Watford BMC Gold Standard-800m

So my first middle distance race of the season and a massive reminder of how fast track running is!

Waking up in the morning I wasn't even going to run as I had a headache for a few days and it still hadn't cleared. I got it from starring at my computer screen for a long time while I was trying to revise. In an attempt to improve the state I was in I rushed to Sainsburys and got some strong Nurofen. The headache was gone within the hour and I was ready to rock and roll again.

There I am standing on the startline in lane 6 and I'm not going to lie I was feeling pretty confident. I was training well and thought I was in pretty good shape. I was aiming to go off hard and really nail that first lap and use my strength to hang on. So I set off at what felt like a hard pace, then breaking after the first 100 I was in for a big shock. Everyone just left me for dead and I ended right at the back, almost dead last I think. The first thing I think is that I should be higher so I get into lane 2 to try and overtake, but no matter how fast I go I can't go round anyone! We then go round the bend and I try the same trick down the home straight with no success. The leaders went through a lap in 54.96 (I remember seeing the split on the clock) and I thought I wasn't too far off. Turns out I was a whole 3 seconds down and went through in a high 57 I think.

With a lap to go I'm starting to think my quest for a PB is over and being well down the field my race was pretty much out of the window. I tried accelerating down the back straight again and surprisingly I start to overtake people. The same thing is happening on the bend aswell, I keep going round people. Steve is at 130 to go and he says "big finish Nick!!".  I go again and then go round some more and going into the final straight the lead group of 4 isn't too far. I start sprinting as hard as I possibly could but I'm thinking they're too far away to be caught. But as the straight goes on I start reeling them in and the next thing I know I'm going past them! For a brief second or two before the line I found myself leading but then Mickey Reed of Aldershot just pipped me on the line.

My final time was 1:53.45 meaning I closed in a high 55 roughly, which I don't think is bad going and I managed to salvage a PB. The big positive for me from this race is my closing speed. Not only did I negative split in a big way but when Steve shouted at me I was able to turn the burners on at will even though I was pretty tired. The first lap was very poor but no matter how hard I ran I couldn't go any faster. I'm hoping this is just from a lack of racing and not much sharpness but as I keep turning out the speed sessions I should be better prepared. In summary bad start, good finish. Even though I ran a PB there is still much to work on.