British League 1-1500m

A week after Sports City I was back on the startline tackling another 1500m. This time it wasn't a paced race, just a normal race in the British League for my club Belgrave. I thought it would be a tough race as we're in the Premiership division of the British League and for a club to be there they generally have some useful runners. But when I heard the actual line up it was more stacked than I originally assumed! You had James Shane, Moumin Geele, Ronnie Sparke, Richard Goodman, Ian Rawlinson just to name a few and then my teammate Paskar Owor.

Warming up my legs felt terrible. It was hot and humid and I felt nothing like I did mid week during training, so before I had even done some strides I was thinking "it's going to happen again...". But after some strides they seemed to improve and that perked me up a bit. The gun went off and I set out pretty hard and tried to position myself high up the field. After the first bend I thought I was in pretty good position, tucked inside the pack midway down the field( I think). We went through a lap in 62 and it felt fast but I just wanted to hang on to the leaders until 800. We were bunched up so things were fairly tight but I was trying to focus on the leaders and not letting them open any gap on me. We hit 800 in 2:06 and I was still there. I was thinking to myself "I'm going to run well here!!". In the next 300m bursts were made and I tried to cover them. I went through the bell with the lead group in 2:52/2:53. The pace started to wind up and I was behind Geele. All I was doing was focusing on him and trying not to let him get away from me as he was well in contention of first. Unfortunately down the back straight I couldn't respond when another burst was put in and a few started to pull away from me and I think I was 5^th/6^th with 200 to go. With about 100 to go I started sprinting and managed to chase a few of the guys who pulled away from me and I just got Moumin on the line for third in 3:49.83, just outside my PB I think.

I was so happy with the race!! We'll start with the obvious...I finished. I know I can run 3¾ laps of the track but to do it helps put some of the demons away. On top of that I think I ran a good tactical race which is what these British Leagues are all about. I found myself always in contention with the leader and was always in a position where I could instantly respond to any move made. So my racing brain certainly hasn't gone anywhere over the last couple of weeks. I'd say the only problem was that I didn't have the legs to go with the burst down the back straight but I think after I've done a few 1500's I'll get better at it. My last lap was 56/57 which I'm very pleased with. Producing sub 60 last laps is something I want to get better at and start doing more frequently as fast last laps is what you need to win races. The main thing to take away from the race was that my spirits were lifted and I was in a happy place again. Running is hard enough when things are going well, so having a smile on your face helps.    

I was also drafted in to run a leg in the 4x400m because the team were that desperate. I ran the third leg in 52.6 which is ok. After 200m my legs were wasted and instead of trying to push on I let them slow down/blow up to reduce any chance of injury or fatigue. This was a tiring end to a good days worth of running.