I’m fortunate enough to live only a couple kilometres from the beautiful Shellharbour, which hosts an annual half marathon event. The half marathon is my favourite running distance, as its more a threshold effort rather than the intensity of a 5 or 10km distance.
I realised with a minor disappointment that in the lead up to the half marathon that I would be really hard-pressed to run a personal best because of my training lead in. But, I would not let that stop me from giving it a good crack and enjoying the attempt as well.
I did a video log of my UTA100 race, and found it provided a really glorious reminder for myself about what I went through, so I thought I’d try doing something similar for this half marathon. So rather than typing out a race report, check out the video below and see what it’s like to run a mid 70 minute half marathon.
It is great having access to a road race so close to where I live. Although it’s a fairly new event, hopefully, it continues to grow in popularity (it was basically a sell-out this time round). I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to give it a go. Maybe we’ll get to line up against each other next year 🙂
From a learning perspective, I fell into the trap of doing a little too much high-intensity training before the race, which actually killed my speed. I was completing the zwift academy tri and run programs, which saw me trying to squeeze too much in. I don’t recommend this, and although I got the programs done, I didn’t really see the benefits because of my approach. Not recommended!
It was interesting that one gel (hill aid) just before the event was enough to get me through it. I burped a couple of times in the first couple of km suggesting that I needed nothing within the first 20mins. I was still quite sharp at the end though, showing to me that my energy levels were still ok.
Finally, I had fun and isn’t that what doing events is all about. Sometimes I take things a little too serious and somewhat miss the mark of what it’s all about. Doing an event should be about celebrating how far you’ve come in your own journey. It’s a test, and it’s hard, but it can also be a really rewarding/enjoyable experience. I need to not forget that.
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That was impressive Luke
Heaps better than a post run report
Guessing a whole lot harder for you though 😂
Cheers mate. A little bit hard at times, but had some fun with it. Plus, provided a good distraction from the discomfort ;)