UKC

Hey all,

Im lined up for my first half marathon on 27th October - Worksop Half - which is an undulating course, apparently.

Ive never done a half before and so I don't have too many expectations although i would like to get under 1:40. I've run plenty of 8-13 milers recently so the distance is not an issue but I want to give myself every chance by good last minute prep work.

What should I be doing now in the run up?

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers: My aims in the period before a race are usually -

- lots of rest
- hydrate really well everyday leading up to the event
- stay away from sugary crap
- lots of sleep
- take it easy on the training, but keep the legs loose with easy runs
- eat my "race meal" 48 hours before, not the night before. I find that if there's too much carby food in the tank from the night before, all it does is bounce around during the race.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

For a half marathon, I wouldn't usually do anything particularly special this far out, and unless you do something truly stupid, it's unlikely that you'll do much to change your finishing time one way or another.

Looking back at my last half marathon, at Alloa this year, I did a 6 mile trail race the weekend before, an easy 7 miles on the Tuesday, an easy 5-mile club run on the Wednesday, an easy 6 miles on the Thursday, and then nothing on Friday or Saturday. No special preparations with diet, although I tend not to drink much alcohol the night before.

Don't make any significant changes to what you've done before. If you've been doing the distance, simply try to replicate the things that have worked well in the past.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers: I DNS on my first half 3 weeks ago as I picked up a nasty calf strain on my last run 4 days before. Still don't know what I did to cause it, but I couldn't walk on it, so had to pull out.
So take it carefully the last week, to avoid that depressing feeling when you know you can't enter!

In reply to JamButty:

Man, that must have been awful.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I always like to practice running some miles at race pace, maybe do a 10k this weekend at 7:30 minute miles so you know what the first half should feel like.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Dial in to race pace, i.e. make sure you know what 1:39:59 half translates to in terms of pace and get used to this target speed.

In reply to StefanB:

Actually, Having just re-read the OP I take that back. In a first half on undulating course which you don't know, it will be difficult to calculate and stick to a particular target pace. Trey to some parts of your last few runs at a perceived effort you think you can maintain for 13 miles and try to dial in to that. Otherwise make sure you are rested and don't eat anything unusual the days before.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers: Lots of short sharp runs.. at race pace.. mile reps etc.. 4 mile runs.. maybe 8-10 miles the weekend before. I do a 2 week taper of 70% 40% load but all sharp, over the final two weeks.. maybe for a half train as normal until a week out then 50% load..