Racing for Suppers

A downside to midweek racing when working full time is it's not conducive to eating well. A couple of quarter pounders, cup of tea and some other fluids (it was a warm night) followed my 3000m efforts at Stretford. Before this, the race at Linwood, which I attended straight from the office, saw me warm down, shower, change back to my suit and get in the door with my briefcase, holdall and a single fish under my arm. Not the best when you then have to settle down to sleep then be up again the next morning.
 

While Stretford was the boost I needed, I still felt the need to keep a grasp of the nettle. Training the rest of the week included a satisfactory hill session and long run plus a hilly 10 miles in Glasgow's West End with 2 sets of reps of 4 minutes, 1 minute and 2 minutes with 3 minutes brisk between reps. I was pretty pleased to complete that run in just under 61 minutes. A track session of 2 x 800m (both in 2:16) and 2 x 400m (62 seconds and 64 seconds) the next week gave me grounds for optimism for the 1500m I'd entered at Scotstoun.

Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meeting, 3rd August 2012

This being a Friday night event, I was a tad more relaxed leaving the office knowing I didn't have work the next morning. It comprised a series of graded 1500m races, plus a 5000m. Earlier in the summer, there was a meeting comprising 800m and 3000m races which I missed due to holiday.

I lined up in the C race, which was second on the card, and settled into the pack following pacemaker Mark Pollard. With my 2 year old PB of 4:05.76 to aim for, a 66 second first lap was reasonable. I replicated this on the second lap. Ahead of me, another Harrier, Gordon Robertson, was pushing on. It started to feel like a Monday track session, me hanging onto his coatails during a rep. I sat around 4th or 5th but could sense most of the field were still in touch as I completed 1200m in 3:19 (67 second third lap). I really didn't want to lapse into a 50 second final 300m and end up with 4:10, as happened in Aberdeen, and managed to find another gear as did a number of others. I gained a place in the back straight and dropped back one on the home straight but, most importantly for me, 46 seconds for 300m got me a new PB of 4:05.27. Like Stretford, only by hundredths of a second but every one counts. After no PBs all summer, two in succession felt good. Gordon also set a new best, 4:04.52, finishing 3rd.

After a breather and some post race discussion, I acted as 16 minute pacemaker in the 5000m. I actually felt more nervous about this than my earlier race. Two athletes, Kevin Brydon (Shettleston) and Elspeth Curran (Kilbarchan) were looking for this pace and, I admit, I had scribbled split times on a sheet and tried to memorise them. I still carried the sheet in my hand and referred to it several times as I ran. In short, the pace called for 3000m in 9:36/9:37 and I went through in 9:42. I carried on for another lap and stepped aside after 3400m. After the race concluded, I exchanged handshakes with both runners, talked another Cambuslang runner, Alistair Campbell, into a 400m at the Mens League two days later, unsuccessfully tried to persuade another, Katie Bristow, to don a disguise and run a 1500m on the same day (she clocked 4:47.78 at Scotsoun, comfortably below the minimum points standard of 5 minutes) then headed off home via the chip shop for a fish supper. Getting in at 10pm, it had been a long day but at least I had a lie in the next morning.

Meeting Results

Scottish Athletics Mens League Division 2 Match 4, 5th August 2012

With the attractions of an event of some description in London, numbers were quite sparce in Grangemouth for the final Mens League match of 2012. With no prospect of promotion, I took the chance to experiment a bit, lining up for an 800m then a 400m. Admittedly it was hard to escape a feeling of anti-climax following the Friday night's efforts but I gave both races everything I had on the day.

The 800m saw an improvement from Linwood with a time of 2:03.17. While not a PB (I've run 1:59 before), it was a much stronger run than Linwood with consecutive laps of 61 and 62 seconds. The heavens immediately opened as I took my marks for the 400m B race (Alistair had kindly run the A string). 58.07 seconds was nothing earth shattering but fulfilled the points standard of 60 seconds which, on the day, I considered satisfactory enough. Gordon ran a strong 1500m, finishing 2nd to Conor McNulty after leading much of the way. Myself, Alistair, Gordon (for part of the way) and Aberdeen based Cambuslang man Davy Munro rounded the afternoon off with a 50 minute jog around downtown Grangemouth. To continue the food theme, a king prawn Chinese curry was the choice on this occasion.

Leaving the 400m aside as an experiment, the 800m constituted a continuation of the upward curve. While I'm not there yet, I certainly feel more optimistic.

I'll go into the Mens League season in more detail in a later post. For now, here is the Division 2 final table.

1. Kilbarchan, 34 points (1368 match points)
2. Lasswade, 33 (1273)
3. Pitreavie, 29 (1050)
4. Whitemoss, 22 (721)
5. Corstorphine, 20 (612)
6. Fife, 17 (446)
7. Clydesdale, 13 (454)
8. Dunfermline & West Fife, 8 (306)
9. Kirkintilloch, 0 (0)