The fastest 10k

A few weeks ago, I signed up for the Trailblazer 10k. It's been a long time since I've run a 10k. This race is run by the Friends of Steven's creek and  run on the Stevens creek trail and in Shoreline park.....these are roads I run all the time and I love them and am glad to support them.

I ran the race pretty well. My slowest split was the first mile but after settling in and getting warmed up I sped up a bit and held that pace with a bit of kick in the last 1.2 miles.

2016-09-25 Sun
Split	Time	CMiles	Pace	HR	% WHR	YPB
1	509.8	1.00	8:29	141.9	79.9	1.453
2	498.0	2.00	8:17	137.0	75.7	1.542
3	498.9	3.00	8:18	139.0	77.4	1.525
4	502.5	4.00	8:22	143.0	80.9	1.474
5	495.8	5.00	8:15	145.0	82.6	1.470
6	486.7	6.00	8:06	146.0	83.5	1.501
7	77.2	6.19	6:57	149.0	86.1	1.728
Sum	51:08	6.19	8:16	142.1	80.1	1.510

I won my age group!  

Official time 51:13.9.

There were 10 men in my age group and I smoked them all! The next finisher in my group, George Shea,  was 4:24 behind me in 55:37.  Came in 51 / 227 overall.

A Big Thanks to all the really fast older guys that stayed home today and slept in 8)



Some pics with George and also my cheezy (but precious) little trophy.


 There were no prizes for 2nd or 3rd place finishers, but George has won lots of 10k races himself so I didn't feel too bad for him.

This was no PR (I've ran a 49:18 in 2013), but considering I'm not at a racing weight and I'm in the middle of marathon training, I'm pretty happy. 8)

The longest 10K ever

I'm just finishing up week 7 of training for Marine Corp Marathon. So far it's going fine. 

I started running in 2008 and got my first Garmin late that year. The other day as I was updating my run database I noticed that I was getting close, and today I  reached:

10,000 miles of running.

Not 10k meters, 10K miles, ha ha...the really LONG 10k.

It's been a long and fun road, with challenges and triumphs as well  as some tough moments. I have stayed at my weight of 170-178 the entire time (no more 220+ for me!) and only had a few injuries, none of which stopped me from running for more than about 6 weeks. 

I run smarter now than I did in 2008 and get more from my aging body and do it without injury. Back then I didn't do any core or other strength training and didn't even know about foam rollers!  Now I would marry my foam roller if bigamy was allowed ;)

I've run a 3:54 marathon and a 1:48:30 half marathon, and a 49:18 10k. These race times came after a lot of running, planning and finally, doing! 8)

For several years, I've used a running form that is "Chi"-like: a fast cadence, very little bounce, lean forward at ankles to increase speed, hips not tilted back, open out stride with hip rotation to go faster, lower leg/calf should be loose, good arm snap to the back. It works really well for me. (I don't really believe in the 'mystical energy' part of Chi..I think that's just a good way of visualizing the form)

Here's the stats:

 1428  runs
 1685  hours of running
10:07  average pace
   122  BPM average HR
     28  marathons
       6  half marathons
       3  10K

Here's the breakdown by year:

Date	Runs	Miles	Pace	BPM	YPB
2008-01-01 Tue	61	357.39	10:24	118.2	1.485
2009-01-01 Thu	173	1269.35	10:46	122.0	1.490
2010-01-01 Fri	147	1117.07	10:06	122.6	1.493
2011-01-01 Sat	180	1128.96	10:11	124.0	1.446
2012-01-01 Sun	170	1163.34	9:48	125.8	1.455
2013-01-01 Tue	191	1414.39	9:36	124.8	1.492
2014-01-01 Wed	213	1605.92	9:57	119.1	1.521
2015-01-01 Thu	144	916.16	10:43	114.9	1.488
2016-01-01 Fri	149	1007.40	10:02	120.6	1.476
Summary	1428	9980.0	10:07	122.0	1.485

I'm on target to reach at least 1300 miles this year (assuming no flu or colds etc). 

Cheers! 

On to the next 10,000 miles!

-paul