Well that’s that then. All the major sessions have been done and I’ve now got just 5 easy days of running before my target 10K race on Saturday. I forgot to do an update last week, but at 83 miles it was my biggest ever week by half a mile, and all went to plan. My legs are definitely getting used to the higher mileage and felt much less tired than they did at the end of the last block of 80+ mile weeks I did. Hopefully this means they’re nicely prepared for marathon training in August.
I had my final 10K track session this week – 3 x 2 miles at target pace. I delayed the run from the originally planned Wednesday as we’re having a bit of a heatwave here in Britain, and the forecasted temperature at 7am was 25ยบ! I was keen for this session to go well, as a final confidence booster, so moved it to the following day. I got up at 5am to ensure I would be down at the track for 6am, before things warmed up too much.
The early start wasn’t too pleasant but thankfully the temperatures had eased up a bit, and combined with the early start it meant the conditions were manageable if not perfect. The session itself went well and I managed 38:00 10K pace almost dead-on for each of the three reps. It was definitely a tough session, but I wasn’t having to really struggle to hold the pace, which hopefully bodes well for Saturday. I know from the last time I did this set of sessions that if I can hold the pace for these reps, I can do it for the full 10K in a race.
Despite the big confidence boost I gained from that session, I’m still thinking “how the hell am I going to do that pace for 10K?” every time I put the magical 38:00 in to a pace calculator and see the pace needed. However I know I’ve put in the miles, and I know I’ve done the sessions at the right paces, so I need to stay positive and make sure I really apply myself on Saturday. No negative thoughts half way through the race, no being shit, just 10 kilometres in 3:48 or less each. How hard can that be!? 😨