I did the Cardiff Kook Run on February 11th and actually had a good run and was happy with it! I was unsure what to expect and what to plan for because of the ankle sprain. However, it did not seem to hold me back during the event and I definitely got some improvement out of the work I did in December before the sprain, as well as the 10 days of regular-ish training I got in after the sprain in late January and early February. I actually had some of the best workouts I have done since I started working out again in that period and I was feeling hopeful going into the Kook.
I followed my regular pre-event routine the week leading up to the Kook and 90% of the tenderness that was left in my ankle had subsided by day of. There seems to be a bit of tightness in the tendons or muscles in the front/side of my lower leg still. These will fire sometimes, usually when I am going downhill, and only until my legs get warmed up. I felt a few twinges during my warm-up for the Kook as well but they subsided after I did some uphill strides. The air also warmed up a bit just before the event which I was thankful for because the overnight low was in the forties and that can cause things like this to tighten up quickly. I kept moving and did short strides right up to the start to make sure everything stayed loose.
There was a pretty good showing for the Kook, but somehow most of the good masters and club runners managed to get into the pro wave so the starting line was devoid of familiar faces. There were plenty of young fast guys though. When the gun went off, about four guys got a gap in the first half mile or so and really just went away after that. But there were a string of runners spaced out behind them that I was able to tuck in with for the first two and a half miles or so that really helped keep things rolling. The air had also dried out quite a bit and I took sips of water at both mile 2 and mile 4 because my mouth had dried out.
The Kook had a course change this year, which I actually liked. The course was straight out and back with no laps. It was nice not to have to do all the 180s and mix in with a bunch of other runners on the second lap. However, this also meant that it went all the way down to the beach from Encinitas, so mile 4 climbed from Cardiff back up to Swamis. It is not a huge hill, but the fifth mile in a 10k is tough enough already.
Thankfully I had just been passed so I had someone just ahead to focus on chasing which helped. I think I have also gotten a really good hold on perceived effort so I can usually hit hills from a flat and not blow my stack because I can mentally titrate my threshold. I rolled over the hill at Swamis and the splits indicate that I picked back up to a great speed for the last mile to finish strong.
My time was 35:07 which is a post law school PR for me, and twenty seconds faster than the Turkey Trot from last November (on a hillier course). This is a great result, and it is one of the few times that I have been pleased with the result after the fact. Its no world record, but it reflects improvement from the hard work I have put in. It is also within striking distance of some of my times from my previous life which is very exciting!
I was second overall in the 40-45 division, which scores 90 points in the USATF SD road series and puts me in second so far. I was already planning on doing the Carlsbad 5000 in April which is also part of the series, but now I am definitely more excited to see if the progress at 10k will translate to a good 5k there. The focus will be on rest this week, then a bit of volume and a funnel down to target speed work before Carlsbad.
Afterward, I smashed a breakfast burrito like it was the olden days and we took the train to see Bluey's Big Play at the Balboa theatre. What a day!
