As I mentioned in my last post I intended to run four events at the Australian Masters Competition in Perth . I had entered the 10,000m on Thursday, the 3,000m Steeplechase on Friday , the 5000m on Saturday and the 8,000m cross country on Sunday. My target was a top three age group finish in all four with a stretch goal of  a clean sweep age group gold medals to mimic Usain Bolt on the Olympics. (If only in the number of goal medals.)

So I took Thursday and Friday off work and toddled off to the West Australian Athletics Stadium to run my first event, the 10,000m . Not knowing the calibre of competition for this event my game plan was to start like a scolded cat and hang on for as long as possible to my mate Ross’s shirt-tails. Ross was in good form and would certainly break 35 minutes. My track PB was 35:35 (I think? ) so I knew somewhere along the way I would be jettisoned from behind Ross but the idea was to make this inevitable event as late as possible in the 25 lap race. Secondly I would checking the bib numbers on the back on all athletes ahead of me as I was really only racing the clock and anyone in my age group, there is no prize for the first three runners, it’s all age group determined, with a 1,2 and 3 in each age group presented with the gold, silver and bronze medals. Looking around at the starting group I could see a few runners in my age group and made a mental note to track them if they dared run ahead of me !

As soon as the gun went off Ross and I set the early pace before being passed  by a 55-59 runner, this may have been a knock to the ego, being passed by an older runner, but he was in a different age group so I wasn’t racing him. I managed to hang on to Ross for around 10 laps before he started to pull away and I was left chasing the older runner who had taken 5-10 metres off me. No worries, I was happy enough in third place , happy in the fact I was running in the age group gold medal position. This continued up to the halfway mark when , as always, I realised I had gone out too quick and dropped deep into the pain box and I mean deep. I always say the 10,000m is one of the hardest races you can run as you always race it at 5k pace and at 5k you find out why it’s called 5k pace! Normally I can hold out until about 7k before I start too question my sanity and asking why I shouldn’t just stop and let the pain go away. Unfortunately today I was at that stage of the race a few kilometres earlier than normal, joy, some real pain box time.

I continued on to the finish counting down each lap and giving myself small targets to aim for, last 15 laps, single figure to go laps, last 5 laps , 2 laps to go and then finally last lap. I find in this race this helps, anything to take your mind off the pain. Eventually I finish in a new track PB time of 34:40 and third overall but more importantly I had won my age group by just under 5 minutes, the benefit of hindsight would have been useful but as I said earlier you really racing the clock and the age group runners. Of course I could have slowed towards the end and still won comfortably but that’s not racing, as I said many times when you put on a bib it’s on like donkey-kong, pain box time. Today was extra painful but, at 51, to get a track PB there was no other alternative really.

Next on the running menu was a new dish, the 3,000m steeplechase. I mean how bad can a 3,000m race possibly be, I was about to find out ! Truth be told I knew nothing about the steeplechase and it was only chosen as I suspected that chances of a medal would be high. This was confirmed when the competitor list was published and there was only three other runners in my age group, better still on the day one runner scratched so I was on the podium if I finished. I did make an effort to do some pre-race training on the Wednesday before the race but couldn’t being myself to jump the water jump when it was empty. Trust me people it is intimidating as the drop is extremely large before the slope back to track level. I decided to wait until the race proper before I launched myself over the hurdle into the water, what could possibly go wrong ? Thursday evening was spent researching hurdling techniques and avoiding the ‘when steeplechase goes bad‘ videos on YouTube. This gave me a new found confidence and I was confident on race day that I could at least finish ? I also found out that there are four hurdles plus the water jump per lap, so with seven laps and a half laps there was 30 hurdles to clear. Again seemed a reasonable amount , boy was I about to get a shock. !

