ANSW State 10 000m

If you think running 12.5 laps around a track is intense, try it twice in a row with tired legs, lack of track conditioning and very muggy conditions. This is what I faced last Friday night out at Homebush as a few of us backed up 6 days post 5000m to race the state 10k track. My pre race goal was sub 33mins.

Start time was scheduled for 9pm so it does make for a late night. Rejoov Runners had myself, Andy Heydon, Eoin Reville and John Bartlett lining up. We accounted for a 1/4 of the men's field for both Open and Masters combined. That's the non-attraction of this event compared to the 5000m with a bunch of different grades.

Also in attendance and clearly looking extremely disappointed with being a spectator was Tom Highnam who is still out with an Achilles injury and quite comfortable taking on the role of chief Coopers tester / lap counter. Thx Tommy.

The race almost didn't happen. Barts and I were halfway through our 1km warm up when every single light, scoreboard and timing clock in the stadium went black. And I mean pitch black. And just before the start of the 3km steeple chase which was lucky. Barts and I trotted back to the stands and as the jokes started flowing and we all reached for our iPhone torches, order was restored and the show went on.

Barts and I launched from our respective different starting positions. Great reflexes shown by both of us right there but Matt Cox quickly scooped us up and went on to lap us multiple times.

Through 1km in 3:10, 2km in 6:20 and feeling ok but uncomfortable. It was too quick for my current form but hey what the heck. Then Sean Bowes came past and took Barts and 2 others with him as I faded immediately. 3km in 9:38, 5km in 16:20 (which was already a fade) and things were looking grim already. Thoughts of stepping off were front and centre. I could blame the blister that has been killing me all week but which for the first time I couldn't actually feel anymore. I could do a Jeet and step on the inside rail OR I could just battle through and run whatever I could. Barts was already 18-20secs ahead and well on his way to claiming the 37sec handicap bet we had on. Eoin was struggling a bit but Andy was running quite well 200m behind me. this gap was created in the first 3km and I reckon if we looked closely at the splits from then on, he may have run a quicker 7km by a few secs. Watching him cross past me on the other side of the track gave me something to do each lap as I tried to hold his progression off. The new goal was now sub 34mins but also just to get this done and go home.

Although we didn't really comment on it beforehand, the weather was a factor. Nearly everyone in the field faded from what they should have run. Guys who almost broke 15mins the previous week both pulling out or running over 33mins. The conditions were very muggy as we narrowly avoided the storm that chase us all the way home in the car. Sweat pouring off us all and the legs suffering as a result of both the 5000m 6 days earlier and the humidity.

I crossed in 33:41 a minute behind Barts and 30secs ahead of Andy who finished strong. Eoin a lap after that.

 

 

The week that was:

Mon: 12km easy
Tue: 10km with 5 x 800m reps in 2:36 - 2:45 off 200m recovery jog
Wed: 8km slow
Thur: no run (blister put me out)
Fri: State 10 000m - total 12km
Sat: Easy 5km non motivational jog
Sun: Equaliser 14km run with the Striders. Started with the front guys then eased back to jog it in for 4th place and a touch over 59mins. Rough and wet down in the bush. Total 24km

Total for the week: 71km. This needs to come up big time but just waiting to finish up in my current role so I can get back into a better training schedule.

This below was posted a few weeks back by one of the Hurts guys - Charlie Diezell and it makes for a great read. Quite clever and most will relate:


https://www.adventure-journal.com/2017/01/i-hate-running/