5000m GC Masters T&F Championships

Night meets are AWESOME!  Especially when you live on the Gold Coast and have temps of over 30 degs most days.... so racing at night when the sun is down and the stars are out is devine.  Temps may still be up but the heat of the sun is gone.   As luck would have it, the clouds came over and the temp was a nice cool 25 degs.   

The only thing I struggle with when racing so late at night is figuring out my food intake...and I really buggered it up for this race.   I had a late breakfast at 10 am then we headed to Harbour Town and went to the movies.   But we didnt get out until 3pm and by the time we made it home at 4pm I realized I had missed my cut of for eating as the race was at 7:45pm I needed to eat 4 hours prior.  Went to make a sweet coffee and got distracted, before I new it ... it was time to head to the track.

I warmed up and did alot of dynamic stretches and racewalk drills.  A few walkers had pulled out from the 5000m, they had done the 1500m earlier and were struggling a little.   So it was myself, Iggy, Christian and Robyn that lined up for the 5000m walk.  I really didnt have any plan in mind.  I knew Iggy was faster than me but I had hoped that he wouldnt lap me tonight (he did but 200m ahead of his finish - so I am happy with that)  

The starter got us under way and I stuck close to Iggy for the first 300m but once his legs warmed up he started to slowly pull away and I was happy to let him go.  I have learned from experience to walk your own walk and I was happy at the pace I was going.   My first km was 5:26 and I was feeling really good.   There were no lap scorers so the officials decided to take on that role but in doing that they forgot to flip the lap counter on the track side....So when they realised and called out to me....8 to go?   I nodded but then really lost my focus as I tried to work out what lap I actually was on.....I just click on km by km...not lap by lap.   So for a whole lap I really lost my focus...(it was my 2km lap) so yes I did have 8 laps to go.  Never ask me to do math at the best of times but mid race..... I cant even give you 1 + 1 LOL

As I went through 3000m I glanced at my watch but with the dim light I couldnt read it properly and so I thought it said 16:50 - I was pretty happy with this and started working out that if I could keep this up I might get a high 28mins for the race.   (it was actually 16:37)  On my 4th km I was starting to feel tired and my energy was slowly leaving me.   With just one km to go now and trying to keep Iggy from lapping me, I had to dig it in and push.  I still was sure I was aiming for a high 28 and ask Iggy came past me just 200m off his finish and for me .. my final lap, I tucked in behind him and went all out.   I know I can do 400m in 2:04 fresh and it was now that I really needed to push hard.

As I crossed the line I hit stop and then checked my watch.  I was expecting to see 28:XX but to see 27:59.9 was the BEST feeling ever.   But better than that....was checking the acutal results and finding out my official time was 27:58   .............. this is my fastest time in Aussie...so its my Aussie PB    

5000m race data

Now that I know I can reach this level with the training I am doing myself, I am excited for Perth.   I will be taking 12 weeks off soon to recover from my surgery but I can still do stationary bike and many of my isometric weights etc   ... I am confident I can still pull off a good 5 and 10km time for the world masters.