Allow me to indulge one more time into the afterglow of Sunday’s race. I know I’m straining your patience, but if you break 40 minutes at your first attempt, it’s something you will want to keep thinking about.
The main thing about the race was how easy it felt. Cindy hit the nail on the head with her comment that I seemed to enjoy myself. I most certainly did. Afterwards I did question myself, maybe I should have run harder; if you’re not suffering during a 10k, isn’t that a sign that you’re not working hard enough? I did think about that quite a bit, and came to the conclusion that no, I really don’t think I could have run any faster. I have read that from quite a few people, their best races always felt easy. Any more pushing and I would not have been as relaxed, my form would have suffered and I would most likely have slowed down rather than accelerated. If anything, the race was too short for me. I still felt great at the end and could have kept going like that for longer. I like to think that a 10 miler would have resulted in an even better time. But I’ll never know for certain, and I’m sure as hell very happy with that race.
Wednesday saw me back on the road for a fast attempt. As soon as I started I knew that this would not be a proper tempo run, the legs were stiff and tired, and I settled on a “strong effort”. The race together with Monday’s 22-miler formed a double header, and it takes a bit more than 2 days to recover. I was still happy with the run. The first mile was slower than 8:00 pace, but by the time I came back home I had worked it down to 7:00 pace. It’s not long ago that I would have been ecstatic to hit that pace with fresh legs, never mind tired ones.
Initially I decided to run the devil’s elbow loop for today, but my hip is still not 100% right and I don’t want to aggravate it. Besides, I calculated what my mileage would be for this week, and due to Monday’s long run it will end up rather high, considering that I’m supposed to be tapering. I therefore decided to give myself 30 extra minutes of sleep (which didn’t exactly work out, thanks to Shea waking early), and just ran 7 easy miles on the flat(-ish) part of that loop. I did spot another runner ahead of me once, which is an extremely rare occurrence. Unfortunately I was past him within 30 seconds, and didn’t see him again after that, but a brief encounter is better than none at all. I still live in hope that someday someone around here will join me on my training.
I know that I already did a long run on Monday, but I’m planning to do one loop around Caragh Lake tomorrow, because Friday is my usual long run day, and Monday was just a delayed effort from last week. I originally intended to do the 17-mile loop, but after studying other people’s tapers I decided to cut it to the shorter 15.5 miles course instead. After that I will take tapering more seriously. Next week should see the mileage between 45 and 50 miles, and the week after that below 30 – not counting the race, obviously.
45 miles. One year ago that would have been an average week. Now I don’t know how I will survive on so little running.
14 Mar: 8 miles, 58:36, 7:19 pace, avg. HR 152
15 Mar: 7 miles, 57:11, 8:10 pace, avg. HR 144
Oh, the glory! Well deserved, talk about it some more, we all need good, positive thoughts about runs, great performances and solid efforts!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for basking - I milk my good races for as long as I possibly can! Speaking of races, do you have a time goal for the ultra?
ReplyDeleteWhen I ran my first sub 40 minute 10km, I was ecstatic, so don't feel bad for milking it. Bask in the glory! You should see the rest of your times start dropping now, the confidence that it gives you is incredible.
ReplyDeleteA 10km race is also about strategy, as it's so short, push too hard, or too late, and you can miss out on a minute, very easily.
Well done.
You are a speed demon. I know you probably never dreamed you'd ever been this fast...congratulations on an excellent race. Those long miles in winter have paid off Thomas. Good work.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading more about the race. Very inspiring! I need to up my weekly mileage. The most I've ever done in one week is about 46 miles. Not much, compared to other people. Right now, my mileage is lower than it should be for an upcoming half-marathon (March 24) and 10-miler (April 22): hovering around 30-35 miles. On a good week.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to second guess yourself when you feel good at the end of a race and I think it's natural, but it can always go in the completely opposite direction if you go out too fast. You ran a well executed race and I think there will be faster times in your future. You certainly deserve to enjoy it a little longer.
ReplyDeleteA race like that is a rare gem where you're feeling good right to the end. I have a feeling it won't be your last either. Enjoy the taper, you deserve that too!
ReplyDeleteKeep on basking. Going under 40 is an amazing accomplishment that many of us will never accomplish. I don't think you could have run much faster. Go back and read about how you chased down that guy near the end. Had you been gassed you would have never had that experience.
ReplyDeletePlease, bask all you want. You deserve it, and we love reading it!
ReplyDeleteThomas,
ReplyDeleteYou totally inspire me so keep on talking. As I've said before, I am hopeful that I'm a year or so behind you. Oh to dream...