Heusden 5000m

I had high hopes for this one after finally getting into the high standard meet. It started great as when I arrived at the airport I sat down next to another athlete waiting for the minibus and it happened to be Craig Mottram. I chatted a little as I hadn't seen him race for a while and he seemed a decent guy. When I got off the mini bus at the hotel I checked the board in the hotel and I'd been moved up from the C race to the B race which was good as it's always better to be around slightly faster runners as it gives you a good chance of getting dragged round.

I'd booked into a hotel round the corner from the Holiday Inn where the athletes were in Hasselt, just south of Heusden, however when I was reading the start lists Craig Mottram turned round to me and says "are you gonna room with me?" I explained I wasn't in that hotel but he told me not to worry as he had his own twin room so didn't mind me sharing. By staying there I got all my food for the weekend so I was more than happy to share with a running legend!

The race itself was at 9:45pm so it was quite late. I got my morning jog down then chilled out in the room all afternoon watching tv as it was far too hot to go outside. I tried to go for a walk after lunch but I actually couldn't bare to be in the sun light. I'm not being over the top here, i've been to some hot places, Bahrain, Vegas and Florida but here it was 37 degrees and I was just looking for shade from the buildings as I walked down the street. And to see 3 kenyans out running in full tracksuits at 11am when it was 30+ just shows what conditions they're used to at home.

I arrived at the track at 8pm just before the 800m started. If you haven't heard about it sure was a good one! I'll let the video speak for itself so if you haven't heard about it or seen it, watch it here. 

I then did a light warm up due to the heat but thankfully it started to cool off by the time I raced, it felt like it was around 25 which was a lot more comfortable although a storm was creeping in so a breeze was picking up. Seeing the A race won in 12:59 though showed it wasn't that bad but it seemed to be getting worse and worse as time went on. I warmed up with an American lad from New Mexico who was pretty chatty considering I didn't know him- the american athletes always seem so enthusiastic and friendly.

The B race was to be paced at 13:20 pace, too fast for me so my plan was to sit back and get the first 8 laps done at 66's (13:45 pace), reassess and hopefully maintain that. As we got started I got into a nice position and got my first lap in 65/66 as everyone went tearing off I ran on the outside of lane 1 for quite a bit and slowly moved through the field with a Moroccan looking athlete hitting 66's and through the mile in 4:24, perfect.

As I reached 2k in around 5:30 I was feeling nice and relaxed following the athletes in front. I seemed to switch off a little in the 3rd km as I wanted to get to 3k feeling as relaxed as possible but by doing this I took my eyes off the clock and focused on running with the athletes around me. I reach 3k in 8:20/21- suddenly I was at 14:00 pace having dropped 5 seconds in the 3rd km. I realised I needed to push on and I began to follow an athlete who did the same but after a 100m of following him he stepped off the track! I wasn't sure if he was a pacemaker or just someone dropping out. But by doing that I was left exposed at the front. I got my head down and worked hard for 3 laps and put in what I think was a 2:45 km round through 4k 11:06 maybe. I didn't mind doing this as I'd done my share of sitting in during the early stages.

I remember seeing 2 laps to go and as I looked up a group came round my outside- this is never a good sign as you know you're starting to slow if a group are no longer prepared to follow you. I tried to latch on but my legs were starting to tire and my penultimate lap was terrible. I went back to sleep and seemed to run on auto pilot. I remember getting to the bell in 12:57 thinking if I can still break 14 here so it's not that bad a run but I was only able to put a 64 last lap in which I was disappointed with. 

I'd say the race in terms of time and how I ran it was very similar to Sport City but I was annoyed with myself that I switched off in the 3rd k and had I pushed on earlier it may have spurred me on to a new pb, who knows. I can only look back and find what I did wrong in the race and not do the same again. I'm still happy I was able to run a strong 4th k. I guess i'll have to wait till next time to break the personal best. 

Race video from Flotrack:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack