KILLED THE KILLER HILLY 10K

The usual 10k route.

I wasn't planning on posting again until after my 14 mile run this weekend, but I wanted to do a quick post about my training run yesterday. To sum it up in two words... nailed it!

I did my usual 10k route from my house, nothing special there. If you remember, where I live tends to be a little hilly, so this wasn't a flat 10k. All told my 10k route has about 750 feet each of elevation gain/loss. That doesn't mean there is a 750 foot hill, but say you go up a 100 foot hill twice. That would be 200 feet of elevation gain/loss.

The first mile really sets the tone for the whole run. I was feeling pretty good so I decided I would do a "comfortably fast" pace and then go from there. If that first mile came in at 8:10 or so, I would just settle in and try to hit 8:20 averages. No pressure. Well, of course, the first mile comes in at 7:44. At this point I have no other option than to try to run all six miles under 8:00. Anything else is failure.

So after that first mile, I was determined to do sub 8 throughout that whole run. Bring back some of that mythical "Old Thomas the Speedster" from last summer. I kept my pace up and was definitely pressing myself. This wasn't an easy run, I wanted to slow down, but I kept telling myself it was good training. You need tough runs if you are going to meet your goals, so this was all part of the buildup to my marathon.

Bert Macklin Thomas Graf, you crafty son of a bitch.
Felt like Bert after solving a case (Parks & Rec fans only)

Ends up I managed to hit my goal... barely. Last couple miles were touch and go, but I was able to do them. Since I don't have a "lap pace" display I didn't really know how I was doing on that particular mile until it was over, so those last couple were kind of lucky. Anyways, I really pushed myself and it kind of sucked during the run but I felt so great after. Recovered very nicely today too.

Splits: 7:44, 7:52, 7:43, 7:51, 7:59, 7:58. 7:54/mile average.

Just nice to have one of those "Boom!" runs once in a while. Otherwise I typically settle into more of an 8:40 type pace, which on a hilly course, is plenty fast.