RACE REPORT: November 3k on the Green

Well, it’s been 17 months since I last got to do this race. In 2013, I managed 2 goes at it. A 3k race, which means running as hard as you can for as long as you can manage it, then holding on. For a guy who prefers ultra-distance races the 3k is a shock to the system it has to be said.

My times in 2013 were:

March: 10:33
June: 10:28

So, could I better that?

I have trained hard since 2013, but mainly in readying myself for G24 and longer races, but in the last 6 weeks I have been working with a cracking wee group in doing speed and hill work once per week. I was really keen to see how this play out.

Rocking up to the race start at Glasgow Green I caught up with a few good friends [cue obligatory David Mooney mention] and was great to see Scott Fergus there. He’s part of our wee speed group and has improved his 3k times from 13:50 to 12:36 in 2014, with the PB coming on Friday, less than 2 days after a tough hill session. Some effort!

At the start line mentions were given to the two chaps who’d run every race, gentle applause followed and we were off. I was aiming for 10:15 and in the first km I went off a bit too hard, 3:17! I intentionally slowed down and this was a mistake in the end. The turning point slows the runners down naturally anyway, I could feel myself easing off and found I was 3:34 for km 2. That meant to meet my 10:15 target I would need to come in around 3:24 for the final km.

After the suspension bridge I started to pick up the pace, feeling OK and pushing as hard as I could. I refused to look at my watch outside of the km beeps and, despite being nearly skittled by a fast finisher who took me out in the last 50 metres, I was amazed to see I had crossed the line in 10:07. That meant a last km of 3:16!

The image below shows just how much my pace suffered in the middle section but then recovered in the last 500 metres. I was close to 5:00 m/m pace for this section which was exceptionally pleasing.

In the end I finished 9th out of 78 finishers. Kevin Brydon took the win in 9:16 with Lyndsay Morrison taking 6 seconds off of the ladies’ record, coming home in 10:04. Congrats to both.