Sports City BMC Grand Prix-1500m

Saturday's outcome was certainly the last thing I was expecting waking up in the morning. Going into the race with PB's over and under distance I was fairly confident another would come at 1500m. Along with the recent sessions I've been putting in I thought I was in PB shape, clearly that wasn't the case.

Warming up I felt ok apart from an unsettled stomach but it never troubled me in the race so I think it's pretty insignificant. Got to the startline and did some strides and again no trouble.  The gun then went off and I found myself right at the back. I wasn't too concerned as this has happened to me before and I normally move through the field as the race goes on. But I felt like I was almost sprinting that first lap, like I was in that 800m in Watford a week and a half ago. I go through a lap in 60/61 I think and that sort of pace feels a lot harder than what it did in training. I carry on going expecting to start overtaking people any second now as that is what normally happens, but because I was already running as fast as I possibly could I couldn't accelerate and I was just hanging off the back of the field. I got to 800m in 2:04 and people start pulling away from me and I've got no response. The legs won't go any faster and they're pretty wasted at this point. After 1k my race was over and I had nothing in me and I finished at 1200m in 3:08, but only because it was conveniently placed next to my stuff. 

Needless to say I was very disappointed and had no idea what went wrong. After I got my jacket on and picked up my things I started to walk over to Steve and while I did that Wilko's coach, Phil Townsend, said something to me and I can't remember if I answered or not. I apologize if it seemed like I was ignoring you but I was pretty gutted at the time and I tried to say something but I'm not sure if it came out. I had a brief chat with Steve then he sent me on a warm down. I tried to jog a lap of the stadium car park but I was so gutted I stopped that as well at some points and started walking.

I've got no excuses to make. I was running as hard as I could and it still wasn't good enough and the pace felt harder than what it usually does. I'm really hoping it was just an off day and not a reflection of the shape I'm in.