Rob's Running Blog

City of Salford 10k – a strange 57:39!

With the last 2 runs not being quite what I expected, I tried to lay their ghosts to rest and start with a clean slate. Was up early, having not really slept much. Last race I took some Nytol the night before to ensure sleep, but wondered if it had interfered with performance, so this time settled for a restless 6 hours with the saturday night wailers penetrating the ear plugs at times… Had breakfast of porridge then went to get the bus, then hopped on the Metrolink to Harbour City in Salford Quays, seeing some of the Manchester Frontrunners on the tram and a couple of others too, so I knew I was heading in the right direction (last time I got a taxi but the tram is rather cheaper at £2.20!)

My friend Chris had texted me that she was there already, so looked out for her but couldn’t see her, headed to the loos in the Lowry Outlet Mall, and when I came out saw Neil and Dawn in the distance so was nice to catch up with them a little. Wasn’t long to go at that point, so we went and lined up, and there was a bit of a delay as a big boat had gone through one of the adjustable bridges, and as we were running over it we had to wait for it to be lowered again!

So we set off and I kept to a sedate pace at first, running how I felt and feeling OK, wondering if this would be the race where the training actually paid off. Was quite cool and cloudy which was a help. Anyway, we went through MediaCityUk and out into the industrial part of Salford Quays approaching Trafford. My Garmin bleeped and I couldn’t resist a peak at the KM time – it read 4:40 for the 2nd km, so far so good I thought, I felt I wasn’t going hard and could maintain that pace. However, a good while after that the official 2k marker came up and it wasn’t long before I realised that the Garmin had gone a bit crazy and was short counting for some reason (when I looked back, they were all out after that one, including one that I did in 3:30 – yeah right!). So good job I wasn’t really relying on it!

At about 4k the great Ron Hill overtook me and as I know Ron runs about 50-52 pace these days, and he went past me quite quickly, I got a bit dispirited, but resolved to keep keeping on. Got past the 5k mark and someone shouted out 28 something, it was some way past the 5k mark but I kind of thought that was pretty slow considering my perceived effort at that point. Got a bottle of water at the drinks station and then really started to struggle as I saw the runners coming back the other way. Stopped and walked a few times to take a drink. Made it down the long stretch to 7k then turned around the little roundabout, and kind of jog-shuffle-walked for the next 2k.

Got to the last bridge and could see the end in sight but had no pace left at all, just forced myself to keep going up over the bridge, knowing this course has a cruel little trick whereby you run straight at the finish line, then turn and there’s actually another km to go in a loop before you actually get to it, along a tree line boulevard. Saw Neil as I turned the corner and he shouted some encouragement. I sped up past a veteran lady, and then realised I could only hold that gear for about 20 seconds and there was a long way to go, so I slowed and she caught me again, and we duelled a little until the last stretch, when I was able to put on a finishing burst that was pretty fast and powerful, and won the duel, but had my heart hammering and I felt sick for a few minutes on finishing. Was nice to have my name read out as I crossed the line. Was so off the pace I didn’t even bother to stop the haywire Garmin (which was probably caused by a lot of winding in between tall buildings early on) but the official time eventually came out as 57:39. Which wasn’t awful, but 4 minutes slower than last time I did this race, and well off the pace of the City of Manchester 10k. Wasn’t really an improvement on last week’s race, as am sure I would have been over an hour if there had been a few hills! But it was flat as a pancake really!

Had a chat with Neil then went to get my goody bag, and then saw Chris lining up for hers so Neil went off to find Dawn who was doing some shopping, and I caught up with Chris while we had a coffee. Caught a few of the presentations and then it was time to go home and I went off feeling rather tired and deflated, without a good time to finish my 10k season, but at least no nasty injury!

I know have to figure out what went wrong over the last month. Possibly my half marathon training run took more out of me than I thought, although I did rest very sensibly afterwards, and I tapered somewhat down tot he final 2 10ks of the season, to no avail. I’m also aware that I’ve not done many all out 5k time trials this season (in fact none!) and this may have taken off some of my edge and mental toughness – I do wonder if it was partly to try to protect myself from another injury that I’ve unconsciously been trying to take it easier than I have in the past!

Oh well! Time will tell. Will now get in some base miles and enjoy it a little bit (after a rest of course) and maybe start doing some 1 mile and 5k time trials once recovered, to see if I improve over the next few months! And then maybe enter the Stockport 10 mile and possibly even the Wilmslow half next year…