Half Marathon

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hi All, I put this under miscellaneous as I feel like a Podiatrist behaving badly by attempting to run my first Half Marathon this coming Sunday.
After all the injuries we see long term I feel completely crazy that at age 38 I thought running might be a good way of relaxing my mind.
But here I am 4 days before my first half marathon, trying to 'taper' down my training feeling nervous and twitchy..... Ahh...endorphine withdrawal is torture !
Any comments from anyone's experience with runners welcomed.....

 

Hi Natalie. I did my first half marathon at 39 (2 years ago) so your a spring chicken
My advice - enjoy it, relax, have fun, go slow (don't try & keep up with other people - run your own race).

Mark

 

Thanks Mark, I'll certainly be keeping my own pace, just hope that's enough to get me across the line....... can't wait though, I wish it were tomorrow, it's like being a child and waiting for Christmas again..........
All my friends think I'm mad..........

 

I'm not a runner (6ft 2 inches, 100+ kg) & yet I made it in 1hr 56min - the time for me wasn't important at all. The satisfaction of crossing the line was great & worth all the effort.

 

Well done Natalie. I have severe pangs of jealousy as I was hoping to do the Liverpool 1/2 marathon (my first) in March. Unfortunately, I caused myself a severe sacro-iliac dysfunction injury in October whilst doing a 10k with a torn quadriceps and haven't been able to run any distance since. To add insult to injury, I have now torn my L/lateral meniscus. Well, what do you expect at 57! I suppose I should start looking at the wheelchair race (just joking). You have my utmost respect

 

Natalie:

I ran my first 20 mile race at the age of 15 (which was 39 years ago) and ran 5 sub 2:35 marathons by the age of 25, so I have some experience with these events both as an athlete and as a sports podiatrist.

The feeling of nervousness and excitement is natural and is a good thing for your first half-marathon. The important thing is to not plan to do anything strenuous mentally or physically the day or two before the race and to get off your feet especially on the day before race. You will need your legs to be fresh for the race so plan on being a couch potato for the day or two before race, as much as is possible.

As far as race day is concerned, don't eat any "heavy foods" such as meats or fatty foods for at least three hours before the race since these are difficult to digest on a nervous stomach. A piece of toast with some jam and some juice about three hours before the race should be all you need to tide you over before the race. Your muscle and liver glycogen stores should be adequate to complete a half-marathon without taking in any food or carbohydrate foods or drinks if you have done the required training mileage, so I would suggest just drinking liquids during the race instead of trying to eat anything.

During the race, it is critical to run the race as evenly paced as is possible. That means you should not go out too fast, which is a very common mistake among less-experienced runners. Believe me, it is much better psychologically to be passing other runners in the last five miles of the race rather than being passed during this time of the race. You may try writing your mile split times on your forearm so that you know what time you should be hitting at each mile mark to allow you to keep a more even pace toward your race time goal. The best races are often times the most evenly paced races. For my best marathon time, my half marathon splits were within 30 seconds of each other.

Good luck in your half marathon and please us know how you did!:drinks

 

Thanks for your reply Kevin,
I ran the half marathon yesterday and it went really well.
The weather was a bit wet which was a tiny bit disappointing.

My time was 2:17:12, and I was really happy with that, I'd been averaging 6 and a half minute km's in my training, so for 21km that was right on target,
I have a Garmin GPS watch which is just the most amazing technology. If you or any of patients ever want an opinion on getting one of these, in my opinion they are fantastic, it records all my 1km splits, my heart rate, gives a map of the route.

My fastest split was 6:13 and my slowest was 6:54.
I did manage to run down a few of the people I'd been pacing myself against the whole race in the last 2 km's, and that felt awesome..........

I feel a bit sore today, just my left hamstring, which I've never had any hassles with before, I'm sure it'll be fine though.

Now I feel I can plan to keep my ultimate goal of running the New York Marathon in 2012 for my 40th birthday........

thanks

Natalie

 

Congratulations Natalie. Top effort :drinks

 

Congratulations Natalie... running can be so rewarding... you get out what you put in... & sometimes a bit more .

What model Garmin GPS do you have? I have thought about getting one but have put off till I knew the reliability was adequate enough.

Keep up the training - most importantly... enjoy your running! (the muscle soreness will pass soonish)

I too look forward to running New York or Boston next year... that I hear is a whole new experience.

 

Thanks Matthew,

I've got a Garmin 410 Forerunner with heart rate monitor.

There is a website Garmin Connect where all the information from the watch is visible, you can see a map with Google Map detail, can I send messages on that are not public then I'll send you the link from the run I did on Sunday.

I've only been using it for a month, but so far it seems quite reliable.

Shop around if you're looking at one, the price seems to vary quite a bit.

 

Hi Natalie

Well done. I'm also pleased to report (as if anybody out there really gives one :wacko that I did my first run for weeks following injury. Twice round the local park (4.67 miles) - knee fine, L/thigh a little painful, stamina - appalling!

As re:Garmin etc, if you own an iphone, there are numerous running apps which give you split time reports (every km/miles - .25/1 etc) which you hear over the music that you play whilst running - they are really excellent for pacing yourself. There is also an app if you have those fancy Nike trainers with a sensor in that link up to the iphone.