Yesterday I raced 10k Albal "por esa sonrisa", I have said several times
this week, my mind is on other things, but I have been getting my runs
in nonetheless. So my mind was not focuses much on running, but my body
was ready, and sometimes that is good because you basically take all the
pressure off and I think that worked, because I raced much better than I
thought.
The race began at 7 p.m. and I ate lunch at 1 p.m., white rice with some
potatoe, 2 pieces of pork meat, spinachs with olive oil, I pretty much
eat the same things everyday and those kind of foods is what I eat for
workouts, so I the exact same thing that I do for workouts, including 2
glasses of diet soda as everyday before my evening intervals and tempos,
so why I changed it on race day, this is the first time that I drink
soda for a race longer than 5k, but as I said, that is what I do before
all my workouts, years before though I only drank sodas with sugar and
calories and you feel that in your stomach, when you drink diet soda is
like water, anyway! that work for me and I have not had any problems in
the workouts. I decided to eat more than necessary, because when I raced
10ks or more (more than 7 years ago), 3 or 4 hours after the race I got
pretty naseous and got a terrible headache and probably that was lack
of calories, so this time around I eat breakfast normal and eat a larger
lunch, after all the race started at 7 p.m. and I had 6 hours to
digest, however, I no longer eat until full, I eat lunch and I do not
feel full whatsoever, I could go running after eating lunch, yeat that
light I feel and I think that that has been key to my weight lost in the
past year.
I left my house at 4 pm. because We have to take the bus to the train
station, and then take the train for the 15 mins commute to the race
town, and then from the train station, walked 1.7 kms to where the race
started to take the bib and change my clothes and then start our warm up
before the race. We got there with plenty of time, so We did everything
according to plan. We started the warm up around 6:20 p.m.,or a bit
before, We just basically ran around town. We did not know the distance
that We warmed up, but it was around 2k if I have to take a guess, I
threw a few light strides to loosen up. Then jogged some more in the
starting area.
One of the things I liked about this race is that as it was in a town,
there were around 1,000 people or a bit more, as opposed to the 5,000
people that run the races in the city. There was only 1 start here and
We lined up very close to the front, so after the gun went off, We
crossed the starting line around 2 seconds after the gun went off, which
was cool and the start was not very congested.
As you know, I race without a watch, just by effort. I went out at the
effort that I thought that I could sustain, but controlled, after all I
had not raced a 10k in 7 years, but I pretty much know how long these
are if you blow up in the beginning kms. I was feeling controlled in the
first 200-300, Pablo (my brother`s coworker who commute with us to the
race) caught me and I tried to run with him for several seconds, but his
pace was too hot, He runs around 43-44 mins int he 10k and I am not in
that kind of shape just yet, I let her go and kept myself as relaxed as
possible. 1k go by and I hear another runner telling 4:39 or so, as I
dont know how much time He lasted to cross the starting line, that 4:39
does not apply to me, so I estimated for myself 4:40-4:45, which is what
I wanted to average for the whole race. Ad in the tempo runs as I start
"slow" and in the second half I really hammer and feel better than in
the first half, I treated this race as such. After the 1st km, my
brother passed me like a bat, but I was not enough warmed up yet to go
with him as I find his pace very fast for me at the moment ( just like
tempos), several people passed me, after that I did not see any markers
till the 5k mark, however, We did one loop that crossed for the finish
line and I estimated around 3k there, after my brother passed me after
the 1st km, He built a gap of around 5-8 seconds, but stayed there, just
like in the 5.2k We raced in the beach. When We crossed the finish line
for the 1st ime, We had around 3k in, I looked at the "finish line"
watch and it read 14:32 or so, I thought that it was the 3k mark, so I
said I am in 48:20-48:30 pace, and I would be happy with that because
that it a tad faster than my tempo runs, however, it was only the 3k (my
brother after the race told me that He looked at all the km markers and
told me that the 3k mark was way back the "finish line", so We crossed
the 3k in 14:00 or less, and I felt much slower at the time, which was a
good sign, I did not know then though), We were running head to head in
the first 15 mins, but after that I just went ahead and never see him
until I waited for him in the finish line, after the 3k (which was a
loop around town that crossed where We started and where We were going
to finish), I started to feel pretty good and I thought to myself, now
you are warming up,now you can start running how you feel, I started to
