My first 10k race in over a year, damn children taking up all my free time and damn me for eating a mountain of food and becoming extremely fat.
Race Information
Name: Cumbernauld 10k
Date: 03/09/2023
Distance: 10k
Chip Time: 48:38
Garmin Time: 48:49
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9774229301
Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/11936003661
Event Website: https://q-buster.co.uk/cumbernauld-10k-2023
Results Page: http://results.perfecttimingscotland.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=20065&RId=1076&EId=1&dt=0&PageNo=1
Goals
| Description | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Beat my previous PB (56min) | Yes |
| Sub 52min (What I’m aiming for) | Yes |
| Sub 50min (What the hell let’s go) | Yes |
Splits
| Interval | Description | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1k | Wait that’s not the 50 minute pacer that’s the 45 minute pacer | 4:41 |
| 2k | Easy | 4:55 |
| 3k | Easy | 4:44 |
| 4k | Easy | 4:53 |
| 5k | Easy | 4:32 |
| 6k | Ugh why did I drink that water | 4:52 |
| 7k | Ugh uphill | 5:07 |
| 8k | More uphill | 5:06 |
| 9k | Downhill… not wait up hill | 4:58 |
| 10k | I can see the stadium! I’m going to finish under 50minutes! | 4:56 |
Training
So last year I had just started getting back into running and bam second kid arrives and 6 months later I’ve put on 56 pounds (25.5kg), I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been and I can’t tie my shoelaces without going “ugh”. December 2023 I decide I can’t wait any longer I have to do something about it, I join a class based gym and start running again. I’ve went from a 25min 5k time to 38min time in 6 months…. jesus. So I concentrate on loosing mass no real focus on my running I’m just doing it for fun.
My gym does something called the shred games and I loose 5kg in a month (10.5lbs). I actually feel fit for a change! I decide now is the time to actually pick a goal…. I decide I want to run a sub 3hour marathon and do a full ironman in the next 2 to 3 years. Things that I have never done and have never had an inclining of interest in, suddenly I have a focus again. I decide I’ll start with the running. I’m no where near a sub 3 hour marathon but I like to pick lofty goals otherwise what’s the point.
I get a PT and let him know my goals, he shoves me on weight training to build up some muscle strength and sets me on a zone 2 running strategy. He also gets me on a proper nutrition scheme that feels more balanced than I have ever done in my life. Also more importantly it feels sustainable. I decide I need some races in to benchmark myself and I pick my local 10k (today) as my goal for the next two months.
Then my house gets hit by about a million sicknesses between my two kids and wife. In between all this I get up really early (5am) so I can get my training in. I spend July and August increasing my mileage up to 30 to 40 miles per week + hiit sessions + weight training + swimming.
Pre-Race
My PT put me on a 500g carb load for Friday and Saturday which I thought was mental for a 10k but I had been on a deficit for 10 weeks by this point so he said shut up and do it… So I did it. The night before the race I get hit with a fever of 39 degrees… great I slept terrible but I sweat it out. I wake in the morning feeling a bit rough but I say what the hell I’m going to go for it. I pop two ibuprofen have some toast with honey and shove a caffeine gel down my throat and drive the short 15 minutes over to Broadwood stadium where the race starts and ends.
I do 4 easy laps around the stadium to warm my legs up at a 6 min/km pace and head over to the start line to find the 50 minute pacer.
The RaceI get behind what I think is the 50 minute pacer… there’s too many people for me to see the number on their shirt. And we’re off….
Half way through km 1 I realise my fuck up… my watch is set to negative splits it’s yelling at me! YOU ARE RUNNING FAR TOO FAST. I’m like I can’t be I’m beside the 50 minute pacer…. oh that’s the 45minute pacer oh sh*t. Nevermind! I get to 1k I feel surprisingly comfortable I’m not out of breath this is actually easy keeping this pace. None the less I fall back a bit as I don’t want to over do it at the start.
The next 4k are fairly uneventful I keep well ahead of my negative splits are everything feels comfortable. It gets to k 5 and it’s uphill but I just plow up it I get to the top and I can see the 45 minute pacer again but I bottle it and decide no I just want to finish sub 50 at pb. This was a mistake I just start slowing my pace down at this point… I’m already 2 minutes ahead according to my garmin for a sub 50 min. I can just take it easy now.
Stupid stupid stupid as it’s all uphill at this is the point I should be hammering the gas and going as fast as I can!
In the end I hammer out the last 100m running into the Football stadium when I note the time is counting down to 49:00 which got a nice call out from the announcer ha! I BROKE MY PB BY 8 MINUTES!
Post Race
I am buzzing from this. I really thought sub 50 minute was going to be really hard for me my watch was predicting an all out would be 51:23, my last pb was 57 minutes over a year and a half ago.
Also the key thing I took away from this was I can go faster, I’m still overweight and haven’t built up all my strength or potential yet. What can I actually achieve if I really focus and plan. It’s so bloody exciting thinking about it.
What’s Next?
Well the event calendar is a bit light in my area but I have a half marathon on the 1st of October and I have no idea what my goal time should be for that. Defo sub 2hr but could I push for an 1:50:00. I’ve got 4 weeks to train so any recommendations are appreciated because I know my PT will be like don’t overtrain blah blah… BUT I WANT TO GO FAST 😅😅
Ah crap I’ve just realised there’s a report generator for this and I didn’t have to write it out by hand! ach well every day is a school day.
