Lets get the important bit out of the way first... The race. Wow! My first World Championships. It felt like any other races, same faces, hot conditions but we were stood on the start line in the Bird Nest Stadium in Beijing. At no point did it over power me, nor did I feel out of place. I knew I deserved to be there and this was a massive opportunity. I started off and purposely went to the back, I knew it could be messy in the first few laps as we had to do the first kilometre inside the stadium. So I let that pan out, the pace was still quick enough, infact it was perfect. After 3 and half laps of the track we headed out of the stadium, this is when I planned to make an early move. I moved up half the field as we made our way out to the 1k loop on the road outside of the stadium. I felt terrible. I didn't feel comfortable, I felt sick and thought this was going to be a very long day!
As I settled though the pace was fast. But it felt easy. I started to not only feel good, but I felt great! I felt in the form of my life. I played it safe, till 5k hitting it in about 20:25, so not as safe as I thought, but it still felt so easy. I just kept pulling out the laps, on a course which I really loved as it felt so quick. I hit 10k in 40:44 and reassessed the situation, I checked all my indicators, legs - great, pace - strong, stomach - settled, temperature - ok, head - focused. I knew as I hit 12k that the K's were going to be tough at this point and they were. I dropped a little bit of pace, but nothing drastic I stayed calm and really pushed on. I made it to 14k still well under PB National record pace and started to believe that this could be a very special day. I gritted my teeth and pushed on.Then nothing. My legs stopped turning, my drive disappeared and sharp pains just started shooting through my legs. I felt strong but the sun was beating down on my neck at this point. I felt energy disappearing from my body as I took each step. The wheels really did come off. I was so angry with my self that I pushed on and on. But I had nothing left. The sun allowed a fast 15k but the final 5k it punished me. I was relieved to finish. I was so distraught to see the time of 1:23:58. Well over 22mins for the final 5k.
Gutted, I lay on the track trying not to cry. I got up and knew I'd have to speak with the BBC but didn't want to. I just told my self see the positives.
I know now though that the pace was fast and the great thing was it felt so easy. I'm still young in the event and I plan to train harder than ever before going into the Olympic year. Soon I will be able to hold that pace, even in those conditions all the way to the end. I also clinched my third Olympic Games qualifying time, as well as going from ranked 42nd to finishing 24th! I also was the 8th European Athlete to finish, moving up 4 places from last years 12th at the Europeans in Zurich. So there were some positives and obvious development. It has shown just how far I have come, that I can finish 24th at Worlds and be disappointed.
It took me 4 days to recover before I was able to do much, so I have no doubt I gave it 100% on race day and would like to dedicate my first World Championships to my coach of 6 years Andi Drake who was unable to be here in Beijing. A very big thank you also needs to go to the man who put up with the teenage Tom and got me into race walking... Peter Selby Tonbridge AC race walking coach. The man deserves a knighthood for his dedication to me and the event.
I have been able to enjoy my self since. I started off at Beijing Zoo with Meghan Beesley, then did some sight seeing, risked my life on a scooter with Michael Rimmer and Kyle Langford at the Silk Street market and then headed to the Great Wall and Summer Palace with Laura Muir and Coach Andy Young.
I also commentated on EuroSport on Friday and Saturday's morning sessions, talking walking during the Women's 20k and Men's 50k.
A lot of the time you don't have the opportunity to get to see much of the places you travel to. This time I was lucky enough to have an entire week to sight see and watch the awesome athletics!
Overall I've experienced a lot. The race taught me so much to take into future championships. There are plenty of things for me to work on and hopefully the support from British Athletics will continue to grow so I continue to show my worth on the international stage.
I dreamt of making a World Championships and have done it, I'm now also only months away from fulfilling my Olympic dream assuming all goes to plan. However, these dreams have started to change and develop into ones of winning international races and medals. For the first time in my career the final pieces of the puzzle lay in front of me. I was able to see what the difference was between finishing 1st and finishing 24th. It will soon be time to head home and get back to Leeds, recover, and put together my plan to take me further up the field. The next two years are big in my development and by London World Championships in 2017 I see that as the start of many years of racing at the front of the pack fighting for medals.
I can't thank everyone enough for all your kind words, but 24th is not good enough and you can trust me when I say I will work harder and become better than I ever have before over this next winter.
My season isn't quite finished with another 20k on Sunday 6th September in the Isle of Man, followed by a return to China for the IAAF race walking tour, 4 days of racing!
Japan was a beautiful, China was... interesting, but 2016 will be outstanding.
#TomWalksFast
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