6 replies to this topic

[ScJ]

Hi,

I am set to run my first half marathon next weekend (SMH Sydney). I'm a bit nervous about it to be honest.  

My recent training times are as follows:

5km (hilly): 25:05
7km: 36:10
10km: 56:30

and yesterday I completed a long, slow run to make sure I could make the distance; 20km in 2h12m. I havent done too many runs 10+ km.

Using the McMillan calculator with the above times I get estimates from 1h55m to 2h05m.

I've been averaging about 20-24km/week and I've included the odd interval run as well.

My obvious goal is to get under 2 hours. Do you think this is realistic?

What do you guys think? Any last minute tips/ advice over for the next 10 days?

To get under 2 hours I'm looking at 5:40/km pace - should I aim for this every km, or just plod along for the first half a dozen k's and reevaluate?

[chrisso]

You should be able to go under 2hrs in a race with that sort of time/distance in training. As for pacing, as even as possible, try to avoid running to hard/fast at the start, settle into a good rythm and maintain that for the distance.

[00Alchemy00]

I just finished my first half I had slower times than you did over shorter distances although my last 20km run prior to the race was the exact same time as yours 2:12.

According to the official race times I finished in 2:00:52 or 1:59:54 depending on which 'offiicial' time you want to go for.

You definitely can achieve a 2 hour/sub 2 hour time.

I am very new to distance running but my strategy (which works well for me) is slow start and then I start ramping up by 10kms. With only 5km left to go I broke out into a very fast run! I flew past quite a lot of people at the end. I have to ease into a run though because I have a very dodgy leg with a rod in my tibia so it needs a lot of coaxing in the beginning. I find I have a lot of juice left at the end. I took on a small amount of endura at about 16km and then at 18km. That got me home. Other than that, I had nothing.

[eoin]

The SMH was my first half back in 2010, on the "old" course. I had only ever run 8.5k before the race and my only goal was to beat the cutoff at around 11k, which I did. After that I just kept running and walked through all the water stations. I finished in 2:08 and loved every minute.
Do yourself a favour and don't set a time goal for your first half, just enjoy it and finish happy.

[ScJ]

Smashed it!

Don't know my official time but I got a few minutes under the 2 hour mark.

I went hard for the first 14km (72mins) and then struggled a bit through the hills of the last third.

Stoked!

[Andrew2]

Well done Sir!  
Was just about to repeat the 'start slow, settle into sustainable pace, then cling on' advice, then saw you'd already done the race.
Next one will definitely be a PB.   I'd put money on it.
My best half (4 so far) was the one where I followed the above advice most successfully, for what its worth.
My other advice would be stop for a full cup of water at each chance, and have an energy gel somewhere in the middle.

Congrats!

[ScJ]

Ooops....

I called it early. I just looked up my official time and it's 2 hours 4 seconds. While it woul be natural to be crushed by that result, the truth is that I trained at 2 hour pace and aimed for it, and got it.

I can't worry about 5 seconds, still very happy with the result