Inspired by the arrival of some fancy new running toys, I decided to take my training for the upcoming 20 km of Brussels a bit more seriously. While 9 weeks of training can only do so much for my finish time, I did finally decide to tackle this properly and asked a colleague for help and he was nice enough to come up with training schedule for me. Since I have not raced since 2019, and since I have been (unsuccessfully) trying to take it easy during my training runs, I had no idea what my current speed race speed would be. Therefore, I figured finding a small, local, race and using it as a benchmark would be a pretty good idea. I could also use this opportunity to write down a new 10K PB, since my last PB was set in hilly Brussels and dates from 2017.

While I could not find a race near me, I did find a race near my sister’s home, which ensured I would have some company on the race. The race also fell at the end of a recovery week in my training, which made it a perfect fit for my plans. A few adjustments later, my plans were made and I signed up. As a bonus, my sister and her husband both decided to join the race, causing their kids to join my mom and girlfriend to cheer us all on.

Goals

I mainly wanted to use this race to figure out my current 10K race pace, which would be useful information to plan the rest of my training. However, I did of course have a few other goals in mind:

  • Set a new 10K PB, on flat terrain
  • (Hopefully) finish 10K in under 45 minutes
  • Ensure I’m faster than my sister and her husband 😉

To achieve this, I decided that starting out at a 4:40/km pace and dropping to 4:30 if this seemed manageable.

Preparation

Since this race was mainly there to tweak my training, I did not specifically train for the 10K distance. Instead, I planned to take it easy during my recovery week and move some workouts around to ensure my fitness was peaking when the race arrived. As you would expect, I managed to completely ruin my plans.

During an endurance workout on the Sunday before the race my left knee really started to hurt. The pain was noticeable but manageable while running, but was really hampering me when I tried to get going after pausing for a traffic light. Evidently, actually running three times a week (instead of attempting it the weeks before and ending up at 1-2 workouts per week) proved to tire out my body to the point I injured myself. While I was initially worried (as I could not even get up the stairs after my workout), the pain improved noticeably after some ice and some time on the foam roller and was hardly noticeable during my recovery run early in the week. When I could not feel the knee at all during the second workout of the week, I decided it was safe to proceed with my plans for the race.

Race Day

Unfortunately, I had some issues on race day which did not help me reach the start line with a lot of confidence. First, I ran the recovery run the day before a bit too fast, which made me feel like I had not recovered ideally. Second, my sugar was too high throughout the afternoon, which tends to make my muscles tense up while also getting me fairly dehydrated; both of these issues would cause issues during the race. Eventually, I managed to get my sugar in check, however, I had to eat a few snacks to do so and I had to drink a lot of water to compensate for my dehydration, the combination of which would lead to a consistent nauseous feeling throughout the race.

Before the race, I lined up near the front half of the crowd together with my sister and her husband, eager to start my first race in a few years. Once the signal to start was given I regretted lining up with my family, as I had placed myself a bit too far back in the crowd, furthermore, the timing of the race did not start when the start line was crossed (as I’m used to), instead, it started running from the moment the start signal was given. Eager to find a position in the race, I sped off into the crowd, trying to find a proper pace to start the race. As you can imagine, I ran my first kilometer far too fast.

km 1 4:16

This quickly got my heart rate up too high, which immediately triggered the aforementioned nausea. I suffered a bit too hard to be this early in the race this point, but recovered a bit and found a better pace to run at. In spite of finding a better pace I was still struggling however, as heavy headwinds were now making it hard to make progress. As a result, running slower did not bring my heart rate down as much as I’d like.

km 2 4:34
km 3 4:32

At this point in the report, it is probably worth noting that the race in question consisted of a 3.3km loop which runners had to repeat three times. Therefore, around this point, I passed the finish line for the first time where I saw my (rather enthusiastic) crowd of fans for the first time. Being cheered on gave me a bit of a boost, which made me run a bit too fast again.

