Lee Valley Indoor 800m

Early doors, in fact I think it's the earliest I've ever raced in a year !!

First up, I had zero expectations here. I've done very little 5k speedwork so anything remotely quick is waaaayyyy off !! OK, so I wanted to go sub 2.20 and hoped sub 2.15 might be on the cards but in all honesty I didn't expect anything big.

January is boring January so no easing up for races and no rest days (even I can't crack by the 2nd). 

Arrived early in time to register for Sawyers 300m which annoyingly he doesn't need much warm up for so at the venue by 10.55am. Sawyer race was off at around 12.10 and he got a 40.25 in with a pretty bad fade but off little training I think that's still 3 (?) club records!

Waited around for the 800m to start at 12.53 and races seeded in order fastest to slowest I was in race 10 (2.18-2.20 est). Myself, Colin (a V60) and 4 young girls (u13-u15 I reckon). Bang, off in lane 6. Get overtaken instantly and on the break settle in to 5th of 6 runners. Young girl is MILES ahead, probs 28 first 200m against my group around 33-34. Get boxed in and have to be patient. Through 400m in 69ish. Move out of the box and I'm in 4th place and move up to 3rd along back straight. 

Leader dies and Colin takes a good lead off the bend and I'm in 2nd with 250m to go and about 10m back.

Through the bell in probs 148 (shit that's a slow lap). Colin split at 1.46.6 and I can see that on the screen.

Push hard down the back straight and kick past off the bend. Run pretty hard through the line and stop the clock in 2.20.6. Fastest lap was the last lap which is a good sign. 

The race (I have video evidence) looks an absolute tactical masterclass. I ran even - negative, sat in, worked my way through and pounced. That's the video and what everyone watched. What actually happened was - my legs couldn't get started, I moved myself into a terrible position on the inside with nowhere to go, had to wait until someone else made a move and then had to slowly ramp myself up to get in position and then pass a tired leader. However, that being said it does look the tits on the recording haha

Splits approx 33, 36, 39, 32

As bad as the time is, last 2 years I have only run 2.18 so considering I did that in summer there is a lot of time to go.

My plan is to crack 2.10 by the end of indoor season. Big ask but actually once I get moving I'll be fine. I def need to move towards a shorter 'easy speed' session each week and in reality it does need to be on track. I need to be running 32 sec 200m reps very, very comfortably and 70s for 400 without breaking the bank. Right now that's way off but these sessions pay off really quickly.

If I want to run 800m - 5k then keeping the volume reps in and shortening the speed work each week (longer recovery) and then keep everything the same.

Upcoming races -

Feb 8 - Mile - Ayo Fayola Mile

Feb 12 - 3000m - SCVAC Indoors

Feb 18-19 - 1500m - British Masters Sheffield

Mar 12 - 800m - Lee Valley

I'll need to get a couple of Park Runs in there as well but I need to get them in on decent days when it's low wind. So hands down, setting targets now I would like to run - 4.45 mile, 9.25 3000m, 4.25 1500m, 2.09 800m. And a sub 16.30 Park Run. Ohh, that's some solid targets right there !!