Bedford Autodome 5k

And so to the last race of a pretty solid racing block!  In fairness, feeling a little underwhelmed about this one.  I had aimed to start lifting up the training with a view to train through the race, however feeling a little tight around glutes / hips on Friday means a rest day instead of a session so I knew I would be going in a little fresher than expected.

Arrived at the venue, was really nice to see so many familar faces today. Run Through events have totally lucked out in this new World order. Putting on events from 5k to 10k, half marathon, 16 miles, 20 miles and full marathon in a random motor track in Bedford turned out to be the hottest ticket in town.

And everyone that rocked up was not disappointed. Cool conditions and ZERO wind!

Warm up OK with Griff. Possibly longer than normal and faster - went for the Adios Adizero Pro - possibly the best decision of the day.

Race start was single file, socially distanced and one by one. Everyone going off a second or so behind the person in front - except me, I gave Griff and Money 8-10 seconds to aim at ;).

Start feels great. Look up and Monkey looks like he is walking. No wonder, I am at 5.02/mm pace. Back off slightly and relax. Race is going off, people in front are shifting, couple from behind OT at pace.

Loop back and I know we have about 2-2.5k in the same direction and slightly crowning. Pace hovers around 5.19/mm to 5.20/mm. Feel relaxed and after a km start to overtake fast starters.

With so many races on the course (marathon was first at 9am, 5k start was 12pm) there were truck loads of people moving at different paces so had picking a racing line keeping me occupied.

About 0.86m in start to think Jesus is that all we have done! But really start to clip along after this and race goes by really quickly.

Catch and pass young Aedon from my club who is flying and then slowly reel in Griff. Sit in a bit and then make the pass with about 2km to go.

Start to dig in. Garmin says 5:24/mm and there's an uphill drag. Finish looks close but turns out it's a chicane just before. Get to the slip off from the lap route to the finish and start to pick up the pace. Actually feel pretty good and it's the first time I start to get an idea of finish time.

Over we go, bloody hell that was quick !  Stop Garmin way over the line in 16.32. Happy days, but even better news seeing the official time of 16.29 for an official (OA)PB.

Decent easy warm down with the group. Every one who ran absolutely smashed it.

So the years B target nailed when I didn't expect it.  That does give me a slight problem that obviously things are progressing at 35 mpw better than expected. Won't move straight up to 50 mpw but will move the volume up slowly.

That's 5 races in 5 weeks. Some pretty solid rankings in there but it's clear I need to back off now for a while and get some quality recovery and then build in.

Much more confident I can get back under 16 minutes off the back of that. It's only 10 secs per mile to go !

This week I have a lot on but the focus is very much towards recovery and lightening the load.  I'll probably back off for a couple of weeks now, moving at 10k pace work instead of 5k just to give the legs that bit of recovery before I plough on.