was bang on track at the top of the climb.
Fortunately I was also in a nice tight pack of 4 runners, and we all shared the load and pushed each other all the way to the line. As the finish tunnel came into view with about 100 metres to go, I could see the clock and knew that I was going to be on for a huge personal best and I didn't even need to dig into the deepest reserves to make it home under that magical 15 minute barrier.
I finished up with 14:52 and 18th position overall, as a massive 23 runners in total went under 15 minutes, with the winning time being a rapid 14:01. Hopefully this is just the first time I go under this time now, and I will be looking to repeat the performance at Christleton 5k at the back end of May.
Total mileage for the week: 70.5
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:25
Total mileage so far this month (April): 319.5
Total mileage for 2017: 1180
Average miles per day 2017: 9.83
