Half marathon - any one doing one?

[Cherryminx]

There was a thread last year which I looked at in admiration as I struggled through C25K and then went on to run a 10K. So I can hardly believe that in a fit of madness I've signed up for a half Marathon in May.

Training starts tomorrow! Would anyone like to join me?

Good luck all today with runs & races. 14 miles from me, highest elevation I've done, over 2000 ft so really pleased, although quite knackered! Was beautiful morning though & great views

Wow emummy 14 miles I'm impressed! I did 11km this morning but the route I chose was far to hard in the first couple of miles and I ended up walking a bit. But once I got going again it was fine and I was rewarded with stunning York moors views. Tired now though.

Good luck to everyone doing races today - I'm sure you're all finished by now!

Sounds like there have been some fantastic views, very jealous.

It was beautiful here, got a touch warm in places. Apart from DD taking a tumble at the start on the lumpy grass all was well. And she didn't trip anyone up, thankfully. She ran the whole thing, was determined not to stop so I knocked two minutes off my PB, 63 minutes so very pleased. DS managed 54.30 so was equally happy plus they got a lot of attention as the only children and a travel mug. DD was completely shocked when her name blasted out over the loudspeaker.

I need to find a good route for my final ten miles before the half. Definitely no grass this time!

Fantastic chutney, well done you on your pb and your dc too

Also suitably impressed at your elevation emummy, that's great. Furthest I've ever done is over 900 and I thought that was tough going.

I've a couple of questions! Do I need to use gels for a HM. Furthest I've ran before is 10 miles and I didn't use any for that. But I'm worried about that extra 3 miles!

Also, a bit grim, but does anyone else suffer with runners diahorrea? I get it randomly and can't really predict when it'll happen or what foods set it off. Oddly enough I've never had it in a race, only when training. Would love to sort it out cause it blights my training sometimes!!! Sorry for the tmi!

Thank you all
I did it
The antibiotics have worked and I felt much better so off I went.
It was a lovely run very windy on the seafront and the road to portland and back.
There was lots of spectator support the water/fuelling stations were fab. You could get gels, sports drinks and water.
It was a great first half to do.
I used my shot bloks which were great especially in the last few miles.
I managed to run it all only stopping to take water.
The only part I didn't like was coming back from portland it was a stony/grass track very uneven.
My time was 2 hours 39 minutes my watch had the distance of 13.18 miles so just a tiny bit over. I am very pleased with that and was trying to keep a 12 minute mile pace and I would definitely run another half

Just brilliant Sven, so glad the antibiotics did the job. Did you find you kept an even pace throughout? I was trying for that today but not sure how it would go for the full half.

I have been thoroughly and robustly trialling jelly babies as fuel Igotta, as recommended by FiftyNine. Particularly like Maynards as they're less crusty. I had a stash to feed DD today.

Well done Sven * chutney. You stars.

Igotta - I have hardly managed any run more than 3 miles without having to have a "comfort break". This is very annoying and means I have to try to run past loos on every training run. Can't work out what to do about it and in both the races I have done to date I had to resort to Immodium which certainly works but I think makes you feel a bit quesy.

All the online advice says helpful things such as eat low fibre food, have a coffee before you start etc but none of it seems to work. The only thing I can think of is going for a 3 mile run before I race which seems to get everything moving but is not ideal race preparation.

I was varying between 11.14_12.40 per mile.
The first 6 miles were in the 11.14_11.52 range.
Then 12.01-12.52 but the last mile was 11.32.
Igotta I'm not keen on gels I use shot bloks which seem to be better than jelly babies for me anyway.

Massive well done Sven, I'm glad you were feeling better for it.

Well done Sven, so glad you managed it - and it sounds like you enjoyed it as well, always a bonus!

chutney and smallchutneys that's brilliant! special well done to DD for carrying on after her tumble

Fabulous running emummy, sounds like a tough one.

igotta I used to use gels but they make me a bit wired. I take jelly babies or tangfastics with me and pop one into the side of my mouth from about an hour onwards. From my reading up on gels, you are supposed to start taking them before you think yo need a hit, as they take about 10 minutes to work, and then every 20-30 minutes afterwards. TBH I don't think they make a big difference to a 2:20-2:30 HM runner like me, but might do if you were trying to be really easy.

