I had been really pleased with my form over the past year and knew that consistency of training had brought me to an even fitter state than I was last Spring when I had set a UK top 10 ranking M50 time at Grangemouth. But there is always a but. Unfortunately a yoga move early on in the Portugal training camp in mid-March had done some damage to my right hamstring and I had watched my hard won fitness evaporate over the 3 weeks preceding the Grangemouth 10k whilst I was reduced to gentle training (and hill reps) only. A week before at Livingston I had made the decision not to do Grangemouth. The evening before Grangemouth I went for a run up a very long, steep hill in Callander (and back down again); not the thing you do the night before a race. The morning of the race I went for a wee 1.5 mile flat "late fitness test" and started to think maybe I will be alright. I drove to Grangemouth and picked up my number but was still not really intending to do it. I then went for another, even later fitness test with my racing shoes on and thought, what the hell, its the fastest 10k course of the year, a lot of the big M50 rivals are here and I need to put a time on the board to keep me in contention for Scotland selection later in the year. If the hamstring blew, I could always just stop and not record a time.
An impressive 13 senior Harriers had pre-entered the race and even more impressively, 11 of them were still fit and well enough to run on the day. We all squeezed into the starting pen (quite narrow this year due to the chip timing mats only covering one side of the road) and waited for the countdown to the start. I was a few rows back from the front, rubbing shoulders with two GB Olympians, Freya Ross and Hailey Haining, and many of the top Scottish male road racers, interspersed with some club vests from further afield. This was going to be a fast start as usual and it would be vital not to get dragged away too fast. The hooter went and we were off with the message in my head loud and clear "let them go, let them go". I did let various people I usually have close races with go but by the time we had turned the first corner and had reached about 1km, they were coming back to me. I moved through the field of fast starters between 1k and 2k and was feeling pretty good but maybe breathing a little too hard to sustain the pace for 10k. At around 2k I got the first sharp pain in my hamstring and chopped my stride, thinking of stopping. A few strides later it seemed to ease off and I kept going. The field was sparse ahead now and I was hanging on to groups of 2 or 3 runners. By 4k I knew I was going too fast for my current fitness and was struggling but kept the effort going anyway, passing 5k in 17:20 (my fastest 5k of 2016). The next few km parallel to the motorway was a struggle and I dropped considerable pace and started to lose places. More worryingly, I felt a few more tweaks in the hamstring. At this point one of my M50 rivals from Stathearn Harriers (Wattie MacKay) who had pipped me on the line at the National eased past and away. I could do nothing about it at that point. However when we made the next turn back towards the stadium, I was running better again and was holding the gap at about 20m. As we passed the stadium at about 8k, the cheers from Frances kept me motivated and I knew that it was "just" a 7 minute effort to the end, so no easing off. The 180 degree turn around cones at the far end of the stadium road is always a difficult moment as you briefly see who is chasing you and also lose a bit of momentum. I thought I saw an M50 about 25m behind so really started my finishing spurt from about 1500m out (mentally thinking of this as the last 1 mile effort of a training session; something I can handle). I was gradually closing on those ahead as we turned around the back of the stadium but was not really close enough to stand a chance of catching Wattie from Strathearn in the remaining distance. It is always important to enter the stadium in good form and to look smooth for the crowd. So I duly tripped on the edge of the track as I sprinted down the ramp and stumbled briefly. However, I was clear of danger and crossed the line in 35:50. Although this was about 25 seconds slower than last year, I was happy enough given the previous 3 weeks of minimal training. As I walked back from receiving the very impressive goody bag (full of stuff I actually like and a nice technical fabric T-shirt), the Edinburgh AC M50 athlete (Martin Ferguson) who had dipped me on the line at the National was just finishing and reached across to shake my hand. At the end I was 4 seconds behind the winning M50 and third place was 20 seconds behind me, so I'm in a good enough state to build on once the hamstring allows full speed training. A big thanks to Martin Ferguson who kindly confirmed to the organisers that I was 2nd M50 and not him due to a preliminary results error.
Meanwhile the Harriers were busy setting pb's and seasons bests. David Herbertson ran what must be one of his fastest 10k's as an M45, finishing strongly (as always) in 42:05. Not far behind and in possibly only his second 10k, Joe Sheilds finished in 42:33, taking 5 minutes off his previous best time since joining the Harriers. Jim Holmes has has a hard month of racing but kept the Harriers' evenly spaced at the finish line, crossing it in 43:07. Stuart Waugh has had yet more injuries this Spring and did well to get onto the start line off of so little recent training. However, the quality rose to the surface as Stuart finished first M65 in 44:21. John McBride set a great time of 46:00, one of his fastest in recent years whilst Richard Lawton was perhaps a little behind what he expected due to a recent, prolonged virus, finishing in 46:28. Gordon McInally set a new pb of 47:37 and you can't do better than that. However, the way Gordon has improved since joining the club, he will do much better than that as the year continues, I am sure. Sandy Hayden was our only lady running today and made a welcome return to racing after a persistent injury and months of dedicated attention to running drills. Sandy finished in 49:58, only 9 seconds outside her pb, having started off a little too cautiously by her own admission. The incredible Davie Searil was using this race as a cool down after finishing first in his age category in the 50km Tartan Skedaddle ultra the day before. Davie finished in a very respectable 54:18 and felt the benefit of getting out for this "recovery" run. Russell Couper continues to be plagued by injury niggles (this time a hamstring, like me) and was pleased to complete without further damage, crossing the line in 56:11.
It was a family affair in the 2k, with two of Stuart Waugh's grandchildren competing. Lewis, with the help of Stuart, is now an experienced racer and was second of the 9 year old's in a time of 8:33 (3 seconds behind first). Lewis' sister Ashleigh was running her first race (I think) and showed great potential, crossing the line in 9:27. Somebody sign her up!
As always we had enthusiastic travelling support, with Frances, Alison, Dot and Maud (and possibly others) cheering us on. Thanks to Frances for the photo of most of the team above.
For those interested in the physiology, the graph below compares my pace last year (blue) with this year (red), confirming that this year I started off slightly too fast for the first 2 miles and then collapsed significantly up till 4 miles before recovering a bit and finishing fast.
The second graph illustrates aging in action, showing heart rate during the race last year (blue) and this year (red). Ignore the first 0.75 mile of last year's race. I clearly wasn't sweating enough to make a good connection on the chest strap, so that is a false reading. However from 1 mile onward you can see that, in one year, my sustainable heart rate has dropped by a beat or two per minute, which means less oxygen going to the muscles and hence less energy available and a slightly slower pace.
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