BUCS Track and Field- 5000m

Heat

So today was my debut over 12 and half laps of a track, more commonly known as 5k. To be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought, I qualified fairly comfortably and didn't find the monotony too boring.

I was in heat 1 out of 2 with 20 other runners, it was a fairly cramped startline. We set off and I immediately moved into the top 3 and got comfortable, going through a lap in 76 and 800 in 2:36 (if memory serves me correct). I tried to take my mind off things by attempting to remember the last time I ran splits that slow but I quickly put my attention back into the race. From what I remember we hit a miile in 5:04 and 2k in 6:11. I can't recall many splits after that as I was concentrating on moves being made by runners like Loughborough's Peter Street and fellow Runnerslife athlete Rory Chesser. We had a compact group most of the way round and I think going into a lap there were still 8 in contention. With around 250 to go I finally hit the front and with 200 to go put another acceleration in and held it until about 30 to go when I started putting the barkes on and cruised through the line in 14:58, which just so happens to be a PB.

I was pretty happ with that as qualification was the main aim and to do it feeling good is a confidence boost, especially on your first track race of the season. I did get a bit of lactic during the later laps but it wasn't anything too tiring and I was still able to open my stride when I needed to. I think it may have had something to do with it being the first time I've run that far in spikes but after a warm down my legs eased off and felt better. Throughout the race I wasn't quite used to being in a group as there's normally quite a bit of space in cross races and I did end up bumping into a few people so I apoligise to anyone for that.

Now recovery is the key as we don;t knwo what state I'll be in when I wake up tomorrow. Like I say, 5k is a new experiencr for me and hopefully my body has coped with it ok and I won't wake up feeling sore. After a solid I run I'm very much looking forward to the final.

Final

I apologise for the poor quality in this race report but you can see how desperate I am for time when I can't string together some sentences to make paragraphs to ultimately make a decent read. Here's a summary of how things went down:

- Turned up and it was windy

- Gun went off and Ronnie Spark hit the front

- Went through 800m in 2:42

- I had enough of running slow and hit the front after 900m

- The field split quite quickly and it was down to me and Rory

- 1k in 3:20

- I dropped in some 66's and 67's for a few laps

- Through 3k in 9:00, Rory still on my ass

- Mile to go and Rory is still there. Getting a bit worried as I know he's good some useful PB's over all distances, when you got a 1:50/3:43 guy on your back it's only human to start panicing on the later laps.

- 1k to go and I hear Rory move onto my shoulder and then he's in front with 800 to go

- Over the last two laps I kept feeling him increase the pace

- Through the bell in 13:40 and I keep following Rory over the next 200

- 200 to go I accelerate and with 150 to go I make my move to go round him and somewhere just before the last 100 I nail it as hard as I can and maintain it down the home straight

- 14:40 for the win and a 60 last lap along with a PB, not a bad days work.

- Medal presentation and a chat with Rory about stuff and Runnerslife. We both agree it's enjoyable having a profile on the site.