I did have a little track race over the weekend thinking about it. Okay, maybe not so little. It was a special event put on by Athletics WA and Front Runner Performance to attempt to be the first to break the 14minute barrier in WA by a West Australian. Obviously, I wasn't quite going to be at the pointy end, but I was honoured to be starting and going for a Personal Best.
The gun went and pretty quickly the pace was high. However, I made sure that I wasn't going to get caught and maintained the target pace I had set with my coach. 70second laps were the goal. I was on pace and felt super strong for the first 2km. I also had someone else who was almost pace making me right in front which helped massively. At about 3km I felt the pace slow a bit, and I also started to struggle. 70second laps were slipping to 72 seconds and 73. I knew I had to go round the person in front, but I was also on my limit. With 1.2km to go I thought I had to take it up myself so I went round and surged. We had done a 1200m in training last week, so I said to myself just fight through the last 3 laps. My lap times dropped a little but I had done a few laps a bit slow so the sub 15 was gone. It was definitely going to be a PB but by how much. Under 15:30 would be nice, as close to 15 as possible I would love! Crossing the line and with nothing left at all, my time was 15:21. I was so happy, a 30second PB, I was over the moon!!
It was great to see so many people come down and watch the race, friends from Eclipse, family and all the other people who just wanted to see some good racing, I really appreciate it! Unfortunately, the 14minute barrier wasn't broken, but training partner Matt Ramsden, still set a record for the fastest time ran in WA by a West Australian at 14:03. Kudos indeed. Time to focus on project sub15, hopefully we can break that barrier by this time next year!
With regards to the block of racing I spoke about in March earlier on, that all kicks off with the Oceania Sprint Championships in Devonport, Tasmania. I did this race last season so I'm looking forward to going back and hoping to improve on that performance. Following that, I may be heading abroad for a few weeks, but that's just a possibility. However, I will be heading over east to the Gold Coast for a couple of races in April so for all my fans there I expect a warm welcome.
Whats going on now? Well, its my birthday tomorrow, so I will be having a little celebration for that, nothing big, just me and...well, maybe someone might celebrate with me, who knows. I'll probably be asleep by 8pm so it could be a party without me.
Until next time (wherever that may be, or may not, there should be some big news). Have a great few weeks, enjoy training, enjoy Halloween and enjoy looking at the pictures below.
Adios, Sam.
As always a massive thank you for the continued support from the people below. It would be so much harder to do what I do without them.
Pedal Potential
Sam Farmer
Zone 3
Vorgee
Rocktape