Cardiff Half Marathon - Great Days Racing
I submitted a time of sub 01.40 and this was my aim, to finish the event at the 01 40 00 marker which meant I had to do an average pace of 7.30 min miles. Easy enough so you thought... But I through a spanner in works but stopping to do a wee at mile 5 on the side of the road.
The event was very popular, I was one of 18000 runners, at the start I was taken over by a giraffe and a Darlek to start with. I was keen not to let the adrenaline kick in and stick to the pacing I had chosen for the duration of the race, it definitely paid off.
I had loaded up on my pre race meal of porridge and lucozade sport, I forced it down as my nerves had kicked in after 20 minutes of waking up, I find this happening most of the time before races, but I do carry on putting myself through it so I must like it.
I did some light stretches at the start line, my normal warm up strategy and drank a little bit to much lucozade and I thought I had more nerves kicking in so I decided ignore the fact I needed to wee and I just stretched some more and waited for the starters gun.... BANG and we are off.
I found a rhythm relatively quick, but in the back of my mind was that wee, I managed to go for 4 miles until I had to stop and do the business. It took me 1 minute and 13 seconds (according to the Garmin) and this was the reason why I didn't break the sub 1.40 time. When I saw my time I was gutted, but not to gutted as this can be a baseline race time for me, something to aim for but a new personal best any ways.
I was in good shape for the race, my pre race training went as planned and I felt great on the race day, it was the first time I had raced in my compressport compression calf guards. They looked great and felt great I can safely say they will be part of my every race day going forward. They helped with the impact my legs went through on the day and I can only thank them for helping me on race day. I have one more race this year where I will be using there gear and then I will be writing a review of the kit the nice people sent me at compressport UK.
At the hour mark in the race I was still feeling great so I upped my work rate, I wanted to keep the same pace throughout but I had to up my hear rate to keep to this pace, and that is why there is an incline on my chart by the end of the race. The last mile was the fastest of the day for me and the one I worked the hardest in, and that was the aim really work at the same pace from miles 1-12 and go as hard as you can on mile 13 for as long as possible.
For me this race was all about strategy, from the pacing to taking on supplies, I decided not to run with a drink, and pick one up at a water station on route. I also decided to use to power gels that I had in my short pocket, one at 6 miles and one at 11 miles. They definitely gave me the kick on I needed to post my personal best to date so this is a strategy that I will continue to use.
The course was a very flat and urban race, it was ideal for fast pace runners, it was a well supported run. I would definitely do this race again and recommend it to any sort of runner from the beginner right through to fun runner.
Todays session
Duration 01 40 19
Distance 13.1 miles
Calories 1844
Average HR 173 BPM
Max HR 192 BPM
Average Pace 07.30
Best Pace 05.29
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