Weekly Running Log: DCRR Fort Hunt 10k

Hello Runners.

Sunday I ran a "small" 10k put on the DCRR (that's Washington DC Road Runners) at Fort Hunt Park in Alexandria, VA.  I finished in 37:43 (a :56 PR).

Race Summary:

• The course in Fort Hunt Park is 5 loops of 1.2 miles + a small start/finish chute to complete 10k.
• The weather was perfect.  About 40 degrees and no wind.
• The course was relatively flat, with small rollers.
• What led me to PR?
• The weather and course definitely helped, and is needed to give me a chance to PR.
•  Good competition - I was in a good group of runners that kept me motivated to keep up the pace.  I've found that if I don't have someone to chase / motivation to stay in a group it's easier for me to 'let the pace go' as the race nears the end and get it's really hard.
• Strategy - I settled into about 6:05 pace the first "loop".  It didn't feel "fast" and decided I was going to hold the pace or die trying.
• I ended up being able to hold the pace all the way through.  The "slow down" never happened.
• I had my watch set on "Avg pace" and just checked every now and then that the average wasn't dropping.
• I "think" the Indoor Season (a few shorter races on a track) might have helped out with being able to keep the pace.  Nothing like 1500 / 3k / 2k races to make 10k pace feel slow.
• I was also able to play psychological games with the 5 laps.
• I counted them down - 4, 3, 2, 1; which made a different cadence than counting the miles (no mile markers by the way on the course).
• Accountability - I had a few other Team members racing as well, some cheering for me.  I think the accountability of the Team helped me push at the end.
• Timing Clock - as I turned to the finish chute I saw the timing clock ticking very close to my prior PR of 38:39.  I kicked my hardest to beat my prior PR, but missed it.  38:4x was on the clock when I went over the mat.  I was disappointed, then another runner told me "The clock was started early, you were definitely under 38".  Not sure if my kick would have been as hard if I knew I had a PR already in the bag.

Shout out to DCRR for putting on a fun race.  Well done, not too much fanfare, and good competition.  I was also able to meet quite a few runners I only knew through Strava.

Side Note:  I went into the race feeling "dead".  I had raced a 2k 8 days earlier and my legs had felt dead all week.  I was thinking I was on the brink of over-training.  So - I guess you never know.  "Show up and see what happens"

Side Note 2: I'm coming on one year of health.  I haven't had to take any days off from training since April 1, 2019.  That has to account for a lot of it.


Besides the race; this week's training was really just recovery runs; I did a few strides on Tuesday but even those felt too hard, and I cut them short. 



Weekly Summary:

• Mileage: 40
• Workout: N/A (ran a race last Saturday)
• Race: 10k
• Long Run: N/A

Onward.