Back at it with a 10K

In my last post I talked about how I took 7 weeks off from running: 2 weeks with Covid, followed by 5 weeks of post-viral fatigue.

Getting Back Into Running
Once I was confident that I was out of the woods, I was able to ramp up my training fairly quickly. I spent the week of September 16 testing the waters with frequent walk breaks during my runs. By the end of the week I was up to 5 minutes running, 1 minute walking with no problems whatsoever. 

The following week (September 23) I removed my walk breaks and ran a total 36 miles. I felt energized and strong. On top of that mileage, I included strength training nearly every day. As a 45-year old woman, I know that I need to continually strength train to avoid loss of muscle mass. 

By the end of the month I started adding speed work back into the equation. I paced a friend in a 5K at an average pace of around 8:00, helping her set a new Master's PR. Speed work was quite humbling - I was nowhere near my previous paces! I stayed positive and patient, having faith that I would eventually return to my previous level of speed with enough hard work. 

Suffice it to say that by the time October 20 rolled around, I was not optimally prepared to run a 10K. But I did it anyway!

The Fall Classic 10K
I decided to run this race because I enjoy racing and I hadn't done it since July 4th. Plus, I purchased a 4-pack of races from Potomac River Running and I still had two races left to run. Bonus: the weather was absolutely perfect. When I signed up for this race two weeks ago I decided I would do whatever I could without getting frustrated by my lack of speed and use it as a fitness test. 

Between recovering from my illness and racing the 10K, my only speed workouts were:

• 3 x 1200m at marathon pace + 2 x 400m
• 6 x 800m + 2 x 400m
• 3-mile tempo run 
• 13.1 miles including 3 x 2 miles at marathon pace (7:14)
• 3 x (1600m + 400m) on the Monday before the race

That's actually a lot to pack into three weeks. Kind of like cramming for an exam. But my body handled it well. 

Before the Race
I had a very casual attitude towards this 10K. Since I had only invested four weeks of training into it, I knew I couldn't realistically expect a fast time. I mainly just wanted to discover what I could do and the curiosity was somewhat of an experiment - devoid of emotion. My sports psychologist always said that being emotion-neutral was a good thing, and here was a perfect example of that.

I ate a handful of almond butter pretzels and a banana about 2 hours before the race along with a big chug of water. I hadn't even fully finalized my race outfit the day before! What a shocker! I settled on my Senita shorts because the design and color were autumnal. And the last time I raced in Senita shorts they worked out really well for me. I matched it with a black tank top and black arm warmers. 

I really wanted to wear my brand new Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro Beta shoes because they are zebra print! But with a 4mm drop I decided not to risk irritating my Achilles. I will need to test them out during a workout first using my heel lifts. I settled on my trusty adidas Adios Pro 2 shoes with a friendly 8mm drop.

We arrived at the race site and I got my bib from the running store. I ran into several friends while getting my bib and it was so nice to be "out" in the running community again! I couldn't find the porta potties so I used a Starbucks bathroom. Then I started my warm up. 

About 10 minutes before race start I had a caffeinated Maurten gel. Then I finished my warm up (1.9 miles total) and lined up at the start.

Weather
As I mentioned earlier, the weather was perfect! 39 degrees at the start rising to about 42. Sunny. No wind. Crisp, fresh fall air. Heaven! This gets a 10 out of 10 on my weather scale. When I lined up at the start line, one of my friends suggested that I ditch the arm warmers and I did. I stashed them near a cone at the start line and retrieved them after the race.

Goal and Strategy
My goal was to run under 43:00 minutes which I thought roughly lined up with a pace of 6:50. That was my half marathon pace last spring on a flat course so I figured I'd be doing great to run that same pace on a hilly course with only four weeks of training under my belt. I had run this race before so I was familiar with the elevation profile. I decided I would go out conservatively, hang on during the two middle miles which were net uphill, and then really drive it home during the final two miles. I definitely did not want to crash and burn so a strong finish was a must. 

