UK Championships (10000m)

I was really looking forward to this race.  I had never ran at a UK Championships, although had previously ran the 10000m Championship when it was held within the Watford BMC Meeting. 

As much as I was looking forward to it, I was apprehensive.  I had been trying to get to the bottom of a couple of injuries that had been hindering me since April.  Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot had been limiting my mileage, and I had been struggling to complete tempo runs, races or long sessions without my left hamstring tightening to a point where I was limping. 

I took a very different approach in the build up to this race to what I would normally do.  It came to a point early in June where I realised I wasn’t making any progress with the injury to allow me to do longer sessions and so I took a couple of weeks just running.  When I came to start back, I was scared of a reoccurrence and so kept on doing shorter sessions such as 4x1000m followed by 5x300m.  I was chancing that I might get by with my winter background with an element of faster running on the track, and hoping that by the time the 10000m came around that I would be able to get around without issue.

When I looked at the start list, I could see straight away that it was going to be fast through 3000m, even at the back of the field.  Sure enough, we passed through 3000m in 8:46 (about 29:10 pace) and I was essentially just staying in contact with the back of the field, hoping the group would detach and it would settle down to a more manageable pace.  There would have been no point running in isolation 50 metres behind everyone else, so i had to make that commitment.  The truth was that given my lack of specific preparation, ongoing problems and the quality of field meant that I was out of my depth in this race. 

I lost contact with the group shortly after 3000m – I conceded that the pace was just too fast.  I was on for a 5000m seasons best and had barely ran faster for 3000m in recent weeks!  I wasn’t feeling as bad as one might expect given the raw statistics but it was obviously out of my comfort zone. 

I spent the next few laps trying to keep the gap down to a bare minimum, every now and again I felt I was closing slightly, but I probably never did.  At this stage you try to tell yourself positive things to keep you in a positive frame of mind.

I had stopped paying attention to lap splits and didn’t get a 5000m time.  It wasn’t long after 5000m before I was lapped for the first time by Mbishei and Barrios, and over the next 2000m, I was being lapped by one runner after another.  I was trying to move out into lane 2 each time I was being lapped, but as I was becoming more fatigued, I was becoming less aware of the lapping runners and was starting to get in the way and come close to causing a few accidents. 

It was at this point, with me now on schedule for 30:50 (and slowing), a potential nuisance to the opposition and a hamstring starting to tighten that I reluctantly took the decision to stop.  This would be my first DNF outside of a marathon for almost 10 years.  It wasn’t a decision I took lightly and I don’t regret it, but it still feels shit doing it and I felt even worse when my seasons best was recorded on the Power of 10 website as “DNF”.  I decided that I would look for another before the season was over. 

That said it was a great experience to be on the start line with guys of that calibre.  I just hope I can get another opportunity to run the race again when I am shape to do myself justice.