In Place of a 10K

Today's runs: Warm up run of 2.8 miles at 8:53 pace. 10k Time Trial. Cool down run of 1 mile at 8:47 pace.

One challenge in following the schedule shown in Advanced Marathoning is found in three weekends like these. Today, the schedule says to run a race (8-15K), and tomorrow, a Long Run (17 miles). In all of the Bay Area, however, there are no races today, and in general, races are found on Sunday. Doing the Long Run today and racing tomorrow would not be advised, so I had to solve a problem, or deviate from the schedule.

Mike decided to help out. He needed to do a tempo run, and his pace on said run would set a good pace for me to simulate a 10K race. So, off to the Saturday K-Star run for the first time in a few weeks!

I had a strange feeling this morning, though. The sun was bright and warm at my house when I awoke, and there was unusually thick traffic as I drove across town. Quite simply, a beautiful morning in anything but running terms.

We announced our plan in the circle-up: run the standard 10 miler, but at around 3 miles, pause and start to run at 6:40 pace. Meredith and Chris decided to join.

I took the warm up miles slowly, keeping my heart rate in check even if that had me trailing the entire pack of K-Stars starting their various runs.

We regrouped at the 3 mile mark, discussed the course and pace, and started off!


The route began downhill, making the start pretty quick. It felt fast but easy. When we hit the mile mark, Mike announced a time of 6:15, about 20 seconds fast, and encouraged us to slow it down a bit. I kept on Mike's pace to the turnaround point just before the two mile mark and somehow fell behind at the turn. Mike announced the second mile split as 6:45, about what we'd like.

Somewhere coming back up the Great Highway it become harder for me to catch up. Mike dropped back to offer encouragement, but I didn't have the confidence I could do this pace and started to get into my own head a bit. Mike and Chris started to gain ground ahead of me, and try as I may to keep up, I was having serious trouble doing so.

Then, the mind really kicked in. Was it:

• the warm weather?
• the fast start?
• the onset of a long stretch of hills?
• the sluggish week I've been having?
• the lack of sleep?
• insufficient eating?
• or, was I just plain slow? Was my previous 10K time based upon a short course?

As it became a fight to come up the three hills on Middle Drive/Overlook with any speed, trying to keep Chris and Mike in reasonable distance, I battled my doubts in my head. I could tell my heart was working hard (seeing 185 on my heart rate monitor), and my breathing was heavy, and my legs, though occasionally getting bursts of energy, were not compensating for the trouble I was having with overall energy. I mistook, again, the second hill on Middle Drive for the hill on Overlook, and drooped a bit in the exposure of the sun when I realized it.

Mike drifted back and announced that we were "calling it". This heat was too strong for us to try to do this pace, and we should just forget pace and push hard to the end. I felt Mike could probably keep the pace himself, but he was being very group-oriented and selfless in guiding me along.

Towards the end, a few times I thought I could push more, but I just couldn't maintain it. At the finish, I couldn't reel in Chris or Mike, and pulled in, beat and tapped out, at 43:25.

That pace is slower than all three of my previous 10Ks, but I don't feel too bad. The Book says there are two purposes to races before the marathon:

1. Feedback on fitness
2. Experience of the anxiety of a race

And more importantly, it lists two ways to do such a race:

1. Train through them: all out effort when fatigued
2. "Mini-taper" and allow for recovery

Strangely, though this schedule comes from the book and you'd think it would design it as the text implies (the second option), there is no recovery from this race (tomorrow: 17 miles), and doing this in the context of a 50 mile week strikes me as not a mini-taper, either. The book cautions, however:

This will provide an excellent training stimulus as well as a mental challenge that will help steel you for the marathon. Racing when tired, however, brings the danger of believing that your finishing time and place represent your current fitness level... you could interpret the result as meaning that you're not in shape, and you might start to train harder or become discouraged. It's important to put the result in the context of the situation. (Advanced Marathoning pg. 36, emphasis mine).

Having read that makes me feel a lot better about today's result. The pace ended up being spot on my Lactate Threshold pace, and I feel good about at least replacing the near-death run when it was too hot in Maui. Further, this being the first time I'm running at 50 miles per week, I am certainly feeling tired these days.

I expect that my next race will either feel better, or be at least equivalent. Hard run, but good.

Many thanks to Mike for making the hard run possible.