Saturday, January 30, 2010

Trail Half Marathon Goal?

After looking at my dads road half marathon times versus his trail half marathon times, I have realized that breaking 2 hours won't happen! My dad can run a 1:35 road half, but his last trail half time was 1:59.

Of course my main goal is to finish and finish injury free, but I can't go into a race without a finish time goal. Right now I am torn between 2:10 and 2:15. The last half I ran with my dad, I only finished 10 minutes after him. But he also has trail experience and I do not. all my races have been road races. We plan to run a few trainign runs on the trail that the race is being held on, but I doubt that will get me to my dads trail status.

I know I have some time to figure this out, but I am a planner when it comes to running.

Anyway, here is the trail race we are running.

http://www.trailmarathon.com/

Here is the course map & elevation.

http://www.trailmarathon.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=92

4 comments:

  1. You're going to have so much fun "off-roading". Has your dad given you any advice about what you can expect from the course?

    I LOVED cross country season in high school. I tried doing a trail run recently after so many years of not doing it, and I couldn't believe how awkward it felt.

    It is quite a different experience than road running. I'm not sure how you'd estimate a goal without prior trail races to reference. The training runs should help you get an idea.

    I don't think <2:00 is out of the question at all.

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  2. You are a toughie getting out there tackling a trail HM, you will do great!

    CJ

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  3. Blondie, my dad plans on taking me to various trails while training. He did tell me that it is completely different then road racing and that I have to be aware of my surrounding the entire time. Especially to make sure I do not trip over any roots.

    I know I shouldn't really have a goal time without having experience, but I can't go into it just to finish ya know? I need to have at least some kind of time! I should just wait and base it off my training runs as you suggested!

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  4. Awesome! Can't wait to hear all about it.

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