Stoix Training - day I don't know

Total Mileage - 3.4 miles
Total Time - 45 minutes (I think, I don't have my garmin)

Warm up - .75 miles at a 10:30 pace
6 sets of out & backs
Cool down - walk .25 miles

I actually READ THE INSTRUCTIONS for my workout today and I think I actually did it right. Another thing that's kind of funny about it, I started out real slow because today was my "taking it easy since I have to race saturday" day. What happened, I ended up doing it the way I was supposed to.

The first 3 sets, I started off slower than I thought which was around a 9:30-9:45 pace. I was returning at around a 9:15 pace. By the last 3 sets, I was running out around a 9:15-9:30 pace and returning at around a 8:45 pace. Let me explain -

Out & Backs - "the objective is to control your pace on the way out and then return 2-5"/minute faster on the way back. i.e. if you ran out for 2', then your return trip shouldn't be faster than 1:50. If so, then run out harder on the next set. The recovery is 60". "

Each set should get further like when we perform strides/repeats. So I should be negative splitting all the time. And I actually did it today. The last set, I was done. I didn't want to do anymore. So that's mean I did it right! Yay!


My other issue for this weekend - 


I am doing the Cooper River Bridge Run. I have not been training for a 10k distance. My longest run since my last half marathon (at my own pace) has been 3 miles. So, what to do. Should I attempt to run the whole thing or should I split it up into a run/walk?

THE DREADED WALK/RUN


If I walk, then I'm not a runner
Only casual runners walk
blah blah blah


I hear this so many times but I will say some of my PR's have come from a walk./run. To quote Jeff Milliman:

"Why do walk breaks work? 

By using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. When a muscle group, such as your calf, is used continuously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. The weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward. By shifting back and forth between walking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. For veteran marathoners, this is often the difference between achieving a time goal or not.

Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown."

Last year, when I ran this race, I ran the whole time at just under a 10 minute pace BUT I had been half marathon training, so my long runs were typically longer than 5-6 miles. This year, I'm not in that same shape, so I'm thinking walk/run. I think my ratio will be run 3 minutes/walk 30 seconds. I can always adjust during the race. 

So I'll report back on Monday and let everyone know how it went. My ideal time would be under 60 minutes but since i haven't been training for it, I can't get that upset if I don't hit it. In my mind though - we're going 59:59. 

What would you do in this situation? 

Namaste, y'all!