Grass tracks.

Hi.
On Friday night I ran 10,000 metres on my local grass track as a sharpnener for my 10K this Sunday.

I ran at the same heart-rate that I would for a 10K road race but it took me almost 48 mins to complete the run.

Usually, I would complete 10K in about 40 minutes.

I am wondering whether my poor porformance was caused by any of the following:

a) Lack of competition meaning that my time was slower.

b) Running on grass actually slowing my down e.g. friction etc.

c) Perhaps my fitness has deserted me due to my 3 weeks off after London Marathon.

Has anyone got any ideas how fast a rass track usually is compared to a road race?

Thanks, any input would be really useful.

Matt (worried)

My money would be on (a) and (b) as primary factors.

I've never run on a grass track, but if I do intervals on grass rather than pavement I'm slower.

You may have lost a bit of fitness by resting for 3 weeks, but realistically not much.

However, to be 8 minutes slower off a usual time of 40 minutes suggests you might be overtrained or under the weather. Check your heart rate (relative to speed) on your next few runs and play it by ear.

It is harder to run fast on grass than on the road, even if you take lesso f a pounding.

Jools' suggestion seems sound though. Three weeks ago I ran a 13 mile time trial and was 11 minutes slower than expected - it just felt hard! Two days later I was horizontal - just a bug, but it does make a real difference to performance.

Another thought - how accurate ios your grass track? I do intervals on the local grass track and according to the garmin it is between 11 and 13 m long per lap. (based on individual laps and longer averages). When you are running 25 laps that starts to add up (not to 10 minutes though).

Thanks Johnny and Jools.

I guess (and hope) that it was just a case of a lack of competition, slower surface, longer track etc.

I am doing a 10K race on Sunday so I will see how I get on (heat permitting).

Matt