Achievement Unlocked! 10km Finisher!
Finally, after 7 weeks of training, it all boils down to this weekend!
Miles, Wade and Gallop have been looking forward to this day eagerly, making sure they had a good rest the day before. Waking up early with their race day routine, even though it’s just another run in the park for them.
Miles had been calm the whole week. But right on the day itself to run the 10km, he felt some nervousness that he has not felt before. He had completed countless of race before with distances ranging from 5km to the Marathon, and had never felt this nervous.
Perhaps, it’s the thought of his first 10km in 6 years. He didn’t want to fail at this last hurdle.
Even though there was no target time for this 10km, Miles had secretly hope to do it below 8mins/km pace, in other words, a 1hr 20mins completion time.
They started the run easy, not wanting to start off too fast. Miles was happy to see that he was achieving his goal of sub-8mins/km pace.
The first 5km went by in a breeze, and they appear to be running faster for each km:
km 1 – 7:53 mins/km
km 2 – 7:42 mins/km
km 3 – 7:34 mins/km
km 4 – 7:32 mins/km
km 5 – 7:56 mins/km
At this stage, Miles was feeling good and starting to run faster, surprising Wade and Gallop, but still manage to keep up with Miles.
km 6 – 7:17 mins/km
km 7 – 7:20 mins/km
Miles was not expecting to be able to run this fast at the 2nd part of the run. This was way better than he had anticipated. With that, he began to run even faster…
km 8 – 6:58 mins/km
km 9 – 6:49 mins/km
km 10 – 6:44 min/km
Miles went sub-7 mins/km for the last 3 km. With Wade and Gallop running alongside him as they cross the imaginary 10km finishing line in 1hr 13mins 46 seconds.
6mins 14 seconds faster than planned.
Macro Week #07 (10km Novice)
Micro Week #08, Session 5 –
Plan: Run 10 km
Actual: Run 10 km (1:13:46 hr)
And so, their first phase of training has concluded. A 10km in a respectable 1:13:46 hr time, with an average pace of 7:23 mins/km.
“Now that we have completed our first 10km in 6 years, what should we aim for in the second phase?” quipped Miles, glancing between Wade and Gallop.
“You were wild! I thought we were just running for completion today? What’s with the sudden speed up? You took us completely by surprise!!!” laughed Wade in reply.
Gallop just maintained a menacing glance at Miles while catching his breath.
“10km seems like a very good distance to run, I propose that we do the 10km Intermediate Training program as Phase 2! I think it will save us some time, if we train to run faster before we embark on the Half Marathon training phase. What do you think?”
“You have a NEED for SPEED!!!” Gallop finally exclaimed with a smile on his face, while nodding in agreement.
“You guys decide! I’m just a follower! You jump, I jump! You speed, I speed! You eat, I eat!!!” Wade added while laughing out loud.
With that, the trio has come to a common understanding on their phase 2 program.
10 km Intermediate Training Program
“Well, now that we have agreed on the program, what will be our target time for our next 10km?” Wade quizzed in anticipation.
There was a moment of silence as no one wanted to commit to a target.
Miles was the first to announce “I propose we target 6:45mins/km pace, which is 1:07:30 hr for 10km. With a stretch target of 6:30mins/km and a threshold of 7mins/km.”
“What? Wait? Huh? Why are there so many timings? One for each of us?” Wade asked with a puzzled and painful look on his face.
“Ha ha ha….. don’t worry about the different timing, just go with the 6:45mins/km pace as our target. If we feel good on that day, we can increase our target to 6:30mins/km pace. Otherwise, the bare minimum to achieve is 7mins/km pace to complete our next 10km.” Gallop explained.
“That’s right, it’s good to have a slightly more challenging target in mind, as well as a threshold. So do we all concur on this decision?” Miles announced in gusto!
Both Wade and Gallop nodded in agreement! And so it begins….. Phase 2!!!!!
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. If you think you recognize yourself in here, you’re probably mistaken… or you have a very unusual life. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents are either made up entirely or borrowed from the author’s overactive imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental — and if it’s not, well, that’s just awkward.
