Clontarf Half Marathon July 4th 2015

dealhunter1985

I found it a killer. Done my first half marathon in May in 1:30 so was hoping to get close to it.
But I knew that there being a beach to tackle would lead to a slower time..
I was stuck to the 1:30 pacer like glue up until we hit the beach

I ended up finishing just under 1:37. That's a big difference. Something like 15/20 seconds a lap!
The sand was really really tough. And one stage on the way back, I thought I was going backwards. The wind was very strong..
A side from the tough conditions, I just never really got going despite a lot of planning.
Ahwell, glad to be done with it. A Saturday morning well spent and look forward to my next race.

glacial_pace71

Pink11 wrote: »

That beach..... it was a form of torture! Knowing we had to come back and do it all again was horrible! To say I struggled was an understatement. I took off with the 1.45 pacers and had to pull back about 5km in. I just couldn't keep up. I pushed myself way too hard at the start (I should have allowed for the fact I wasn't feeling in top form) and been more generous to myself. My legs felt heavy for the entire run. I was hot, uncomfortable and the wind was dire the whole time. Had to drink loads to make up for my dehydration which only led to stomach cramps and stitches. It was the longest 21kms I have ever run. As said, I should have been able to hit a 1.45/50 and I finished a couple minutes after 2 hours.

A half marathon can be very hard to judge. The various online "race time predictor" tools, e.g. ...
http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/race-times-predictor
... only make things a lot worse, as people see a 5 mile or 10k time and think "ah I'll definitely be in the hunt for that corresponding half marathon time", but no only does it presuppose a whole different training schedule for the distance races it also presumes injury-free in the medium term or any short term day-before-race problems.

The result can be that people will go out with a "run through this short term discomfort/pain" mentality and in reality just burn up. If it's any consolation, here's me on Saturday, trying to stick to an 8:15 ish pace regardless of the conditions and how I felt, and blowing up on the beach for 10 plus min miles on the way back for the last 2-3 miles:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/823385633
Btw here's an counter example of although apparently yo-yo-ing up/down a hilly half marathon, I was broadly sticking to a plan, which got me under the 8 min miles on the chip timing (I'd set off my watch a little too soon before the starting mat):
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/66996376

In short, it's very, very difficult to judge racing 13.1 miles, i.e. you can have what you think is a good training regime in place but - unlike the 5 mile or 10k races - you can't just slot in a half-marathon each weekend to learn from the experience. Hopefully Saturday won't put you off the longer distance races: my first half marathon (I won't say back when) was a c.2 hour event when I'd publicly told people I was aiming for 1:55 but all my private planning was for a 1:40 - 1:45 result to match a notional standard in various running magazines. (Those were the days before the online pace calculators became prevalent).

blockfighter

My first time doing this half marathon and only my second ever half marathon (first was the Burren last year). Delighted to get 2 hours 17. Probably could have gone marginally quicker but I think the wind sapped whatever energy reserve I had stored up.
Great day out there. Well organised event. Looking forward to the November run.

MisterDrak

The race was definitely better organised this year, that in times past. The weather mostly played ball, with only a mild breeze on the beach section return leg (I can still remember 2010)...

The beer and donut at the finish line were both nice touches.

Ran the race as a paced training run, with one of my club-mates, taking thing very easy and chatting and slagging until the turn at 6.5m, then we upped the pace from there back to the start and passed plenty of other runners. Still the last mile was difficult, with a 1:38 finish.

Over all an improving, "fun run" type race, and one that I will be definitely be back from next year.

colin32

43 pages of photos on racepix & not 1 of me

cson

menoscemo wrote: »

Results are up.
I have to say it's a touch frustrating to see that most of the group myself and Overprontor got over the line were actually first wave runners and thus didn't make it in sub 1:40. We started in Wave 2 about a minute after the 1st wave...

This but for the 5 miler; reckon the first mile where I'd to weave in around people, a lot of it on the grass, cost me ~30 secs. Very frustrating. They didn't do a great job of the turning point either coming back across the wooden bridge, lot of crossing going on.

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

1.17 is a great winning time.

Was just a spectator this year. Thought it was poor enough from them to miss the 1/2 marathon winner crossing the line (also missed 2nd). I have been at races where the microphone guy has a page with participants names on it and says your name while crossing the line. I like that a lot. I wouldnt have a cue what number I was wearing, so wouldn't know he was referring to me if he said "Number xxx"

Yeah they did that in the one in Wexford and it was a nice touch.

Greenmachine

cson wrote: »

This but for the 5 miler; reckon the first mile where I'd to weave in around people, a lot of it on the grass, cost me ~30 secs. Very frustrating. They didn't do a great job of the turning point either coming back across the wooden bridge, lot of crossing going on.



Yeah they did that in the one in Wexford and it was a nice touch.

Agreed cson. I ended up passing hundred of people in the first 2 miles. Pushed myself a little too hard in the 2nd mile as a result. Same coming back on the wooden bridge had to cross back to the left against a path of slower runner on the way back.

colin32

In fairness to the organisers there were signs saying keep to the right, so people didn't get in the way. if people didn't adhere to this then there's not much the organisers can do.

Only other option is to put fencing all the way along the route to split the runners on the return leg, but you'd be looking at extra costs

ultraman1

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057459690