Update No. 7 – Back in training 2013: Preparing for my first 10K

That’s a wrap! With the Trenton (N.J.) 10K this Saturday, Nov. 9, I have completed my training for the race.

Since recording my personal best 10K time of 59:24 during a 6.22-mile run on Oct. 29, I have completed three 5K-distance runs as tune-ups for the race. On Oct. 31, I ran 3.11 miles in 28:15. I wasn’t really concerned about time, as I was with pace. I pushed myself a little harder on my next run, on Nov. 6, and finished 3.12 miles in 27:53—the best 5K time ever recorded by Nike+ since I started using it to track my runs in 2010 and better than any time I’ve clocked in any official race. In fact, the best 5K time I have ever recorded in an official race was 27:54 in my first 5K in September 2006. However, I do recall recording slightly faster 5K times when I used to track my runs with a stopwatch and write them in a notebook back in 2006, but I currently don’t know where that notebook is so I am unable to look it up.

Anyway, I took it a little easier in my final tune-up run this morning (Nov. 7), completing a 3.13-mile run in 28:34. That was just to work on my pace and I feel confident about reaching my goal of finishing the Trenton 10K in less than one hour. Right now, I’m averaging just about 9 minutes, 20 seconds per mile with relative ease. If I hit that mark, I’m looking at finishing in around 58 minutes.

The one thing I’m concerned about is being taken out of my comfort level early in the race. When I’m surrounded by hundreds of people all taking off at the same time, I tend to get caught up in the moment and think I need to keep up the pace. I just need to do my own thing and not exhaust myself too early.

And that’s it for my Trenton 10K training…the eighth and final update of this series will be posted at some point following Saturday’s race.

I’ve updated my run tracker below with links to data from my Nike+ Running app.

Original Post from May 4, 2013:
This week, I signed up for the Trenton (N.J.) 10K, which is held in conjunction with the Trenton Half Marathon. The race takes place Saturday, November 9, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. It will be yet another in a series of runs I’ve done this year that take place near or in a ballpark, as the Trenton 10K finishes inside the Trenton Thunder’s (Class AA affiliate of the New York Yankees) Arm & Hammer (formerly Mercer County) Waterfront Park. So far in 2013, I’ve taken part in the Phillies Charities 5K, which included a post-race walk around the warning track of Citizens Bank Park, and the Barnabas Health/Lakewood BlueClaws 5K, which finished inside FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, N.J.—home of the Class A affiliate of the Phillies.

I don’t really claim to be a “runner,” but I’m trying to get in better shape and I’ve been enjoying running more and more over the years. Last night, I attempted my first-ever 10K-distance run and it went very well. The Nike+ app on my iPhone clocked me at 1:05:50 for a 6.24-mile run. There is definite room for improvement, but the thing I was really happy with was that—for my first time attempting that distance—I felt great throughout the run. I established a nice, comfortable pace early on that left me feeling good enough to turn in a rather solid final 1.24 miles. My average pace was 10:33 per mile, but I was running at a pace of under 10:00 per mile for the final 7/10th of a mile. In fact, I was cruising along at 9:31 per mile at the 6-mile mark.

It’s going to be rough to get in 10K-distance runs on a regular basis as I train for the Trenton 10K, so I’ll likely be doing mostly 5K runs with a few longer outings sprinkled in. But I’m hopeful I’ll be able to get in two or three 10K runs in a month—likely more closer to November—prior to the race.