Training for the Milton Keynes 10km had been mixed. Since the half marathon, I dropped straight back into the 10km training that I did before Oundle, earlier in the year. I probably should have mixed it up, but as the half marathon went so well, I was keen to stick to the same principles. The 10km plan that I had was written by the same person/company as the half marathon plan that got me over the line at Stratford. So I proceeded again – 8 x 1km, 4 x 2km, 3 x 3km…
The first of the three went well, the second was ok, and the third was really tough. For Oundle, I performed the 3 x 3km session around a local hilly loop, but this time I decided to choose a long, straight, flat section of road for the session. This particular section of road is known to be somewhat of a wind tunnel when the weather picks up, and I struggled badly for the two odd intervals. The middle one was great however, with the tail wind, and skewed the overall average pace for the session, which was just under goal sub-40 pace. I finished feeling absolutely whacked though, and wondered how I would be able to string all three together, and then some, on race day. Another factor in this was the time of day in which I set out for the session. Knowing that the race was an evening race, starting at 19:45, and I’m usually a morning runner, I wanted to get an evening session in to test fuelling and work day fatigue. It didn’t give me the confidence boost that I was after. Nonetheless, I completed the plan and hit taper week.
On the Wednesday before the race, the race being on Tuesday, I started to feel unwell. By the time I woke up on Thursday, the day of my final mini-interval session, my whole body was aching and my throat was so sore it was difficult to talk. I had a work presentation in the afternoon and someone in the team had to take over because I couldn’t speak for longer than 10 seconds without losing my voice. Needless to say, I didn’t complete that final interval session. But not to worry I thought, getting better was the priority, and I had done all the training already. What you do during taper week is less about making yourself faster and more about not making yourself slower. As long as I’m fit and well come Tuesday, it will be fine.
The weekend came and went, and I was feeling much better, but I hadn’t totally shaken it. I’d managed a couple of easy runs over the weekend, throwing in some strides, but my HR was higher than normal for the level of effort, and it was obvious that my body was still working on fully clearing the virus, or whatever it was that I had. At this point, my girlfriend had picked up whatever it was that I was fighting, and she was almost bed-bound for two days, with a complete lack of energy and a constant cough. Although I hadn’t quite got it as bad as she had, it was clear that it was a nasty one.
My hopes for the race were waning and I debated whether to even show up on the start line. My legs felt fresh but my body felt tired. Nose breathing was difficult and I seemed to have a constant, mild headache, likely from all of the sniffing. Milton Keynes is around 45 minutes away which, given the start time, meant that I wouldn’t get back home until near 10pm. I might have already paid the entry fee, but was it worth it?