If you follow me perhaps you read my last story about a planned 10 km run where I was 4km away from any assistance before I figured out that I had cheap cotton socks on and they were completely saturated.
This time I made damn certain that I had the correct socks and set out to conquer the 10k again, this time armed with a bottle of water as well.
It went pretty well, but I am particularly proud of this achievement because I actually started this run twice but got rained out on the first one.
This is my first attempt, I was maintaining a really good pace and I normally don't shy away from a bit of rain - I actually really like it in the hot summer - but this was out of nowhere torrential rainfall and I was concerned for my not waterproof phone. I have destroyed a phone in the past because of this and didn't want it to happen again. So I went home, threw all of my totally soaked clothes in the dryer and then did something else while I waited for the storm to pass.
It did pass, but since I am stubborn and don't look at doppler radar or whatever I left the house this time with a plastic bag in one of my pockets so that my phone wouldn't be allowed to be an excuse to stop running. Here is the result from that 10k
Any of you hardcore folks out there are not going to be impressed by this per km pace but keeping in mind that I only recently switched over to doing really any cardio, I think I am doing ok. For the past 10 years I have been a strength-training only sort of guy, but as I hit my mid-40's and realized that my cardiovascular health was actually pretty bad, I decided that being healthy was more important than looking ripped. I still look pretty ripped by the way, just 25 lbs lighter.
Anyway, I wasn't 100% pleased with this run because when I stopped briefly to get a sip of water, it was at that point that I started to notice how tired my legs were. Did this have something to do with the 2.5k I already ran earlier? Maybe.. I am more of a Goggins mindset sort of person that feels like the biggest trouble that you have in any longer distance running is the psychological battle that you go through with your own brain constantly telling you how awesome it would be if you weren't running right now.
I kept my heart rate where I wanted it to be and spent most of the time in anaerobic zone 4,which is the zone I want to be in the most. In the past I have gone to zone 5 which is called VO2 Max zone and I don't really know what that means but I know that it is faster than I want to go and if I try I will not be able to maintain it for very long.
Those dips that you see in the graph are points where I slowed down to get my heart rate down and other times I actually slowed all the way to a walk.
I stopped to walk 5 times during this run but only one of them (the 3rd) was an instance where it was a mind game with myself to get started again. Towards the end I had my 2nd wind as they like to call it and if I was stronger psychologically and physically, this is where I probably would have just kept going. But I accomplished my 10k goal and then the 2.5 goal earlier on and I am ok with that.
So yesterday I went through 2 pairs of shoes (totally waterlogged the first pair) and 2 pairs of socks that were both moisture wicking. I only noticed excessive moisture on my socks on the 2nd run when i would stop running so there is a lot to be said for the more expensive socks, namely that they actually work.
I think now I need to work on getting my starting pace a little more equal but this is always difficult for me to determine because my fitness band/smartwatch is a cheap one and doesn't give me terribly accurate readouts until after the fact. I'l find the pace eventually. In the mean time I am here a day later and I have no soreness even though 12.5km is the most I have run in a single day in likely 20 years, so I am happy with that.