2024 Burton 10k

Its been almost a year since my last race and as it happens it was at the same venue - the Burton 10k.  I defied expectations last year and had a strong race, winning in a time of 32.44 and strangely faster than in 2019 (32.56) and only a few seconds adrift of 2017 (32.38).  Over the last 12 months I have sensed that I have slipped a bit, I'm about 10 lbs heavier and a year older.  As each year now passes it becomes more and more difficult to hold onto what I had in the past, and recovery from exertions becomes that little more difficult.

My fitness this year has deteriorated.  Since the Spine Race I struggled with a knee injury and my back issues continue to ebb and flow.  I only started to run again properly at the end of May and although I've had a decent block of training since, I've been reluctant to put any hard sessions in due to injury risk, instead concentrating on volume.  Obviously its these sessions that have the most gain, particularly when it comes to shorter 10k races.  I simply haven't done anything remotely close to threshold pace, even for short bursts.  That said, I've harboured thoughts about an Autumn marathon and although I will never reach the dizzy heights of 2.20 again, do I still have a 2.2x in me?  The Burton 10k would be the first step in finding out...

The weather on the day was never going to be in anyone's favour.  The forecast was for it to be one of the hottest days of the year and I would guess that although it was low 20's at the start, it was in bright sunshine so would feel much hotter whilst out in the course.  Despite this I went fairly hard at the start and immediately set the pace alongside one other runner.  I took the decision to attack the first half of the course as there is a very steep climb up to about 2.5k and then maxes out at about 6.5k before a sharp descent down to the finish.  We were still firmly together at the peak of the first climb with little to choose between us by the 2.5k point and if anything I was hanging on slightly.  By 4.5k I had taken the initiative and slowly started to gap my fellow competitor.  I knew I was working hard, but having done so few races it was always difficult to judge pacing.  By the half way point I would guess that I was around 9 seconds up on last year and more or less on course record pace.

Start.

The pace I was going at was not sustainable, more so in the heat and by 6km I was pretty much spent.  Even though most of the remainder of the course was sharply downhill the amount of lactic acid in the legs meant I couldn't go full gas and use the gradient to my advantage and it was at this point I was losing loads of time relative to last year.  I also felt that my race position was never safe; although I probably had 20-25 seconds by about 7km I was not in a race winning position as my pacing tailed off a a bit and sometimes in these situations if the person behind can sense they are catching it can spur them on.  I knew that if I was caught then I would have no answer, so I did my best to ignore the pain.

About 600 metres left, only at this point being fairly certain of victory.

It was only by 9km did I feel reasonably secure and with 600 metres to go I became certain that I would win.  I crossed the line in 33.02, 21 seconds ahead of second.  It was a little annoying not to be 32.xx and was largely caused by switching off in the last few hundred metres having known I was going to win, and at that point not really caring about finishing time, all of which cost me a few seconds.

Home Straight.

Finish

Still, a win is a win, although my time was 18 seconds slower than last year.  Nonetheless, finishing in this way is never fun and I clearly went out too hard in the first half, thinking I could hold on during the sharp descent.  Truth be told, by this point the damage had already been done to my legs and I had nothing in reserve.  Overall, I'm in two minds - I'm 43 and the time is still not too shabby considering I've done no pace work whatsoever so far this calendar year.  A decent 10 week block of training and I could be there or thereabouts for a marathon come late Autumn.  The question is whether I believe in myself and whether I have the mental determination to see it through.  The race today was meant to give me answers to the question of whether I have a chance, but in the end I have as many questions as I do answers.  Had I paced things properly I would almost certainly have finished quicker and have a completely different take.  I feel like I probably need another 10k if I can find one towards the end of August and make a final decision then.