I have always worked in min/mile pace for running times, mostly out of habit. But for a 40 minute 10k that means trying to keep track of 6:26.22 per mile and just gets messy. But 4:00 per km is simple. So for the first time ever I switched my garmin over to pace reading in kilometres. And that also extends this review as I now have 10 sections to cover instead of 6 and a bit.
I started the morning with a rollering session and then 30 minutes of running yoga. Then I headed out to the course nice and early so that I could get registered and warmed-up in time.
I collected my number and then tried to do a bit of a jog to warm up before heading back to the hall for the race briefing.
The course was described as gently undulating. I suppose that is a fair assessment in hindsight, although I might not have fully agreed with that description while staring up gradients at a few points around the course. The description also didn't allow for the headwind for the first 2 miles, or the sunburn. I knew I was in good form so I planned to aim at 4 min/km and see how far I could hold that pace. If I could get to 7 or 8 k before paying the price for that I should still be finished in a respectable 42-ish and I would have an idea of my chances of a fast time later in the year.
The first couple of miles were into a headwind but I decided I would still go with the time targets and if that meant working a bit too hard into the early wind I would be able to ease off slightly later on during the wind-assisted return leg. I did a last bit of a jog off the front so that I could walk back to the start at the last minute and be nice and close to the front of the race. Seems some habits from back in my more serious days just won't go away.
I started off pretty fast. Primarily to get into a space away from the pack, but also to give me a few seconds of leeway later on if I slipped behind my planned 4 min/km pace later on. That turned into being 7 seconds too fast through the first kilometer and as I settled off that pace to something more sensible quite a few people went past. I just ignored them, checked the watch now said I was close to the 4:00 mark and settled in for the next couple of k's. Through 3,000m in 11:57 and doing the maths in my head and I was still happy enough, a few seconds lost whilst still going into the early headwind was nothing to worry about.
Then came the hill that I wasn't expecting and 'undulating' turned into a short sharp climb. I pushed on here, ignoring the fact that I was passing a few people and having to work a lot harder, despite that I still lost a chunk of time on the climb. 4:19 for that kilometre and I am suddenly 16 seconds off the pace, and out on my own with no-one to work off.
Fortunately a Forres Harrier had taken the same approach to the hill and pulled up alongside me. He was wheezing badly, which was a bit distracting, but he had a good pace going and had obviously gauged his effort to get to the top of the hill better than I had as he started to ease past. I tucked in nicely behind him and tried to follow as closely as I could. That took us nicely though the next kilometer slightly under plan and put me at 20:13 through the 5k mark.
I knew there had to be a downhill at some point and the course and I was feeling quite comfortable so I started to try and work out if I could actually go inside 40 minutes and I got back on the maths in my head. Where can I make back 13 seconds? I thought about trying to even it out for the whole second half of the race and run 3:57s but I decided instead to try and just stay with my original plan of 4:00s for as long as I could and then if I had anything left in the last mile I could try and chase those few seconds.
Apparently I still looked quite comfortable at this point. It certainly felt that I was working harder than that picture suggests.
Through another couple of bumps and steady kilometres and I wondered if the course was ever going to give back elevation during the second half. The guy from Forres was making the most of the rolling sections as he started to get away from me. He managed to pass a young girl ahead of us and she became my new target. Annoyingly she had her coach / dad / friend on a mountain bike pedalling along beside her for a big chunk of the race.
And then at the 30 minute mark suddenly we were onto a downhill. And at this point you can see across to the finish, and that is still nearly 3k away but it doesn't look that far, and it is definitely downhill from here. Then the course seems to curve away from the finish line. It doesn't really, it just heads on a parallel so it feels like you aren't getting any closer even though the downhill means the speed is definitely going up.
With about a mile to go there is a left turn towards the finish and after that turn I knew it was possible to go sub-40, I was taking back chunks of time and gaining on the runners ahead of me. I finally caught the young girl and her mountain biking supporter and I could see the crowd and the finish flags now.
With a single kilometre to go the clock says 36:00! All I have to do is find another 4:00, but the course designer has added another 'undulation' up to the finish. I know I made back nearly 10 seconds in the previous downhill kilometre and if I can keep the same effort level that I did for 9 that should be enough.
I had to dig quite deep for that last kilometer, as can be seen from the look on my face as I cross the line. And I was over the line before I felt the watch buzz and remembered to press stop. It then took me another couple of steps to get my breath back, take a couple of steps and check the watch.
39:49!!
My first ever sub-40 10km. Finally breaking my 21 year old PB of 40:24.
The official results even rounded down from my hand timing to give me a 39:47!
Way inside my main target for the year to run under 42 minutes!
Inside my stretch target for the year to run under 40 minutes!
Yes all of those exclamation marks are warranted.
The only thing I didn't quite get was my stretch target to 'run my age'. On race day I was 39.75 years old, and my time was 39.78 minutes. Two seconds faster or a week later and I would have been able to cross that off the list as well. With the wind conditions and the bumpy course I think I can run a bit quicker yet.
I then scoffed a couple of the awesome cakes at the finish hut and took the bike out for a lap of the course as a warm down.
Here is the full breakdown for the statisticians among you.
| Splits | Time | Cumulative |
| 1 | 03:53 | 03:53 |
| 2 | 04:02 | 07:55 |
| 3 | 04:02 | 11:57 |
| 4 | 04:19 | 16:16 |
| 5 | 03:57 | 20:13 |
| 6 | 04:00 | 24:13 |
| 7 | 03:59 | 28:12 |
| 8 | 03:58 | 32:10 |
| 9 | 03:50 | 36:00 |
| 10 | 03:49 | 39:49 |
| Summary | 39:49 | 39:49 |
Full results here
Official time 39:47
No comments:
Post a Comment