Saturday 11 May 2013

Race Report: First 1/2 Half Marathon 2013


I was really looking forward to this race having not run a half marathon since April of last year. The First 1/2 Half Marathon is a great event on a nice flat course that brings out lots of fast runners who use it as the start of their season
I’ve been feeling good and running strong lately but I’ve only just got back into any kind of hill or speed work so wasn’t sure if my speed would be up to par. That being said, I thought if everything went really well I could maybe pull off a 1:35 (a 2 minute PB). 
Woke up to a surprisingly clear, crisp morning and I started with my usual green smoothie (as well as peanut butter, banana and pumpkin seeds on a couple of rice cakes). After my usual warm-up routine, I got Leah to drop me off 3 km’s from the starting line so I could run an easy warm-up before the race. 


The lineup for portapotties was longer than expected so I ended up not having time to do some warm-up strides. I just managed to sneak and cajole my way through the crowd as close to the front as possible before the starting gun. 
Was feeling good off the start, attempting to hold steady and not get caught up in the rush. First kilometer was 4:33, and I needed a 4:30/km to nail the 1:35 finish time. So far so good. I didn’t adjust too much knowing that I would likely be making up seconds later on. 
After a few km’s I found someone who was running a really steady pace in my range and used him for my own personal pace bunny. As long as I was staying under 4:30/km I knew I’d have a bit of padding and I was averaging around 4:25 give or take. I was feeling really good at around 12 km’s and surged a bit bringing the average down for 5 or 6 km’s only losing a bit of steam in the last couple kilometers where there were a few small hills.  
As I was in the last block to the finish line I could see the 1:34 on the board so was pretty thrilled to be coming in better than I had hoped or expected. 
On retrospect there’s not too much I’d change about this race. It feels great that I took nearly 4 minutes off my previous best time and that the adjustments and additions to my training seem to be going in the right direction.


Stats: 
Gun time: 1:34:12
Chip time: 1:33:43 
10K: 44:45
M40-44: 40/125
Men: 203/865
Overall: 259/1928

No comments:

Post a Comment