Monday 21 June 2010

Juneathon: Day 21

Half-marathon now in less than two weeks, and I’m starting to panic. To be honest, it’s the hills that are worrying me. If it was flat, I would be slightly more confident. Though only slightly. Admittedly the hills are mostly for the first 4 miles (map with elevation profile here). But still.

When I first looked at the website it stated there was a cut-off time for the HM of 2 hours 45 minutes, and that anyone taking longer than this would be "picked up by the sweeper vehicle and taken to the finish line" (yikes!). This conjured up alarming images of me, stumbling along at around the 10 mile mark, desperately trying to keep one step ahead of a vehicle with brushes intent on sweeping me up. However, this now seems to have disappeared from the website, or if it’s there I can’t find it. Not that I plan on taking as long as 2:45 anyway. But you never know.
Anyway, I’m planning on doing my last long pre-HM run tomorrow and am thinking of trying to do the full distance (except without so many hills), mainly for the psychological boost of knowing I can do it. Assuming I can, of course. Any expert thoughts on whether this is a good or stupid plan?

Any thoughts on what time I should be aiming for would also be welcome. My 10k PB (longest race so far) is 57:43, but that was on a flat course. My longest training run to date, just over 11 miles, was at 10:03 average pace, but again not as hilly as the race will be. Race predictor type things seem to suggest around, or just under, 2:15 but I think this may be over-ambitious given the hills. (Did I mention the hills?)

Just a short run tonight, anyway, after last night's 10k and ahead of tomorrow's long run.

Distance: 2.22 miles
Time: 21:16
Splits: 9:51, 9:31, 1:55
Average pace: 9:35

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 80.37 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 13:10:27
Juneathon days completed: 21/30

1 comment:

  1. Deep breaths, you can do the hills. Why not do a couple of quick interval training sessions on a short steep hill, run up, walk back, run again immediately..repeat as many times as you feel you can manage.
    Wish I could follow my own advice!

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