Half Marathon warm up and race strategy

2 miles of easy jogging with a couple of striders towards the end

run the first half about 1 to 5 seconds per mile than goal pace. When you hit the halfway point, immediately jump to goal pace. Then gradually pick it up along the way.

not only will you hit your goal (assuming you are in shape for it) but you will get such a charge out of picking it up late and blowing by people who went out too hard that you will likely run much faster than goal pace for the whole thing.

meal your day of the race is not important, provided the race is in the morning. eat a piece of toast or something. dont experiment.

meal the day before matters.

yah wrote:

run the first half about 1 to 5 seconds per mile than goal pace.

that should say "1 to 5 seconds per mile SLOWER than goal pace"

Gatorade is all carbs. Just thought you should know.

In looking at my training log, this is what I came across. (I had run a 5K a couple weeks prior in 19:28 with perfect splits: 6:18-6:16-6:17)

"Well, I ate like a fiend last night, Chicken Param. and spaghetti. And salad. And bread. And 2 poptarts later. That should be enough fuel for this mornings' race. Well, it was a crisp 46-47 degrees this morning at the start, which I thought was going to be cold, but turned out being perfect. My goal was to run between 7 and 7:05 pace, hopefully staying in control (71:00ish) for the first 10, and then attacking the last 5K. Plan worked out a bit differently lol. What I am continually amazed by is my ability to run even splits. See below."

1M = 7:00

2M = 14:04 (7:04) some uphills, not much

3M = 20:56 (6:52) I got caught up in a group that passed me, and they were running faster than me. I decided to relax a bit after that, and ended up catching just a few of them later.

4M = 27:57 (7:01)

5M = 34:59 (7:02)

6M = 41:58 (6:59)

7M = 48:58 (7:00)

8M = 55:57 (6:59)

9M = 62:58 (7:01)

10M = 69:58 (7:00) Here's where I started to hurt just a bit, and the course was all brick road

11M = 77:05 (7:07) I got a bit upset, mostly because I knew there were a lot of little hills for the next mile.

12M = 84:23 (7:18) Hills got me a bit, but I was in control, and had some left in the tank.

13.1M = 92:03 (7:40) Came back with a 6:59 last mile, and never REALLY pushed deep. I tried to speed up mind you, but never an all out sprint or soul search finish.

Not sure if that helps, but there it is.

You don't need much of a warm up and don't worry about the carbs as stated above. If you have put in enough mileage you should be able to do a lot better than 7 min. pace based on that 5k time.

I would start out at 7 min. pace or a little slower just to see how you feel, and then pick it up according to how you feel after the first 2 miles. I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to bring it down to 6:50s or even faster by the time you're done.

MarathonMind wrote:

If you have put in enough mileage you should be able to do a lot better than 7 min. pace based on that 5k time.

There's the big IF that's missing from the original post.

Actually, many runners at this level don't need much mileage to run half marathons appropriate to their 5k.

Actually, I only run around 25-30 miles per week but in the past I have been close to my times in various races.

Last year I ran a 19:58 5K, 41:15 10K and 1:33.00 half marathon. I switched my training a bit this year even though my miles were the same and have been improving so I do think the 1:32.00 is definitely doable.

So, if I get up and eat or drink no carbs and then sip Gatorade through out race (temp. will be upper 40s at start), I should be fine. I will shoot for a 7:05 pace for first few miles and then see how it goes.

Just being awake for 3-4 hours before the race start can make quite a lot of difference. If you get a good nights sleep two nights out, then the reduced sleep night before should not matter.

Core body temperature is at its lowest immediately on waking, and the body does best at endurance events closer to our highest daily body temperature. [Hence, the reason people run so well in evening track races. It's not just the cooler environmental conditions]

If you're up 3-4 hours before race time you may be able to eat something in the morning too.

So you have to take a nap later, but if that's the price of a good race so be it.

I haven't heard that - being awake for longer may help performance. But, my race is at 7 am. Wow, I can't see myself setting my alarm for 3 or 4am. Hmmm.

Half Marathon wrote:

I haven't heard that - being awake for longer may help performance. But, my race is at 7 am. Wow, I can't see myself setting my alarm for 3 or 4am. Hmmm.

I was Googling for half marathon warm-up advice and came across this old thread from before I graduated high school, which several years before I ever jogged a 5k, which was a couple years before I tried to race a 5k, which was several years before I ran a longer race, which was a couple years before I got more serious about training and actually got any faster.

Waking up early and getting pumped to race is one of my favorite parts of the race. It certainly isn’t the second to last mile.