On Saturday 15th May I took part in the Run Through Battersea Park 10k looking to improve my personal best. Throughout lockdowns I was doing 3 or 4 (more specific) training sessions each week and I managed to clock 16:11 for a 5k solo time trial. I was confident I could run well inside my PB of 34:34 from the London Winter Run in 2018.
In the week leading up to the race I made it to Mile End track for a 10 x 400 (90s rest) session and ran a 20k tempo around Chelmsford on the Thursday to keep the legs turning over. I opted to stay in a hotel, between work and Battersea Park, before the race so I didn’t have a super early start. Aside from the Layer 5 miler, which used wave starts, this was my first “proper” race back since the lockdowns and I was really excited to see what I could do.
The night before the race I was thinking about how to approach it. “Should I go out fast and try to hold on or start steady and ramp it up?”. I opted for the latter because I figured if I went out a little too ambitious it would be a sufferfest. It always feels better to be passing others and finish feeling strong. I looked at what times I would have to hit for each 2.5k (8:45) to run 35 minutes but was hoping I could pick it up enough to run well inside that. After-all my current half marathon PB is around 3:30min/km pace, although that was 5 or so years ago.
There seemed to be a really good turnout for the 10k. I guess Battersea Park is a popular destination for a race as it’s pancake flat and the corners aren’t sharp. It’s ideal for PB attempts (& training sessions) really. The start was a little different to normal with everyone being told to stand on a cone and groups of four set off with a few seconds between them.
With the adrenaline pumping on the start line it’s easy to take off too fast. I made a conscious effort to hold back, get into a rhythm early and assess how the legs felt before picking it up. Having trained solo for a long time it was great to be in a race with others. The conditions were perfect, nice and cool and very still. It’s not very often you get good weather on race day so I wanted to make the most of it.
The first lap went really quickly and I felt comfortable at 3:30min/km for the first few kilometres. There were quite a few guys holding around the same pace so it was good to work together. Another lap down and I went through 5k in 17:13. As I was feeling good I started to pick the pace up a little and focused on closing the gap to runners in front. I was conscious of pushing too hard too soon and blowing up so I increased the pace gradually every kilometre. Luckily I continued to feel good. I think the track session in the week really helped. As I had ran the reps at close to mile pace I felt really efficient in the race.
Thanks to my progressive pacing strategy it was great to be passing others on the final lap. I knew I’d already done enough to clock a big PB but wanted to chip off as much time as possible. With the final kilometre including the slightest of downhills I opened the legs up before crossing the finish line in 33:37. Having not raced many 10ks over the last 5 years I knew it was due a big update but I was really surprised to knock off that much and happy with the way I felt and executed the plan.
As I enjoyed the race so much I’ve been eyeing up a few more Run Through events around London that I can make over the next couple of weeks. Next up could be the Chase The Sun Brixton 10k, think I might need a decent hill session before that one!
Overall I really enjoyed the race and it was great to see lots of friendly familiar faces. Always a big fan of the Run Through medals… and flapjacks too. Thanks to Matt and the team for organising another cracking event. Hopefully see some of you at another event soon!
Steve Skinner 