Half Marathon Race Strategy
RunnerElizabeth
Posts: 1,091 Member
I probably should have asked this 3 races ago, but I live in New England so it will come up again.
What do you do when you have a course that isn't a natural fit for a negative split? Meaning the first half of the race is downhill or flat and the last half involves a lot of steep climbing?
Do you still need to hold back in the first half? Or go out a little faster to make up some time?
What do you do when you have a course that isn't a natural fit for a negative split? Meaning the first half of the race is downhill or flat and the last half involves a lot of steep climbing?
Do you still need to hold back in the first half? Or go out a little faster to make up some time?
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I'd be inclined to still hold back on the 1st half , it may not result in a negative split but you'll have energy in reserve to tackle the hilly portion.
A couple of years ago when I did the Army Run half marathon in Ottawa the second half included a fairly significant climb (I wouldn't classify it as hilly but it had the potential to be a sufferfest ) coming up from the Ottawa River and into Rockliffe Park. I was very happy that my brain had overridden my initial desire to go out at a faster pace on the flat portion.0 -
Try negative split based on effort instead of time. I'd still want to hold back a little effort wise in the first half and reserve some for the 2nd more challenging half of the race. That might not result in a negative split time wise (1st half might still be faster) but the result will be the same a strong finish.0
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Okay, think of it this way. Let's say you run a race course that has rolling hills from start to finish, yet the net gain comes out to be zero feet. Will you run the same time on that course that you will on a perfectly flat course? Not likely. You can never regain on the downhills what the uphills take out of you.
So for the course you asked about, trying to gain time for the hills at the end would actually leave less in reserve for the climbing portion and you would end up with a wicked positive split and probably feeling like dung at the end.
I know this is hard, but you are going to have to run the first part by PLE (perceived level of exertion). Before the race, you'll want to do some running at race pace on flat surfaces so you know what it feels like. Then, run that effort on race day on the downhills. You will naturally go a bit faster, but don't increase the effort to make up time on the downhills. Then, all you have to do is hammer the uphills and you'll be all done!
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