Race Report Podium5K - Seth Kirby

This is a review of my time working with Dave, Jen and the team at Blizard to date, followed by a mini race recap of my latest 5k at Podium last Saturday. I hope that some of you might benefit from some of my training takeaways (but more about desserts later…).

I first entered the Blizard doors for a lactate test with Dave on the 16th October 2019 as a birthday gift. What a gift it turned out to be for my running  progress! The last time I had an injury setback was before I visited the clinic. This is not a coincidence. At this test, Dave said I was massively under training (surprise, surprise!). That is easy to achieve when only running 3 days a week. I had some of the worst iron levels and flexibility he had ever seen, and this was topped off by continually getting injured. So there was definitely room for improvement. But Dave was very clear to me that with a few changes, he could turn around my running. I appreciate (and still do!) Dave’s simple and honest advice and scientific approach to evolving my running since our first meeting.

The plan was to attempt to run a PB at Donny 10k just over a month later. My 5k and 10k times stood at 20.47 and 43.09, respectively. I ramped up my running to 4 times a week with ‘quicker’ easier runs as they were too slow, improved my iron levels through some daily supplements and changed my recovery and strength regime. All with the hope of starting to condition my body more effectively for running.

During the first couple of months of my plan training was hard (as Dave said!). But I persevered and ran a PB at Doncaster of 42.18. Then 2020 and you know what hit… I enlisted Dave as my coach and signed up to the Blizard Run Club for the online classes to improve my strength further. My partner Ellie occasionally watches for an upfront view of my squatting technique during the live classes…

The pandemic ended up being beneficial for my running as my commute was cut down to my bedroom at the time! I steadily built my running up to 6 times a week and combined with the Blizard platform I began to feel fitter and stronger. I ran plenty of controlled training sessions which culminated in some improved times coming out of the various lockdowns. For example, in my first 10k race back I ran a 6 minute PB at the Leeds Abbey Dash having never broken 40 minutes.

Fast forward to late 2022 and a consistent spell of running complemented with regular strength training left me in a much better place. But there were some challenges for me to navigate. I broke down towards the end of the Yorkshire Marathon that year due to not being strong enough so I doubled down on my strength training, which increased to 3 days a week. Attending the Portugal winter training camp for the first time too showed me that there was a tremendous amount of work still for me to do as an athlete (my flexibility is still poor!). The hotel food selection also enabled me to get stuck into as many forms of puddings as I could possibly ever crave (simple pleasures in life…).

Dave always said that I was better suited to shorter distances so after running the Manchester Marathon in 2023 I switched my attention to middle distance training. Since then I have been trying to get used to running on the track a couple of times a week. I’m also looking forward to hopefully not getting dropped on track sessions in Portugal again, however, that is still a distinct possibility…

More recently, I have been lifting weights in the gym a couple of times a week (which I didn’t think I would say a few years back). They are not heavy weights but I’m making progress nonetheless. I always finish these sessions with calf raises so I’m sure that will keep Jen happy. Other things that have changed include me slowly being converted to wearing carbon shoes (only for races though). For a while now I have described myself as a bit of a carbon shoe sceptic and for most races until this year I just wore the same, trusted training shoes.

I hope this provides a snapshot of my training routine and development over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing some of you either down at the track or in Portugal next year. What follows next is a short race report of my evening at Podium 5k.

We arrived at the Steven Burke Sport Hub a couple of hours before my race and even before the first race had started! I went over to the registration tent and picked up my number. At this time the organisers were still finishing the setup of the race area and the other sponsored tents.

I went for a warm-up and ended up going along the canal next to the park as it was still light out. The first Open Race was now coming to its conclusion. We now had a good hour to wait before the sub 16 race, as there were the sub 18:30 and sub 17:00 races off at 4.30 and 5pm. The atmosphere was building nicely under the lights and so was the coffee cart queue!

The sub 16 race which was my target included the likes of Hannah Nuttall and Jess Bailey. Before the race organiser started his recap of the prize pot for the elite women. The race consisted of 4 and ¾ laps of the circuit as the start of the finish were in different places.

In the first 50 metres or so the race was incredibly compact with people jostling for the best position and line. The race pack tightened as we got to the opening bend and people were forced onto the grass. I was on the outside so didn’t have the best line. By the time we went through the finish line for the first time, groups had started to spread a little.

As we approached the first kilometre the race organiser was calling out K splits. I remember hearing him say ‘3.10’ just as I came through. My watch vibrated at the same time so he was spot on (as expected!). To be honest with you working in Ks is pretty alien to me. But, running 3.10s all the way would get me there…

I waited until lap 3 to try to push on. The atmosphere was impressive across the whole course and it helped massively that I was just ahead of the 3rd female (Megan) pretty much the whole way! I heard Ellie on lap 3 (I think) shout my name just before the bend of the track again. The end of the third lap was a bit of a blur but I couldn’t follow the split times being called out now. As the fourth lap went by I heard the loud shoes of Ewan (aka The Dental Athlete) come flying past. His pace I could not match but I used him as a marker for the final lap.

The bell for the final lap rang out and I saw about 12.40 on the timing screen so I knew sub 16 was still on. I was hurting now! Then the next voice I heard was ‘800 metres to go!’ That’s when everyone around me started to charge and I didn’t have much left to muster a sprint in the final 400 metres. But just as I was closing in on the finish line I looked up and saw 12.48 on the screen. Yes, I made it!

I was bowed over a few metres beyond the finish line and then felt a pat on the back from Jeff, a Trafford AC runner, who I had been racing all summer long in the Northern League. We had a short race debrief and went our separate ways and I walked back around to the start to meet Ellie. My final time was 15:51 so I was overjoyed with my performance.

After the race, I went over to the Adidas tent to look at the merchandise. I was presented with an oversized (XL) anniversary t-shirt and told to wear this shirt to bed! We stayed on to watch the final races of the night - sub 15 and elite sub 14:30, which featured some big hitters such as Phil Sesemann and Ben Connor.

Podium was a fantastic evening and made better under the lights. I highly recommend having a crack if you’re after a flat 5k race combined with a strong field of runners to push you on to a quick time.