Incremental 10K Improvements

After the Giants Race 10K, I'd put in a decent week last week and an okay week this week, mainly easy short stuff with a focus on tapering for Saturday.  The two key "workouts" were Tuesday's mid-effort strength track workout and Saturday's race.

Summer Veggie Pasta

Garlic, basil, cherry tomatoes, olive oil,
red onion, salt, red pepper flakes

(And grated pecorino to finish)

M: 2.74 super easy (jog/walk)

Tuesday Track: jog 0.46; 2X1000, 2X1200 (per mile paces 9:37; 9:48; 9:57; 10:04) w/3 min R/I 3.16 total at the track; jog 0.4; 0.93 walk

W: 3 easy @ 11:50; 0.1 walk

Th: 0.51 jog; 1.47 walk

Friday Shakeout: 0.52 jog super easy @ 12:46; 11 X 60 seconds target race effort/60 seconds jog (per mile paces -- 9:58; 10:28; 10:23; 10:59; 10:16; 9:53; 10:36; 10:26; 10:12; 10:31; 10:11); walk c/d 2.47 total

Seen on my run today.

Saturday, my sis, a childhood bestie (D), and I headed out to the Break Free 10K.  They offered day-of registration for the 10K for $52 (benefits an anti-human-trafficking non-profit), which my sister and I opted into.  Their registration system was fast, efficient, and they accepted credit cards.  There were plenty of porta-potties and the start was roughly on time.

Gorgeous paved trails for 70% of the route.

The hairpin turns plus re-uniting with the 5K at the end

slowed us a bit.  But overall, a great course.

Based on how my Fall of improving my speed has been going, I decided I would be thrilled with anything below 1h05 (10:27/mile) for the 10K.  Thankfully, D decided to hang back with me at roughly 10:20 pace and my speedy Sis decided to chill out with us as well.  As a result, I had a great race, with Sis & D chatting for most of the race and me trying to keep my effort conversational, but at times pushing it more than that, which was fine.

In the end, I blew away my goal and I was thrilled:

Unfortunately, my Garmin registered a short course (as did D's phone app):

But, even with the short course, I still bested my pacing goals.  So, I'm taking the W.