Yesterday I went to Sydney for the 5000m champs. This one seemed to come around very quickly having done the 3000 only three weeks ago but I’ve been keen to try another race. Having nominated 16:10 (which was a bit of a goal time and would have been a PB) I was seeded into the back end of the C race, a bit daunting but figured I’d go with it.
The weather had been really wet but despite that we got down there nice and quickly (my wife Sarah came along as my support crew) and after checking in I went off into the rain to warm up.
When the race started I was dropped off the back immediately but hung onto/with a Sydney Strider who was also ejected. Despite being out the back of the field we still went through 1k in 3:09. That was probably 3-4s too quick for me but it was either that or be completely alone way out the back. Better to run with the company I thought. By 3000m I was at 9:44 having faded a bit and knew I had to hold on if I wanted any kind of a PB. After pushing on and picking up a couple of stragglers who were still fading Iame home in 16:20.91, rounding up to 16:21 for a 1s 5k pb.
So not quite as fast as I hoped but I’m happy with how it went. Given the not-awful-but-not-very-good conditions and the type of training phase I’m in now, coming out with ANY personal best is a win. It’s possible that I may have got better in the D race but that’s all speculation and not necessarily useful to mull on too much. This was the first time I’ve raced 5000m on the track but I set my road 5k pb in June 2015, so it’s been a long time coming.
Next up race wise will be the NSW 10,000m Championships, stepping up in distance on the track again. Those are actually coming to Newcastle which is nice, no travelling down to Sydney and back on a Saturday night! Having done 3000m & 5000m PBs, I’ll be hoping to come through the 25 laps with a 10k one too.
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