First, a little background....

It has been a while since I have run a timed run. The last 10k I ran was during the first week of December. I had been trying to break 50 min.

Since I started training for my Half Ironman, I had been focusing much more on swimming and biking. I had been working very hard but not at running.

I am starting to ramp up for the Mad City Marathon in 8 weeks and I wanted to see what I could do. My plan was to hang back a little for the first 2-3 miles and then turn it on. I have a hell of a time running negative splits as I always go out fast.

Mile 1 - I try to keep my HR right around 140 (which is pretty much about 75%). It seems like I am taking it easy, HR is pretty low. I get to the first mile marker and it was 7:40. That seemed a LOT faster than I wanted to go as my main goal is breaking through 50 min.

Time - 7:40
Avg. HR - 140 Max - 157

Mile 2 - I slow down. I wanted to run the first mile around 8:30 and I am determined to keep my HR low. As it happens, most of this mile is uphill. My HR is a little higher but I don't feel like I am going TOO hard. I feel pretty good even though my HR is a little elevated. When they call the time, it wasn't as slow as I wanted to go but it wasn't as fast as I feared it may have been.

Time - 8:07
Avg HR - 153 Max - 159

Mile 3 - Once again, I am trying to conserve energy. but it didn't work out that way. Once again, there is a lot of uphill. It was a pretty hilly course. Instead of conserving energy, I try to keep my pace just a little bit faster than the last mile. Even when going up hill, I tried to keep my legs moving quickly. I feel like I am making decent time, but not great time. Near the end of the mile there was a small down hill and I accelerated.

Time - 7:48
Avg HR - 157 Max - 165

Mile 4 - 3.2 miles to go, it's time to kick it down. I think I have a great chance of breaking 50 min at this point. It seems like I could Cadillac it in and still be OK. I just concentrate on going fast. I try to go as fast as I can without going completely anerobic. I run as fast as I can at that threshold. I am passing all kinds of people at this point. It starts to hurt, but I remind myself to welcome the pain. I feel like I am going fast, I can't tell how fast.

Time 7:17
Avg HR - 163 Max HR - 169

Mile 5 - I am blowing hard but still feeling in control. There is a lot of up and down with slightly more down. I try to keep concentrating on keeping my legs moving as fast as they were the previous mile. I had a hard time believing I had just pumped out a 7:17 in mile 4. I was working, but it wasn't killing me. Passing people gave me a lot of motivation. I was shocked to see my time when I got to the mile marker.

Time - 7:17
Avg HR - 169 Max HR - 174


Mile 6 + .2 - Now I know I have sub 50 in the bag. Well, I can't blow up and I'll be fine. It's an exciting feeling. Once again, I fight the urge to slow and tell my legs to keep moving as fast as they had been moving. Not the easiest thing in the world. Most of this mile is going well, if anything, I am going a little bit faster than the last two miles. WIth about .7 miles to go, my chest hurt bad. It felt like it was going to pop out of my skin. I slow down. I had to. I was afraid of not hitting my time goal so I just try to keep it below the BAD chest pain threshold. A little bt of pain is fine, but what it was too much at the pace I had been running. There was a little down slope to the finish line. I am still going hard, but not all out. I can hear the girl I just passed. I can hear her shoes slapping on the ground as she sprints to the finish line. I give her the place. I could have picked it up but I knew I was going to be sub 50. I thought I was going to hit around 48:30. I was shocked to see my time of 46:10.

Time 7:59
Avg HR - 172 Max HR - 176

TOTAL TIME - 46:10 (previous best 50:13)
TOTAL AVG HR - 159
TOTAL MAX HR - 176



My previous best was 50:13. That was a HUGE imporovement on my last time. I was stunned. I had no clue I had it in me. I haven't even been running that much. I couldn't believe that I had gotten that time. That time may stand for a bit. I guess the moral of the story is that cross training is good.

(I guess I DID train my as5 off for my 1/2 Ironman, but I didn't think that much of an improvement was possible)


Beleived that I had a 45 min run in me. I would have run a 45 min time had I not had to slow slightly in the last half mile or so.

Walked for 10 min. I had 2 cups of water and 3 orange halfs.


Nothing.