3 races in 5 days: it started with a season's best 3000m in Walton, then a 5th place and a very welcome prize voucher in Purbrook and last night finished off with a 5k PB in Portsmouth. I got through it, but not without consequence: last night I had the worst case of night cramps I've ever experienced.
Although I couldn't feel it, I could see my calves twitching constantly. That wasn't so bad, but every time I fell asleep my calves would lock solid giving me a very rude awakening. I tried everything: compression socks, massage, cold packs, hot packs, isotonic drinks, salty drinks, and even drugs: Syndol contains a muscle relaxant so I thought I'd give that a go. Nothing worked. After 4 hours I finally dropped off to sleep properly and got a few hours of uninterrupted sleep before a rude awakening at 6am with another bout of cramp. Ouch!
The race went well though. My calves were a bit sore beforehand but I put this down to Tuesday's massage rather than any real tightness, and they soon felt OK once I was warmed up.
I had a good tussle with Rachel, who was also recovering from Purbrook after her 3rd place. We ran together for 3 kms before I dropped her. Her team mate Kaye tried to motivate her back into the race (my ears are still ringing!) but Rachel's legs were having none of it.
I had hoped for a sub-20, and the first 2 kilometres were very promising, but congestion around the lake as we tried to pass some slower men (one of whom dropped out after we'd struggled to squeeze past him on the narrow bit - injury or did he just give up? - odd) meant we lost some time. The slight breeze seemed to slow us a bit on the exposed part of the prom. Once I got back into some shelter for the final kilometre, my pace recovered back to sub-20. The result was 20:12 on my watch - a road PB by 10s. That leaves me hopeful I can dip under 20 on the track in a fortnight's time and hopefully also on next month's Promenade 5k.
Karrie won the race again - good luck to her in the GB 800m trials in 10 days time - go girl! I think I was in 6th or 7th - I haven't seen the results yet. Hopefully I'm in with a chance of an age group prize for the series.
A good evening's racing but not such a good night!
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