Miles 1-2
When the race started, a bunch of women took off ahead of me. Usually when I run these local races I am in the top 5 women right out of the gate. But not this time! There were two women running side by side about 5 seconds ahead of me for the first mile. I could have easily run up to them and run with them but I held back for fear of going out too fast. Plus, I like to run my own race. 

I found a steady rhythm and settled into it. I expected to see Greg about a quarter mile out but I didn't see him. I kept looking and looking for him but he was nowhere to be seen. When I passed the first mile marker I realized that I must have somehow missed him. That seemed impossible for a race of this size, but maybe there was sun glare or maybe I was too focused on passing someone at that point. Oh well! I didn't dwell on it too much. 

My splits were 6:50 and 6:53, which I was happy with.

Miles 3-4
This is the toughest part of the course. Both miles are net uphill. My legs did not have a lot of power and the hills made me feel REALLY out of shape. I had also ramped up my weekly mileage quickly (50 the week before) and my legs weren't properly tapered. I did not look at my watch during these miles because I thought that would be totally demoralizing. The women who were 5 seconds ahead of me during the first two miles were now more like 15 seconds ahead of me so I gave up on catching them. I did pass a few people during these miles, though! Both miles clocked in at 6:56.

Miles 5-6
Now it was time to really push but instead of digging deeper and asking myself to give more, I let the downhills do the work for me. I simply didn't have the motivation to go deeper into the pain cave when I was already quite uncomfortable. 

During the 6th mile, one of my friends passed me and I didn't even try to stay with her. She had mentioned at the start line that she was running a progression run and I wanted to stay steady and not try to speed up. I do think I was physically capable of it, but I didn't have the motivation to actually do it. I guess I didn't feel like I was really racing. The whole thing felt like a test/experiment and I wasn't in my normal race mode.

BUT, during the last third of a mile, I saw I was gaining on another woman and I DID start to close the gap pretty quickly. I caught her just in time to cross the finish line at the exact same time as her. However, she had started 2 seconds behind me and her chip time was 2 seconds faster. That's okay, though - she was fun to chase down! 

Mile 5 was 6:46 and mile 6 was 6:41. The final 0.3 was a pace of 6:23 according to my Garmin. 

My official time was 42:59. I attained my sub-43:00 goal! This was the perfect time for me because I honestly wasn't motivated to go much faster than what I set out to do. I won 1st place in my age group and was the 7th overall female.

After the Race
I re-united with Greg and he said he didn't see me at the beginning of the race. He thought maybe there was a 5K that he confused for the 10K. Or maybe I didn't start. But for some reason we missed each other. And that seems so odd! This was not that large of a race. Especially considering I was able to spot him just a quarter mile into the Richmond marathon!

I retrieved my arm sleeves and ran a 1-mile cool down with my friends. Then I hung out and chatted with a few people before the awards ceremony started. Definitely a fun morning!

This morning I ran for about an hour and my legs didn't feel like they raced yesterday. They were tired, but not at all sore. I guess that's a good thing in terms of my fitness, but not a good thing because it shows I didn't run it as hard as I could have. 

Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
I'm generally pleased with this. I did exactly what I thought I could do, but without the motivation to exceed that goal. It was really awesome to be back into the racing scene and to connect with so many other runners. 

I compared my heart rate from this race to my heart from the 10K I ran last February when I PR'ed. My average heart rate at the February 10K was slightly higher. That's exactly what I expected because I know I ran that race at a higher level of effort. Good news for my fitness, but not as good news in terms of my ability to push myself yesterday.

I think I could have kept going at that same pace/effort for another mile (like when I ran that 7-mile 10K last winter!) but it was a struggle to run any faster. This tells me that my endurance is strong but I need to work on my speed. My endurance didn't take as much of a hit from that 7-week hiatus as my speed did. But hopefully after another 4 weeks of sharpening things up I can be closer to where I was last spring.