Here Comes The Fear

Part of the problem I have when running a race¹, is that I struggle to transfer what I've managed in training into the race.

According to my Garmin, my PB for a 10k training run is now 1:00:07 (previously 1:00:54), however from an actual race it is 1:03:24.

Maybe I don't fuel enough for a race, maybe it's the pre-race nerves that eat into that stored energy or maybe it's simply the people traffic you encounter. I don't know, I'm inclined to agree with the nerves as I suffer a lot. Not sure why, I know I can do the distance, maybe I put too much pressure on myself whereas on a training run, I'm not trying and it just happens?

An unsolved enigma that I feel like I might be closer to beating this year, unwittingly deriving from beginning full training with 6-7 weeks to go (less time to get injured/bored).

And so to the prep; training has still been going, which is good, and it's weird to think that in my threshold sessions that my easy pace seems to be comfortable at what I used to think was fast for me! I can cruise along at a pace a whole 45 secs/1 minute faster than a couple of years ago, madness. I've not been able to tell what pace I could sustain during 5k/10k as I've not really partaken in a straight distance run (apart from one 5k, which felt hard but sub 30) until Monday where I tackled my first 10k distance of the year in a training run.

It was scheduled as an easy run, nothing fancy, just 60 minutes running around at a comfortable pace and not exerting too much effort. Using the programmed activity on my watch, I knew it wouldn't alert me each kilometre, which was fine as it meant that I wouldn't be thinking about how far there was to go and left me to concentrate on how I was feeling during the run.
The route I used was my 10k route as it's the only one that would take me to at least an hour. So here we go, no stress!
Tackling some big ol' Stevo hills, I felt comfortable all the way round, even after a couple of beastly inclines. There were no sneak peaks at the watch to see how I was pacing, as I knew I'd spot how much time was left & then I'd try to speed up or slow down 'let's see how we pace ourselves, let's see what you can do'.
Surprisingly, coming towards the end, I still hadn't been alerted to a hour, what?! Had my watch paused itself again? No, no it hadn't - I added an extra bit to my route to use up the remaining time and once the clock ran down & buzzed to signal the end of the activity, I looked down and somehow I'd managed 10k in 1:00:07 (or bang on 1 hour if you ask Endomondo). Without a sprint finish, or knowingly pushing towards the end, I'd almost hit sub 1 hour for the first time by accident.

And so, because of that, I've signed up for a 10k at the weekend in Blackpool, the same one that I did last year. I'm not going for a PB, just going to try and chill round with my sister and see what happens. Maybe I can get close (by accident) and settle some of those nerves for London at the end of the month.


¹by race, I just mean an organised event with proper timing.