We set off at breakneck speed as always, c’mon 3,000m what was there to hold back for ?  I managed to clear the first two hurdles placing my right spike on top and leaping off , (Did I mention that half-an-hour before the race I brought a pair of spikes, my first ever pair. Seemed like a good idea at the time ?) managing some forward motion but I remember thinking that was quite high , higher that it looked on YouTube. No worries I had the water jump next and this was my first time so I decided to land two footed and just at least get round one lap comfortably.  As you can see from the photograph below my technique was not text book, little forward motion but I survived.

Funnily enough the hurdles seemed to be getting bigger each lap,I was sure as I went over them someone was sneaking behind me and moving them up a few inches each time. I remember looking at the lap counter with 3 laps to go (remember this is only a seven and a half lap race!) and thinking I was in trouble as the legs had well and truely gone. The last few laps I’m not sure I made any forward progress as I jumped over the hurdles (and I use the word ‘jump’ in the broadest sense of the word.) In the end I finished in 11 minutes and 24 seconds but my 1k splits told the story, 3:26, 3:56 and 4:01 . It was not pretty but I had managed fourth place finish and more importantly age group gold medal number two. Please note I have officially retired from steeplechasing, it is without doubt the hardest thing I have done in my running career, never again !

Next was the 5,000m and I knew I had some serious conception. Doing my research on the competitor list I found a world recorder holder for the 1,500m , albeit 6 years ago and another runner with a sub 17 minute recent PB. I knew if I was going to grab gold I would need to run sub 17 minutes. On a normal day that would be quite do-able but my legs were destroyed from the 10,000m and the race from hell. (otherwise known as the steeplechase?) I put my trust in my Nike Vaporflys 4% as these had got me a track PB a few days earlier and certainly seem to work on the track. Again my game plan was to hold onto Ross for as long as possible , the basic ‘scolded cat‘ start, why change a winning formula ? So when the start pistol went off so did I , like a rocket. The first kilometre was 3:05 which was way too quick and I knew this would come back to haunt me. The next kilometre was slightly slower but I knew my time in the pain box was coming and boy I wasn’t disappointed. It was starting to heat up on the track but I was in a good position with my nearest 50-54 age group rival behind me and dropping back each lap. In the end I ran just under 17 minutes, 16:54, which was another track PB, couldn’t be happier. Fourth overall and again an age group gold medal. Three down, one to go.

Finally day four we had the 8k cross country. The course was mainly on grass with some sand sections but no real hills to talk off. Four laps of a 2k course which infact turned out to be slightly less, turning the 8k into a 7.4k, after three days of competition I was more than happy with the shorter course. As with all previous events I was racing the clock and anyone in my age group. I noticed Jeff Grey from the previous three days but no one else. Could this be my fourth age group gold ?  As it was I worked hard for the first two laps and then seeing no one anyone near me cruised home in just over 27 minutes. I say ‘cruised’ , my legs were gone and it was the steeplechase all over again but this time with grass and sand. Got to love multi day events ?

Finally how good was it to find these Australian Championships were also the Western Australian Masters Championships, so as the first WA runner in each event (in my age group) I was entitled to four more gold medals. So Mr.Bolt it seems I managed to acquire eight gold medals at the Masters, not the original four I was chasing. Seems like a fair deal because trust me I earned them !  As someone commented on facebook I look like a modern day Mr.T, albeit a tad thinner ?

So would I recommend the Masters to all runners over thirty ? Very much so , the four days ran like clockwork and I’m a big believer with improvement linked to racing,  so the opportunity to race at so many distances over a short period of time will certainly help your running. (not sure about the steeplechase mind, that one may take a bit of convincing once I mentally recover from those last two laps !) I met some great people over the four days of competition and even my first African (Algerian)  follower (I’m assuming?) of my blog. Yassine Belaabed was just beaten into second place in the M65 8,000m cross county and I’m sure he can find the 13 or so seconds he needs to put Giovanni Puglisi  in his place at the next games in Melbourne. That’s the thing with Masters, there always next year and you know what, I may even be there to watch Yassine do it,  when it comes to Masters racing age is just another opportunity to level the playing field but really it’s more about the camaraderie of competition,  amongst like minded people, doing what they love.