Parkrun Posturing

It is the 15th March, 2014. Having done most of the 55 to 70 miles per week Advanced Marathoning plan, I had another go at my local parkrun. Something really clicked that day and I had the performance of my life, completing the 5K in 19:21 and knocking over 30 seconds off my PB. Whether it was the VO2 Max training I had recently been doing, the conditions or the fact that I was racing some club mates in the second half of the race that made the difference I don't know. This time was such an outlier that it took me over two years of training to beat it.

Today I had another ago at improving my current course record of 19:03. With two easy days behind me my legs felt fresh but the conditions weren't ideal with a strong wind and a fair amount of mud and water on the trail sections of the course.

In order to make up the daily mileage to 9 miles I did a four mile warm up with strides in the last mile. This is more that I would normally do for a 5K and I only had a few minutes after the warm up to rest before the race began. However I felt strong over the first 400 meters or so and soon settled into 6th place. There was a young girl in front of me and after about 1.5 K I edged past her to settle into 5th place. There was now a young guy in front of me who I gradually gained on and at about 3 K I moved past him into 4th place. The man in third was about 20 metres ahead and I began to wonder if my first ever podium finish on this course was possible. Keeping the effort constant I gradually gained on third until at the 4 K point I was just behind him. He seemed to be slowing so I tucked in behind him for a hundred metres or so and then flew past him so he wouldn't try to stay with me. This tactic seemed to work as I soon had a decent gap on him. It was then case of keeping a hard effort going for the last few minutes of the race and hoping no one would come past me.

Thankfully no one did and I finished with a time of 19:15 - my second best on this course.

So a fun race and a decent time for me on a hilly and muddy course. I am hoping to go sub 19 on this course this year but for today I will settle for third place.