Vélizy 10km - 36:32 and new PB

I've given it all away in the title and there'll be no suspense in the race description now. I have nothing to suprise my readers with but since most of them were at the race anyway and know the results, I'll just get on with it.

I picked Nico up this morning to drive him to the race. We discussed our respective form and how the day was perfect for achieving a new record. He was aiming for 35:00 and I was aiming to beat my record and be not further than 30 seconds behind him. In fact the 30 seconds was a lie to myself as internally I was ready to accept a gap of up to 1 minute. If he was going to achieve 35:00 then I would have to do 36:00. I've been running well in training recently and I was convinced that I could beat my record. My intervals and reps and distance work have helped build up my speed and stamina and the weather was perfect: sunny, dry, no wind and a temperature between 8 - 10°C. There were no excuses for not achieving.

Neither Nico nor I knew the course nor where to park in Vélizy for the start and after a little visit of the town (thank God Vélizy is not a big place) we found the stadium and the start of the race. We were both focused on our marathon training and although we were here to run the race, we were also aiming to complete the training for the day of 1:45 with 25 minutes at marathon pace. The 10km would resolve the marathon pace issue but we decided on a 30 minute warm-up followed by a 40 minute warm-down after the race. All was set.

We warmed up around the small loop of the course to begin with after having picked up our bibs and met with a number of other runners from St Germain including Gérard, Françoise, Thierry, Simon, Robin, Aude and Gérald. The course was organised into 2 loops: the first a short loop of 3 kilometres, followed by an extended loop through town and then through the forest back to the stadium for a 3/4 lap to finish.

We got in line for the start about 8 minutes before the race was due to begin. In all of my racing experience, which admittedly is not extensive, this was by far the worst start I've ever been in. The officials forced us to back up so that nobody was over the start line and we were compressed like cattle in a pen. I was leaning over backwards with the pressure from the runners in front and I couldn't move my feet backwards as there was no space behind me. We "stood" there praying for the race to begin so that we could be released from our misery. Finally the gun went and we were off and miracle of miracles, nobody fell in the first 10 metres and was trampled to death.

I was behind Thierry, Simon and Robin and I could see Nico and Gérald well in front. However, there was no way through and I didn't want to slalom the first kilometre. I held back on the pace and waited for the gaps to appear dso that I could slip through. After a 90° left bend and then a 90° right bend the road widened out and I was able to pass down the left-hand side where there was plenty of space. I noticed that Nico had gained a little lead and after passing Thierry, Simon and Robin, I focused on Gérald who was running well and tried to pull him in.

I caught Gérlad after 1k and put some space on him immediately so that he didn't decide to tuck in behind me. I now looked ahead and watched Nico run with Fred, a former St Germain runner, who had told us just before the start that he ran 36:50 last Sunday, qualifying for the French nationals over 10k in the process. This was my time objective for today's race and I figured that I wasn't running as well as I thought or I should be with these guys ahead. Having thought this, I carried on at my pace which felt fast enough for me and the virtual partner showed that I was already 20 seconds up on the 3:40 pace I had programmed on the Garmin.What really surprised me though was that after the first short loop, I could see the gap between Nico and me reducing with Nico dropping off the pace set by Fred and others in their little group.

It was really happening. At about 3.5km, I knew that I'd catch Nico. The gap was now about 8 - 10 metres and my only thoughts were whether I could keep this pace up and how would he react when I pulled alongside. At 4km, I caught him and didn't even make a sign to let him know I was there. I was too worried that he'd tuck in behind me and I wasn't sure how I could cope with this mentally.I saw on the Garmin that I was 33 seconds up on my virtual partner at this point and although I was tiring, I still felt that the pace was not unsustainable. I passed Nico and made a mental effort to dig in and to keep pushing.

I don't have many recollections of the race for the next couple of kilometres only seeing Momo looking as though he was leading as one section doubled back on itself and the leading pack came past going the other way (he was in fact in 5th position but the first 4 were well ahead). We went past the 6th kilometre now and the gap between Fred and myself was closing. I focused on reeling him in and when I pulled alongside at 7km, he spoke to me "I'm not going to give in easily James" and the bugger tucked in behind me. We took it in turns to lead through the forest and the last track section with a slight uphill. He gained a couple of metres on me and despite my acceleration over the last kilometre, I couldn't pull him back. The motivation wasn't there as I knew I was on for a new PB and overtaking him was not going to give me any more satisfaction (Complete bo**ocks of course as I regretted this after the race - but I wasn't thinking this at the time).

I entered the stadium and half-sprinted the last 300m to finish in 36:32 a new PB by 25 seconds. Really pleased with the time as it confirms my form at the moment and is promising for Florence. Nico finished in 37:46, having walked at one point and almost DNFed, before deciding that he wouldn't drop out of a race and ran to the end. Gérald did much the same but ran slower finishing in 40:40 and one of his slowest 10k race's ever, but he'll be back soon. Pleased to beat Thierry and Mireille which is also a new first and finsihed 2nd from the club behind Momo.

Splits went as follows:

3:29, 3:28, 3:35, 3:38, 3:39, 3:36, 3:42, 3:42, 3:46, 3:34 and then 18 seconds for the last 100m to the finish.

23.5 km for the day including the warm-down and 98km for the week. If I'd known I was so close, I'd have insisted on another 2km today!