Had it been better to continue forcing myself through the 10k race and come out with a time of 36:30 - 37 mins? I decided not to and dropped out.
The fourth of five 10k races of the Aktia Cup winter series was the first one with real winter road conditions. Snow in the start and finish area, wet streets with some sludge otherwise and a zero degree Celsius moist air. As the weather forecast indicated. With no snow or ice cover on the streets, spikes (shoes) couldn’t be used, and with the race shoes being slippery on wet underground, what was left were the lighter training shoe, the Adidas Response. Of course, the shoe was soaking itself wet starting from the tip during warm up.
However, it would be too easy to blame the conditions alone. The first km in 3:23min, about 5-6 seconds slower than last time, but still 7-8 seconds below the target average of 3:31 min/km. The second km in 3:35min, compared to 3:28min last time. And at 2,5km (there was a sign indicating that point), we were at a pace of 3:40min/km, but breathing heavily. Something wasn’t right, normal training pace required too much effort in the competition. It should be the other way around. I got angry. The search for explanations didn’t help. Was it too little sleep lately (average sank below 6 hours), the increase in training km, now around 100km each week or just the bad weather. No clue. And I didn’t care. But finishing with a 36:30 - 37mins was just not an option today.
