Disclaimer – I am a fitness enthusiast with experience training for and competing in different athletic events. I am not a medical professional or certified personal trainer. The information in this article is based on my personal experience, and should not be used in place of medical or coaching advice. Please see your doctor before beginning any exercise program, and please work with your doctor and/or a trainer if your situation requires or would benefit from professional customized care.
While not quite as long as a marathon, 13.1 miles is still a long time to race, especially as a beginner, and especially in the first few miles. Trying to hit a target time can feel like literally trying to hit a target in a dart game. (If you’re anything like me, that is awful to think about – there’s a reason why I prefer endurance sports to anything requiring throwing or aim.) Here’s how to make it achievable.
Using your training log, knowing the landmarks and terrain of the course, and stepping out the time plan mile by mile can help create an achievable, executable plan on race day.
Using Your Training Log
Why is training log useful? There are three very helpful things that you can learn from keeping a training log: what paces are easy/medium/hard, what nutrition plan works best, and what clothing works best in different weather.
Knowing Your Speeds
Learn what paces are easy, achievable, and “stretch”
As you train, you can learn your training what feels easy, what pace is hard work but achievable, and what pace is challenging. Knowing the numbers can give you confidence in what you know you can do, and allows you to create a more specific race plan. This knowledge can help in resisting getting sucked into the moment and going too fast at the start. A self-assessment on race day of “how everything feels” and a corresponding slight adjustment to the plan is smart. However, don’t rely completely on “feel” to determine what paces to hit. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of running too fast at the start and then crawling to the finish line.
Planning Race Nutrition
Learn what type of and timing for nutrition works best
Through your practice runs, especially as they get longer, it is good to experiment with nutrition and timing. Try different things and see what type of nutrition and what timing for nutrition works best. Pay attention also to your body’s cues and adjust accordingly. These experiments will help you know when you will need to hydrate and take in nutrition. They will also help you know what type of nutrition works for your body. It’s important to have a plan and not rely on “feel”. You may not feel thirsty if the weather is cooler, and it’s also important to adjust accordingly if the weather is hot!
Determining What Clothing to Wear
Learn what clothing works best in different weather
As you train over successive weeks, you may have opportunities to run in different temperatures and weather conditions. Granted, this depends on where you live, though. Additionally, if you are traveling to a race with a different climate, you might be racing in weather that you haven’t trained for. This is all the more reason to keep a log and observe what clothing feels most comfortable for longer runs. If you do have a situation where your race climate is different from your home climate, do some research (talking to other runners, reaching out to the event staff ahead of time) to determine what type of temperature and climate (wind, humidity, rain, etc.) is typical for the event site when you will be racing.
Knowing the Course and Terrain
Why is knowing the course and terrain useful? Knowing the course and terrain allows you to create a very specific race plan and gives a mental advantage throughout the race.
Create a Specific Race Plan
Evaluate the terrain for each mile
When you create a specific plan that accounts for the terrain, you know exactly where the hills are (or aren’t!) Sometimes hills can be mentally challenging, but sometimes a never-ending flat terrain can be challenging too. Sometimes you might have endless rollers that seem more challenging than either hills or flat road.
With a specific plan, you will know exactly how to approach each section and where it fits in the big picture. This allows for massive mental confidence – the exact opposite of the feeling that happens when you don’t know how many hills or rollers or how long it is until the finish line. Your average pace might not feel great on mile three. Maybe you got stuck in a big crowd at the start and the first two miles were much slower than your overall goal pace. Do you know what you need to do for the rest of the race to meet your goal? With a specific race plan, you will.
Mental Advantage
Don’t just wonder “how much further?”
There is a huge mental advantage to knowing the course. When you recognize landmarks and know where you are in the big picture, you can execute each piece with confidence instead of just wondering “how much further?” It also can be important in certain races (especially smaller ones) to know the course so that you don’t wander off of it accidentally (and risk disqualification, or at least adding extra mileage to your day.)
Step out the Plan, Mile by Mile
Why is stepping it out mile by mile useful? Stepping out a mile-by-mile race plan allows you to meet short-term goals, account for changes in terrain, and evaluate a goal finish time.
Meet Short-Term Goals
Create multiple opportunities for success
When you don’t have a goal for each mile, you can end up just trying to hold an average pace for two hours. This is mentally taxing, but it sets you up for mental failure if the first part of your race is uphill and your pace is slow. By breaking up the race into mile goals, you can checking the box on short term goals. This is good for mental stamina and confidence.
Account for Changes in Terrain
Each mile’s goal pace can be different
When you set a goal for each mile, each mile’s goal pace can be different. This allows you to account for changes in terrain and still calculate an average that meets your overall time goal. For example, if you know that mile 2 is mostly uphill and you need to allow for a slower pace, maybe mile 3 has a big downhill and can be run at a faster pace. While looking at your splits during mile 2 might be discouraging if they are slower than your goal average, if you have calculated this in, you can execute with confidence, knowing that you are still on pace overall.
Evaluate a Goal Finish Time
Know how the pieces fit into the big picture
When you create the calculations for your miles, you can start with an ideal finish time and work backwards, or you can start with mile paces and see what finish time is possible. I recommend creating a spreadsheet with a place to put in a pace for each mile and an area that shows the calculated finish time and overall average pace. As you fill in the spreadsheet, think about the terrain changes and paces that you know are achievable based on your training. When you have filled in a goal for each mile, look at the average pace and projected finish time. If you started with a specific finish time in mind, compare the two and adjust (either your goal or your mile paces) accordingly.
You might surprise yourself – maybe you based your mile times on your training and the overall finish time was faster that you expected. If the calculated time is slower than what you had in mind, maybe there are areas to tweak a little bit. However, if there’s nothing that can be feasibly tweaked, running with a realistic expectation. This is a much better approach than saying “I want to hit x finish time, so that means I need to hold a y pace”. That pace which may or may not be feasible, or it might be too slow!
Conclusion
Taking the time to plan out the race in detail might seem nerdy or over-the-top for an age grouper, but factoring in the details can make for a better race experience mentally and physically for the endurance of a half marathon.