City Runs Exeter 5k, 2 Apr 2021

It was just fantastic to be approaching my first race booked into the calendar, and finally working towards it with that all important preparation. Whilst my key races of this season are sprint distance duathlons and triathlons, a local 5k race seemed a smooth way to transition back into competition after so much disruption to the past year of racing. 

However, arriving at the wrong race venue certainly didn’t help the nerves! Fortunately, I still had time to make it to the right destination, but to my horror…with just two minutes to spare before the start time! My planned 15 minute warm up set was replaced by a frantic sprint from the car park to start line.

This was a far from ideal state to be in just before starting a race and I’m sure my performance suffered as a result. I was 150 seconds slower than my 5k PB, which was disappointing, but I’m still delighted that I got to race considering my careless planning.

The race was two laps around Exeter racecourse, with a sneaky incline which unfortunately coincided with a strong headwind. I also started off much too fast trying to keep up with my very speedy friend who I entered with. This meant that my pacing was far from the consistency that I had planned, and my mind drifted from focus to negative thoughts that the race was not going to plan.

Although it sounds like nothing went right for me on my much anticipated first race back, I am so glad that I can contemplate some useful take homes from this race for the season ahead! I will now always double check race information, including on the day, to avoid mixing up venues/times/days between races!! My experience also illustrated how a good warm up is key…as I suffered from lack of, physically but also mentally in order to bring about a calm and confident focus into the race.

I can’t wait for my next opportunity to race a 5k at Exeter sprint duathlon….with the added challenge of completing a 20km bike leg and a second 5k straight after!

Lucy Hoade