So I thought, why not run one today? I had my goal threshold running pace (5.19min/km) and my goal threshold distance (~10k), so how hard could it be to run it on my own?
As it turns out, very hard.
I set myself a loop that - as it so happened - involved a lot of hills. Not big hills, but small & steep little undulating ones. I decided to maintain a sub 5.30 pace for as long as I could, then drop to a sub 6.00 pace.
Sounds simple.
But my knowledge of how to self-pace flew the coop. As such, I ran the first 2k easily at a sub-5.00 pace. The hills I viewed as a challenge to push myself hard to the top and ease back on the way down. I tried to reign in my enthusiasm but this had only fleeting effects.
At about 2.5km in, I started to feel the struggle. Ugh. 25% complete and already I was flagging! How unfortunate.
At 3k, I settled down to my sub-6.00 goal. Much sooner than I had hoped, but what else could I do? Under no circumstances did I want to resort to walking through my 10k threshold run!
By 5k, I slowed right down to my typical shuffle and sent my thoughts flying instead. I've forgotten how comfortable it is to run on my own.
When running with a group, my thoughts are on our conversation, or how I can keep pace with the group, or when the next water stop might be.
When running a race, my thoughts are purely on finishing in a good time. I use mathematics (e.g., "if I go at x pace for y kms, my total time will be z, which is a seconds off my pb time of b, where I must have run a c pace...") and mental encouragement (e.g. "2k down! That's 20% finished. Pick up the pace a little this km as you're starting to slack...aim to pass that person 50m in front of you before you reach the next km mark...")
When running speed, my thoughts are obsessed with when the next rep will be finished, and how many more reps I have to go.
But when running on my own, settled into a comfortable (aka, slow) pace, when I'm going neither too far to consider it a long haul nor too short to want to push myself faster, I can set my thoughts into random flight patterns and see what comes up. Being a writer at heart, what often comes are "what if" scenarios & story plots to amuse me along my way. This helps me get through the km's without becoming bored or frustrated. My speed may not be great but by golly, at least I'm going to be entertained!
Total time: 1.01.33
Total distance: 10.1km
Average pace: 6.04min/km
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