Pre-Race Concerns

After running a PB in a fantastic Half Marathon race in March, I have found myself at peak fitness, running faster than ever before. I have run several training runs over 6 miles which have been faster than my 10K PB pace, so naturally I've been looking for a 10K race to do.

Last month I entered a local 10K, only to have the car ruin my plans (it turned out to be a flat battery, just when my batteries were fully charged and ready to go).

So next Monday I'm going to try again. I've entered the Hampshire 10K, which is held in Portsmouth, just down the road from my brother-in-law's house. It's a Bank Holiday, and we'll be combining the race with a family visit, staying over on Sunday night before the race.

The course is 2 laps of a flat route, starting and finishing in an athletic stadium, but mainly on road. Sounds good so far, but it can be a very windy spot, apparently, so I'll just have to hope that there are no gales forecast.

I've been browsing some comments from people who ran this race last time it was held, and it seems that the competitors are mainly fast club runners, and that it is not really suitable for beginners. I'm not planning on coming last, but I don't mind being near the back, and hopefully a fast race will spur me on.

Although I know I am in good form and should easily beat my PB, I must admit that my last few runs have been rubbish. On Monday I ran 6 miles, and felt very heavy legged. I decided it would be fine to make it an easy run, but I was still shocked by my overall pace of 9.04 min/miles. I felt very achey afterwards, so rested on Tuesday, only to have another tough run yesterday. It was just 4 miles, but again I struggled to feel good, and averaged 8.48 min/miles.

These runs have done nothing for my confidence. Usually my running really benefits from a rest, so I'm hoping that if I don't run at the weekend, I'll feel fresh and revived for the race.

The other potential spanner in the works is the weather. It's been very changable recently, going from this:

 

 

to this:

  

in a matter of hours.

I don't mind cool temperatures and a spot of drizzle, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have strong winds, storms or pouring rain. And if that bloody car lets me down again, we'll be needing a new one!