not a half--marathoner (Read 959 times)

Over the weekend, I discovered I am not a half-marathoner, (maybe a half-marathoner for a day). I completed my first half in St Louis on Sunday. It started out great and I loved the whole race atmosphere. I loved it so much that I think I was on a total adrenaline high. I went out faster than my usual pace for the first 6 miles. I just felt great and honestly thought I could keep this pace up. Well around mile 6 1/2, the adrenaline wore off and it hit me like a brick wall. Around mile 7-8 there was a LONG incline and I had to stop and walk the hill. Hundreds of people passed me, which was a little depressing. I had lost a lot of time by mile 10 (1:46), but was still under my goal pace to finish in uder 2:20. I kept telling myself that I could still do this. I could even walk 1 of the 3 miles and still make it within my goal. Well, that didn't happen. By mile 11, I got cramps (like charlie horses) in my feet and legs. So needless to say, I did nto finish strong, but I did finish. My final time was 2:30. I was not disappointed with my time, I was just disappointed with the way I finished. I definitely made many mistakes. I definitely experienced an adrenaline rush and let it get the best of me. I also couldn't eat very well the day before. I was so nervous, when I went to pick up my race packet, my hands were actually trembling. No wonder the guy asked for my ID, he probably thought I was a weirdo. Who gets that nervous just picking up a packet? Even with the lessons that I have learned, I think I better stick to some shorter distances, maybe 5ks or 10ks. I admire everyone here for your dedication to running! I have been a runner since high school (more of a sprinter), and I know it takes hard work. However, after this experience I have an even greater respect for all runners, especially those that complete these long competitions.

Hm, what makes me think you're not the first person to make that mistake? DAMHIK! It's amazing how hard it is to rein yourself in on race day. Congratulations on finishing your first HM! Arla

Congratulations! Pace management is difficult sometimes when racing, especially as the distance increases. It is amazing that sometimes even going out 10 seconds too fast (per mi.) in the first half, will bite you in glute during the last half. You learned a valuable lesson. Don't give up on the 1/2. It would be helpful if you could make your log public. There is a lot of experience among many runners that could be great help.

From one mommy on the run to another, you are a half marathoner. Don't be too hard on yourself. No race is ever wasted as long as you learn something, and you did. I did what you described in a 10k. Went out with the crowd, feeling great! Ended up feeling horrible and walking a lot of the later miles. Still beat my target time (my goal was 60min and I squeaked in at 59:15), but I knew I could have done better and I was disappointed in my performance. Maybe it's us sprinters--I've definitely had to work at running a different way, since I was a sprinter in high school and I've had to retrain myself to go slower than I want to. I swore I would never have another race like that one. I got a Garmin and am learning to pay attention not to the crowd or even to the way I feel but to the pace I know I should keep based on my training runs. I'm not running 7-minute miles yet, but I'm not walking in races anymore. 13.1. Been there. Done that. You're a half-marathoner, baby! MTA: Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Those are the races that sometimes we'd rather not share, but we all have them, and it's good for everyone when we hear from each other. Thanks!

I definately wouldn't say you're not a half marathoner. You finished! Maybe not as gracefully as you would have wished, but you did it! Good job! We've all done things during races that we wish we hadn't, and there is always a "next time" to apply what you have learned. Congrats!

Congrats on finishing. You're not the first (or last) person to have things go badly because you started out too fast. I just finished my 4th half marathon and I almost, but not quite, got the pacing correct. Half marathon is a hard distance to race. I'm not talking hard as in hard to complete the distance, although it is that. I'm talking about mentally difficult to find your correct pace. It starts out fairly easy, seemingly too easy. It generally feels pretty good right up until the half way point then it gets difficult and then around mile 10-11 it plummets to downright grueling. If you don't want to do another one, that's certainly your call. I would just say don't let one bad race spoil you on the distance. Incidentally, the worst one I ever ran was my thrid half marathon in which I ran the best 10k ever. After that it just got ugly. I finally got a general idea on how a well run HM should go this past weekend.

Wow! Your experience sounds a lot like my first half. I really had lost the will to live at about mile 9 which is where I hit the wall and everything below my waist decided that it wanted to stop so it cramped up. I vowed from there that I would NEVER do another half in my life. 3 years later, 4 halfs and 1 marathon later, I can say that trying it again was 100% worth it. It gets eaiser every time. What made me run another one is that I figured that there had to be something to all of this running because not everyone was finishing is as bad shape as I did. I looked at my past training and learned from my mistakes and ever since then, my HM experiences have been a lot better. You are a half marathoner. Now recover from your first, learn from your past, and go out there to kick some major butt in your next. It will never be as bad as the first.

On another note do you guys/gals memorize your splits? or write them on your arm like a quarterback. I kept doing math in my head and it drove me crazy.

For the first time this last race I printed out my splits in a little square that I taped to my watch. It helped a lot. I quit watching my pace on my Garmin. I just looked at what I wanted the next split to be and ran within myself and as I kept gaining on my splits I was able to really focus better. I know that my ability to do mental math decreases markedly with longer races. Brain doesnt want to waste glucose doing math.