This 10k race was intended as a test of where I am with my training. The hope was that after a few weeks of speed work I'd prove to myself that I was making progress and was indeed becoming a better athlete.
The 40 minute 10k barrier has long been a goal and my PB of 41:15 was set 4 years ago. My coach was confident that I'd get a PB and stood a good chance of a sub 40.
In hind sight the 1ks on Thursday should have been a prediction of how the race would go yesterday. It was similarly windy with a twisty and slightly undulating course. For a 10k it was surprisingly, and confusingly, marked out in miles rather than kilmeters.
My time was 42:28.
Not even close to what we wanted. I'd have settled for sub 42, but didn't even get that.
For sub 40 I needed sub 4 minutes per kilometer (sub 6:26mpm) and for a pb sub 4:07 (6:38mpm).
There was a good turn out and a fair amount of josselling at the start.
Managed 6:35 for the first mile, so that 40min was already off the cards, but PB was still there.
6:37 for the second mile and the PB is still possible. The 40 is going to be hard and I'm already feeling the effects of my exertions.
7:04 for the third. Oh dear. That's my mile pace of my half marathon PB and to do a sub 90 minute half I need to be doing 6:52.
6:56 for the fourth. Well, at least I've sped up from the third.
6:56 for the fifth. Some consistency.
6:57 for the sixth leaving 1:22 for the final 0.22 of a mile.
Average heart rate was 160bpm, max of 167bpm and didn't feel that I could have given anymore on the day.
42:28 I know is an okay time. I can remember back to a time when I was aiming for 1hour for 10k, but I can't help but be a little disappointed. As we learn more from our mistakes than our successes hopefully this will be a learning point. Should I reset expectations more accurately? Was the wind such a factor? Had a tapered right? Had I trained too hard earlier in the week? Had blood doning taken more out of me than expected? Was I too tired? Was I dehydrated? Was I just not focused? Do I need more 10k race experience? Was my pacing slack?
We'll find out over the next couple of weeks with a half marathon and a full marathon coming up.
Tapering
Since the efforts on Thursday the only training I'd done was an hour swim on saturday in a 50m Sportspark pool:
1200m warm up as 200 f/s, 200 drill-swim, 200 pull, 200 drill-swim, 200 pull, 200 f/s
4x 100 on 1:40
400m with 30s rest
4x 100 on 1:35
400m with 30s rest
4x 100 on 1:40 (had planned on 1:30, but wasn't quick enough)
200m warm down
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