Yesterday at the "Mizuno 10K race", I scored a 6th place overall (1st Master), and got back to a good timing and good racing: 34'05" !!
That is like 45" faster then 3 weeks ago, when I was really struggling at the Asics 10K... (in earnest, yesterday the weather was slightly better and less humid)
I could have titled the post "how to improve your 10K by 45" in 3 weeks" and get a huge traffic boost, but in reality the "How to" is very simple...
A) I was somehow able to sleep decently in the 4-5 days leading to the race. The baby still needs 3 night feeding, but we are getting more used to... (well... also being away in China for 3 straight sleepful nights did help...)
B) I really made it a point for the past 3 weeks to run anyway, even if I was dreadfully tired or at impossible times.... so once after a night feeding I simply laced up the shoes and went running at 4.30am.
So, it was not really following any training concepts, but I managed to run respectively
94 , 86 and 96km in the 3 weeks since my last post.
C) somehow I was able to run good long runs... I managed to run even a 31km at 4'06" pace, which made me feel really in good shape.
About Sunday's race:
It was a sunny and clear day with temperature around 22C and 63% Rh, the race is very popular with 1400 at the start and a really large bunch of good runners. I did not have any expectation about time or placement, but at least I hoped to do a better showing than in the past 2 races...
my 5k splits were 17'11" and 16'54" and I really judged my pace very well without being carried away at the start but clocking Km after Km near 3'24" pace... I picked up many runners how went out too hard and gained progressively from 15th to 10th to 7th place...
in the last Km I saw that the leading Master runner was somehow struggling and pushed a bit harder to get him with 300m to go and just sprint to the finish.
After 2K |
At the 5K turn-around point |
A kind of pity that Stefano P. got 2nd place also today (3 times 2nd in a row !!), but he is getting into race shape so I foresee he can break the ice very soon...
2 comments:
once again you amaze me!
I could do with some of your magic to speed me up :]
congrats on yet another P.B.
Yes soon your be able to right a best selling book on running faster!
Rick,
you are too good to me ....
Anyway I am still 30" away from my PB, but yesterday I felt like reborn after 2 years of injuries and so on... now I can look forward to work on more serious training and really step up my improvement.
NOTE: at the beginning I thought the course was short, but my GPS marked 10.08km and also the organizer is always very accurate on the course measurement because it is one of the few "certified" races in HK valid for the ranking, etc... so it is for real...
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