Sat 27 Oct 07, Shield Rd 2

Little Aths this morning, a warm morning which I think affected my running for the day. It was 29 degrees at 11:45am and by 1.30pm when I arrived at Newport for my aths it was 30 degrees.

For whatever reason the 'meet' was running way behind, very annoying and not very normal, but the 1500m races started 52 minutes after the scheduled 2:05pm start, not very good.

I started my day with chatting with the athletes I coach and get a feel for what they were going to run; Clare maybe a 200m and some field events; Pierre wanted to do HJ & TJ as well as the 200, 1500 & 400; Scott wanted to run the 1500 & 5000 and Michelle some field and the 200 & 400. My plan was the 1500 & 400 but I got convinced to change and run the 5k....(not pretty)

All of the U16, 18 & open age 1500 runners went for a 10 min warm up along the waters edge in Williamstown, and before my race I did 3x50m strides to get the legs going again. I was in the 5:15 heat and knowing the field I suspected I would finish in the top 5, I started the first lap sitting generally 5/6th, 81 seconds, moving into 4th I sat immediately behind George from Willi AC, whilst I thought the 2nd lap was good, it was in 85 (too slow) and the 3rd in 86 and the final over 60, finishing in a slow 5:17, strange as I actually thought I raced better this week, oh well. After I got my spikes off I jogged 2 slow laps.

Somehow whilst helping to organise the relays I got grabbed by the 3 & 5km runners and told I needed to fill the 4th spot in the open men's team...

I don't have the best history of racing in heat or when I'm not totally convinced, but in hindsight I also wasn't hydrated well enough for a 5000m race. I didn't finish and withdrew with 6 complete laps to go, I was very hot, bothered and I noticed that the sweat was now very minimal, so I pulled out. Run laps: 95, 95, 96, 98, 100, 102 and the last 200 in 47.

I eventually ran for 5 minutes with Bel & Mel who completed the 5k.