Maria's Running Blog

This 10K course turned out to be exactly the same one I ran in October - Dulwich Park, 3 laps mostly on the outside of the park. I was hoping to at least beat my previous time on the same course (47:08), but it did it to me again! It looks mostly flat, but in reality it is constantly undulating, up and down, so not a very fast course. It was also very warm today, easily 75F and probably warmer in the sun.

There were no markers of any kind, mile or kms, so I could only watch my pace on Garmin - and it wasn't telling a fun story. I started at a good comfortable pace, but by the end of the first lap the average pace was 7:20. It proved to be too fast, apparently. And the same exact thing happened to me in October, I died after the first lap! At the beginning of 2nd lap I started feeling the lead in my legs, and had to slow down. By the end of this lap, the average pace slipped to 7:30, and I was really feeling the heat. And so it went till the end, I couldn't pick up my pace at all, it was just a survival race, and I kept slowing down more, especially on the uphills. I passed a few people, but only because they died even worse than I did. No one passed me, although I fully expected it. On the last lap, my average slipped to 7:40, so I thought I'm going to be around 48:00, but when I finished, I saw 47:06 on my watch. Then I saw that it measured 6.12 miles. Not sure if the course was a bit short, or Garmin lost signal somewhere, but I assume the course was a bit short, and I ran equivalent of 47:45. I almost puked when I was done, then proceeded to drink like a gallon of water and felt better. Really bad time, but that's what I get for not pacing myself right. It's also my first race back after the marathon. Well, as bad as it is, it's a start for the summer season. Hopefully, I can improve on this.

Afterwards, there was a relay that I got recruited into. It was 4x400m on the grass. There were only 3 women's teams from different clubs, and I was given an anchor leg! When it was my turn to run, I was second, and shortly after, the third woman passed me. I decided not to battle with her right away and tucked in right behind her. With 150m to go, I still felt pretty strong and started passing that woman. She sped up as well, and we both passed the woman in first place. Everyone was screaming their lungs off, because it was really close. I ended up in second place, just a half step back from the first. It was a lot of fun, and I felt better than I expected after a 10K. I was surprised I could still run almost all out for 400m. In 5 minutes after I finished I suddenly noticed that my legs were quite wobbly, but it passed after some walking.

With all this going on, it was already 1PM when I was done, so then I realized there was no time for cooldown since I had to get home! So a little short on mileage, but not on fun! Also, it was the cheapest race I ever ran in, it was only 1 GBP! There were no race numbers or registrations either, each club made a list of their runners, and each runner got a tag with a number at the finish, and club captains recorded who got what number. So now, all they have to do is reconcile the tag numbers with times, and we'll have full results. They'll probably publish them online either tonight or tomorrow. There was also tons of food after the race, ironically much better than any "big" UK race I participated in - the hosting club provided all refreshments, and they were good and plentiful.

Legs felt a little tight after the race, but overall I felt surprisingly good and moved along easily. Garmin was out for most of the run, so just ran by feel.

Total time: 53:54 (8:50 pace).

Ran Tinman Tempo today, but it was rather unusual. I ran around Regents Park, and I know it is 2.75 mi. loop. But Garmin was very erratic on my first loop, the average lap pace was jumping wildly and was more of a distraction than help. I knew for sure I could not be running 8:35 pace when I felt like I was running 8:00! But towards the end of the first loop it kind of started showing realistic pace and I saw it drop steadily to 8:08 average. Still I thought I was running faster. Sure enough, Garmin measured first loop at 2.66. I hit the lap button and started on the second loop. Here I saw the other extreme - Garmin was showing 7:20 pace - way too fast, although it was on a slight downhill. Then it got more realistic, but still very fast for this kind of tempo, 7:35. On the last mile, I started feeling tired, and maybe I did push too hard in the beginning, because I did slow down somewhat, but still ran aerobically. Second loop (actually, only 2.3 mi. since I wanted to do 5 miles tempo) was at 7:47 average pace. Very bizzarre, because the effort felt constant throughout but paces were all over the place.

Jogged home with 4x100m strides. When I got home and put 2 loops together, I got 40:00 for 5.1mi - 7:50 average pace. Still too fast.

What makes this run interesting, is that about 2 hours before I headed out, I had a can of RedBull. I never usually drink it, since I don't like all the chemical stuff in it, but today we ran out of all juice, and I didn't want water, so this was the only other choice. While I was drinking it, I realized it's loaded with caffeine and it would be interesting experiment to see how it affects my run. I have to say results are inconclusive, due to Garmin being so unrealiable today, but perhaps I did feel the effects of RedBull, because 7:30 pace felt like 7:55. But again, who knows if it was really 7:30 pace I was running. And who knows how much caffeine stayed in my system 2 hours after I drank it? I need bigger data sample for this experiment.

But it was a good workout, RedBull or not.

Total time 1:07:13 (8:24 avg. pace).

I wanted to do CV reps workout, but got stuck late at work. Only had time for an easy run. I felt good, but few times my right foot bothered me. I felt some twinges at the front of the heel, towards middle of the foot. I'm afraid it could be PF, although I never had it before and don't know how it would feel. The twinges would come and go after few steps, so I have no idea what it is. I felt it on Tuesday as well, and day off yesterday didn't help. It's certainly very minor now, but maybe I should ice and take ibuprofen for a few days just in case.

Did 4x100m strides on the track before jogging home. Average pace was 8:46 until I got on Primrose Hill on the way home. As usual it slowed me down, and the average crept up to 8:57.

Finally got to CV reps today. Ran 2.1mi warmup, then did 4x200m strides. I felt much better on them than last week - had more turnover in my legs and more power in my stride, and the times were faster as well - 49, 48, 50, 49.

Then did 4x1000m with 1' jog recovery. Also did significantly better than last week. I adjusted my goal time to 4:40 after not so great 10K last Sunday, but I actually hit better times: 4:35, 4:35, 4:33, 4:34.

After that, did 4x100m strides. I ran them hard, but they were pretty slow, first in 25 sec, last in 22 sec. Although after the workout it may be not so bad.

Finally, jogged home 1.5mi. Overall I'm pleased with today's times. Training effect of last Sunday's race probably has something to do with it. My right foot bothered me only once, very slightly.

This turned into progression run without me really planning it. It was warm and humid, 75F, but I took Nuun water with me, and it helped (Nuun doesn't have any carbs, just electrolytes).

The first 9.5 miles the pace was steadily dropping from 8:53 to 8:35 avg. with the same effort from me. It would drop on slight downhills, but then it wouldn't climb back on flats or inclines. After about 5 miles, I really started feeling fatigue in my legs - not surprising since my run last night was only 15 hours before. Still, I decided to have faster finish, and ran last 2.5mi in 20:02 (8:00 pace). This was hard, and I sure was glad once it was over. Got to water fountain, refilled my water bottles, and jogged home very slowly, about 9:40 pace. I felt dead.

Total time: 1:54:25 (8:36 pace).