I did it! 1st 10k run

[Freecloud]

I started to work from home again this week and took advantage of being able to run again during lunchtime in the daylight 😀.

My aim this week was to build up on my stamina for the last 1k of my 5k parkruns. I read Tim’s post regarding how to run 5k faster and filled in the running calculator and set off after work for the “easy run” to run at a pace of 6.15 at the parkrun course. I did try to run slow but only slowed to around 5.50 on average for the first 4ks. I then thought of the person that flew past me towards the end of last weeks parkrun and decided to change plan and run the last 1k at a faster pace and managed to run that at a pace of 4.32.

I started to work from home again on Wednesday and took advantage of the daylight and went for my 6.15 / 7.03 min/km “long run” but again ran too fast and ended up running 38:47 / 7.15 min/km. This was my longest ever run and I felt quite good afterwards.

I have always said that I have no intention of running more than 5k since graduating from c25k in July but that 7k run kept on bugging me and made me want to go for the 10k. But the dilemma was when. Thursday was a rest day, Friday was off because of the parkrun on Saturday, Sunday is rest day….. But then I just before bed I received an urgent email from out parkrun organisers looking for volunteers and voilà I am now timekeeper which freed me up for the 10k today.

I was either going to do the run from where I live in Grange Co. Sligo along the base of the Benbulben mountain or to the local beach in Streedagh (I’m blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas in Ireland), I chose the beach as it is a flatter run.

The lunchtime run got a bit delayed due to phone calls etc. I left the house and did a warmup walk, turned on the Strava app on the phone which I had just started to trial and put the Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro to outdoor run mode, turned around and set off on a slow run. Well, I thought it was slow until the 0.5k mark when my watch told me through my headphones that I was running at 4.30 / km pace. So, I slowed the pace down and did the first 1k at 4.58 and knew that I had to slow down more. The next 1k was a bit more respectable 5.23 and was going in the right direction and things were settling down. Then the annoying false American voice from my watch said “workout ended”… I shouted out “Good Gosh” checked that the Strava app on the phone was still working (as that had crashed before) and then set my watch up for the run again whilst I was making sure I didn’t run into anything whilst actually running, put the phone away and carried on with the run.

The rest of the run towards the beach was normal enough and the road was nice and quiet. The only obstacles I encountered were 2 cattle grids when I got to the seafront area, one of the local farmers grazes his cows on the grass banks and they are there to keep the cows in that area. I just had to try to run across the grates as gently and flat footed as possible. I got to halfway stage at the carpark turned around and set off again.

Usually, I would have had a view of the mountain range in the distance but it was mostly covered in black cloud so there was nothing much to look at. Pace didn’t go down too much; it was at around 5.40. The only real event happened at almost the exact spot when my watch reset where I swallowed a small fly and spent the next few seconds in desperation trying my best to get it out again. I spent the next few hours coughing here and there and wondering if that was a leg or a wing I felt on my tongue when something came up ha-ha.

I had to guestimate where the 10k would be up because I didn’t want to run with the phone in hand so I waited until the watch got to 7.5k and knew it originally went wrong just after 2k, I took out the phone when I was nearing the main road and it changed from 9.99 to 10k. I immediately pressed the stop button and slowed to walking pace and walked the last 5 mins back home. I was lucky with the weather as it only started to rain then, but there was no way I was going to run anymore so I just got a bit wet.

So, there you have it, total distance was 10.03km @ 56.02. I did my stretches as soon as I got home, had a quick shower and went back to work a few minutes later than normal, but that’s one of the advantages from working form home.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Good run and post from you, congratulations on completing your first 10K, sub 60 minutes is very good, to get the words Graduate10 next to your username leave a message in the pinned posts on the right side of the healthunlocked November Graduate10 homepage and tell the administrators that you have ran your first 10K.

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks very much AlMorr, I left a post on the page you mentioned and damienair added the badge.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to Freecloud]

👍 🏃🏾

[Annieapple Administrator]

A good read! Congratulations 🥳

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to Annieapple]

Thanks very much 🥳

[Sunnytom Graduate10]

Well done you x

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to Sunnytom]

Thanks very much x

[OrkneyWillow Graduate10]

Well done, and what a great time. My 10km is still WAY over 60 mins.What an awesome achievement. Congratulations!

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to OrkneyWillow]

Thanks very much, I'm happy enough with the time and can't actually remember it now as I'm typing in my phone, but I guess it's a target now for my next one whenever that is 📊.

[buzzards Graduate10]

Congratulations!👏👏 Great time.

[Freecloud Graduate10]

Thanks very much

[tmbtrain Graduate10]

👏 awesome very well done on the 10k 🙃

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to tmbtrain]

🤾 Thanks very much 😀

[nowster Graduate10]

Wow! That's a very impressive time for a first 10km. That's almost exactly the time I clocked doing a 10km race at the end of October.

No idea how I missed seeing this post a fortnight ago.

It's a few years since I was last in the Sligo area, wasting hours listening to Michael Quirke carving in his old butcher shop and trying to hunt down a bog standard bar of soap in the not-so-big Tesco there (I think work was going on inside at the time). Although we passed through Grange on the way north, we didn't stop there.

(Liking the Rambo Tux avatar, too.)

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

Thanks very much nowster! I have done a couple more 10k's since then and thoroughly enjoying them and possibly more than the 5k runs. Perhaps that’s because of the faster pace of the park runs and trying to match other runners and chasing the PBs....

I am now quite good at slowing down to about 6:20 per km and taking it nice and easy, which is possibly why I’m enjoying them so much. I also listen to a funny podcast series by Tommy, Hector & Laurita to help me chill. I also usually put the pedal down for the last 1k and have easily reach around 4:50, which is something I can’t do in the 5ks because I’m too exhausted.

I think Michael Quirk is still carving away, I must take a look next time I pass, I know the shop is still there anyways.

(Thanks, I dabble with Linux now and again and use the avatar on most of my forum names)

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to Freecloud]

Linux user here since 0.99.5 (Yggdrasil) in 1994.

Hoping to visit The West again when The General Situation improves. The last visit (2017) was a whistle-stop coastal tour, and wasn't particularly restful. Some of the time was visiting the various relatives scattered about, too.

6'20"/km is a great pace for doing 10km. The more distance you get under your shoes the more your comfortable pace will pick up naturally. It also helps to extend your endurance gradually beyond 10km.

For example, I did my first 10km in February this year, taking just under 70 minutes (6'58"/km). I've gradually extended my range to being able to do Half Marathons. Nowadays I'm doing 10km in about 56 minutes (PB yesterday was 55'19").

And I'd never tried running before the end of March 2020.

[Freecloud Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

Who knows, we might meet up for a run next time your over.

Thanks for advice, not sure about longer runs yet its still all new to me having only graduated from c25k towards the end of July, and like you not ran before that.

At the moment I am running the longer distances in order to try to make my 5k quicker and am trying to not let my self go any faster as I want to enjoy them for now.

I think I will be doing a 10k weekly from now on.

Well bone on PB especially with your niggle. It's a fair jump from your February time an di have no doubt that you will probably reduce it by the same time in less than 6 months.

I must say that it feels a bit strange talking about distances and PBs, I was almost 5 stone heavier this time last year and would not have managed 200m without needing to rest for a while, so who knows what might happen next. Well I know what I have in store for me in the morning at the parkrun, but that's a story for the weekly parkrun post tomorrow (if I get through it).