Today the planets aligned and I finally completed my first ever 10k 🎺
I had a feeling last night it was going to happen so prepared accordingly. Following my recent spat with Gerald I decided to use the Garmin technology to help me so I prepared a 10k route and taking IannodaTruffe pace calculator figured out how to program this into my watch.
Without doubt, that pacer was the single most important factor in getting me to the end otherwise I would have been way too fast and out of it half way through.
It was my usual uphill first 3k and doing a self check I found my left buttock was really quite sore for some reason. No idea why!! Also I think my new buff has shrunk in the tumbledryer as it was tight on my throat which I had to remedy by turning it into a headband.
Onwards I went and now on unfamiliar territory. I went over the M54 to get to 5k and another self check revealed a painful right ankle, right knee and both hips. Jeeez, what's going on im falling apart!
At this point my mentality became "if this is the last run I ever do then I'm getting to 10k"
Onwards and over the M6 we go, past the new cemetery and then, joy of all joys, a nice long downhill. Yayyyyy!
At the bottom I just had to deviate to the circular pool trail where I took my first ever C25k steps. In my mind, today was going to be just as momentus and off I went on the trail where I remembered struggling to get my 60 second runs in.
The irony of me driving here (about 2k) to run my 60 second intervals and now running 7k to get here made me smile. I retraced my feelings of breathlessness, despair and joy and by the time I exited a quick glance at my watch revealed I was just 1 minute away from my 60min graduation badge and just over a km from my 10k.
The last km I was expecting to be joyous with trumpets and cheering. It was in fact the hardest km I had ever ran. My body was hurting.
I walked home excited to tell my wife who just immediately launched into telling off mode as she had no idea I would be gone over an hour and thought I may have had another heart attack or something.
Anyhow, stretches done, cup of tea and a whole packet of chocolate hobnobs consumed. I'm really aching now 😀😀
Congratulations on completing your first 10K, well done, to get your graduation badge and the word GRADUATE10 next to your username leave a message in the pinned posts on the right side of the healthunlocked October Graduate10 homepage, I hope you enjoyed those chocolate hobnobs, you certainly deserved them.
Is your watch compatible with garmin pacepro? Mine isn’t unfortunately but it looks a neat way of determining pace for different hill gradients as you run them. You have to give it the mapped route first, of course.
Yes, it’s for hilly trail racers mainly but I stumbled across a video demonstration last night - and I’m a sucker for that kind of thing. 😁
Your wife and mine could compare stories. One time I decided on a 10k in the middle and of a run, forgetting I’d told her I’d be about half an hour. She came looking for me in the car, thinking I’d be roadkill. 🤣
So you're not the only one to get an earful from your significant other for running further than you originally said you would? 🤣
Well done! 🏆
For reference, my first ever 10km run (7 Feb) was slower than yours: 1:09:40. I'd also told Herself that I was only going to do 9km that day and got grief for doing more.
Congratulations, Hidden !! ✨⭐️🌟⭐️✨ Always knew you’d get there when the time was right and the stars aligned. And today was it. Well done. Here’s to many more 10ks! Loved your focus on carefully pacing yourself, btw… and the body scans (May those aches and twinges soon subside.)
Brilliant Alan, well done! I bet those hobnobs tasted pretty good 😊. And running to where you used to drive is definitely worth a smile 😃. Hurrah! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Brilliant! Well done Alan. 👏👏👏👍😀 That’s a massive achievement.
I remember my first 10k so well, coming in at 1 hour 16 on a treadmill only 2 years ago. It’s amazing how our bodies can strengthen and adapt to the demands we make of it.
Take it easy and I hope the recovery goes well. Going by what you have written I would suggest a minimum of two days rest. 👍
Congrats - for a first 10K that's blummin' marvellous. Mine was a 1:12:42 in December 2019. (Though I am superannuated 👴 😂). You're killing it, as ever. 👏
Thank you. I think it nearly killed me. That last km was tough but looking back I'm so pleased I didn't stop with .75k to go. I would have been sooo disappointed.
Congratulations - it's a great feeling, isn't it? I celebrated my first with a black pudding supper, so I understand how us top athletes need to refuel afterwards 😁😁. I haven't done one for a while, but I'm feeling the need to get there again. Well done 🥳🎉🏅.
There's something about that distance that takes a toll on the body. I had to deal with some annoying niggles after it. Still working back up to it. So take care.
Thank you. My goal was to get to 10k by the end of the year. Having got very stressed by trying to do a "program" to get there i just decided to do my own thing and run at what felt comfortable for my own bones lol.
I only run once a week usually but did exactly the same and broke the 10% rule in the process! I have currently achieved a pb of 11.75k and still increasing the distance. Happy running!🏃♂️
Likewise, I found that 2 or 3 easy runs along with a steadily increasing long run did the trick. I had a cutback week every other week which is over cautious but I think that routine built up a good solid base.
I have followed a training plan and found that it made a big improvement to my pace but, by the time I started it, I already had the distance.
I think the standard approach when building distance is to have a cutback week once a month. I suppose a cutback every other week means that you build more slowly but, apart from that, I think it’s a good approach.
I’ve found that easy paced runs can be really enjoyable. I’ve done some ParkRuns at a deliberately easy pace and it feels surprisingly powerful compared to pushing the pace (says he, having run at ParkRun a grand total of 4 times!)
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
