To quote Maverick when getting into the F14 – It’s been a minute! I’ve started feeling better this year, only really since February and not always 100%, but good enough that I can start to train.
I went for a cycling training camp with Ammersee cycling in mid March, which was probably a bit much for my fitness, but was also a good kick start. Isigned up for a half marathon in summer – the Sportscheck Halbmarathon on July 5th in Munich. I just did it as I fancied doing something sporty, but then started feeling better and now I have it as my goal race for the year!
The problem is that I’m not that fit right now. I’ve done a couple of park runs so far this year in 19:08 and 18:56, but I want to be back below 18 so that I can start thinking about sub 1:25 half times. I bought a book about the Norwegian style of training, and I’ve been trying it out. I need to increase my mileage, my biggest has been 50k or running (+ a 3:40 bike) but I’ve been doing quite well with my sub-threshold twice a week.
I came into the Geretsried 10k thinking that I could possibly break 39 mins if all goes well. To get my excuses in early – my Dad is visiting and we went to Munich the day before the race – walking over 25k steps and eating cheesecake. The day of the race was pretty warm and unbroken sunshine, nice weather but maybe not perfect for a fast 10k.
I knew that the 4 laps of 2.35km had to be done in 9m12 for me to break 39mins, so that would be my mark to check for after each lap. The start of the race was a shitshow, they started the kids 5k, adult 5k, the 10k, the nordic walking and the inclusion run at the same time, a recipe for disaster! All the little kiddies lined up at the front and wouldn’t get out the way, the adults behind ready to overtake and not trample them. There was a trip with 2 people hitting the deck, but otherwise the start was fairly clean.
Kids not knowing how to pace, I was overtaking people for the first 1k with alarming frequency. My 1st km came in at 3:45, pretty good and I felt fine. The next was only 3:52 or so and at the end of the first lap I had exactly 9 mins, so 12 seconds ahead of schedule.
I didn’t feel like I was over my limit, but I felt conservative and a bit warm. This being my longest race for 4 years probably didn’t help and soon my kilometer times started to drift. The 2nd lap was in about 9:30 and the 3rd something similar, I was looking to break 40, not 39.
One little titbit, this was my first real race since getting glasses, and I threw a cup of water over my head on the last lap, but could hardly see after as my sunglasses were wet, again what learned as Katja would say.
The race was fairly uneventful, after the 4th time crossing the start line in about 37:20, I had been hearing a guy behind me who was breathing realy loudly for a while. I thought he was going to pass me, but when we entered the stadium, I could push on and I realised I was catching the 2nd woman. I didn’t sprint it in as I knew sub40 was safe, so I finished in 39:54.
I’m not thrilled with how my training is going, I have been doing the sub-thresholds twice a week and my training load is going up. I can’t be overtrained, but my times are disappointing. I had in the back of my head that I could have run 18:30 in my last parkrun (I did 18:56) and maybe even near 38:30 today. I’ll keep at it, it’s only been a month. I need more mileage in the legs and some longer runs, who knows, maybe something will click.
Next up in the ROC series is a hill run, about 4km long with 480m climbing, sounds delightful!