I did the DC 1/2 marathon this weekend and wanted to break 1:30. I ended up doing it in 1:32 (last year I did it in 1:31 but had considerably more rest going in). Take a look at my lap data (my LT for run is around 165):
Overall avg HR 153bpm
Lap 1 - 7 miles - pace 7:10, HR 151
Lap 2 - 5 miles - pace 6:44, HR 157
Lap 3 - 1.1 miles - pace 6:27, HR 160
I am pretty sure this means I could have started off WAYYYY faster than I did. I tried to negative split it like you would a marathon but I am pretty sure that was a lousy strategy considering how much gas I still had left in that final 1.1 miles.
So I am curious, what do you guys do for your 1/2 marathon pacing strategy? With these numbers, what pace would you aim for?
I’m interested also to see what people say here. FWIW, I am also ‘training through’ a HM in a few weeks, with pretty much the same time goal. I plan to go out around 7:00/mile for about 5 miles then pick it up if I feel good or just treat at as a hard training run if I feel crappy.
Were you gradually speeding up the whole time, or did you make a big adjustment after 7 miles?
That heart rate for the pace seems ridiculously low. My distance race pace puts me in the 170s. I don’t know if that means you need to push harder, or I am running too fast for my fitness.
It seems to me (based on your fitness) that you should be able to start at 6:27 or 6:30 pace (with a HR of 160) and then hold it and maybe push the end. When I race my HR for is like 165 or even 170 for short sections. I would try this in a training effort with some faster guys to see if you can hold that pace for say 10k or even a 10 miler. I’m much more of the mindset of going out and blowing up then finishing strong…I’ve had alot more gains this way than not, but I realize it’s unique for each person. I wouldn’t tell an inexperienced runner to go out and run their fastest mile in the first mile, but I can tell you from my experience my biggest breakthroughs have been when I’ve gotten as close to my limit as possible and hung on…learning to run fast is learning to run relaxed and finding a certain level of pain tolerance. I think the fast 5k guys are the real masters at this, since they are very close to their max for the whole race, whereas in a half you might be at 85 to 90% of your max. Anyway, what do you have to lose if you try pushing the pace a little? Why not just RACE the whole thing and try and stay with a fast group, to me that’s what makes racing fun…seeing how far and how long you can push. Well that’s my 2 cents…from a non-expert.
Your avg. pace to break 1:30:00 should be 6:55/mile, so through the first half of your race, you were 105 seconds in the hole. A rough rule of thumb (nearly all distance world records comply), is that you should have a less than 1% difference between the first and second halves of your race. You were nearly 2% off your goal pace time, slow, through the first half; an insurmountable amount of time to make up. Starting at 7:10 for the first mile is fine, but you would want to work your way down to goal pace by the completion of the 3rd, MAYBE 4th mile. Leave yourself w/ only 30 seconds to make up over the last 9 miles, so only needing to run about 6:50’s.
Sounds like you could have a 90 minute half in the bag. Start on pace or get on pace a lot quicker and you’ll do it. If you’re really running properly, you’ll start to hate life around 11 miles, but just hammer home anyway. Keep your negative split difference to less than 1% and you should be fine. Good luck!
Started way too slow. You should be at or near your LT the whole time in a half at your pace. This means your pace toward the end may fall off a little, but the effort level is maintained.
I am against amateurs/recreational runners trying to negative split. To me that is a poor way to run a race. If you are an elite or at the front of the race where pace changes matter? Sure. But for recreational runners it is a bad approach to running your fastest race.
I’m interested also to see what people say here. FWIW, I am also ‘training through’ a HM in a few weeks, with pretty much the same time goal. I plan to go out around 7:00/mile for about 5 miles then pick it up if I feel good or just treat at as a hard training run if I feel crappy.
Were you gradually speeding up the whole time, or did you make a big adjustment after 7 miles?
I basically just told myself I would start out at a 7:00 pace for the first 7 miles, then drop the hammer. For the first 7 miles I basically told myself, “when it doubt” go easier." Kind of like I would do on the bike during a tri haha. Except this wasn’t a tri.
The HR does seem low, but my HR zones are generally quite low. My running LT is only 165, biking is 159.
That is the difference between “racing” a half and just running it.
10 mile and 1/2 marathon races are the absolute worst in the “ouch” category. It is really hard to run the best race possible because it is mentally really challenging to hold the pace your body knows it can do for that long. You break through that mental block of suffering for a long time and you can put up the sub-1:30 time.
If this is for a pr, I would find a half sometime very soon and approach it a little differently. I would think you should be able to hold 6:45s. I try to go out, keep my mind thinking about conserving energy, a little below threshold (6:50s tops for you now). I try to think that the race does not start until 15k and then the work begins. Yes, you really did a bad job pacing. Makes you feel good in the end, but does not get the best time. You really have a good feel for what you can do now, find another race and do it. I don’t screw up so bad on pacing because I usually have a pretty good handle going in. A 10k or better yet a 15 k three weeks out does the trick.
That heart rate for the pace seems ridiculously low. My distance race pace puts me in the 170s. I don’t know if that means you need to push harder, or I am running too fast for my fitness.
I’m in the same boat as you. I can hold 8 min/mi for a 1/2 and my hr is around 175. Maybe I need to get in better shape.
As others have said, half-marathons and 10 milers are really tough mentally, because the pace isn’t that much slower than a 5k or a 10k, but you’re out there a lot longer. It’s a pace pretty close to your 20 min tempo run pace, but for 4x as long.
I ran a half yesterday, hoping to going under 1:20 (~6:05). Went through the first mile in 5:30 because of a downhill and some excitement, then ran pretty steady 5:55-6:00s the whole way. Probably lost the 30 seconds I put in the bank early as mile 12 was a long hill so that mile was a touch slow, but I finished in 1:18:31.
Like the one poster said, around 11 miles you start to hate life, but you’re close enough you can hang on. Go out hard, settle in to a pace, hang on for dear life.
Start with your PR and goal pace. That’s about 6:50/mile.
Unless the course has an unusual distribution of hills either frontloaded or backloaded, that is the target pace from beginning to end. Negative splitting works well for some, but not for all.
You did successfully negative split (sort of)…but really a good negative split here would have been to go from 6:55 in the first half to 6:45 in the second half. Any more of a drop than that and you didn’t optimize your starting pace.
Out of curiosity, what was your motivation for running negative splits? Is that how you train, or did someone advise you on doing that? I know that everyone has different disciplines, and preferred distances, but to me negative splitting a HM or shorter is strategic overkill. IOW, the HM is readily achievable by most runners without any special treatment, similar to a long training run with a couple of additional miles.
If you completed steady training runs in the 10-11 mile range w/out hitting the wall, then you already have a predictable steady pace that can get you through the HM. Start the run at that pace (or slightly more aggressive), maintain it for the first 9-10 miles, assess your condition with about 5k to go, then if you’re feeling up to it you can drop the hammer somewhere in the last 5k. Starting at a deficit and forcing yourself to accelerate is a gamble from the onset. For it to pay off, you really have to assume that the race conditions, the course difficulty, and most importantly your physical condition do not deteriorate over the course of the run.