Time Trial Coming Up, but have self doubt

High School Running Distance

2 years ago 08/01/2021 8:50pm EDT

I have a 10k time trial for cross country coming up. I think I've been running okay this summer, currently running 4-5 miles on my easy runs and around 25-30 mpw (probably avg somewhere from 7:05 - 7:45/mile depending on the day) . During my runs, there are 2 stoplights, and I usually stop for 1-2 minutes there. I feel like I need that break, because of achilles tendon pain (and more recently, knee pain), and without the rest, my legs burn and it's quite painful. That's why I feel like I can't do a 10k without stopping, and I've been feeling a lot of self-doubt going into the time trial. Do you guys have any advice or help? I really don't know what to do.

2 years ago 08/01/2021 9:17pm EDT

re: kinda nervous

You are in high school and they make you do a 10k time trial 😲

2 years ago 08/01/2021 9:20pm EDT

re: kinda nervous

Why not rest a few days and ice both?

2 years ago 08/01/2021 9:55pm EDT

re: Film Rep

2 years ago 08/01/2021 9:56pm EDT

re: joro

I rested a couple days during a vacation and it only made my pain worse, and I had to sort of "get back into" running.

2 years ago 08/01/2021 10:16pm EDT

re: kinda nervous

Treat the time trial like a race, as it seems to be important and consequential for you. That's a good thing, as people can perform much better in a race than in workouts. I've hit average paces for 13.1 miles in a race that I wasn't capable of running for 1 mile at a time in workouts. So believe in yourself and your preparation.

The other thing to do is to make a plan, or rather, three interrelated plans: a training plan, a warm-up plan and then a race plan. Do the training, do the warm-up, and then all you have to do when the gun goes off is execute your race plan.

2 years ago 08/01/2021 10:30pm EDT

re: colder and wiser

Thanks for the advice. I really hope the race adrenaline just cancels out the leg pain.

2 years ago 08/01/2021 10:32pm EDT

re: kinda nervous

Make sure you try a 3x18 indicator workout to test your fitness before you run.

2 years ago 08/02/2021 1:51am EDT

re: kinda nervous

As long as you aren’t worried about getting cut from the team or something, I would take it pretty easy on the time trial. Your number one goal is to stay healthy and a meaningless 10k time trial (which you aren’t really prepared for and will be very taxing, both to your energy systems and your Achilles) isn’t going to help you in any way. Stay healthy and live to see October races that actually matter

2 years ago 08/06/2021 1:01pm EDT

re: Bythebay12

Bythebay12 wrote:
As long as you aren’t worried about getting cut from the team or something, I would take it pretty easy on the time trial. Your number one goal is to stay healthy and a meaningless 10k time trial (which you aren’t really prepared for and will be very taxing, both to your energy systems and your Achilles) isn’t going to help you in any way. Stay healthy and live to see October races that actually matter

This right here.

2 years ago 08/06/2021 1:23pm EDT

re: kinda nervous

Not directly related to your post but for the knee and Achilles pain. Times that I have ramped up mileage after getting out of shape (either injury or lack of motivation) I have had some knee pain the first few weeks of training. I believe it has been because of atrophy of my quad muscles (or calves for Achilles) from not running/exercising. Once I build the muscle up the pain goes away. You could try some calve and quad strengthening exercises to hurry up the process.

As others have said, you are not prepared for a 10k TT, that and it is quite a distance for highschoolers to TT before a season. I would have expected more of a 4k or 5k. Just try your best. For training don't worry about going a little slower on some of your easy days, might help with the knee/achilles/leg pain. Good luck with the race and your season. Report back on how the 10k TT goes

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