Cursa dels Nassos - 10k

Finally!!!! 10k under 40 minutes, only a few seconds, but very slowly 10k running form seems to come back now.

Technically I am half way the 4th week of my marathon training schedule, though I missed out of the first two weeks of training because I was very ill. Just before that I was already starting to run better and the restart is going quite well and hopefully I will have no more unexpected breaks until mid March. In marathon training terms running a 10k can be seen as a tempo-run. Also, since in the earlier races this year I struggled to maintain pace, this time I decided to go out slow and go with the 40 minutes pacer as long as I could.

The Cursa dels Nassos is different from most 10k since it is run in the afternoon. For being a winterday it was warm and I could easily go down to the beach and take of extra clothes right away before doing my warm up. I felt quite ok, a bit sore of the last training still, but nothing to worry about and with strength and endurance in the warmup sprints. The fastest box in this race is reserved for "under 37 minutes" and since it has been years now since I did so I had to start in the box just behind, but with the "go out easy" plans that was not a problem. The first 2 kilometers were very chaotic with people tripping and a lot of pushing but I was running comfortably some 20 meters behind the pacer. Going at a steady 4m/k pace. Upto the 5k marker I closed the gap to the pacer and just after that at the aidstation I passed the group, since I did not need water and did not see them anymore afterwards. I maintained pace though between the 5k and 8k markers the course is going up and down and I struggled with my breathing in the uphills. Once passed the 8k the road is flat or even slightly downhill and though I was running at my limit then I was still going at 4m/k pace and the last few hundred meters is downhill and I accelerated a little to make sure to finish under 40 minutes. Later at home my confirmed time was 39m51s. Now back to my training schedule and trying to stay healthy in 2016. Happy Newyear!!!!