For those who did not see my previous blog article, last Sunday (12th February) I ran the Valentine 10k. A 10 km road race starting and finishing at Easton College, near Norwich (Norfolk) through country roads, taking in a number of local villages. It was hosted by the Norfolk Gazelles running club, and the second race of the 2023 Sportlink Grand Prix series of races, with around 900 runners.
My Race
I instigated my usual, tried and tested, race-morning routine. Up; shower; cup of tea and breakfast (bowl of granola and honey yoghurt) – whilst watching the latest episode of BBC Click; toilet stop; and then out the door. A friend was also running the race, and I collected him en-route. We arrived at the event in good time to collect our bibs, and meet up with other fellow running friends for a quick chat.
Aiming for my Riegel predicted time of 41:40 (see previous article), I positioned myself near the start of the 30 to 40 minute pen. The starting funnel was narrow, as was the first 1.5 km of the route, which along with being a gentle incline made for a slow start. I hit the 1 kilometre mark at 4:20, and my legs were not feeling in their best shape – some soreness from last week’s race was still to be had in both my distal Vastus Lateralis muscles (the outer quadriceps just above the knee).
I gave myself a talking to, and pushed to up the pace
I gave myself a talking to, and pushed to up the pace, managing to complete kilometre 2 in 4:06. Great, I was starting to gain back some time from the first km – only 5 seconds behind target. Kilometre 3 was completed in 4:14, which meant I was now only 9 seconds off my target. The soreness in my legs had not increased, so things didn’t look too bad.
The route then became a nice downhill section, and I ‘rode with it’, flying through the the 4 km mark in under 4 minutes. I was now just ahead of schedule by 4 seconds.
I passed the 5 km marker in a time of 20:50, bang on my target.
I passed the 5 km marker in a time of 20:50, bang on my target. I had slowed a little but gave myself another few stern words, and forced my legs to push off a little harder, managing to reverse the trend. At 6 km I was behind, but only by a matter of seconds.
I passed a couple of runners, with one telling his friend not to worry as it was fairly much downhill from this point. “Only 4 km, and downhill”, I thought to myself, “perhaps I can keep this up”.
My mind was saying I could, my legs were telling me otherwise. The distal soreness began to creep progressively up my legs, and getting them to work in a coordinated fashion, was becoming more and more problematic. So much so, that I passed the 9 km mark over 20 seconds behind target. I did manage to pick up the pace for the last km, but it was already game-over, and I finished in an official time of 42:15 (at a 4:14 min/km pace), 35 seconds slower than my target.
Additionally, I should mention the people that called out my name whilst I was running. Thank you for your support, and if I did not seem to acknowledge you, my apologies. I was so ‘in the zone’ that on occasion it was a good number of seconds before my brain caught up.
Analysis
I gave it my best shot, but it was not to be.
I may not have hit the intended goal time, but it was certainly not a disappointing performance. I think we all knew that given my hard-run 10 mile race only 7 days previously, that hitting the Riegel predicted 41:40 time was going to be a tough one. I gave it my best shot, but it was not to be.
On the flip-side, it was almost a 10 km personal best for me. Not that I have ran many 10 km races. My first 10 km was over 20 years ago, and from memory that was a matter of seconds outside of 42 minutes. In more recent years, I have run a few hovering around 45 minutes, but made a significant improvement last year, and managed to sneak in under 44 minutes towards the end of the year. So 42:15 is massive for me!
42:15 is massive for me!
Now back to the predictions. So whilst Riegel over-estimated my performance by 35 seconds (1.5 %), TrainAsONE under-estimated by 15 seconds (0.6 %). I’d pretty much call that a great result from both.
However, I believe that TrainAsONE’s consideration of recent training and (lack of full) recovery from the previous 10 mile race enabled it to make a closer prediction. Obviously this is a case-study of one, and not statistically meaningful.
Parting Thoughts
Without this upfront prediction I doubt that I would have pushed myself as much, and likely come in nearer to 42:30. So performing such calculations for the last two races has been a bonus for my performance. I wonder if this is a novelty factor, or innate to my psyche.
However, I think the most interesting question is: How would I have faired if I was fully rested and prepared for Sunday’s race, i.e. not ran the 10 miler 7 days previously? I plan to provide an answer to this in my next blog post, so watch out for it!
And how did my running buddies get on? Two personal bests – one under 40 minutes. Did I mention they use TrainAsONE? 😀
A massive shout out to the race organisers, volunteers, and all those involved. A thoroughly enjoyable event. Thank you.
Happy training everyone.