After getting an email, saying that there was a chance that the trail run that I had registered for was going to be cancelled, I decided to jump ship and sign up for the big 10k that comes through Greenville every year. Did the normal prerace morning, bagel and coffee. Got to downtown at 7:15 which left me with an hour and 15 minutes to warm up and try to stay not bored. Easy 3 miles on the race course around Cleveland Park, nothing special.
Went to the start, and tried not to get swept up in the pre-race excitement like I usually do. No strides, no jumping. Just boring Justin standing there. I talked to a local running guru last night about race strategy, and he said this course would suck everyone out fast, after which they would blow up at mile 4. Trick was to go out at goal pace, not a second faster. Goal pace for me was 5:50.
The Horn went off and we all took off up Main St and turned left onto a short downhill, where I was almost hit by a bus. Great way to start the race. There were 1100+ people in the 10k so the start was quite hectic as the sprint-out-to-stop-in-front-of-you-100m-later people blew up and stopped and the elites trailed off into the distance. We made our first small climb of the day and I spotted a good target to run with: another Travelers Rest guy who I've never managed to beat before. I hung a few seconds back from him, thankful that it was overcast as his shiny shaved head would've made me go blind. Stayed behind him through mile 1, then mile 2 was a bit more rolling and he surged ahead up the hill past the Zaxbys. Still picking off people who were blowing up here. We made a turn and continued a up long hill that I hadn't really expected. I got a little uncomfortable here which worried me.
After uncomfortable hill we turned down down down into Cleveland Park where I passed bald TR guy. He didn't blow up, he just refused to let go down the hill and roll like I did. Went through mile 3 in 17:20 or so, just under goal pace. I was still feeling great as we passed the zoo but started struggling to hang on to 5:50 soon after. I watched my pace drop to 5:51, then a small hill pushed me 52, 53. I was slowly blowing up. I went through 4 miles just hanging on. At 5 I caught some guy and we exchanged a few encouraging words and I started holding on a little better, but never sped up.
The last mile was up. Way more up than the profile showed, though I should've know considering it is part of my daily commute to work. I continued to work but my pace continued to drop. Turned back on to main street and I was done in 37:10. More than a minute off my goal. I keep trying to make excuses, but I feel like I'm just mentally not as tough as my legs are right now. There was no reason I couldn't hold on to 5:50 on a flat part of the course.
Good points from today: went out relaxed, beat someone I never have before, enjoyed the crowd, scored a few points, feel like I may have the legs to go sub 1:20 in the half next week, stayed positive and had good self talk through the second half even though I popped
Bad points: discouraged from being way off where I thought I should've been, got creamed by 31 people, feel like I need to grow a set before the half next week
Next week's half is more of a goal race. Maybe a B race in the grand scheme where the 10k was a last second decision and was only a C race. It's a lot flatter than this week so we'll see how it goes. This week will probably be around 55 or so miles, not too much since I have a pretty big race. The week after I will begin the ramp up for the final phase of the 50k training.
As an added note: On the equipment front, I have switched flats from the Asics Hyperspeed 4 (great feel but about as durable as running in styrofoam cups), to the Saucony Type A5. I think the Type A series trickled up to create the Kinvara, so it seemed natural that I would trickle down from the Kinvara into the Type A. First impression is that they feel like a lighter more responsive Kinvara, so perfection is the only word to describe them.
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