My 10K Summer Adventure

Earlier this summer I undertook a slightly different challenge from the cycle of marathons I've been doing for the past year - a 10K race. It has been close to a year and a half since I last ran a 10K. The Growler Gallop in Greensboro was the chosen event and that was held this past weekend. Read on for my report on how the race went and perhaps more importantly, how the training went and what I learned.


In the course of training for the Growler Gallop, I did have some new experiences. As I wrote about earlier this summer when I started my training plan I did some research into heart rate zones and how to customize those. I also invested in some new Saucony running shoes, which was a break from my normal Mizuno purchases. About midway through the training plan, I did a trail run which was an entirely new experience for me.

Unfortunately, shortly after writing about the trail run I experienced another first and it was not a good one. While heading out on one of my last hard running workouts, I noticed that my calves were especially tight. This was not unusual for the right leg as it had been bothering me for about a week. What was different was the left leg was also bothering me. Nevertheless, I kept going and after a good warm-up mile, things were feeling better. That changed at about the 2.25-mile mark when my left calf seized up on me. The pain was so sharp that I had to stop running. Not sure whether it might just be a cramp, I tried walking it off for another quarter-mile or so before calling it and walking back home.

After some research, I determined that I had likely pulled the soleus muscle. It did not hurt when sitting or lying around the house. Even walking was not a problem except for a short while on Sunday after I aggravated it out at the soccer fields. It would flare up if I tried to run though and after some research into the injury, I found some stretches to test it and could feel it when doing those. I ended up not running at all for the final week of my training plan.

With the injury in mind, I decided to proceed with the 10K. I knew no records would be set, but the muscle was feeling good enough that I felt like I could complete the run. After some good warming up and stretching, the race got underway. I could definitely feel the muscle was not 100% - I'd rate it at probably 85%. I could run with some slight pain, so that was good.

I did not push particularly hard, but settled into a pace I felt I could sustain. That turned out to be about an 8:15 pace, although I did fade just a tiny bit during the last couple miles. The good news was that once everyone settled in, I never was passed by anyone. To help keep me going, I used the strategy of picking out a runner ahead of me and then working to catch up with them. This proved to be quite effective. I actually had some good energy left for the final mile and passed quite a few people down the stretch.

In the end, my official time was 50:44. That was short of my goal and my previous personal best. Considering my injury I was pleased though. The training plan probably did not get me to where I wanted to be, but I do think with a healthy leg I would have set a personal best. The 50:44 was the fastest I had run all summer.

As it turned out, my effort was also good enough to land me a third-place finish for my age group. So it was nice to get some new hardware from the race sponsor, Gibbs Hundred brewery in Greensboro.

With the 10K behind me, I will be turning my sights back to marathon training. I will be interested to see how that goes and whether I can detect any differences after this change of pace to focus on a different kind of running. I also come away from this challenge with a new appreciation for fast runners and training plans for running fast - this was definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be.