My second 10k
Running isn't for me, it's time to hang my Brooks.
I had this grandioso plan at the start of the year. I was going to run 6 races, train so well for all of them and have perfect results every time with the next one better than the last.
Just to remind you, the plan this year was to do three 10ks, two 16ks (or one 15k and one 16k) and a half-marathon (21k). I did one 10k in March, which I wrote about here and this time around, I was going to do the second one.
In similar fashion to how I wrote about my first 10k, I will be talking about training methods, nutrition and how the race went generally.
Training
There was none. Zilch. Nada. In more Nigerian terms: “Shingbain”. There was nothing. I did not train at all. Four days after my first 10k on March 16th, I got on a plane to Nigeria and just as it steadied in the sky, I threw caution into the wind.
Maybe, not everything was my fault. I fell sick for the first 10 days, and during this time, I sprained my knee so I couldn’t really run if I wanted to. I could’ve trained during my last 10 days but I was having too much fun.
As I got ready to fly, I put things together in my luggage and I struggled with deciding whether or not to take my running shoes. Reason being, my parents lived in a rural area where I did not expect running to be seen as normal. Cycling, maybe. Running on the other hand, would be something people would definitely find weird.
Now, I know. It doesn’t matter what people think or the amount of stares directed at me. It just did not feel like it was worth it. So, before I got on the plane, I sort of knew I was not going to be running except I felt the environment allowed it.
Diet and Nutrition
Oh God. I let myself go. I did not even put on any weight, I struggle to put on weight anyways but I indulged. I indulged in so much. I’ve been off sodas for the longest, I even stopped counting the days but I fell back into the routine.
I did not even have that many sodas but going from not having any at all to averaging 3 every two days was a significant jump. I ate good food though, that I must say and I had fun. I was eating what I wanted when I wanted. Life was good, my diet?, not so much.
Before race day
I did not train but I had high hopes for this race. If you read my post about my experience during my first 10k, you’d remember how I did it while fasting and dehydrated.
I did better than I expected in that race, finishing it in just over an hour (1h:5m) and I felt if I was hydrated and was able to eat in the build-up to the race, I might have done better. My goal for this race was do complete it in under an hour.
Yes, I had high hopes but I was not delusional. I knew I had not trained as much as I should’ve but my fears did not stem from performing poorly, I was scared I was going to pull a hamstring since I had not exercised those muscles in a while.
So, what happened?
Race day
I was meeting up with a friend at a common point before we went to where the race was happening. This meant I had to wake up super early to make my way there. I woke up feeling good. I slept alright, and I felt ready and pumped up for the race.
I got a new running shirt and I was ready to wear the hell out of it. As we got closer and closer to the starting point, I had feelings of excitement but I also looked forward to just getting it over with. It had been building up for too long and I was just ready to move on to something else.
Race time!
The countdown finished and the race was underway!. I was running with my friend so she was by my side for the first 4 kilometers (this is important information).
1-4km
The first 4 kilometers were probably some of my best in a long time. I started strong, ran alongside my friend, pacing ourselves quite nicely. To put it simply, I was having a good time. I did not feel like I was going to gas out anytime soon and I just carried on.
That was a mistake, I should have started a bit slower. I had not run in a month and the first time I get on the tracks, I push myself so hard. I know I was flying by but it was too much and yes, you guessed right, I crashed.
5-7km
People always spoke about “hitting the wall” but I never understood. It happened to me, I crashed and it was so sad to see. It started slow, my friend made heavy strides and would be about 25m in front of me and I’d quickly catch up.
Slowly, 25m became 75m and that became 500m. I caught up every time until I could not anymore. I saw her blitz past so many people and my mind wanted to muster all the strength in me to catch up but my body declined the request.
I saw her run into the crowd like a gazelle, I was so proud but remained disappointed in myself. I ran slower and slower and slower. I expected my performance to improve after having water so I was looking forward to the halfway point where we were handed some.
That made matters worse. I had some water and it felt like it just moved around in my belly. It felt super uncomfortable and it turns out, running while dehydrated might just be the move for me. Maybe there’s a technique to drinking water while running that I haven’t quite mastered yet but it only made things harder.
Surely I was going to be faster towards the end.
8-10km
No I wasn’t. I walked. I walked for about 750m in total. I had folks screaming my name within the crowd trying to get me motivated but it did not work. I wanted to run faster but my body completely shut down.
My worst km was the 9th and I don’t even know what happened there. I felt so sorry for myself and I said this recently but at the 8th kilometer, I thought to myself: “oh I cannot wait to write about this”, so here I am.
I finished the race, so that was good. It was worse than the one in March, I felt devastated with my time (1h:17mins) which means I ran each kilometer just over a minute slower. I was embarrassed.
General feelings
My friends keep telling me to not be so hard on myself since I was ill for a few days, had a sprained knee and did not train properly. My response to that was that I had trained for 4 months for the one in March and I found it hard to reconcile the fact that being off for 3 weeks could cause so much regression.
I was happy I finished it but I was disappointed with the results. It’s just a testament to how much work goes into this sport and how well I need to train next time. I know for a fact that I can run a 10k faster, I’ve done it before but doing it over and over again is the challenge.
“getting to the top is not the problem, staying there is”
It was time to leave the event and I was so done with everything. After the event, I told myself I was going to eat lots of junk that day, not because I deserved it but I just needed something to soothe myself.
I don’t even know what to have when I want to junk-eat, I don’t like chocolates and you couldn’t pay me to have them. I can’t have ice cream because of my lactose intolerance but that felt like the right option.
I was going to get ice cream, popcorn, cans of soda and probably a 30cm pizza. That night was supposed to be magical but after a two hour drive from Rotterdam to my town, I came to my senses, walked into a grocery store and left with a tub of ice cream and nothing else.
I almost did not buy the ice cream but I did because I felt I deserved something, even if that something was going to land me in the toilet. I got Pecan Caramel and although it was so good, it took me about 5 days to finish the entire thing.
Anyways, sometimes you need to break out of the routine, dare to do and dream. You’ll be fine.
Update on statistics
When I created this leaderboard last month, I could only imagine myself getting better as the months went on. Little did I know I was going to be humbled so quickly.
Anyways, this is the updated leaderboard:
I did not break any records during this race, I reached new lows instead. I just realised I don’t like discussing my pitfalls so I’d stop here.
Next steps
What’s next?! My third 10k is on May 17th and I’m looking forward to it. It’s easy to be down in the dumps about my last result but that won’t be my attitude, fortunately. I will get better, maybe not now or in my next race but eventually and that won’t happen if i quit.
Also, I want to do a marathon in exactly 2 years, that is only possible if I keep at it. For my run in May, I’m stuck between lowering expectations and knowing what I’m capable of.
I’ve decided to:
Aim to finish it earlier than my time in March. I’m not trying to do it in less than hour for now, shaving more than 5 minutes off my time was probably a stretch goal. I’d just try to do it quicker, my time could be 01:04 and I’d still be content.
Start slow and don’t blow through my stamina in the first 4 kilometers.
I’m definitely training, I’ve been running 4-5 times a week for a while now so I hope it goes well. Whether or not it goes well, I’d be back here in a few weeks to tell you how it went. Stay tuned!
Toodles.
Honorable mentions: my medal
Baba tokula