3000m - London MD Open Bromley - 9:40.76

After missing last weekends mile it felt an age since I last raced!  This weekend was off to Bromley for a stab at 3000m and a head to head with Jake.  

I haven't raced here since probably 1995/96 or possibly as long as the very early '90s for a young athletes league meeting. I digress.

Quit a late start (6.02pm) and quite a long drive (1 hr 40 mins) but we arrive with no drama.

Warm up felt pretty good, only down side was the khazi was quite literally an absolute shit hole !!

First race goes off and it's clear the times are quite a way off predictions (race was 8:45 - 9:31 against predicted 8:22 - 8:55).

I am in the 2nd race with Jake.  Entry times are 9.05 up to 9.35 (me!). 

Line up where we like and bang we are off. 

Settle in, I'm slowest on paper so sit towards the back. A dude and I assume his Mrs settle in behind me.

Pace feels pretty strong. Through 200m in 38. Shit. I was hoping to feel like I was tripping over my feet for the first km. 400m in 76 and already feels like work.

Dude and Mrs Dude pass and I am on the back although apart from 1 guy off the front we are a bunch.

Pass 800m in 2.32 - surprised as pace has remained. Still feels too hard though! Through 1km in 3.10. Not a good sign (although on reflection it's been exactly 3.10 pace so far!)

Just start to get gapped by the group (including Jake), just on the bend there's a cut in and a faller. Exciting! It's not Jake but he's in the mess. Kid from Havering goes down and is straight back up. Doesn't take long re-passing me!

Thinking about that gets me another lap and half way in around 4:48. 3 secs off pace, drifting off the back and thinking very much damage limitation!

Km to go, I'm at 6.26. Think stay relaxed. 800m to go and clock says low 7 mins. Work pretty hard. Shaftsbury kid and James from Havering plus Jacob are all coming back a bit.

Bell. 8:26. Work pretty hard and get as close as shoulder of Shaftsbury kid. Jacob is within kicking distance! Everyone goes hard on the last bend and before you know it we are done. Shit, didn't catch anyone!  Frustratingly close but the shame of another last place finish !!!

Scores on the doors - Jacob 5th in 9:35.57 and me 8th in 9:40.76.  Wrap up the summer with a 2-0 head to head to Jake.

Post race - pretty gutted not to run 9.30 - 9.39. Saying that everyone was slow. The times looked pretty bad, even the other races looked pretty pony so maybe just one of those days.

I'd categorise it just like the Milton Keynes 5k - bleugh. It wasn't a bad run by any means but it definitely wasn't good. It just was - well, what it was!

Not sure why I struggled with the pace at 3.10 per km. At a guess I would say the 5k pace work I have been doing has on the one hand made my legs pretty bullet proof but at the expense of more speed. I actually didn't feel that bad at the finish.  It's another 83-84% WAVA so at least the consistency is there and across distances from 800-5k which shows there's a good base there at speed, speed endurance and economy.

It's maybe the wake up call that the training I have been doing is reaching it's limit. I probably need to start turning the taps on.  Mind you, lets not forget I have come along way this year on the shorter stuff.  Last seasons times were -

800m - 2:23, 1500m - 4:38, 3000m - 9:54, 5k - 16:52

This year I am at -

800m - 2:13, 1500m - 4:28, 3000m - 9:40, 5k - 17:02

I have a 5k next weekend, it should be somewhere in the ball park of 16:45-17.00 again (based on everything I have done not changing). The quest will now be to slowly turn the screw and look to bring all the paces down somewhat.

It's a bit of a jump but everything has been managed so far within the comfort zones, it's just a matter of making those zones faster !!