June Blog: Update, Challenges, Barriers and Future races (5min read)

Overview:

• I have now resumed training at Bath University. This allows me the use of track and gym.
• I have been training well and believe I am in shape to run personal bests and lower my times towards the England selection standards. However, due to the seasonal nature of the faster/bigger half marathons and marathons I will now have to wait until Sep onwards before posting some faster times. 
• I'm looking to lower my track times over the summer from 3000m to 10000m, which will help towards England representation race once they have figured out their racing programme.  I'm concentrating on track over the summer as these events are more likely to take place and are well controlled, with a good depth of competition which is usually seeded. It means I don't have to worry about finding a fast, accurately measured course.
• I have applied for an England Team selection half marathon in Antrim, Ireland in Aug.

Bristol Track Club 5km

Bristol Track Club put on a great event around the Odd down cycle Circuit in Bath. They got around 30 runners who could break 15min for the 5km, so it was an elite only race. The women set off first and had a couple of pacers. This was needed as it was a windy evening and we was exposed on the Downs. The course was about a mile each lap, so we did 3.5 laps. This meant good for spectators and meant that it was easier to live stream and commentate on. The men set off just after the women. The first 1km was slightly downhill will a tailwind, which meant for a very fast 1km split of about 2.49. However, the 2nd half of the lap was a slight uphill into a headwind. Runners bunched up to stay out of the wind and draft like they would in cycling. This slowed our average pace. I felt good after the first 2 laps, and had a good group of runners. I maybe could have pushed more on the uphill, but also needed to stay out of the wind. I thought I was on for a good pb of 14.30, but the tight course must have thrown the GPS off a bit. I crossed the line in 14.47. I was happy with the time, but was expecting about 10sec faster. It's only 3sec off my pb and 2 sec of the England 5km standard. I was 16 out of 24 finishers, Which just goes to show the quality of the field. The first 3 runners were around the 14.10min mark. Bristol Track club plan for some evening events at this venue. If there is no wind, there could be some fast times here in the future. 

Northampton 10km

Northampton 10km

Another well organised Run Through event, starting at the Six Fields Stadium in Northampton. Even though it was a 9am start, it was hot and muggy. Runners were set off in pairs with a 2 sec gap between the next pair.

After running out of the stadium there was a long hill straight away, which bought some early lactic.

I had my Covid vaccine just over a week ago, and hadn't trained well since. I felt ok generally and easy runs were fine. But when I tried any sustained efforts, they felt very hard and I developed lactic acid a lot sooner than usually. After a poor training week I was apprehensive about trying to maintain a sub 5min mile pace. I planned to work with Daniel Connelly (the eventual winner in 31min), but at 4km he began to pull away from me, and I couldn't change gears. It had already felt like a long way and it was a struggle to finish. I crossed the line in 31.30 for 2nd place. Still a respectable time, but I am hoping to run sub 30min this year, so a bit off that. Dan has run a 65min half and 14.30 something 5km recently, so I was in good company and it showed the conditions/course weren't good for fast times. It was more of a half marathon paced run. So actually a good tempo session. It's all part of the process and more fuel for the fire towards the sub 30min goal.

Results

2nd Goodwood 10km 30.22min

16th Bristol 5km 14.47min (2 sec off England 5km Qualifying time)

1st Hullavington Half Marathon

2nd Northampton 10km

Wrexham Marathon DNF (pacing and nutrition strategy didn't go to plan)

Upcoming Key Races

15 Jun Gloucester 3000m track race

09 Jul England 10000 champs?

17 Jul England Track Champs 5000m?

18 Jul Masters Half Marathon Championships 

31 Jul 10,000m Birmingham University

29 Aug Cardiff 5km (UKAF)

29 Aug Antrim Half Marathon (England representation, selection dependant)

11 Sep Kew Gardens 10km (England Age group representation)

04 Oct London Marathon

Challenges

• I have had a slight set back in training after getting the Covid vaccine.
• Difficult to train with a group
• Lack of races until recently. Larger road races with fast runners and course are still few in numbers.
• Entries to some races have been difficult for a few reasons.
  1. Races are accepting fewer entries and fill up sooner.
  2. Races are not offering elite entries due to restrictions on numbers due to Covid.
  3. Some elite entries require a time that I don't have for that distance.
  4. Races have transferred all the entries from last year to this year, meaning that no new entries are available.
  5. Races have been condensed into a few months e.g. Sep/Oct, meaning that I can't do all races I had planned.
  6. I have spent a bit of money entering races that can't be refunded. Some races I can race but others I can't due to changes in race dates or the complete cancellation of the race.

Barriers

• Unable to attend a training camp abroad
• Unable to complete altitude training. I am not on the England athletics list of athletes who are given an exemption to train abroad as part of their full-time job. If I could get this it would help. Essentially, I am working and being paid as a full-time athlete so should be able to get this.
• There have been no England Athletics Team representation races on the road. Therefore, no selection races for me to target. This will hopefully change in the Autumn.