Tracksmith London Twilight 5000 - trying to avoid the wooden spoon ! 

Yeah it was up to 39 on the start sheets but get a few DNS of course. It actually worked fine as you can see soon turned into single file. Hopefully I can find a place nearer at least to the middle next time. Think the Tracksmith name helps as it seemed attract some runners who would not normally race on the track which is great to see.

Thanks. Would have liked to go a bit better but we always do don't we.

Yeah thanks. It could have been a lot worse TBH. There was a time when I was really just a 800/1500 runner where 5000 on the track seemed a long way and I did very few. Certainly though the early pace was a lot “easier” until my lack of endurance kicked in. Slight regret I never really did my justice over the distance.

@TimGrose 5k on track is brutal when you start to struggle. 800/1500 I hate, need to try and set a quicker time than I have currently, though. Only ran once or twice for Swindon at the SAL meets. But I'm 95% a road runner, not a massive fan of the track. You got a potential list of what marathon you might run next year?

@@thewingitrunner guess track is largely what I know. I did very few road races in my younger days (so 80s & 99s) - partly as then pre Internet a lot harder to know when they were and no parkrun of course. I have a GFA time for London so that will be my default. Need to think if fancy anywhere else but London logistically for me is of course very easy. On other hand done 3 times out of my 6 marathons so perhaps ought to try some others.

Yeah and you and well run - just outside PB (also SB!) wasn’t it. Always helpful to pinpoint the issue. Hopefully it will settle down soon and probably start building to some longer races. Got the British Masters 5K in December in Battersea again though and I think I saw the 10 mile version is at least down South at end of Dec.

Thanks!

Oh so close I see but well done good run. Yeah thought bit much to ask to film before a big race for you. Maybe December for the BMAF 5K in Battersea although I think you might then be old enough to run yourself ?

Thanks and yeah at least some racing instinct kicked in and tried to beat who I could - just one other as it happened LOL. Think if was on form would be really really quick in this sort of race. When I was on the back of the "train" it felt like was running in a vacuum. Almost the entire field did track PBs.

I see you ran well there. Although I have been track racing since the late 70s, don't recall lining up in such a big field before. Just slight regret was not in better form to keep up for longer. Will look out to see if it happens next year. And yes have now met Jerry - well virtually.

@@TimGrose Thanks Tim! 😊

Ah thanks - just have. I thought he looked sort of familiar and perhaps only a photographer would spot a GoPro actually "running" :) Always fear somebody would at worse "nick" it or knock it over. I tried to prop it up between my shoes and a T-shirt on the top of a "convenient" steeplechase water jump barrier.

Ah giving everybody else a chance :)

I got lapped when I did my PB of 15:26.0 by Ian Gillespie who did just under 14 that day and was sub 4 miler and 13:20 ish. Did beat a young Jane’s Thie though and never again. In the BUSF 10000 one year when did 33 something, Ian Hamer lapped me after about 9 laps on way to a 28 clocking. Went past me like I was standing still despite me doing mid 5 pace. Rather humbling! Ironically I “paced” him for 1200 in my first sub 4 1500 and hung on for 2nd. He was “jogging” round after returning from European champs. In this race was a bit annoyed to get lapped literally by about 5 within sight of the finish. I did interview Terry but forgot did it on my phone. He has had a knee injury but always optimistic. Carrying a bad injury & then running in spikes probably not advisable but hey I sort of did the same. Interesting to see what you can do for the marathon. Oddly given I still think of myself as a miler, my sub 3 still stands out as my best performance all year. Maybe we are just getting too old for these short distances.

@TimGrose James Thie. He 'won' the first ever parkrun I did at Cardiff in 2008. Yes no hiding place on the track.

TBH I haven’t been to a meeting where they actually checked shoes since it started. Largely as the officials generally have no idea on such matters ! Have heard only likely to get checked at higher profile meets with call rooms. I brought my Dragonfjy spikes too just in case but here I felt I wasn’t the exception as it were. Of course those rules should really only apply to elites as World Athletics intended. I think it did rather confirm to me that spikes (when not carrying a niggles) are faster anyway so did not feel I gained anything short of getting round as it were.

Bit unfair to say the officials have no idea. We do all have a good idea but it’s very hard to monitor and we applied some common sense I think.

@@mattleese5114 sorry I should qualified that the meets have been to the officials made comments to me on the lines that we have better things to do then check your shoes and, as mentioned, I have now been to about 10 meets since the rule came in and in not one of them was any checks made despite saying in the pre meet instructions that they might be. Here I heard beforehand that they would not be saying any checks would be made which is neat way of ignoring a rule IMHO by just not mentioning it. So, out of interest, have you checked shoes at any meeting and even denied an athlete a start unless they changed them?

@@TimGrose I'll probably just stick with the dragonflies. Certainly not an elite, but I'm probably a purist, and I do enjoy stupidly light shoes. Interesting discussion on rule enforcement. Scottish Athletics (who I run under) do state the rule for every meet, and I know anecdotally that it's sometimes enforced (e.g. shoe checks) but more often than not, it isn't.

@@yellowfolder yeah I would have done so myself without this niggle and even ran a 10000 in them this time last year with no real issue. Do find the Dragonflys feel a bit “flat” at the relatively slower 5K/10K paces though but so much lighter than even Vaporflys. Certainly spikes all the way if can get down to low 80 & under laps say in a 1500 or even a 3000 - well for a while.

Yeah as mentioned I would have gone for Dragonflys anyway if wasn’t carrying a niggle. It helped in that regard but clearly was no faster as it were. It was actually a long session of road intervals in the Sen 9 that really aggravated the issue and although I like them still prefer the Vaporfly anyway.

i filmed it in 5K so could zoom in a bit to 4K but you still just about fitted in :) Thought was funny to keep it in so did. Great event even if my own run could have been better.

I think that is why they decided not to enforce it as I would have been a bit higher up in the 3 previous races :) I would have worn spikes anyway if was in full form as it were and was noticeable that nearly all the runners in the fastest races were in spikes.

We can always have better style I agree. However I think it is tricky as feel what you are seeing is largely a result of me going realtively slowly. In another 5K this I finished sub 5 pace like my younger PB days and lo and behold I look like I am bouncing off the ground.

@@TimGrose yeah it looked like you were doing a very fast walk.

@@MTBEAST007 yeah know what you mean. I am obviously tall and yet my cadence is still relatively high. That said I see I averaged 181 in this race which is rather low for me. It was 184 in my last road 5K when did a bit faster 18:59 but was 187 when did 18:33 in April. Looking at the overall run here can see quite marked drop in cadence after the first mile but also drop in stride length too. So I think was an element of more obvious shuffling when I got tired.