10k October (Day Twenty-Four Through Twenty-Eight)

What a week of running!

I apologize for my internet silence, but don’t mistake that for non-activity. I have been running my way through 10k October and can’t believe that it will be over early next week. Don’t worry, I plan to keep running, but I will scale back to at least a 5k every day instead of a mandatory 10k.

This week I had my sights set on the upcoming Whistling Pines 112 mile relay race. I am excited to be on a six-man relay team this Saturday and will be personally running three separate 10k’s. Many people have asked me how many miles that would be. A 10k is 6.2 miles, so three of them would be a total of 18.6 miles.

In preparation for the run on Saturday, I spent this week starting fast and then slowing down. Ideally I would have taken today off, but you can’t just not run in the middle of 10k October!!! So I did get a nice and easy 10k in early this morning.

On Monday I had a chance to run with my buddy Derrick Miller. We have been getting together to run on Monday afternoons since August, but this was actually the first run we have been able to do together during 10k October. Our schedules were just not lining up earlier in the month. Derrick is super fast, but thankfully he is willing to slow down and run with me on a weekly basis. He is a good guy and I enjoy our conversation and hearing about what he is up to. 

On Monday we ran 8.1 miles in 58:31, which is an average pace of 7:13 per mile. 

On Monday night I stayed up late in the studio finishing up a project that I have been working on for a couple of months. The late night played into my ability to wake up for an early morning Tuesday run. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to run until late at night, but I wanted to run a fast 10k to see what my legs could do for Saturday.

On Tuesday night I ran 6.2 miles in 43:55 (my goal was 45!), which is an average pace of 7:03 per mile. I was very happy with that. 

By Wednesday I was back into my early morning routine and ran with my brother for 8.2 miles in 1:06:40, which is an average pace of 8:07 per mile. It was a nice run and I knew that I needed to start slowing down in preparation for Saturday. 

On Thursday morning I joined up with Jeremy Pope and Josh Rakosky in Wooster to run 9.2 miles in 1:16:24, which is an average pace of 8:16 per mile. It was a great run with a couple of great guys!

This morning I completed my preparation by putting in a nice and easy 10k around Apple Creek. I ran 6.2 miles in 51:26, which is an average pace of 8:17 per mile. 

I feel good.

My plan for today was to drink a ton of water. The race starts tomorrow at 8am. I will have roughly 3 hours between each of my three 10k’s, so I will have a bit of time to recover. 

Our plan as a team is for me to run my first 10k at an 8:00 pace, the second at an 8:15 pace, and the third at an 8:00 pace again. I am hoping that is conservative. 

Personally, I am hoping to run my first at 7:30 (or less), my second at 7:45, and my third at 7:30 (or less). But we’ll see. 

As a team, we are hoping to finish the 112 miles in less than 13 hours. I’ll let you know how it goes!