Introduction
I planned to run this Race as the most important practice and test on my 10K Training Program. My objective is to run the Fila Race 10K sub-35 minutes in two weeks. This Race is the second last of the very hard practices that I intend to do before the Big Race (Fila Race). This was the single hardest "practice" in my training. The next week I will run the toughest practice outside of a race. I will write more details about my practice soon in another blog post.
The Route
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| Figure 1: The Route. |
The Unicef Rosario 10K (Rosario, Argentina) route was a "there-and-back" type of straight route. It included only very light hills and twice a tunnel of about 300 meter in length. Sadly, the tunnel ruined the collection of data somewhat (the pace measurement) because the GPS does not work underground. All in all the route was flat and fast with only one hard corner. Figure 1 shows the route tracked by my best friend (the Polar GPS). The weather was cloudy, very humid and the temperature at 19C. The track was still wet from rain the night before. The Race started at 9 am.
The Plan and Execution
My plan was to run this Race with an upward trend holding back the first part of the Race. I planned to run a pace of 36-minute race time (3:36 min/km) for the first 5 km, and then add up speed and finish strong the Race.
I got to start the Race from the first row so I was lucky to not to have to waste time or energy in the start. Eight runners picked up a pretty strong pace and I decided to let them go. I ran the first 2 to 3 kilometers at places from 9 to 12, holding back and trying to stay smart. The first runners started to pay the price of a fast start between kilometers 3 and 4 as I passed them by just maintaining my current pace. I don't have an exact split time at 5K but I think my pace was pretty even during the first and second half of the race. At half way I had already let the front of the race about 100 meters in front of me but my position had already improved to 6th (I think). I was running strong and had dodged the bullet of "a way too fast start" and I had now become the Hunter.
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| Figure 2: The Heart Rate (red line) and Pace (grey line) in the Race. |
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| Figure 3: Finishing the Race at 4th position. |
The 10K is never easy, but it could be much worse with the accumulation of too much lactic acid too early. I had my gaze fixed to one runner before me who was falling off the lead group about 60 meters in front of me. I gained just 10 to 20 meters per kilometer on him, but the sight of his back really made me to push my pace and not letting my grip to go. At kilometers 6 and 8, I passed couple of pretty exhausted runners who had fallen off the lead group. My eyes and my Will were concentrated on that certain back in front of me. I caught him at kilometer 9, but to do that I had pushed myself very hard already. I passed him trying to feel if he would give up right away, but he did not. He had still juice in his tank and picked up his pace. My legs and lungs worked really well, but my guts started to feel like if I would push my pace I would shit my pants. No kidding! I couldn't respond to his strong finish like I wanted and know I am capable of. In the end I came 4th in the Race running a really satisfactory time: 34:53 (3:29 min/km). My GPS confirmed that the distance was full indeed. I beat my goal of running sub-35 minutes this season.
Summary
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| Figure 4: Unicef Rosario 10K Results. |
A total of 1342 runners finished the Unicef Rosario 10K race. The results of the Top 10 are listed in the Figure 4. The front of the Race beat me by one minute, but I never was really racing and contesting them because of my different pacing strategy. I was really satisfied how I pulled off this time my plan and finished with a great time. My last Race was about 5 months ago the past October (Personal Maraton de Buenos Aires), where I failed. But I think it is even more important to fail than to succeed to grow as a runner and gain information about yourself. Better said, there should be a healthy ratio of failing and succeeding. The ratio could be close to fifty-fifty. This Race boosts my confidence again, so maybe it's time to get the expectations up through the roof the next time I race, eh? The Figure 5 sums up this Race!
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| Figure 5: Round of applause. Feeling very satisfied. |