km 4 4:29

While I was still feeling a bit nauseous, I was properly warmed up by this time, which made the second round far more pleasant than the first. My position in the race was also a bit more steady at this point: I was running behind a man I’ll call black and yellow shirt guy, who was running behind what I assume to be a couple. Around this time, I started to feel my knee twinge slightly, which made me fairly worried. However, there was not that much I could do at this point (besides bringing my feet a bit closer to my butt a few times, which seems to give me some temporary relieve), so I kept on trucking on, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Evidently, somebody saw that I was struggling a bit, as I was soon passed by a man in a blue shirt. Not eager to lose my position in the race, I trailed behind blue short man for quite some time, staying close enough for him to block some of the wind for me. Blue shirt man was obviously pacing his race more consistently (and slightly slower) than I had, since running behind him gave me a nice moment to recover for a bit.

km 5 4:36
km 6 4:42

When I passed the finish for a second time, I was once again motivated by shouts of my fans, which caused me to speed up, passing blue shirt man, who promptly decided to stick to my tail. Speeding up was probably not the best idea, especially since the pain in my knee was getting worse as the race continued. Blue shirt man clearly also had more reserves left than I did, as he soon passed me again. I stuck to him for some time, passing black and yellow shirt guy in the process, but eventually had to let him go as he seemed to pick up the pace throughout the course of the last round.

km 7 4:37
km 8 4:38

While this was going on, black and yellow shirt guy stuck to me, probably using my fairly large figure to get some reprieve from the wind. Throughout the remainder of the race, I’d feel black and yellow shirt guy behind me, which caused me to push myself a bit further, unwilling to let somebody else go after I lost blue shirt man. I should stress that by this time my knee was really hurting, to the point where I worried I’d had to limp the last km of the race to the finish. Luckily, things did not get to that point.

km 9 4:49

Eventually, we reached the final stretch of the race, which passed through a fairly narrow grassy path which did not lend itself well to passing. I pushed myself a bit harder before reaching this point, ensuring I reached it before black and yellow shirt guy so I did not give him the opportunity to pass me here. Once we got out of this little path, I knew we were close to the finish, but I still felt him hot on my tail. With some help from my music mix reaching one of its peaks, I pushed harder still and sped to the finish line, catching up with the running couple in the process. Unfortunately, the path of the race narrowed here (it was split in a path for the finishers and a path for those finishing round 2), which made it not possible for me to pass the running couple at this point. Moreover, once we did cross the finish line, your final time was only counted once your bib was scanned by a sole guy waiting at the finish. As such I lost a few seconds while he scanned the couple before me.

km 10 4:21

Results

Official results put my time at 44:31, I stopped my watch while waiting for the guy with the scanner, it says 44:27. I am not sure at this point if I turned on my watch when I crossed the start line or when the start signal was given, but the few seconds could easily be explained by the timing system they use. The next finisher was 5 seconds behind me, I assume that this is black and yellow shirt guy, who apparently didn’t follow my final sprint. The finisher before the couple (probably blue shirt man) finished 18 seconds before me, showing he evidently had some more reserves left than I did. My brother in law finished 3 minutes after me, which is pretty impressive considering that he does not really run, even though he lives an active lifestyle. My sister also set a few PRs, finishing about 10 minutes after I did.

All in all I have some mixed feelings about this race. I reached the goals I set out to achieve, however, I do think I could have shaved a minute or so off my race time if I had paced myself better and if I had been in better shape. Of course, learning from my mistakes is exactly why I started this race in the first place, so I should probably not complain too much 😊; I have already set my sights on the Brussels canal run as a target to improve on these results after the 20K. Furthermore, I am not 100% sure if I should count this as a 10K PB, given that the distance is actually 9.9km, or 9.73km according to my watch, which did cut some corners. All that being said, my main goal right now is to ensure my knee can recover fast enough for me to get some extra training in before the 20K.