pass people left and right, did not see 4 mark, but kept passing people,
then We turned left (in the first loop We turned right to cross to the
start/finish area), and got off the town to run outside of town viewing
the fields, I just wanted to cross the halfway mark, so that my mind
could shift and start pushing home, knowing that its only half remaining
(just as the tempos), We went downhill and then uphill to get off a
tunnel, and I tried to keep the effort the same even though I was
running slower in the uphill, finally I see the 5k mark and I am given
some water and I put it over my head and drink a bit, however, I did not
need to drink much, threw away the bottle. I tried to push knowing that
I just crossed halfway, keep running and passing people, although some
people passed me quickly, but I knew that I was not slowing down, since
the people around me did not go ahead, in fact I got ahead of them. From
5-7k I felt somewhat unconfortable, from 7-8k, I just said 1 more km to
get to your 8k tempo runs, and then it just a bit more of a mile to
finish this thing. I was running alone by then because I just left the
pack that I was running in, and I was on my way to catch the pack in
front of me. When I crossed the 8k mark, I felt surprisingly good, much
better than in the previous 2 kms, so I Took advantage of it, ran a bit
more and then said ok! 1 mile to go and it slower than interval pace, so
you got this, I tried to move the legs as fast as I could, just after I
crossed the 8k mark, the left foot finger ( yes, the one that I hit at
the beginning of the week, which felt much better, because on Friday`s
run and today before the race I thought that it was already fine), but I
was so warmed up that It did not affect my running at all. With 1.2k to
go a 40+ year old passed me and encouraged me that it was only 1k to
go, I tried to go with him, and He was running 2-3 steps ahead of me, We
crossed the 1k to go and there were some people encouraging, I said a
1k interval to go! You have done plenty of those! My breathing was a bit
labored, the legs were locked into a good pace, but I just felt strong,
I would say stronger than in my 5-8k tempos. Another guy passed us with
around 600-700m to go, but He was going very fast, I , however, tried
to went to the other side of the row to run by myself and focus better
as I do in my workouts, I did not want to sit behind anybody`s in the
last meters of the race, so I put myself to a side, tried to focus in my
training workouts and bring mental strength and energy from that, that
works!!, then We get into the final stretch which has around 400m, I did
not start my sprint earlier because I exactly did not know where the
finish was , but I increased pace as much as I could. Passed the guy who
passed me with 1.2k to go and then I saw the finish line and started
sprinting and finished pretty hard ( not as hard as in my previous
races), I was amazingly surprised when I saw 46:xx in the finshing
clock, as I finished the clock said 46:38, as I started 2 seconds ahead
of the gun time, I guess my time was 46:36, and exactly at that time I
appear on the results. I was very happy with this time. My best time in 8
years. Then I waited for my brother to finish, but He finished 4:32
behind me finishing in 51:08, He ran bad as He was in shape to run 47-48
mins, He really hit the wall after the 5k, because as I said earlier We
were running together in the 3.5k or so.
After the race, I drank water, beer, ate a banana, a bit of cake, just
to avoid the dizzy feeling that I get hours after the race, I tried to
do a 5-10 mins cool down just like my Intervals/tempos, but left foot
finger was hurting a lot and my quads muscle were screaming, I literally
could not run a step and I tried it several times. I limped the 1.7k to
the train station and limped the 1k from my brother`s home to my home. I
hope that the finger is not broken.
I got home around 10:45 p.m. from the race, was starting to feel a bit
bad, but as soon as I took the shower and ate that big Kebab, I felt
just fine, but was limping throughout my house. So the plan was to run
10k very easy on Sunday (today), but I am writing this on Sunday, and the finger
is hurting a lot, still limping and when I put the shoes on, it hurts
even more, its a bit swollen, so i probably wont be able to run today, I
could try, but maybe I will start my break just today. 2-3 weeks of
just easy running without stress workouts! I think I ll be back
stronger, but if that finger improves I might keep doing workouts and
start the break in a month or so, since I want to race a 6.2k race that
finished in the soccer`s stadium here in Valencia. I probably incline
more for the former, since this finger is hurting a lot.
The past 12-14 weeks of running has been great for me, I have not missed
any workouts, have been running 6 times per week without fail, this is
the most consistent block of running that I have done ever and it showed
today. Very satisfied with my performance today and with the races that
I have run this year!
Enough for today!
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