Its finally come down to it... the last week of the domestic track season.
The 7 month season has flown by under a new coach, new group and many new experiences. State Champs in WA wound up last weekend with the 800m. This is the first year WA Athletics has trialled putting the championships over three separate weekends instead of the traditional three consecutive days. How successful this venture was - next year's timetable will tell.
I competed in the 1500m & 800m championship races this year, forgoing the 5km to get another good training week in prior to the 1500m race. Neil Berry took out the 5000m event ahead of Brandon Hargreaves & Thomas Bruins. The three put in as good a race over the distance as we've seen in years but I couldn't help sitting on the sidelines and thinking what I could have done if I was in the mix.
The 1500m race was a great feeling. Sitting pretty for the first 1100m with the junior boys doing most of the pace work, moving along at just sub 4 minute 1500m pace, I felt very comfortable in 5th. My coach gave me instructions to not hit the lead until the bell, to see what closing speed I had. Heading into the home straight for the 2nd last time I stretched out the legs & made my way up alongside the leaders. By the bell I could finally let myself kick up a couple of gears and do some damage. I didn't realise I could kick down to a 54 second last lap. It was a great confidence booster 3 weeks out from Nationals. I put 3 seconds into 2nd placed Josh Tedesco.
3:51 isn't a great time on the Aussie stage but for WA and for the way the race was run it was a good time on the night.
The race also held special significance for me, personally. It was my 5th straight 1500m Open state title and resonated with me the fact that I have come a long way & have done my fair share to stay at the top of WA's middle distance scene.
The 800m was a much more hotly contested event. Jace Collingrige was the man to beat, but had umpired an AFL game the night before, James Boden with his 400m speed & strength was a big threat as was the relatively new kid on the block - Tom Beard. After making it comfortably through the heat (& hoping that the 400m/800m runners would have a little sting taken out of their legs from the effort) we toed the line for the final a couple of hours later.
The final started off slow and then kicked up in the final 400m as I tried to come around the bend and sit tight behind Jace, then Boden kicked for home with 300m to go, Beard got around me at the 250m mark & all fought it out to finish in that order: Collingrige, Boden, Beard, See.
I was happy with the effort & took some tactical experience away from the race. My coach Jaiemo had me finish off the morning with a long cooldown including a tempo effort. The half hour jog that evening had me finish the week on 123km. Considering that is probably double of what 6 of the 7 other guys in the race would've run (excluding Josh Tedesco) that week, I was happy with how I ran considering the bit of fatigue in my legs.
And now I'm winding down and tuning up for Melbourne. I fly out on Thursday for a Saturday heat and Sunday final, racing the 1500m. Some of the bigger names are missing from the startlist as the European season is starting up & many athletes have already left Aus for the Northern hemisphere.
Main goals for Melbourne are:
a) Make the final, after narrowly missing it last year.
b) Finish top 5
c) Feel confident in my ability to race with (& that I belong beside) the faster runners in the field.
d) Get home without injury to enjoy a cruisey 2 week break before building up the winter mileage.
Thanks for reading,
Gotta run
:-) Marc
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