10ks are no fun. On the one hand I think I’ve got the strategy down, on the other my strategy is to run right at the edge of unbearable pain. Do that pretty much from after the first mile straight on through the finish. As always, I try to hold myself back a little right at the beginning to let the beginning of race excitement pass.
Well, today I rant the Race to Stop the Silence 10k. I got that old right out the gate excitement and decided to go with it. I zipped past Shelly & Kevin thinking that I wanted to run my own race. I knew I wasn’t going to PR, but I still tried to push myself to see what I could do.
I immediately got tired. I mean immediately – by the time I got to the back side of the 6 mi mark, i.e. .2 mi into the out and back course, I was feeling weak and beginning to slow. I kept waiting for Shelly and Kevin to pass me. I'm pretty sure that not wanting to look like a complete idiot after "zipping" past them kept me going faster than I would have otherwise. As it turned out, they finished just seconds behind me.
I have never been much of a spitter, but today I had to, I felt like Golum hacking up mucus. I left my watch at home, so I just paced myself by telling myself to run at the edge of the pain. I gave myself breaks where I slowed a little, and I walked through the two water stations.
I finished in 53:43. About 4 minutes off my PR; respectable for three weeks after my marathon. The scary part is that is that is a 8:40 pace and to qualify for
In good news, based on the McMillan calculator, my time today suggests that I can run a marathon in 4:11:51. My recent Cherry Blossom time suggests a marathon time of 4:12:52. I think that confirms my suspicion that I ran the marathon conservatively. I can take 10 minutes off from better strategy (i.e. pushing myself a little harder throughout the race). That leaves a little over 30 minutes to take off through training. No problem ;)
1 comment:
I think you love the math part of running as much as the pain part. Crazy lady!
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