Last week, I went on a plane for the first time in a year and a half, and headed to sunny Belfast for the Northern Ireland Senior Track Champs. Seeing as my father is Northern Irish, I am equally eligible for NI as I am for England, and recently I made the decision to switch eligibility to Northern Ireland. The Champs were an essential race to tick off, and it was one of the most enjoyable races of the season. The race. I headed into the race with no focus on time and purely concentrated all my energy on trying to win. I have to say I loved doing this. I had hoped to sit in for the first few k, but I ended up heading straight to the front of the pack, and staying there for the entire race. A lot of people don’t like doing that, as you have to do all the hard work, but I enjoy having the difficult job because it can only make me stronger and be beneficial in the future. The first kilometre went out very slowly, and I felt incredibly comfortable, but rather than panic that I’d gone out too slowly, I used the energy I had conserved to my advantage. I worked to pick the pace up slightly each lap, until the point I knew I could create some distance from the rest of the girls. As I hadn’t raced against most of them before, I wasn’t sure where I stood in comparison, so I didn’t want to push on too much incase they did come past me and push on. Instead, I gradually wound the pace up each kilometre and pushed on in the last mile. The great thing was I felt soo strong! I had no idea of the time I was on for, but I expected it to be slow after the pace of the first k. I was very pleasantly surprised when I crossed the line in 16:03, having front run the entire 5k, but knowing I had much more left in me to give. Confidence going forward.
Something the race gave me was a lot of confidence. It reassured me that I can pick the pace up when a race goes out slowly and my legs can move at a decent pace. I do tend to run better when I gradually build into it, so knowing that I can run a decent time even when I start feeling extremely comfortable is very reassuring. It makes me excited for future races knowing that I can push on in the last few kilometres to make up ground. It also shows that in order to run fast times, I don’t have to go out with the lead back and kill myself immediately. I can run my own race, stay a little bit reserved, and then work even harder in the business end of the race. Renewed motivation. Having felt the strongest I have in a race for the past month or two, I now feel more determined and motivated than ever to work hard to achieve my goals. It is so great when you come out of a race feeling excited for the next as motivation in training is incredibly high. I can’t wait to have a few more races, and then focus on working hard over the winter to chase after my goals.
1 Comment
Paul
8/6/2021 07:29:30 am
Congratulations, well done. Looking forward to your next outing.
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Hannah IrwinI love to run and I love to write, so I write about running! Archives
March 2023
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