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running my first 10k race (Read 161 times)


Latent Runner

    Ran the race in 56 minutes.  I was quite happy about that.

     

    If I lose some more weight, it will get easier.  Because that time wasn't easy at all Smile

     

    Congratulations!  Under an hour is no mean feat, you earned it.  Smile

     

    Did you go out a little slow or did you start hammering from the first mile?

    Fat old man PRs:

    • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
    • 2-mile: 13:49
    • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
    • 5-Mile: 37:24
    • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
    • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
    • Half Marathon: 1:42:13

      I lined up about 1/3 the way back in the pack, it was a large group start.  But then I immediately found that people were running too slow in front of me, so I bobbed and weaved, and sped up to get past all of them, and into open running.  That was in the 1st or 2nd minute of the race.  Then in the 2nd or 3rd minute of the race, I was struggling to find my place, and find where I wanted to run on the road, given the crown.  Then by the 3rd or 4th minute I started looking at the other runners still ahead of me, and how they were running, trying to find someone with a steady pace that I liked.

       

      I saw a man and woman talking to each other, keeping a good pace, and I asked him what his typical 10k time was, and he said 57 minutes.  I said he was my man, and if he didn't mind I was going to pace off of him, as it was my first 10k.  He was fine with that.  I told him no hard feelings if he left me in the dust.  And he said that's all part of racing.

       

      I stayed with him until 40 minutes into the race, and then began to doubt I could keep that pace up for much longer.  I dropped my running down 1/2 notch to keep my breathing from getting too labored, and he slowly went ahead of me, eventually getting about 250 yards ahead of me at the finish.  I'm just guessing the distance, it worked out to his time being 1 minute faster than me, which I was perfectly fine with!  I think he said this race was his PR, so hopefully it helped him to have me on his back shoulder for most of the race.

       

      Toward the end of the race, about the last 200 yards, I started picking up the pace.  I heard footsteps behind me, but that person was never able to catch me as I expended all my reserve energy and went pretty fast to the finish.  That person behind me ended up 5 seconds slower than me, when I checked the race postings.

       

      Given the goals I had going into the race, and my current level of conditioning, it was the perfect 10k race for me.  Looking back at it, I don't know that I could have stayed with my pace leader those last couple miles.  It would take more training on my part to get to that level.  Certainly I could do it in another month or so, if I keep training and had a good race.  So I have lots of optimism for improvement.  At the same time, I've very satisfied, and want to focus now on general training, losing my remaining 3.5 lbs, doing some more 5k's the end of Summer, and getting to a track to race a 400m!


      Latent Runner

        It sounds like you ran real smart, something which is hard to do when you've never raced that distance before.  I'm thinking you could crush me in the 400m; good job on all of your training.  Smile

        Fat old man PRs:

        • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
        • 2-mile: 13:49
        • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
        • 5-Mile: 37:24
        • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
        • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
        • Half Marathon: 1:42:13

          Crush you in the 400m?  Ha!  Not likely.  Although it sounds like something to make a good bet over Smile

           

          Sure, I hope to crush people in it.  But hoping isn't the same as doing.  And my last check, over a month ago, was that I was still pretty old, fat, and slow.  I'm gonna work on it through the next month, though.  I don't have any planned races ahead.  Not signed up for any 10k's, nor 5k's, so I've got to double down on my 400m talk!


          Latent Runner

            Yeah, that's the problem with races, they get in the way of your training.  I had a 5K on Sunday 04-May, I have another 5K this Thursday 15-May, and then a 5-Miler on Sunday 15-June, and quite a few scheduled in July, August, and September (including a 24-Hour ultra relay) the day before yet another 5K.

            Fat old man PRs:

            • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
            • 2-mile: 13:49
            • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
            • 5-Mile: 37:24
            • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
            • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
            • Half Marathon: 1:42:13

              Yeah, that's the problem with races, they get in the way of your training.  I had a 5K on Sunday 04-May, I have another 5K this Thursday 15-May, and then a 5-Miler on Sunday 15-June, and quite a few scheduled in July, August, and September (including a 24-Hour ultra relay) the day before yet another 5K.

               

              easy solution. Just use some of the races as a training event. Get in a long warmup and cool down and it's a great training day.


              Latent Runner

                 

                easy solution. Just use some of the races as a training event. Get in a long warmup and cool down and it's a great training day.

                 

                Ha!  Easier said than done.  Smile

                 

                As you probably know, the mind and the body don't get along; the brain says, "Hey, take it easy down there, this is just a training run."

                 

                The legs say, "No way, we're going to show all of these young punks what a fat old gray-bearded man can do."

                 

                Late last summer I had signed up for a 5K on a September Sunday morning, a race which offered a free kilt to the first 1,000 entrants (the race was in honor of "Halfway to St. Patrick's Day"), and a free beer.  So?  So, the previous Wednesday I got a cryptic E-Mail from the running club here at work asking for someone to join a relay team as a last minute replacement runner.  The E-Mail made it sound like the relay team was running a 36 mile relay, and I said to myself, "Hey, I can run six miles," so I signed up.  What I didn't get until later that day was that I had signed up for a 205 mile relay where each of the six runners ran six legs each totaling approximately 36 miles per runner.  Yikes!

                 

                I informed the team captain that I was probably not the best candidate as the last time I'd run more than 15 miles in a 24 hour period was when I ran my one and only marathon in 1979.  He was desperate so I told him I'd do my best but couldn't make any promises about how fast I'd be able to run my legs.  On Friday the team picked me up in a van and I realized that I was the oldest by some 25 years, and also the fattest by an easy 50 pounds.  I thought, "Oh geez, what the hell did I get myself into?"

                 

                The team took pity on me and gave me one of the shorter leg sets; I *only* had to run 32.8 miles, however, my legs also included some 2,500' of climbing (most of which happened in legs four and five).  In the end I acquitted myself reasonably well; I wasn't the slowest by a rather wide margin, and actually matched pace with a couple of other team members.

                 

                Saturday night when I got back home I don't even remember going to bed, but I must have had the where-with-all to remember to set my alarm so I could get up in time for my 5K.  Needless to say, I was in no mood for racing when I got to the starting line, and my brain and body both agreed, "Yeah, nice and easy, just a training run to help loosen up my legs."  Speaking of my legs, yeah, they were literally quaking from a rather significant case of DOMS.

                 

                I lined up back with the stroller crowd, and when the gun went off I started, ummm, errr, for the lack of a better word, "running".  I was moving at such a slow pace the little kids and stroller crowd left me in the dust.  Per my official start offset time, it took me something like 35 seconds to make it the 30 yards to the start line, and that wasn't because I had to dodge slow folks in front of me (I was by far the slowest out there).  I crossed the first mile mark at 12:20 (gun time), right on pace for a "slow and easy training run".  Into the second mile my legs started loosening up and much to my surprise, I went by the second mile mark at 20:05.  With only 1.1 miles to go, my legs said, "To hell with this slow stuff, let's run!"  Even more surprising than my sub-8:00 minute second mile was the fact that I came across the line with an uncorrected time of 27:19, and when you subtract my 35 second offset, which netted out to 26:46.  Yes, that was my slowest 5K of the year, but by far my fastest final 1.1 miles of any 5K I ran.

                 

                So much for a slow and easy training run.  Smile

                Fat old man PRs:

                • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
                • 2-mile: 13:49
                • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
                • 5-Mile: 37:24
                • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
                • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
                • Half Marathon: 1:42:13
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