Today I concluded my 5 month training plan to reduce my 10k time. I have learned a lot about myself and running during this time, including the fact that I started out very over ambitious about the time I could knock off my time. I began this process thinking I could get down to a 60min time from 1.16.25. I was to discover that was a totally unrealistic goal.
So today was my race day. I did look into taking part in an actual race but the closest 10k was a long drive away, so I invented a virtual race instead – The first annual Running Bloggers 10k. I was joined by Justin from beardhairinmycoffee and Declan from unironedman, in my imagination at the very least. Here is my race report 😀
Following Storm Desmond in the last 2 days, the day was surprisingly calm, clear and dry. The running field was small (just the 1 competitor) and the crowd support was limited to 1 small dog and a few sheep.
After a warm up I went off to a great start, my first 2 kms
coming in at 7.03 and 6.49. Km 3 saw the first big hill of the route followed by a good down hill stretch for km 4 which I did in 6.44. From here the route becomes a series of hills and dips, peaking at the 6km point. I hit the 5k mark in a total of 35m 48s, just 2 seconds short of my pb.
I maintained a good pace of 7.13 for km 6 but began to slow over the 7th km taking 8.28, mostly because it is nearly all up hill and a brief pause for more water. I was also a little slowed down during the 8th km as I had to negotiate a flood which meant scrambling up the side of the ditch. I was struggling by the final km, digging deep mentally and pushing my legs so I covered it in 7.04
I am delighted to have knocked 1 min 55 seconds off my previous 10k pb.
Just think what you could do if it was a flat course! Well done. This is awesome.x
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Wow! That’s brilliant! To do that on your own and on hilly x-country course is doubly impressive 🙂 remember that the times ppl “report” for 10ks are usually on flat, tarmac courses. And with other runners around to spur them on! Well done you 🙂
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Thank you. I stuck to the same course I had used for my previous pb for proper comparison. There was a flat route I could have used but it is badly flooded
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Good on ya. Can’t speak for Justin, but I was out there running too, in the hills of Dublin. I’ll have a report in the next day or so.
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Thank you for doing it. It might sound mad but I had you both set as imaginary runners. You are much faster than me and I tried to catch you. Justin is closer in pace and I imagined running alongside him and him taking off away from me. Is that cracked??
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Your time beat mine! I have an excuse (I’ll explain in my post), but ultimately you beat me by a bit! Great job!
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I look forward to hearing all about it
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[…] as my contribution to another blogger’s plan to do a ‘virtual’ 10k. See here for more. I think I held up my end of the bargain. It’s a great idea – I hope it […]
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Well done you! Great PB 🙂
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[…] happy to hear that her “race” went well and not only did the program work but she took a whopping 1:55 off her 10K PB! Rachel, I’m very proud of you and can’t wait to see how well you do on your road to […]
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