Moray 10k Race Review

Because I like numbers we should start with the numbers.

Laps	Time	Cumulative Time	Avg Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
1	03:52.2	03:52	06:14	144	154
2	03:50.6	07:42	06:11	154	160
3	03:54.8	11:38	06:18	157	179
4	04:09.9	15:48	06:42	155	159
5	03:56.7	19:44	06:21	161	174
6	03:56.1	23:40	06:20	169	174
7	03:58.1	27:39	06:23	169	173
8	03:55.1	31:34	06:18	171	175
9	03:47.2	35:21	06:06	170	175
10	03:47.0	39:08	06:05	166	175
Summary	39:08:00	39:08	06:18	162	179

And as much as I want to focus on the bottom line, and how that is far and away my fastest 10k ever, there is the one number in the middle that jumps out. That 4:09.9 and its effect on missing 39 minutes is so ridiculously annoying. 

Anyway, back to the point. 

I had prepped well, and having set a 5k PB the week before, I knew I was on for a fast time. I had three targets in mind:

 - Beat my PB 39:49. (3:58.9 / km).

 - Beat my friend Gary's PB 39:23. (3:56.3 / km)

 - Beat 39 minutes. (3:54.0 / km).

I was staying at my parents house the night before the race, but I was careful with my nutrition and had a sensible breakfast. There is always the option to overindulge when I visit and to have a big fried breakfast but I stuck to my plan and even timed my carb intake to ensure it was all processed prior to starting my warm-up. I also did 25 minutes of yoga before heading to the course. 

I did a longer warm-up than usual as well. I was on site in plenty of time so that I could get in two miles worth of jogging at a slack enough pace to be sure that none of my injuries were going to flare up and frustrate me. My knee wasn't quite 100%, but it was milder than it had been for the previous couple of weeks. 

I searched around before the start to try and find someone who was going to go somewhere near the pace I wanted, but everyone I knew either wanted to go 37 or 42. I decided to just run to the watch instead. 

The first kilometre is pretty flat, and I found myself around a few people that I knew. I was tucked nicely into a small group and the watch was saying almost exactly what I wanted. The course then rolls a little for the next couple of km and I was happy with the pace. There was a group about 50m ahead but not moving any further away, but my little pack was moving along nicely.

Then the fourth km caught me out. It goes downhill for a long way before turning sharply uphill right at the end. The group in front broke up and my group kept that same spacing to the back of the group in front. I checked the watch and realised that the leaders from the pack in front were holding their pace and it was the back of that pack that was losing touch, and because of that, just holding the gap to the back of the pack meant that we were slowing, despite the downhill. I told the two guys I was with that we needed to be closing the gap to the dropped runners but I think they were both wary of the impending hill and were trying to save a little bit for it. 

This was my mistake. Once I knew they were backing off I should have just gone round them and tried to stay in the low 3:50s. Instead I sat with them to the bottom of the climb, but at the cost of a 4:09.

As soon as we turned on to the climb I decided to leave them. My plan was even pace, not even effort, so I pushed on up the hill, trying to get back to a low 3:50s pace. I went past a couple of the group we had been closing on, and only one of my group was able to come with me on the climb. 

Through kilometers 5, 6, 7 and 8 the course rolls a little and the one runner that had come up the hill with me when I pushed has a horrible pacing habit of going 20m slightly faster and 20m slightly easier. That, and the rollers, made it difficult for me to tell how hard we were working against how the clock was going at any given moment, but every km was coming through close enough to the numbers I wanted, and I was feeling good. 

Then km 9 is downhill. I knew the last 2km in 8:15 (4:07 /km) would get me a PB, 7:51 (3:55 /km) would get me Gary's time, and 7:26 (3:43 /km) would get me 39 minutes. I managed to get the pace up to 3:47 on the downhill section and then there is a turn and a slight drag uphill to the finish. I managed to keep the pace at 3:47 even as the road turned uphill, and that was enough to finally drop the athlete I had been pacing with since the start, and to pick off the last athlete that I could still see from the group in front. 

It wasn't quite enough to get me to 39 minutes though. That 4:09.9 from early on costing me more than 8 seconds that I missed by. 

I still set a huge new PB though.

If you had told me at Xmas that I would run 19:24 before triathlon race season had even really started I would have laughed at you. If you told me I would do it for the second half of a 10k, I would still be laughing now. Even after I did a 19:13 for Parkrun the week before I still though 39 minutes was a hugely ambitious target. 

I haven't ever run this fast* or this consistently so I am really pleased at how my season has started. I am going to stick with trying to race or Parkrun every weekend as that is clearly working. And being under 70kg is definitely not hurting either. 

*OK I used to run a whole lot faster, but only for 400m at a time.