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Sunday 27 January 2019

Summer Races 2018

Following the London Marathon, I was riding on a decent level of fitness, and I seemed to have recovered pretty well. After the Highgate 10k, I was desperate to dip under 31 minutes for 10k, something that I had not done since 2012!

Vitality 10000 (28/05/2018)
The first opportunity for this was at the Vitality 10000m around the streets of London. Preparation the day before had been slightly disrupted, as I was making my wedding cake and had intermittent sleep until 2:30am waiting for the thing to cook!
Always a fast course, in particular with the downhill last 2ks.  Due to the way they mix men and women up at the start, I didn’t get through the first km until about 3:05, but then soon settled down in a group with JP and Chris Wright. Chris Wright was happy to push the pace, and I was happy to sit behind. We went through halfway at about 15:20, I felt good, and I felt that a sub-31 was on the cards.

As we came along The Strand, the pace upped, and I forced myself not to fall off. JP and his customary strong last 1k made sure he put in a heroic finish to put 10s into me over the last 1km, however I still managed 30:45 and absolutely thrilled with a time remotely close to my pb.

Worthing 10k (03/06/2018)
A week later, I was done on the south coast to run in the Worthing 10k. Conditions could not be more perfect: calm, sunny, no wind and a pancake flat course. It was round 3 in the Greenleaf/Westlake standings and we were currently at 1-1 for the year. After the first 2k, it became apparent that it was going be a 3-way race between Westlake, Cornish and myself. At the half waypoint, I was suffering from the early pace (along with Jonny Cornish), whilst James Westlake was cruising away and running very consistently.

At times I thought about calling it a day and easing up, but I thought I had second place to take and managed my second sub-31 of the year in 30:58, finishing a long way behind James Westlake who recorded 30:31. Definitely one for the calendar next year.

Summer Races 2018
The summer was then a mix of stag/wedding day Parkruns, 5ks, 5000m and a 3000m thrown in. As the season went on, I think I lost my initial fitness, as I was more and more distracted by my wedding. However breaking 15 minutes for 5k was a huge barrier that I have wanted to surpass for ages, and I thought that Herc 5000m would have been a great opportunity to get something in the 14:30s.

Given that I had run a 8:38 3000m just a few weeks before, and feeling very comfortable, I thought it was on the cards, but I was also fatigued by the whole season and finished in a ‘disappointing’ 14:57 – at least my standards have improved!

Assembly League 5k. Most got PBs, JP won in 14:46, I ran 14:50

Hercules Wimbledon 3000m - 8:38, 21s PB


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