How Not To Train For A 10km Run

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train for 10km run

By modernlifeninja

About 3 months ago, I learned that there will be a marathon in Istanbul, Turkey on November 12th. My first reaction was: I have to be in this thing. By no means I am a marathon runner. The longest distance I ran up to that date was probably around 8-9kms, but I had a great urge to participate in the event. The event had 15km and 10km categories as well, so I decided to do a 10km.

Why So Enthusiastic?

I don’t know exactly why I was very enthusiastic to participate in this event but I think it was a combination of these things:

1. I Like Running

Even though I never ran a marathon before, I enjoy running a lot, and I do it regularly almost every week for exercising. The idea of running as part of a big event like this with people cheering around sounded great to me.

2. A New Challenge

I could set a target time to beat, make myself a training plan, and make this whole thing a challenge for myself.

3. Scenery

I would be able to run on the bosphorus bridge and on other roads with great scenery in Istanbul. You are not allowed on most of these roads as a pedestrian in normal times.

The Plan

So I registered myself to the 10km run, and made myself a simple plan to prepare for it: do three 10km runs every week until marathon day. My approach would be first to get used to running 10km without any time restrictions. Once I am comfortable running 10km, I would start setting target times and improving my pace. And lastly, I would try some courses with ramps to get used to the ramps in the actual course on race day.

Stuff Happens

Ankle Problems

After the first week of running 10km three times, I started feeling high pain in my right ankle that made running almost impossible. I had been running distances around 8km once or twice a week before so I thought running 10km three times a week wouldn’t be a problem. Turns out I was wrong. I rested for about a week. My ankle got better but I still had some pain. I didn’t have much time until the race so I wanted to keep exercising. I thought it would be fine if i kept running at a slower pace. Turns out I was wrong again. Looks like you are not supposed to get back to exercising until you are fully recovered. My ankle pain got worse and I started have pain in my left ankle as well. Overall, a month passed without much useful practice.

Sickness

After I learned my lesson from my injury, I was able to do some effective running practice for 2 weeks. Just when i thought things were going well, I got scratched by a stray cat. My doctor told me that I have to get tetanus and rabies shots. (I needed to get 5 shots of rabies over a period of 4 weeks.) I don’t know if it was the side effect of the shots (doctor told me it might be) or if I got flu at the same time coincidentally, but I felt terrible and had no energy to run for about ten days. When I started to feel better, only two days were left for the race.

Race Day

Race day came and I was ready at the start line. I didn’t have any fever or a congested nose anymore thankfully. I just felt a little less energetic than normal, and I still had some cough but I was way better compared to a week ago. I felt good enough for running.

It felt great to be there with other runners at the start line. I know it is not a huge deal to run 10km but it was just a great feeling to know that I was contributing to one of the biggest events of a metropolitan city instead of just watching it on TV.

Race itself was very tiring for me. I think I ran at a faster pace than I would normally run because of the extra push I got from other runners and people cheering. When it was all over I was exhausted but I had my satisfaction of finishing.

I ended up with a time of 53:08.

Today

Today, after a month, I think I am just glad that I ran even though I was still a little sick on race day, and I couldn’t practice for the run as I wished. Setting aside all the practices and target times, I was a part of a great event. It was something I never tried before and it was so much fun. I am definitely looking forward to the next one. From now on, when I go out for a run, I am running 10km, just in case I learn about a race two months in advance 🙂 And I have to admit, I envied people who ran the full marathon on race day. Who knows, maybe one day…

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