Autumn 2018 Running Races

Would the limited mileage of “3+2” cross-training negatively impact my race performance?  Would my bounding prove to be some fountain of youth? 

I hoped my fall race campaign would elicit some clear answers. Ideally of course I would run some amazing times and be able to evangelize for these techniques.  Or if not, I would crash in burn in a manner that generates practical, actionable lessons for all future training. However the results were inconclusive —  the usual murky jumble of variables such as race conditions, terrain, fatigue, and race-day execution. 

Here is summary of my 3 October/November events:

• Nagareyama 10k - 41 minute - On an unseasonably warm day I make a futile and foolish effort to attempt to run at my goal pace of 3:45 per kilometer (recalling the Munatsuki 10k event of several years ago where running in mid-day heat did not derail my performance).  I pride myself on not giving up, but at Nagareyama I totally capitulated.  At around the 3.5k mark I slowed down to grab water at an aid station and then didn't bother to speed back up. I consciously thought - "this is just stupid and pointless, I really don't want to suffer." Later after the race, it was revealing to witness the award ceremony and note that many of the athletes in my age group seemed to be made of much sterner stuff and clocked times around 37-38 minutes.

• Cross-country - As usual, all attention turns to cross country in Seattle running world in October, and as usual I struggle to adjust to fast starts and the soft, hilly terrain. I cannot even make the top seven in my age group for the CNW team (out of like 10 guys). 

• Toda 10k - 37:17 -  Technically this is my fastest 10k over the last two years - the 10k Personal Best for my current self.  This time (unlike Nagareyama) I managed to run faster than 3:45 per kilometer.  Granted, given the perfect conditions and flat course at Toda, I had hopes of maintaining a 3:40 pace.  I am pleased to finish 18th out of 1,551, earn a spot on the podium and join my teammates with shiny medals pictured below.  

Almost immediately thoughts turn to winter/spring races, and whether I can figure out how to break out of the plateau I have been in for so long, and eke out some improvement in my time.  

Run Training Summary - 2018

My run volume has dropped by some 40% during the past eight months since I shifted into “3 + 2 Cross-Training” (compared to the 300 kilometers per month I was hitting in 2017):

  

"Easy" runs have frequently been replaced by swimming or cycling, meaning that some weeks entail only a hard interval workout, a hill repeat session and a long-run.  While there is certainly a question of whether this affects race performance, the bigger issue is whether I enjoy the easy runs versus the cross-training?