Well, yesterday I ran my fourth tune-up race, which, I had decided, I would treat as the final race if it went well. That way, a bad race could still lead to a good next race. The question then is, of course, how did it go?
At the start (353's my number)
The race
I ran a 10K race at my own track club Fortuna. The Vulcaan race featured a 5K, 10K and half marathon. Pacing went well and all my km-splits I ran 3:29 with a margin of 3 seconds. I was very pleased with that, not in the last place because running felt hard but good, and I thought I had been wise to let the first to guys go, who went ahead with a pace around 3:22. All good... until I reached the 10K point on my watch, which clocked in at 34:54 (which would be awesome for me), but the race still lasted for 500m. 500 meters, guys! What happened? Finally reaching the finish line, my watch showed 10.52K and 36:39 – which, not coincidentally, was my official time too.
I had seen on forehand that the course, which was uploaded as a GPX file on the race's site, was 10.2K. That's too much for a PR too, but okay. Then all my team mates ran between 10.1 and 10.2K. Why did my watch show 10.5K? Some of the guys said they cut some corners, which I didn't do, but that wouldn't make up for 300-400 meters, right? What I think the cause of this mess is, is a combination of a course that's just to long (10.2K) and my watch getting the distance not from GPS, but from the Stryd footpod. I have no way to determine what piece of technology is more accurate, although Stryd is the unofficial number 1 in that area (see this page on Fellrnr), but I feel 10.5K can't be right.
So, I based my pacing on something – wrong or right – that does not agree with the official course and the GPS course. That sucks in any case. So, did I run a PB? Officially: no. My PB on the 10K was 36:26 and now I finished in 36:39. Unofficially: I think so, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure the course was longer than 10K and shorter than 10.5K. If I go with the 10.2K reported by everyone else, my time on 'the real 10K' would be 35:56, which would be a PB, but still slower than I would have wanted, because I was pacing at 3:30, while actually running around 3:33 on average.
The last corner, where I was already aware of the fact that either my watch or the course (or both) were wrong.
So, the outcome, unfortunately, is that I felt like I ran a good race, and finished third in around 200 runners, but I didn't feel excited or joyful afterwards because it was and still is unclear what the final verdict should be.
What did go well?
Well, I felt great before and during the race. After the race, too – my calf muscles are a bit tight, but that's all. Although my cadence was a bit lower than expected (188spm), there was not much vertical movement, and I felt like having a strong posture the whole race. Fast legs, upright body. Having less miles the week prior and doing only some strides the day before the race felt like the right move. Although you can read I'm not really satisfied, I do feel like having ran a good race and having learnt a lot. Now I should learn to just appreciate that...
Oh, and maybe I should just appreciate finishing third.
Third place, winning a 45-minute massage
And now...
As I wrote above, I could treat this as a tune-up race and run another race in two or three weeks. My training plan includes that option, but I'm just not sure what I should do. I don't want to end up injured because I pushed it too long. Today, I'll just do a recovery run and think about it. To be continued...
Race data and results
If you want to see the race, check it out on Garmin or on Strava. The official results can be found on Splittime.nl.
A 12K run around the block
Photo by Josh Biggs, taken from 
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash