I Did My Best (I Think)
So Saturday was my first attempt at my goal of 10K in 40 minutes. For this, I’d selected the Wallsend Harriers 10K road race circuit. This is a local race that I’ve run before, and it’s a good fast course. I also had my friend The Irishman come along on his bike. I knew that I needed to average 9.35 mph to hit my goal, so I was using him as a pace setter.
Of course, none of this would count for any kind of official world record - it was in training, rather than in competition, and using a pace setter. Heck, it sounds dangerously close to cheating!
Not that it helped much. The race route is kinda flat, climbing a total of around 250ft in the first three miles. I set off faster than intended (11mph ~ 5:24 / mile), but this only lasted for 800m or so. I then settled down to a somewhat more sensible pace, clocking the first mile (which is pretty much flat) at 6:00. Then we were into the ‘climb’ section of the course, and into a pretty strong headwind. I knew that I needed to reach the three mile mark by 20:00. By two miles, I was behind on this, with a 7:43 split.
To get back on track, I needed to put in a 6:17. Which didn’t happen - my third mile was 8 minutes, meaning that I had to do the last three miles in 18:17. Which is pretty damned fast (6:06 / mile), but now I was into the fast section of the course - downhill and with some wind assistance. It sounded crazy, but I might just do it.
No. By the time I was at the 4.25 mile marker, I hadn’t managed to lift my pace above 6:36/mile. To hit the magic 40 minutes, I now needed to hit 6:00/mile for the last two miles. And that just wasn’t going to happen - I was completely done in, with the tank showing empty. So we stopped, and walked back to the start line.
OK, so I could be pretty dejected about this. But strangely enough, I’m not. The pace I’d run was still the fastest I’ve done over that kind of distance, and sustaining the 6:36/mile I was at when I’d stopped would still have given me a personal best for 10k that’s over two minutes faster than my current record.
I have four months left of the year in which to focus on this. And with some serious interval training, I’m sure it can be done. Just not yesterday!
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 09/01/2007
- Time: 15:00:00
- Total Time: 00:28:00.00
- Distance: 4.25 miles
- Average Pace: 6:35.17/mile
- Ascent: 250 ft
- Descent: 100 ft
What type of interval training are you doing?
400 m repeats?
800 m repeats?
mile repeats?
this year . . . not a lot. My plan is to start going along to the North Shields Poly club training sessions on Tuesdays - they generally do mile repeats. It’s the sort of training that’ll make a man out of me!
yeah..Those are the kind of work outs that will help you reach your goal. Definitely not for whimps!
Yeah, those mile repeats will do a world of wonders for your time. Not to mention make you cry more. But that’s a good thing!
The toughest thing with the Poly is that they have two running groups. With my speed, I’m too fast for the slow group, but right at the back of the field for the fast one! Still, I guess that helps to build the mental as well as the physical toughness….
Karl, also remember that some days are bad days and some days are good days… You may very well have just had a bad day. Next time you want to attempt this course, make sure to take a couple days of rest, and I bet you’ll find you do much better.
Good advice!
Brad is right - some days are bad - some are good. I think you did awesome. You’ll reach your goal - just keep trying. I know you are.