I realize a sub 2 hour half marathon is a cakewalk for most of the posters on this board. It is my goal for the Longview Half Marathon next month (my third half). My half PR was 2010 at White Rock 2:14. Since then I've been concentrating on distance, not so much on speed.

It looks like I need to do my best to maintain a 9:00 minute mile pace the whole race. So far on my long training runs I can maintain a 9:10 and feel pretty good. What worries me is that the course will be hilly and have little to no crowd support. To prepare all my training routes have been hilly.

Any tips on reaching my goal? I've thought about setting my GPS watch to where it beeps at me if I go above 9:10/mile. I'm guessing I need to run faster on my training runs.

Also...just in case anybody wants to run Longview as well...

http://www.halfmarathonlongview.com/

Set your watch for 9:05 to account for corners and GPS error. Run that pace for 6-7 miles. At that point speed up if you feel you can. Re evaluate. If you feel you are fading, drop back to the 9:05 pace. If you can speed up, do that.

Also, after the 6-7 mile mark, compare the distance on your watch to the mile markers on course. The 9:05 pace will buy you a minute of cushion. You may need more if you find your GPS is more than a tenth or two longer than the course markers.

Good Luck!

One more thing: figure out the elevation of the course. If there is a big bad hill in the last miles, then you will need more cushion.

I'm guessing like most every other race I don't need to start to fast. I've had that issue in the past. I should just start 9:00/mile and stick with it the entire time? Should I try to run through the water stations to save time? Most races I walk through water stations to give me a break.

[This message has been edited by easttexasaggie04 (edited 2/20/2012 11:16a).]

from a coaching standpoint - you really should have asked this question further out, as you should have dialed in your training to get to your goal.

that said, the above advice isn't bad. you should aim to negative or even split. most of the time people trying to "bank" time by going out faster and then attempting to hang on, fail.

In the past 4-5 weeks I've been doing speed work/tempo runs to help with my pace. Going to the track and so forth. I also try to do my 3 mile runs faster (8:30 pace). I think that has been helping me.

Luckily for me...where I run is hilly, there is no avoiding it, so i'm pretty used to hills.

I pr'd in tyler in october (1:52). That was my 4th half and hilliest ive run. If you can avoid walking the water stations, do that. Just run and drink the best you can. What helped me on that race was staying with a pace group. I stuck with 1:50 group for the first part, felt good and went past them for a few miles, but the hills started to get to me so i dropped back. I knew i had a 10 minute cushion from the 2hr group though

Sounds like you've done enough speedwork. As long as you taper properly you should have no trouble breaking 2.

Yeah, I agree with above. Seems like you need to just pace properly and it should be a successful race. Best of luck!

My plan is to start off with a 9:00/mile pace and try my best to keep it the entire race. If my math is correct that will give me a 3 minute cushion though (not sure that is enough). It seems like I always run more than the 13.1 so I'd end up having a longer time.

Carb loading, and race adrenaline should help. Just make sure you don't blow all of your energy at the start. If anything, start off slower than the average pace to save some energy, then you can run harder at the end to average it out.
As long as your average is below 9:09 (120minutes/13.11miles), you'll break the 2 hour mark.
That's my goal for cowtown this weekend. Most of my training runs, have me hitting a 2:02 half so I'm hopeful I can pull it off.

There is no need to carb load for a half. The only thing you might do is throw your GI tract into a washing machine.

Yea I don't run well on a full stomach. If I have a big breakfast or lunch then try to run later that night...no bueno.

well, carb loading wouldn't affect the fullness of your stomach on race morning.

Carb loading builds your glycogen stores. Glycogen, is the easiest source of energy your body has. Loading up those stores will help ensure you don't get fatigued. You don't need to do it to the level of the guys doing a full, but if you are trying to achieve what is an aggressive goal for you, then it would be good to have some stores built up.

Assuming around 3300 calories per day:

Normal runners diet will give you ~2000 calories of glycogen. Each mile burns ~100 of those = 20 miles. Reason why most people hit the wall around after mile 20?

I would side with the no carb loading for the half, but probably isn't gonna hurt.

if you taper properly, you have more than enough glycogen stored to run a half. The human body typically stores about 2000 calories of glycogen.

You typically burn 100 calories per mile of running, which is why people hit the wall at mile 18-20...that's when you deplete your glycogen store.

You carb load to get your glycogen stores above that 2000 calorie threshold, which allows you to push past that 18-20 mile mark.

For 13 miles, your glycogen stores will be full if you taper properly and you won't be running far enough to deplete them. Adding glycogen most likely won't hurt you (although the extra carbs might make you toe the line a little heavier), but the influx of carbs can upset your digestive system if you don't do it properly.

I'm using a Garmin 205. Do you think it would be better to set it up to alert me when I run slower than a 9:05 pace or set it up where I'm running against a "virtual partner" who runs a 1:58 half marathon?

depends on the course. i see negatives both ways. if the course is hilly...i didn't go back and read...you likely won't be doing a 9:05 for every mile. Either way, the watch is assuming you or the virtual partner is going to run consistent 9:05s. That may not be the smartest race tactic. If you run a 9:15 on a gradual uphill, but then are able to go 8:55 on a downhill, you still average where you need to be. However, if you are concerned about that 9:05 on the uphill and expend more effort, then you might find it difficult to hit splits later in the race.

Personal preference is the virtual partner. You have avg pace on the display. In my experience the beep thing gets annoying at water stops or if you have to take a leak.

Thanks for the feedback. I've never used either gadget. I plan to try to the annoying beeping alert tonight during my 6 mile run. Maybe use the virtual partner on my long run this weekend. I believe the virtual partner tells you how many feet you are behind/in front of where your "partner" is. Not sure if knowing if I'm 200' in front of it will mean much to me.

