Bit of a breakthrough...

"Oh, no pressure then!" was my comment as I spotted Sir Coach Bobby McGee AND assistant Marci walking through the gates of the Potts Field track last night.

Here am I trying to do this low-key event and now I know I will be under scrutiny. Oh, I am so ungrateful sometimes! These two never put their athletes under pressure -- it is all self-generated.

Of course I was glad they were there. Immediately after finishing the 3k -- my first for 20 years --I was a little disappointed not to have kept up with T.David Kehoe and Benji Durden (I was beating them last year), and Abby was saying that it looked like I was suffering -- not as comfortable as usual. I wasn't even sure I had got under my target time, which was 12 minutes for the 7.5 laps - 200m short of two miles.

Then Bobby reappeared with the comment, "Well, I think you had a breakthrough!" bearing my time -- 11:08 -- and my splits, which included a surprisingly quick 39-second last 200m.

I think what he meant that I was able to stay smooth, keep on pace (I was quite "metronomic", as Dave Albo pointed out) and maintain good form for the whole 3k. Powering on for the final 200m I was well pleased that my piriformis didn't complain,. either.

I also noticed that I was not tired and still had a lot of bounce in my legs. I started thinking that maybe I could have driven from 400 instead of 200. So I ended up thinking "good job", to myself :)

The challenge I have at the moment is that when I am warming up and throwing down a few strides, I feel absolutely WORLD-CLASS! I'm sure if I could find a flying 15-metre race somewhere I would smash a world record. Unfortunately, there is still a slight mismatch between the race performances and the world championship quality warm-up.

* Picture shows me (in blue top) at the end of the second lap as David Kehoe (behind me, with glasses) and Benji Durden (black hat and gloves) plus another guy I don't know all decide I am going too slow and start to move past. (Picture: Abby Daniel).

* Boulder Road Runners "summer" track meets (they've been COLD so far) are run every couple of weeks at Potts Field and are open to all-comers. See the BRR website for calendar and details.