Husky Classic (Seattle)

Saturday saw my first (and probably last) indoor race of 2010 in the shape of a 3000m at the Husky Classic in Seattle.  This is a race which we have watched on Flo track for a couple of years now and the distance races are all of good quality and depth so we had been planning on giving it a whirl ever since we knew we would be in the States at this time.  We entered and were really pleased that I was seeded into the top heat, alongside a number of women who were considerably faster than me, but hopefully not so fast that I would be outclassed.

So you can imagine my disappointment when the Sunday before I had to pull up only three minutes into my run with a painful achilles.  It had been sore for the past four or five days and we'd missed the session on the Saturday and just done easy running to try and sort it out.  I had convinced myself that it was getting better and that I could run through it.  Delusional perhaps but I'm sure I'm not the only runner to have ever done this.  When I pulled out of training on Sunday I thought that the race was highly unlikely to go ahead, and in true dramatic fashion I was panicking that my season was over, I wouldn't be able to train for weeks, the world was about to end etc etc.

We were able to negotiate a temporary one week membership to the gym next door to our apartment and I hit the swimming.  I hate swimming.  I hate it even more when it is in the place of running.  However, I was determined to try and keep it up as long as it took to get myself sorted.  I'm the sort of person, unfortunately, who always feels the need to 'test' it out every time they stand up (much to Chris's annoyance) and which is ridiculous I know.  I tested my Achilles out every time I walked downstairs - an activity which was painful in the week previous.  Incredibly though, the next day, it felt significantly better, and the day later (Tuesday) I had no pain walking downstairs.  We began to feel that there was a small chance that the race could go ahead.  It was still a long shot but our hopes were already raised.  That Tuesday I did a little 'shuffle' jogging, which is no faster than a fast walk really, and there was no pain, so the next day I did two short easy runs - still no pain.

We decided to travel to Seattle and take it day by day.  If there was no pain I would compete, although obviously if the pain came back I wouldn't.  On the Thursday  before we left I did a mini session - just a short semi tempo effort and a few short reps on the track.  This served two purposes - to see how the achilles responded in a situation where I could and would pull out at the slightest twinge (unlike in a race) and secondly, after ten days of no or interrupted training to prepare the body, if only mentally, to run fast.  So it was less of a shock at the start so to speak.  The session went well.  The race was back on!

So finally, after that we arrive at race day!  I was really very nervous.  Much more nervous that for the two races I did in New Zealand.  It was a much more intense situation.  Despite this I did manage a little snooze on the inside of the track for half an hour before the race so I must have been fairly calm!  The Achilles  felt fine but it was nagging away in my mind that I had missed some training - I'd not necessarily lost any fitness but definitely some sharpness having not done a proper session for over ten days.

The pace was surprisingly pretty slow at the start, and it caught me a bit off guard.  I had thought it was going to be fast so had gone right to the back, so when it went through the first 400m in 76/77 I was a bit shocked.  I was also terribly boxed in behind the other 20 people in the race and couldn't get out to get to the front.  I did a lot of weaving, dodging elbows and chopping and changing before I finally, somewhere between 1200m and 1600m managed to get within the top few.  Jordan Hasay was already long gone ahead of us, but a couple of girls were giving chase so I made an effort to get up with them.  At the 1600m point (5:00min) I realised that we had been able to pick up the pace a little and a PB was on the cards if I could keep it up.  With about a kilometre to go, I went into second place and just got my head down.  I felt like I was running fast but felt positive and very strong.  I was determined not to let anyone pass me on that final lap, I couldn't feel my legs at all they were kind of numb but I somehow managed to hold off a fast finishing couple of girls behind me.  I'd picked it up considerably in the final kilometre and my final time was 9:17.  I was delighted to finish second as there were girls in the race who have run considerably faster but I was a little frustrated with how the race panned out.  I  felt like I wasted a lot of energy in the first few laps trying to get myself out of trouble and I feel that I could of eeked out another few seconds off of my personal best had I run it a little differently.

On the positive side though, it's still a big pb (just under 11 seconds), and once I got myself in trouble I got myself out of it pretty well and ran a positive race, getting the most out of myself in the situation.  At the end of the day, getting boxed in (or making sure you don't) is just racing!

Below I have embedded a video that the enthusiastic guys at flotrack made of my race (I am the one in the bright pink vest). Enjoy!!