The Race
How I set my PR on 10K with a first, long awaited, and unexpected race.
TL; DR: The story of that race turned out to be quite something - something I didn’t expect to unfold so quickly. But it did, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.
I have my PR (47:48 = 4:48/K) on 10K.
Let me share a bit more about how it all happened. But first, If you want to get constant updates on to your mailbox, please consider subscribing, it’s free!
So every Tuesday, I play football with some community friends. About two weeks ago, one of the girls (Flor) I play with mentioned she will take it easy because she had a 10K race coming up. I asked where, and she told me that it is right here in our city, as a part of the annual half-marathon event held every October. Suddenly remembered last year's banners all over the streets promoting that exact event - back then, I wasn’t in shape to even consider running. This time tho, with my training underway for my extraordinary challenge of running five halves in 2025, I thought it might be a great opportunity to tryout - maybe not the full 21K, but a fast 10K sounded like an interesting challenge.
I registered that same evening, securing my spot in the race. Now, I needed to push myself a bit harder to be even better prepared - that was my initial thought. But if you remember from my previous post, I hit hard my ribs during a football game; had no idea the real pain was still ahead. Despite the discomfort, I managed to squeeze in two training sessions during that time and eventually made the very first track run the following week. I’ve been steadily building up my fitness.
On Friday, I did a final light 10K run and decided to rest on Saturday. That evening - the day before the race - I picked up my race goodie bag and started counting down to Sunday. Oh, and for my carb-loading Saturday dinner, I made a delicious, authentic spaghetti carbonara for myself and my family - it turned out so good that I’ll not hesitate to share the recipe with you, soon, here. Before heading to bed, I laid out my gear and prepared my nutrition for the race: bananas, gels, and a Powerbar energy bar. I went to bed feeling super excited, knowing that you can do everything possible to prepare for a smooth, fast race, but without proper sleep, none of it will matter.
I woke up around 8 AM, feeling surprisingly good and refreshed. My recovery score went up to 100% - something I hadn’t seen in a while - and my HRV (which I’ll cover in details in a blog post next week) was at 160. I mean, what?! I hadn’t raced in a couple of years, so I was buzzing with excitement that morning - happy and full of energy. I went through my usual routine, made a pour-over coffee, did my shit 💩 (like you have to defecate, that’s a must before any race) got dressed, and ate a banana exactly 1.5 hours before the race - that was a suggestion of my GPT agent. Then, around 9 AM, I headed into the city for my 10K race.
I arrived at the race venue around 9:30 AM. After parking, I put on my shoes, packed my gels into my pockets, and headed to the starting area. The weather was perfect for running - clear skies, no wind, and over 20 degrees. About 30 minutes before the start, I took one of my gels (Espresso flavor Powerbar Gel, I love this thing). It takes around that much time to kick in and provide energy for the effort ahead. For hard efforts, you generally want to consume about 80-100g of carbs per hour, and this gel had around 22g, which was enough to fuel me for about 20-30 minutes. Plus, I had already eaten a banana earlier, which would have been converted into glycogen for my muscles by then. The gel also contains caffeine, which adds a nice little energy booster. Finally remember about my delicious carbonara the day before. Altogether, I had a solid amount of fuel to sustain my target pace for the race - just under an hour, aiming for around 50 minutes.
The event itself was part of a charity initiative promoting cancer screening, with a special focus on breast cancer awareness - a very noble cause. In addition to the 10K and half-marathon distance, there was also a 5K walk, making it a great community effort, and opportunity to hang-out together as well. The route take us through the Marina of Vilamoura and the city center of Quarteira in southern Portugal, right along the oceanfront. It was a beautiful course, almost like the perfect setting you could ever imagine for a race.
The race began at 10 AM. It was crowded at first, making it hard to hit my desired pace, but after the first 100-200 meters, the path cleared up enough for me to start picking up the speed. I was wearing my new Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite shoes (a steal at 90 EUR on sale), and I was a bit nervous about how they’d perform since they’re carbon-plated racing shoes. Never run at that kind ones before. It quickly became clear that my planned starting pace of 5:10 per kilometer was too slow, and I naturally shifted to 4:55-4:50 per kilometer. It felt comfortable; my breathing was steady, and my legs were working efficiently without showing any signs of fatigue for the first 5-6K. The ride felt bouncy yet soft, and I was truly impressed by the shoes' performance. I was flying. 🛸
Around the 5-6K mark, I felt some slight numbness in my foot, just before the one and only tough climb of the race - about 50 meters uphill. Up to that point, my average pace was around 4:50 per kilometer, which was fantastic. I slowed down a bit on the hill to avoid burning out before the final stretch. As I reached the top and started the descent, I kept a steady pace (at least I tried), knowing I’d need to accelerate for the last 2 kilometers. Once I hit the city promenade, I shifted gears and significantly increased my pace to around 4:35-4:40 per kilometer. I managed to maintain that until the last 500 meters, then pushed harder to finish with a pace of 4:20/K.
I crossed the finish line with a final time of 47:48 - a new personal record (PR). I was thrilled, energized, and surprisingly not too exhausted. I felt like I could’ve kept going. It was amazing! I grabbed an orange and a small bottle of water to cool down.
Sadly, there was no medal for this race, but I still had a big smile on my face. What a fantastic experience! I can't recommend it enough - dude, go sign up for a race! Now, I can't wait for the next one, and I'm eager to fit in as many as possible before my first half-marathon in Seville in 2025. Unfortunately, I just missed out on registering for the Copenhagen Half Marathon - it was fully booked within the first few hours. Looks like I'll have to find a different event for September …