Critique my Half Marathon Splits - CAN I GO FASTER?

Here is my Half Marthon PR. Could I run faster if I ran different splits? I ran a negative split in this race, and felt great until the last mile (but mile 13 is always going to hurt, right?). I feel I left a little out there, definitely a faster time in me.

What should/could I have done differently?

1 6:54.5

2 6:46.0

3 6:42.8

4 6:37.5

5 6:33.8

6 6:24.8

7 6:21.4

8 6:23.9

9 6:17.9

10 6:24.3

11 6:23.8

12 6:23.2

13 6:36.8

14 1:00.0

Finish 1:25:51

You can ALWAYS run faster

/thread

What was the course like? I negative split a HM in similar time, but it was very cold, crowded and rainy the first couple miles so it definitely was logical. If course/those were factors here I think you could probably go faster than 6:54 the first mile considering it seems like 6:20-6:40s is cruising for ya.

Good work going out steady and controlled and negative splitting. And yeah, that last mile or two is always going to hurt.

There is really no way to know how much faster you could have gone on that day. Or how much faster you could go next time. Don't worry about it too much. Just keep training and plan for another race and come up with a slightly different race plan. If it were me, I'd look to make the race a little bit more even, but still slightly negative split it. See if you can go out around the low 6:40s or maybe high 6:30s. Then slowly work to push the pace in the latter half of the race.

The course is absolutely perfect, no hills to speak of. The weather was perfect too: 50 degrees and sunny, no wind. Only about 1200 runners in this race, so crowds weren't really an issue either.

I only took it out slow because of shell shock from bonking in a half marathon a few months prior, even though I was in much better shape for this one.

I agree, I may try a more consistent pace for my next race. take it out in 6:40 flat, drop into 6:30s and see how I feel around mile 9.

Slow Chump wrote:

I may try a more consistent pace for my next race. take it out in 6:40 flat, drop into 6:30s and see how I feel around mile 9.

Seems like a pretty simple answer, and it seems like you've already figured it out!

I think you played it just about perfect. At most, you could have started a few seconds faster in mile 1, and been a few seconds more cautious in mile 9, but you only slowed down by under 10 seconds in mile 13. It looks like you started smart, let the pace come to you, went for it when you were feeling good, gave it everything you had, and lost maybe 10 seconds total compared to a perfect race.

Yes, you can go faster, but it will come through being fitter and your body being more experienced with what racing a HM feels like. If you get fanatical about running tangents, you might be able to shave some more time off.

my 2c wrote:

I think you played it just about perfect. At most, you could have started a few seconds faster in mile 1, and been a few seconds more cautious in mile 9, but you only slowed down by under 10 seconds in mile 13. It looks like you started smart, let the pace come to you, went for it when you were feeling good, gave it everything you had, and lost maybe 10 seconds total compared to a perfect race.

Yes, you can go faster, but it will come through being fitter and your body being more experienced with what racing a HM feels like. If you get fanatical about running tangents, you might be able to shave some more time off.

With the Coach JS you will run faster!

Makes sense, I'd tend to agree with everyone else and your thoughts here too. You can go out a little stronger, but keep a similar negative split plan that will allow you to not bonk. I suspect some of that fatigue at the end of the race could've been down to those really quick miles in the middle. When I ran mine, I felt pretty strong at the end as I was able to keep the last 5-6 miles steady with no super-fast ones and I think you can do the same with some 6:20s to close it out.

Slow Chump wrote:

The course is absolutely perfect, no hills to speak of. The weather was perfect too: 50 degrees and sunny, no wind. Only about 1200 runners in this race, so crowds weren't really an issue either.

I only took it out slow because of shell shock from bonking in a half marathon a few months prior, even though I was in much better shape for this one.

I agree, I may try a more consistent pace for my next race. take it out in 6:40 flat, drop into 6:30s and see how I feel around mile 9.

I always do half marathons better if I jog 2-3 miles real slow before the race w/ a few strides. Than you don't have to waste your time with the first few miles warming up. If you didn't jog 2-3 miles before the race w/ some strides I'd suggest you do that and could probably take off a minute or two, just from that.

Your splits are horrible. Under my GOLD coaching plan you would have broken 1:20 that day. Sign up, I have a PHD. Let me PHD your race plan.

https://run-fit.com/runcoaching/

rcjason wrote:

Your splits are horrible. Under my GOLD coaching plan you would have broken 1:20 that day. Sign up, I have a PHD. Let me PHD your race plan.

https://run-fit.com/runcoaching/

COACH J.S is the answer for you.

I'd say pretty spot on on the split side of things. Assuming the whole course is flat I'd say add some stronger/longer runs to your training to keep increasing pace those last 3-4 miles.

We need way more information to properly answer your question. How old are you? Are you Male or female? How long have you been running? How many miles a week did you run in the 8 months leading up to this race? Depending upon what you tell us, you may be able to drop 10+ minutes off of your time with some modifications. Now if all you really care about is whether or not you placed the race properly you still need to tell us more. We would need to know which miles were flat and which were hilly. We also need to understand the conditions such as wind, temperature, and whether or not it was raining or snowing. All are important factors. Lastly, how many people were in the race? Did you run alone or in a group? Do you have a coach? Maybe you should discuss it with him or her first and not with a chat group. Or are you just trying to brag about the results?

Slow Chump wrote:

The course is absolutely perfect, no hills to speak of. The weather was perfect too: 50 degrees and sunny, no wind. Only about 1200 runners in this race, so crowds weren't really an issue either.

I only took it out slow because of shell shock from bonking in a half marathon a few months prior, even though I was in much better shape for this one.

I agree, I may try a more consistent pace for my next race. take it out in 6:40 flat, drop into 6:30s and see how I feel around mile 9.

You're good with consistent splitting. Next time, yes, go out faster. Say, 6:40 +/-. Per training, you should replicate your race scenario, ie, a strong indicator workout would be 5 mi @ 6:30; 5 min rest; 5 mi @ 6:15. If you can walk away from this feeling pretty good, I should think you could race around 80 min in those "perfect" conditions.

Are you Jim Walmsley by chance?

Way too slow for first 3 miles -

It sounds like you had stuff left in the tank - if you would have taken those first 3 miles at a faster pace, you would have been able to shave off a minute+

I'm a 33 year old male. I averaged 25-30 mpw with a peak of 35miles in the months leading up to the race. I'm fond of repeat half miles at 6:00 pace with a few minutes jog rest. I hate tempos, they hurt, but managed to squeeze in quite a few 5 mile at 6:30 pace tempo runs.

Pretty low mileage overall, I've never been a high milage guy having a middle distance background. Im starting a training cycle right now for a spring marathon, I'm already hitting 30mpw, and I haven't started hard workout days yet. I'm hoping to peak at closer to 50 miles this time. I may be overly naively optimistic, but I'm hoping to coming close to breaking 1:20 this time.

Thanks for the race strategy reccomendations. Any edge will help on race day.

Lots of low-hanging fruit left for you to pick. You don't have do everything all at once. Raise your mileage a little, and for your next race you'll be able to raise it a little more. Do a tempo run regularly, and before long you'll start to like them. Increase the interval length from 800 to 1200 to 1600. On some future buildup, 3200 will seem like a short interval.