New 10 Mile PR
I ran a local Buffalo Stampede 10 mile race yesterday morning. Last year, I finished in 1:12:04, a time that disappointed me a bit, since I’d been hoping to crack 1:10 (a 7 minute pace). After running the first third of the race at about 6:45 pace, however, I couldn’t hold on, and slowed a lot.
This year I wasn’t sure what to expect. Based upon race results earlier in the year, I judged myself to be more aerobically fit and faster than last year. On the other hand, an Achilles tendon injury I suffered seven weeks ago set my mileage way back. After almost three weeks of virtually no running, leading up to the race I’d averaged about 20 miles for four weeks. Not a very impressive mileage base. I thought I’d be able to start fast but wasn’t sure about holding on.
The weather this time was much more favorable, probably only about 60 degrees at the 8 a.m. race start. I lined up about 4 rows back of the starting line (there were over 430 runners). The plan was to run the first half at just under 7 minute pace, then try to push over the last half. My goal was to do better than 1:09, but I told myself I’d be content with under 1:10. Right from the beginning I blew my plan right out of the water, starting way too fast — 6:34 for the first mile, 6:40 for the second, 6:50 for the third. At that point there were no more mile markers until mile 8, so I didn’t really know how fast I was going. I slowed quite a bit, but not nearly as much as last year. By the time I reached the 8 mile mark, a lot of runners had passed me (having started more sensibly than I did), but by my watch I saw I’d run the previous five miles at about 6:57 pace. So I was still on track to reach my goal, and I told myself I had to keep up the pace to get it done. I ran the 9th mile in 6:55, and at that point knew I’d beat 1:10 and thought I’d probably beat 1:09. At that point I tried to keep up with runners ahead of me to prevent myself from falling off pace. I only passed a couple, but the tactic worked at preventing me from slowing down further. I completed the last mile in 6:56 and finished overall in 1:08:42. That’s an average 6:52 min/mile pace.
Given my injury setbacks I’m pretty happy with that, and I’m using that time to prepare my marathon training plan. The California International Marathon is 12 weeks away, and my goal this time is to beat last year’s time by 10 minutes and get under 3:10. I have two half marathons and one 10K planned between now and then.
September 15, 2009 at 12:10 am
That is an awesome accomplishment, and it looks as if you have a full autumn running schedule ahead of you. A runner I know cracked 60 for 10 miles… about 7 years later he was running about 3:13 marathons. Good luck reaching your goals, a 3:10 marathon is pretty amazing.