A Wake Up Call: Race For Men 10k 16th of August

Dan: In my last blog, I said the Severn Bridge half marathon on 30th August would be my next race. An impromptu text from Rhys on Monday 10th asking if I fancied doing the Race For Men 10k race in Gloucester 6 days later changed that.

The three days leading up to this race was spent catching up with family and friends over several beers, so not the best preparation for a 10k I'll admit. Still, this was a completely flat course, running around a field so I was quietly confident of a decent time after the success of the much hillier Tenby 10k, maybe even another PB. How wrong I was.

The race itself was a fairly uneventful four lap course around a flat field. I got off to a decent start and kept up with the front group of 4. These lads were shifting and I was wary that there was no way I could maintain their pace for a full 10k. As it turns out, this group of 4 were only doing the 5k race which is why they were going so bloody fast and the reason I burned out rather quickly. What a numpty!

I carried on pushing as hard as I could and felt I was going at a decent pace, but my Garmin soon corrected that, showing ever decreasing km times. Disheartened by this I plodded on to the end.

I crossed the finish line somewhere between 45 and 46 minutes I think,  I was too disappointed to care.

This was a nice race on a lovely day and all for a good cause and I will do it again but it brought to light a few home truths. We need to take this challenge seriously if we are to succeed. I know it seems obvious, but you can't just rock up to a sportive event off the back of three days on the beer and expect to do well.
In fact, a complete re-think on diet, training, recovery, preparation and lifestyle is needed,  and with just over a year to go there is no time to lose. 

Rhys: Well this race was a disaster and as Dan says it has got me thinking. I'd gotten cocky after Liverpool and mocked the thought of a mere 10K as a stroll in the park. Unfortunately, Strolling is exactly what I did and I didn't even do the full 10k. I think the delay in the report on this has been due to some shame as detailed below.

Held at Plock Court in Gloucester, this was the male equivalent of the Run For Life Events which have been going for a few years now. As far as I'm aware this was the inaugural Race For Men (Edit: Completely Wrong - This is the 7th Year) and it was well attended and well organised. It may not have been the most stunning of courses (4 times round a large playing field) but it was a nice atmosphere and full of enthusiastic folk. Only real downside was they recommended to get there far too early for an 11am start, as such Me and Dan were waiting around from around 9.30 onwards. Still always nice to catch up.

Once the race started, I found myself in the front pack and realised I should have started much further back. I watched Dan hare off in a cloud of dust and managed not to attempt to keep up with him, which would have been a mistake. As the course went on, my legs started to hurt and not in a way of usual running. My legs had been funny all week since running up the hill by my house after a few cheeky pints, in flip flops. I fear I'd done more damage than I'd thought. As such I was walking more than usual and slower than usual. I managed the initial 2.5k lap in 15 minutes but the second lap was just a nightmare. Due to the circular nature of the course, I could keep track of where Dan was and he was doing pretty well. So well in fact that he lapped me on his 3rd lap, before I'd finished my 2nd. As I came to finish lap two, I could see my time was about 35 minutes and I couldn't see the next two laps going any better. As such seeing digression as the better part of valour, I decided I was only doing the 5K and finished. I was hugely disappointed with myself as I'd been hoping for this race to go well.

After having a quick lucozade, I watched the actual 10kers finish and even though Dan was gutted I believe he came about 4th in the 10k and the guy who finished 1st did it in around 41 minutes I believe.

As Dan has said, a reevaluation is needed. We both realised we'd been fairly lax that week on looking after ourselves and as I said I got Cocky. There's a huge need for me to knuckle down now as we approach the 1 year mark., I still need to sort out food, consistency or training. And unfortunately I fell off my booze reward wagon, The current plan is to start again 1st September and to have a semi detailed training schedule from that date too.

Mainly I need to learn that every race should be respected and not to be cocky about the shorter races.

I'd happily do this race again and I want to show it who's boss next time.