Stretford BMC-800m

The first decent track race I've had since I opened my summer campaign. I wanted to do a bit of speed work before my next 1500m and try to break that magical 800m barrier of 2 minutes. The meet was running behind and I think I raced 45/50 mins later than what I was supposed to. After we eventually got going I set off hard and just tried to run my nuts off for 2 laps. I went through the bell in a high 57 and was two seconds off the leaders. Over the next 200m I tracked someone and we started to catch the leading lot as they were slowing. With 200m to go I was in an unfamiliar position to my previous races as I was right behind the leaders, I was involved in the race! This was a big deal for me as in both my other races so far I have been no where near the front. Feeling tired yet strong at the same time I was ready to hit the front with half a lap left. Just as I was about to go Steve shouts to me "Sit Nick, sit!". So just as I was ready to go I had to slam the breaks on. With four guys in front of me with 120m to go, I decided it was time to make the move. I turned the burners on and went past three of them with leader a few metres ahead and closing fast. 50m left and I was on his shoulder and trying to push that much harder to go past him. My legs were really numb but I was still trying to move them but unfortunately the line came too early and instead of finishing ahead of him, I was right next to him. I managed to close my last lap in 57 again so ran pretty even and ended up with 1:55.06, a five second PB, with the winner being given the exact same time.

I was really happy with the race because I had done easy running last week and the session in flats on Saturday which was no where near 800m race pace. Also, looking back at my training I haven't done a huge amount of speed work so I think there is room for improvement over the distance. The main thing I took away from the race was confidence. I was involved in a race again and had a massive burn up over the last 100m. I also had a change of pace which I didn't have in my other races, so I think I'm moving in the right direction. That easy week definitely made me feel a lot fresher before the race and I'm going to do my runs slower from now on. Hopefully I can recover in time for the 800m at Sports City on Saturday and run another quick time.