I am signed up for the Martian Half Marathon on Saturday and I am not sure how I intend to run this race. My training schedule has a long run of 17 miles for this weekend. I refuse to run the half and not get in the additional 4 miles I need to meet my scheduled long run. As much as I'd like to beat my previous half time from March 20th, I doubt I will be able to.
I have come up with a few options for Saturday, I just need to choose which one will work best for me.
Option #1: arrive extra early to run 4 slow & easy miles prior to the race. run the half as fast as I possibly can.
Option #2: arrive at my normal time (1 hour prior) and run 4 slow & easy miles after the race. run the half has fast as I possibly can.
Option #3: use this half as a training run and stay out on the course for an extra 4 miles. (instead of turning around at the half turn around point, continue on for another 2 miles before turning back). My time will show much slower than the norm for a half but I will know this is because I actually ran 17.1, not 13.1.
Option #4: arrive at my normal time (1 hour prior) and run 2 slow & easy miles before the race and another 2 slow & easy miles after the race. Run the half as fast as I possibly can.
So there you have it. My break down on how I want to run the Martian half. I told myself that I must know how I intend to "race" this event by Friday evening.
How do you think I should run this half marathon?
I say option #4. You can use the two before and after for warm-up/cool-down. That was exactly what I was going to do before I got injured. Can't wait to see you there!
ReplyDeleteAny of the options sound viable, I guess it jsut depends on what you want your official "race" time to look like. I did want to say though, that I ran this half last year. I haven't looked at the course for this year, but know that last year the marathon was 2 loops of the course - one loop was the half. So for Option 3, I'm not sure how that would work(you can't just go 2 miles further and "turn around"), I think you would end up just doing 4 miles after.
ReplyDeleteI vote for option #2. For me, 4 miles prior to the half would be to much. I would want my legs to be as fresh as possible, especially if you plan on running as hard/fast as you can.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what your normal warm up distance is, if at all, but 2 miles seems ok. Then the last 2 miles could just be an easy,easy cool down.
Good Luck @ your half this weekend!
I agree with Margan! Option 4 sounds like the best! Maybe Ill join you! Yay! Its game week! Woo hoo! IM SO EXCITED!!!
ReplyDeleteI rarely do any kind of warm up prior to a race. I am leaning towards option 4.
ReplyDeleteHere's to hoping I can match my 1:37:31 PR.
#2 for sure! If you push yourself during the half, the remaining 4 will be a nice cool down! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI like option #4. GL!
ReplyDelete