Racing Against Time

The Sunday long run at Helena Valley is a ritual amongst distance runners in WA, with athletes from all different distances, disciplines and abilities joining together in the common goal of getting fitter. These Sunday runs are great for a catch up, to pass 24-30km without realising, and on the not-so-odd occasion, the chance to have a good hearty argument.

This week, it was the Wombat Warrior under fire. In his blog (http://thewombatwarrior.blogspot.com) he had mentioned in an earlier post that it was ‘great to see two young guys chasing a fast time’ – referring to Marc See and myself chasing the elusive state 3000m record. This is a time that I have had on my radar for the last couple of seasons, and one that Marc almost took on Friday night, with a brilliant display of front running that I wish I was there to race against, or even witness. 

One of the guys on the run wasn’t so keen on this, and was of the opinion that it was more beneficial to race against each other instead of the clock, because it teaches us to win, instead of chasing a time. The disagreement turned into a good old-fashioned yelling contest, and it wasn’t until the end of the run, I had a chance to think about what I really thought about the matter.

In the perfect world, I guess, racing other people is the best way to go. You don’t beat a clock to win the Olympic games, nor the World Championships, not even your own state championships – you’ve got to beat the guy that comes second. There is simply no other way. You need to be tactful, you need to be smart, but most of all, you need to be physically better on the day.

This is true for the top end of running. However, the debate was taking place in the context of WA distance running. You see, in WA, the fastest 5000m time that has been run in the last 5 years is 14:24.3, with the national qualifier being 14:18.00. The fastest 3000m time in the last 5 years is 8:12.60, with the fastest time in Australia this year being 7m55sec…that’s without Birmingham or Mottram being on the books. In both these races, the second placed time was way off the winning time (14:55 and 8:23 respectively). So the question needs to be asked – is it better off to race for a slower time, or run for a faster time?

I believe in this context, the answer is run for a faster time. To make the Olympics, first you need to qualify. If you aren’t fast enough to get there, you’ve got to somehow get fast enough. And if you’re the best in your country, and you have very little competition, how do you go about it? You either get pacemakers to help you out, or travel elsewhere. The rules are simple – no qualifier, no Olympics.

This is the same in WA, but on a micro scale.  It’s not a race to make the Olympics, it’s a race to qualify for nationals, or at least feel competitive. The best in WA are good, but put them in a field with the rest of Australia, and a mediocre time, and the chance is that a mediocre performance will follow. However, put them in a national event, where they have the confidence in knowing that they have run a time that is going to make them competitive – now that’s another story.

So in this instance, racing the clock is more beneficial. Not only does a fast time breed confidence, it gives you the leverage to be selected for such events. And run a fast time in Perth with no one around you – such as the 14:24 and the 8:12 – then an even faster time is possible come a big race, with faster and more numerous runners.

If I had been satisfied in racing to the line with the second place getter in that 5000m race in 14.4x – one of two things would have happened. I would have run over 10 seconds slower than last year, and I would have lost a lot of confidence. Similarly, if Marc See had been happy with racing for an 8:20, he would have replicated the performance of his last 3000m – not moving forward…staying stagnant, and possibly not having as much confidence as he would now, which is a good thing for him, but for the rest of Australia, mark my words, look out for Marc See – this kid can, and will, run fast this summer. Very fast.

Anyway, moving on from this story, the story of WAdistance has been continually on the upward climb. After a solid tempo on Wednesday, and some speed play on Thursday, the weekend rolled around – meaning its one-week closer to nationals. Having negotiated a much improved work schedule, I’m finally back to running 11 times a week (previously 7) and hopefully feeling a lot fresher. Fingers crossed, this weeks track work will leave me in good shape to progress through to the WA State Champs on the 26-28^th March – where I will once again try to convert myself in to a 1500m runner – I wish!