My current location is Aberdeen Airport where my 11:05 flight has been moved to 16:30, and although my [slightly forced] relaxed mentality with the obscene delay is only so because my connecting flight isn't until tomorrow morning, my mood reflects how I hope my attitude will be towards the upcoming big races next week. In only 5 days I will be running my first senior international race for Great Britain at the World Uni Champs 2016 in Miskolc, Hungary and yet I have had more stress in the lead up to a midwinter Parkrun where my biggest competition is a local runner who is aiming to break 18minutes.
This somewhat unusual pre-competition mentality stems from the fact that this wasn't even an annual goal of mine pre-BUCS back in February simply because no-one, including myself, ever expected me to be given a ticket to the competition starting in a few days time. And even once BUCS went so well and the selections came out, my focus remained on JWOC. With a gap of 2 weeks between internationals and such a stronger, older, and more experienced international field at WUOC, it simply wasn't wise for me to put my full focus on both, and so WUOC will remain an experience-orientated international for me, where any good result will be a bonus and a bad run, should one occur, be less disastrous than normal. Of course I'm not going to take the piss and run the races in my boxers; I'm still putting my full focus and effort into every race, but clearly the pressure is off and it's a chance for me to try out some different approaches. It's a nice feeling, and, most likely, one that will never be repeated.
My goal for the next few day now is to decide my exact approach for both individual races next week (I'm excluding the relay because, clearly, my race strategy and performance will effect other people's results directly, and not just my own). There are so many variations of physical aggression, technical risk taking and preparation levels that it will be a tough decision. But more likely than not I will be taking a relaxed and safe approach to the Long, which is set to be a bit of a survival expedition in the Hungarian heat and steep slopes, and perhaps a more aggressive version of my JWOC Middle strategy for the Middle race on Wednesday.
So for the final few days before Monday's Long, after some praying that I actually get to Heathrow tonight, I'll be getting used to the Hungarian terrain and heat, as well as making some exciting decisions on a very rare opportunity to race an international stress-free and as I see fit.
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