Maybe the best option is to use neither and just look down at my watch every now and then?

Thats basically all it does. I used the beep thing for interval training. The VP for races, but I didn't think it made much difference. I think it's better if you're trying to beat your best time on a certain course.

VP is a good tool. I have mine cycling between that and another screen showing, my current pace, current lap/mile pace, and overall average pace.

Looking down at the current pace helped me a lot, because I could quickly see if I was going too slow. I'm not in tune enough yet to be able to accurately tell whether the pace I'm keeping is good enough. Plus, if I did that, I would probably jackrabbit every start and be dragging at the end.
Just remember keep in mind that you need to average 9:09, so if you start off slow it's ok, as long as you make up the difference elsewhere.
I beat 2 hours at Cowtown. This was my first half, but not my first race. I've run other shorter races. Each race I've learned something different that helped me with regards to my pacing. Some people like to keep an even pace through the race, while I like to start slow, so I can warm up, then finish strong.
The reason I like this strategy is because it allows the field to spread out a bit, which makes it easier to pass people when I start picking up the pace.
My split times for cowtown were...
Mile.....Pace
1.....9:07 (Not sure how this happened, other than the start being downhill)
2.....9:26 (closer to how I wanted to start)
3.....9:26
4.....9:16
5.....9:25
At this point I need to make up about 50 seconds, over the next 8.1 miles,which means I need to average 9:03/mi. I still haven't hit the worst hills, so I wasn't sure I could do it, but I did know I could at least hit 8:45 for the last 3.1. So I knew I'd be close.
6.....9:09
7.....9:00
8.....9:07
9.....9:01 The big climb was coming up, so I knew I had to power through it if I was going to have a chance. My concern was if I was going to have enough left to push the pace afterward.
10.....8:52 I conquered the hill pretty easily, my legs were tired a for little while afterward, but they recovered nicely, thanks to decent hill training.
11.....8:33 I'm still concerned, but the VP told me I was now ahead.
12.....8:37 Still ahead, and banking seconds
13.....8.25 By now I'm not looking at my watch. I'm letting the crowd take me in. I didn't want to slow up, because I knew I was close, and I wanted to hit the goal. I saw my wife and son in the crowd, which gave me an even bigger boost. The announcer was yelling "Watch out! Here come the Aggies!" thanks to the A&M shirt I was wearing, and he called my name which was a nice surprise.
13.1...2:05
Final time 1:59:17

I honestly believe If I tried to keep the 9:09 or 9:00 pace, I wouldn't have made it. I would have run out of gas on the late hills.

great pacing. negative splits are the way to go, but are not easy to accomplish.

I'd much rather use VP than setting the watch to beep, especially if the goal you set is pushing your limits.

When I've used the beep feature for runs and have been unable to maintain the pace, the watch continually beeping just ends up annoying me.

Thanks, OO
I learned the lesson the hard way through my early races and some training runs.

I had a 15K training run, where I was dragging by the end. Then I had a race, where I linked up with another runner, and ended up running a slower pace than I originally intended, but I had plenty of gas in the tank by the final mile that I was able to jump to my 5k pace all the way to the finish. I still had plenty of energy left, and felt so good after that. I realized the negative split was the way to go for me. I'm now trying to figure out what my ideal splits are, and when I need to really pick it up. I realize they can be course dependent, but having a good guideline will help.

yep, its a learning process. and you won't always nail it. however, i'd rather finish strong with a good time and wonder if i could have picked it up earlier than to be gassed in the final miles and fail to hit my goal.

I've only nailed one almost perfectly. I was 13 seconds slower on my second half of the marathon, and when I crossed the line, I had NOTHING left. But I got my BQ time.

The beeping warning annoys the crap out of me during speed intervals; I couldn't imagine listening to it for half of a marathon.

I just look at mine to see how far off or on I am for the current mile.

I tried the beeping alert last night during a hilly 6 mile run. Annoying as hell. It got mad at me when I went too fast going down a hill and again when I went too slow going up the hill. After a while I just annoyed the beeps and ran like usual. I'm sure not going to use that feature for 13.1.

I was able to hold a 8:51 pace for a very hilly 6 miles, this weekend on my long run I'll see if I can hold it for 12.

Just to confirm, when you all say you should aim for a NEGATIVE split are you saying:

A. You should take the first half easy and be BEHIND your target and then have the reserve energy to push yourself the second half to meet your goal.

B. You should push the first half to be AHEAD of your target and build a nice cushion so that you can coast to the finish.

First half marathon for me is Saturday (The Woodlands) and I am aiming at sub 2:00, using a Garmin 405. I usually have it set up with a 9:12 pace as the mark.

Like Ag00 said, this is stuff that you should have been doing for a while.

If you can hold the pace for half of the race distance, that's decent. I don't know that you should do two pace runs in the same week, especially one that's nearly your race distance. I wouldn't for a marathon. You are a few weeks out now right? Make sure you don't wreck yourself beforehand.

I'm more a fan of even splits, IMO it's just more efficient way of running especially for beginners. Every time I've tried to do negative splits, I start off too slow and end up feeling like I left a lot on the course during the first half.

Good thinking. I might do my 12 mile run this weekend at a slower pace, just to get the mileage in. On race day I'll go for it. The race is March 17th.

even splits are fantastic too, however, most people that try to even split end up in the positive on the second half.

I am going to shoot for negative splits on my next half too. My PR is just under 2 hours but I hope with a better pacing strategy I can shave some minutes off of that. For White Rock I did start slower and felt like I could have done a faster first half, but the next 2 when I did start out faster I had trouble in the middle portion. So, I think I had it right the first time. Now just need to come up with target paces. Fortunately RnR Dallas is a pretty flat course so there won't be any hills to account for like with Austin.