Up and racing again!!! (Aths Vic 15km)

When you recover from long-term injuries you tend to look out for milestone events to mark progress (or lack of!!), like 3 weeks since you last ran, or 1 month since you last saw a doctor...and so on. I passed a milestone on Saturday, 12 months since I went under the knife to fix my Achilles...a day I still remember like yesterday, but in reality the time has really dragged at times since then.

On that day last year the surgery was in the early afternoon, and I remember afterwards being in the ward and sending SMS messages to various runners I coach who were doing a 15km road running race in Ballarat to see how they went. I was with them in spirit.

Wind the clock forwards 12 months – to the hour – and I was up there in Ballarat actually doing the same 15km road running race, part of the Athletics Victoria winter running series. What a way to mark the anniversary...up and racing again!!!

This wasn’t my first race back – that came last month – so I’m slowly getting used to the routine of focusing on a race, and making sure I’m feeling good and ready to race, a routine you forget when you’re not racing. There’s also the pre-race diet routine, warming-up, club uniform (I’ve changed clubs this year to one next to where we’re moving in 2 weeks time – Collingwood Harriers), and actually lining up on the start line. In a ways it’s exciting, like being new to the sport again, but is still associated with the same anxiety and nerves I remember from years of doing this in the past.

The race yesterday was promising to be hard – 15km races always are – but I like the challenge of the distance, and this is a good course with strong competition. The course started with a little out-and-back followed by two laps of Lake Wendouree, which featured about 2.5-3km of side or head wind per lap...in a stiff wind.

I felt good after starting, with some great spring and zip in my stride...a wonderful feeling that I hoped would last onwards. Although I felt comfortable I was with / near some people I thought I really shouldn’t be near, based on the results at the Ath Vic 10km race just 2 weeks earlier. Was I setting myself up for a fall, or just running well?

My perfect goal for the race was sub-51 mins, which was ambitious but I paced myself early to get it and hoped I could just hold on. The target time works out at 17min per 5km, and in reaching 5km in 16:49min things were going well, but we hadn’t hit the head wind section yet...that started about 1km later. I was running in a group and my position was in the lead, on the side that would cop the wind as we swung around the lake unless we re-shuffled. We didn’t, dammit.

Running from about 6-9km was hard, with about 2km into the teeth of the wind – me leading with a trail of other guys behind me. Our pace slowed but my effort level was markedly higher, and I was feeling it. Passing through the start/finish area just after 9km my legs were losing their spring and I was becoming a little flat-footed – I had to consciously lift my hips a little to get up and forwards in my stride to maintain my form and momentum. I was running out of fitness...just haven’t done enough miles yet...yet we had another lap ahead, including more headwind.

We passed 10km in 34:04min, not too bad (and 32sec faster than the 10km race 2 weeks ago) but off pace for sub-51..it was now about holding form and pace during the upcoming head wind section which would finish the race.

I was still leading our group, but we caught a couple of other guys we could slip in behind if we stayed together, which I managed to do for a little while. Things got really hard as we turned directly into the wind, and I dug in to hold onto these guys, in their draft, but struck a point of weakness – or confidence – and dropped off. Three guys ran away from me and my legs were really digging holes, on my heels and fatigued. I ran on as best I could, or as well as I thought I could, and got the finish in 51:27min after a slow last 2km. It was only 27sec outside my goal on a day where the wind played a part in the results, but everyone who sets a time goal knows that 27sec could well be a hour.

Despite that, I’m pretty happy with how I ran, and that I felt I had some spring in my stride and ran well for most of it. I think I just don’t have the fitness for 15km just yet, but the way I felt running gave me some confidence. The main part that troubled me afterwards was that I died in the last 2km, as much mentally as physically – I think I might have been able to dig deeper and hold onto the guys who ran away, if I was truly prepared to hurt for it. Perhaps this was actually a reflection on my fitness level, or that I’m losing my edge to hurt which used to be my strength. But at least I’m aware of it, and as much as it will hurt in training and racing in future I’m determined to get that edge back.
From here is more training ahead, for the next Athc Vic race (16km cross-country) and long-term the New York marathon. Gee, it’s great running again!!