My First 10k Experience

Most runners graduate from 5 and 10k to marathon distances. Although, I have run a few 10k runs in the past, but never has it been a race for which I trained as I did for the TCS World 10k event this year at Bangalore. This being an international standard Gold label event, it was the one which needed some effort to be put in before the race day. Now that it was to be completed as part of the Procam Slam, I decided to run this race after some serious preparation. This would be my first event after TMM in January.
A 10-week plan was crafted by Ash with a challenging 41min target, my PB for this distance being 43:22
 in Pune 10k challenge 2017. After an initial period of base building and strengthening, a 4week schedule with speed drills and fast tempo runs were incorporated into the plan. Gradually included but the challenging paces were too much to handle for the calves as I landed up with a muscle injury around 6weeks before the event. This meant a return to the physios table and rest for 2 weeks followed by a gradual reintroduction of speed drills and distances. , This meant a return to fitness enough to run the prescribed paces for two weeks before the event, that too were done cautiously. Mentally, the targets were reset to a more conservative sub 43.
Meanwhile some blogs and expert tips on 10k racing strategy were consulted, for want of any such experience in the past. Big takeaway from these tips were to warm up well, with a 10-15min jog followed by dynamic stretches and a few quick strides, and to start steady for initial 2k, a shade slower than target and build up to race pace in the next 6k, before pushing harder in the last 2k. Initial 1k was expected to be slow due to a crowded start. Reached a bit later than expected due to a crowded parking, but managed to warm up and felt the warm and humid weather. The start was  crowded and meant a slow first km as expected, thereafter, it was a run through a rolling course. Pace remained slower than expected, as the effort felt more than expected. Probably, I lacked the confidence to be aggressive to run at paces planned. and this overcautious approach made me run within my comfort zone, planning to push harder in the last 3k. The gradients in the 7-8k made it tougher leaving just that last 1.5k to speed up. Finally, I ended up finishing with a timing of 44min, which was slower than the target.
The big positive takeaway was a negative split of 22:35+21:25 and an almost steady speed throughout the race.
 Such experiences have a lot of lessons to be taken away. I felt that one should be better prepared to pace well with adequate knowledge of the terrain and turns. A practice jog through the course would help immensely in this. 10k is a distance where there is scant room for error, and one has to be mindful and confident right from the start, focused at running the paces planned. The tough kms of 4-8 need lot of focus and a running companion of similar pace during this stretch would help. Thereafter, it depends on how strongly one can push ahead, reeling in other runners in front and overtaking them. This is only possible if one has practiced these paces well and conserved enough energy till that stage of the race.

Looking forward to running a 10k sometime soon, with all the lessons learnt from this outing.