I sometimes get tummy troubles, esp if i've had coffee shortly before a longish run.

I did 9 miles today, quite slow esp towards the end - I veered into the country park on the way home thinking it would be less impact than running on the road, but hadn't realised just how muddy it would be and was terrified of falling again. My shoulder held up pretty well, let's see how it is in the morning!

Congratulations Sirona and Sven on doing your HM! Very inspiring.

I was given a Garmin watch for Christmas. This week (my first proper week training), I spent exploring some routes near my home. The loop I usually do is 3km, which I did on Tuesday. Saturday I did a different loop which was shorter at 2km. Did both loops today so 5km. 10km in total this week. Hoping to increase this over the next few weeks.

I have also reduce the number of biscuits I have after dinner from 2 to 1. Small changes .

Energy gels are the devils jizz, seriously. They coat your mouth make you gag with disgust. If you've never done HM before you may be pleasantly surprised by the random proffering of jelly based sweets in your direction. Jelly Babies are the standard, Haribo if you're lucky and in truly posh areas you might score some Percy Pigs :)

Gels are unnecessary short of full marathon length I reckon.

Christ why did I have to mention Percy Pigs.

Just spotted the typos in my post about gels - they might make a difference if you were really fast

I agree with Morris, and I also think that being well hydrated is as important as fuelling.

I don't think I have ever had a Percy Pig

One of my HMs last year had a nice selection of cake at one of the fueling stations

At one point on the HM I saw fast runners throw empty gel packets into the verge. Bloody shameful behaviour.

Cake on the other hand...

Thanks for all the gels advice - I don't think I'll bother then. Will practice stashing some haribo in my pocket and try not to eat them all in the first mile. The 10 mile race I did last year had lots of lovely folk handing out sweets towards the end so even if I eat all mine hopefully there'll be something to keep me going!

And I'm glad it's not just me who has toilet 'issues'! Shame none of us have the answer to stopping it. I might experiment with Imodium as I up my distances and see how I get on. No routes that have guaranteed loo stops round here, esp when I don't know when it'll strike.

Well done HM finishers - I'm in awe! Can't get my head round doing that distance just yet!

It is bucketing down Australia style right now and I'm due to run my 18km at 12, it's going to be fun

Did my first (and possibly only ever!) HM today. First 6 miles were a breeze but a very loooong slow upward climb from 8 to 10ish miles killed it off for me and when I hit the 12 mile marker and realised I wasn't going to hit my goal of 2hr30 I almost burst into tears 2:34:10 so I feel like I'm going to have to force myself to do it again another year to try and beat it! It really wasn't much fun despite excellent organisation and crowd support. I think I'll be sticking to 10ks for a while. Good luck with your training all!

Blimey, just realised how grumpy my post is. I'm hoping to wake up tomorrow with a better sense of my own achievement!

Well done bunique!! Your target for your first should be to finish, and you did! Not everyone can do a half so you are awesome!
Just finished my catch up run but only managed 12km. Got too bored, tired and thirsty to carry on and didn't pick my route very well. I should have got a bus out somewhere and run back instead of trying to do loops where it's easy to give up

Totally agree with LadyC, your first shouldn't be focusing on a time, just going the distance Bunique. Running 13 odd miles in a feat in itself. Massive well done, you should be proud of yourself!!

Yep, I agree too bunique just getting to the end is an achievement. So well done! I know what you mean though, it'd be nice to feel like it's gone well rather than just surviving it. But it's your first go and a step into the unknown. Book another one in for this year so you don't have to start the training from scratch.

I found HM a very hard slog and didn't enjoy the second half. I'm doing a ten mile in April and did one last summer, for me it's a brilliant distance. Properly challenging but won't actually break me.