I have dusted off the trumpet............

[Dunder2004]

............ and it needs to be blown!

I have a 10K race (The London Summer 10K at Richmond Park) in 2 weeks time but due to my various injury niggles, I have not been able to do a 'fast' run over that distance............. until today.

I was up with the lark (just after 5am) and after my usual porridge, banana and a good litre of water, I was ready to go just before 6. Conditions were just perfect - a cool 8 degrees with a cooling mist hanging in the air.

I had been procrastinating about what pace to run having done a (very tough) 5:55/Km over 8Km a couple of weeks ago compared to the 6:12/Km that my HM training plan suggested. I had mentally settled on 6:00/Km by the time I started my warm-up which would mean I would have a shot at breaking the 'magic' hour barrier.

Like many people, I tend to find the first 5 minutes quite tough but today I was able to settle into a good steady rhythm right from the outset and felt really easy and relaxed after the first K which went by in 5:47. At that point I decided to see how things went just trying to maintain that sort of pace. I was amazed that by the time I reached half way, I had sped up a little bit more such that my Garmin beeped to show 5K in 28:19 and I still felt pretty good.

At that point I had a bit of mental wobble. On Tuesday, I had a bad run (bleedin' intervals) which I cut short having gassed myself completely by going too fast and thoughts of a repeat loomed large.

I decided just to break the second half of the run into 500m sections and slow down only if I was struggling physically at the end of any of these sections.

Amazingly, I never did and my last 5Ks were done in 5:38, 5:40, 5:40, 5:31 and 5:31 respectively for a total 10K time of 56 minutes and 20 seconds.

Stunned doesn't quite sum up how I felt and I allowed myself I good old fist pump (after stopping my Garmin, of course). I really didn't think that sort of time, or anything close to it, was on the cards.

For what it's worth, I have found that my runs are much better when I am able to feel relaxed across my shoulders and have focused on this area a lot during my last two runs. Also flat routes (and this may seem self-evident) are much more conducive to feeling relaxed and running fast. Lumpy and hilly routes make it much more difficult to find and maintain that steady pace/rhythm where you feel like you can just keep going.

Right now, my legs are properly stiff but I am still bouncing!

[AncientMum Graduate]

Wow! Great pace there. Congrats on an impressively fab PB

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to AncientMum]

Thanks AM. I am dead chuffed.

So glad to see you back out on the road after that hideous ankle injury. Take it easy.

[Steve_L Graduate]

It's a hell of a run, and my hat is most certainly off for you. Well done.

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to Steve_L]

Thanks mate. My progress despite the injury breaks is really encouraging.

My guess is that you would take a healthy chunk off your own PB if you went for it.

[Steve_L Graduate in reply to Dunder2004]

I suspect you're right, at all distances. I need to behave more confidently and push harder.

[Sparkyifhungry Graduate]

Cracking pace dunder, nice one. Big pat on the back. I noticed that about the shoulders too- relaxed makes for a smoother ride! X

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to Sparkyifhungry]

Thanks Sparky.

More focus on the upper body generally seems to be paying off.

[Noaky12 Graduate]

Wow what a belter of a run. I can't even manage that sort of pace over 1km never mind 10 of them. Lol

Well done Dunder. You must be mighty chuffed. 😊

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to Noaky12]

Thanks Noaky and indeed I am

[aliboo70]

Yay what a result dunder! i can hear that trumpet from here! brilliant i'm the same with tense shoulders, funnily enough on my big race last week i didn't have as much trouble as i've had previously!!

[Pigivi in reply to aliboo70]

see link in my reply x

[aliboo70 in reply to Pigivi]

thanks pigivi will have to try that!!

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to aliboo70]

Thanks Ali.

10 miles (actually 16k) for me on Wednesday but I will be taking it very easy.

[Pigivi]

Impressive pace!!! Well done Dunder, mind those stiff legs

And yes, relaxed shoulders (and an engaged core) make a lot of difference.

Here is a sequence for shoulders - it's really effective: doyogawithme.com/content/yo...

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to Pigivi]

Thanks Paola. I will take a good look at that.

[poppypug Graduate]

Never mind the trumpet Mr D, I think a whole brass section is in order and a clash of cymbals at the end ! Ha ha

Excellent , Well done you ! xxx

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to poppypug]

Cheers Pops.

[mfamilias Graduate]

Wowsers! A heaty thump on the back from me - most impressive. You'll have that 10 done & dusted in well under an hour if you keep that up. And if you don't, you'll still have it done and dusted, which you probably would never have imagined in a million years a year ago...

[mfamilias Graduate in reply to mfamilias]

uh, hearty. not heaty.

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to mfamilias]

Thanks mfam.

Weather would be my only real concern. It was perfect today but my race is at 10:30am so if we get hit by a mini-heatwave, I will have a problem.

[mfamilias Graduate in reply to Dunder2004]

Fingers crossed that the good old British weather will come up trumps, then

[gary_bart]

It's nice to see the Graduates sticking around and making wild claims to have done other impossible things such as this, when we all know full well that it's not possible to keep running for 60 seconds on end, let alone ... oh hang on, that's actually not impossible after all ...

Seriously, starting to believe that once this first unimaginable 30 minute run is done there are even longer runs out there that might also (who knows?) one day turn into realities instead of crazy schemes for Ironmen only, is inspiring. I tried to dig up a lesser word than that, but really it's just plain inspiring.

Of course you don't mind if I now go and dig up dirt in your past that exposes how much you once suffered trying to run for 60 seconds?

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to gary_bart]

Dig away Gary but I actually found the first few weeks quite easy aside from the fact that I had some horrible knee issues.

[gary_bart in reply to Dunder2004]

Well that just alters the kind of targets you'd go after as far as the ambition aspect of running goes, I suppose. My ambition is to hit 5km and sit there (although I'll start pushing a bit on the bicycle - a bit more fitness, and nowhere is out of reach); yours will probably head from step to step to the point where you do ultramarathons or something. (Hey, why not? You never know.)

I think what I'd like to try is climbing Kilimanjaro. Fitness can help, although it's not the deciding factor. Unfortunately you just have to have a natural tolerance for low levels of oxygen to climb high mountains. A mate of mine who was in special forces when young, and has stayed super fit all his life had to turn back on Kilimanjaro. The altitude. And on the same trip, another mate of mine who looks at runners with positive disgust as he drives past them, smoking, on the way to pick up another case of beer, and says, "Thats not fun!", took a casual stroll up the mountain, and sat down for a cigarette on the top, so he could hang around and savour the moment. Altitude is a strange thing. (Just to adjust the case a bit back in favour of fitness, the mate who smoked on Kilimanjaro is one of those guys who can just get up and run a marathon on a whim tomorrow morning, so he actually is fit, notwithstanding lifestyle choices). All of which just to say that I already know that when I go to Kilimanjaro I can't let vanity make my choices for me. If the lungs won't work, in spite of getting fit enough, I'll have to go down and live to find some other good use to put my anticipated future fitness to.

Anyway, enjoy all those future ultramarathons.

[ju-ju- Graduate]

Whoop whoop that's fantastic!! Well done a fantastic run and amazing time... Time to celebrate

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to ju-ju-]

Thanks JJ.

[TurboTortoise Graduate]

Absolutely brilliant, Dunder. Told you so!

[Dunder2004 Graduate in reply to TurboTortoise]

Indeed you did TT. Thank you.