Scottish Masters Indoor Championships, 3.4 miles steady

I jogged down to the Kelvin Hall in the morning to declare for the 1500m and 800m. I expected to do better in the former as I had hardly done any speedwork in ages other than the club's Tuesday training sessions. Warmed up in the gallery and felt in quite good shape. The 1500m was combined M35/M40/M45. One other M35 had entered although I couldn't identify him at the start. After about 300m I felt comfortable enough to take it on, and I led for several laps although there was somebody right behind me all the way. The clock was at the finishing line, which was halfway round every lap, and I soon gave up trying to calculate my pace. With maybe three laps left I started to fade slightly and was passed twice, albeit by runners I suspected were in a different age group, but I held on for third and finished in 4:25.03 which is my fastest 1500m for several years. It turned out that I was the only M35 in the race, so I won by default. I coughed for ages afterwards due to the dry air and at one point thought I would have to withdraw from the 800m, but after 15 minutes or so and a couple of trips outside for fresh air I was fine.

The 800m was just M35 with three entrants this time. I went through 400m in second place in a disappointing 66 seconds, a couple of seconds off the front, and not sure how far ahead of third I was. I didn't manage to make up any ground or even muster up any kind of kick and finished in 2:11.72, which did at least show a consistent pace and was also somewhere around my best time from last year.

After I got home I went out for a few recovery miles via Shakespeare Street and Napiershall Street, measured this time at 3.36 miles, at a steady 7-minute pace.