First Race (Read 789 times)

Finished my first race in approx 1h 1min. Official time will be emailed to us during the week. I was aiming for 1h 15min so i'm well pleased with the time. Best part was overtaking the lady who did the warm-up aerobics thingy. Lessons learned: * Being too early is not good. Especially in this British climate. * Starting at the back is fun. Lots of overtaking. * Do NOT rely on the wife to hand you a carb gel at 5k, she'll be too busy fiddling with the camera. * maybe invest in a small watch so i can see my time at different distances in stead of the clocks at the start, half way and finish. (2 5k loops - they had changed the course overnight because of the heavy rain) * 4 safety pins would have been better than my 2. Lots of flapping in the wind. Can't wait to do the half marathon next month!

Good job! Great to hear your first race was a satisfying one.

That's a nice job for a first race Phil, congrats! A simple digital watch is all youi need if your local races all have distance markers that are clear enough to notice as you pass them. If not, the holidays aren't that far off. You might want to start dropping Garmin hints now.

Got my official time: 1:01:36 I'm currently preparing for my first HM on Oct 26. I'd like some experienced runners' advice on two matters. 1) I have a long run scheduled on Oct 5. 12 miles to be exact. There is also a local 10k run the same day that i would like to do. What would be the best thing to do? Do the long run a couple of days before the 10k? Forget about the 10k? Do the 10k and then go for a second ~10k later that day? 2) I'm also considering to start playing rugby again. Should i wait until after the HM. Should i play on Saturday and take my long runs on Sunday as recovery runs? Should i just HTFU and run 5 days a week, go to 2 rugby practices and a game on Saturdays? (I'm pretty sure my body won't take that sort of stuff with my current lack of fitness) MTA: I can't really justify a Garmin because i always run on a threadmill. But i checked one out a while ago and it looked cool.

I'm not much more experienced than you but my comments are this. 1. great job. Now you have a nice goal of under 1 hour. 2. you could split the long run into warm-race-cool then run later. But you would not be giving yourself quite the same benefits. Still... at this stage it probably isn't a big deal. Just getting in the miles in whatever fashion you can without causing injury is good. But I'd probably move the long run to 2 days after the race myself. Or... if you really want to participate in that race, don't worry about a PR in the 10k. Just run the course twice and do it slow. You may come in last. Maybe you don't want to do that? I've learned you have to decide to humble yourself sometimes and just do what is right for you long term. Just an option I guess. 3. you are probably more likely to get leg injuries in rugby with the added running. sometimes you can get tight or sore after long runs and distance running is quite the opposite of the kind of quick bursts you need in soccer (sorry... football) or rugby. so just do your best to remember you are pushing yourself. one last comment. stretch after running so you don't get injured! Sorry... that was more for me. We have similar builds though and what applies to me probably applies to you.

I think I'd tend towards moving the long run before the race -- at least 2 days before.