sitting here at ten to one on a tuesday morning, need to get down and pick some other runners brains as i am not sure on how to go forward from here ...
like quite a lot of people i participated in the cardiff half marathon on sunday, i knew my training wasn't up to scratch but i had trained earlier in the year for swansea half and i trained as best i could for this race.
i've been training and keeping an eye on my pace and set out with this in mind for sundays race and i was fine right up until mile 6 when hit hit the wall very sudden and very hard ... from that point on i pretty much had to walk the remainder of the race... and came in at around 3 hrs 17 minutes
i know i'm overweight, i know the day was unbearably humid , i'm not looking for excuses i'm not sure what i'm looking for really just really disappointed in my performance and looking to find a way forward and can't see one
i have run 7 half marathons and out of these i have only run the complete distance 1 (the rest were run walk) is half marathon distance not for me?
i love events like cardiff the atmosphere and crowd support are the absolute best... but i came away from sundays race feeling so low that i really don't want to do another... i shouldn't be so hard on myself, but when you have people saying to you that you shouldn't be participating in long distance running then saying good for you for doing it (was a family member) you get suitably confused.
do i start again from scratch, do i stick to 5 and 10 k races , i had dreamed of doing the chester tripple next year, 5k, 10k, and the metric marathon but after sunday my thoughts are of why bother, i was looking to do a marathon and possibly an ultra (race to the stones for example) but again why bother.
sorry for the ramble just needed to get the thoughts out of my head , not sure what it will achieve in doing so
steve the ever confused womble jogger
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womblejogger
Half Marathon
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i walked the rest of the way, was wearing my race vest and had soft flask filled with electrolite mix which i am used drinking can't use gels don't agree with my stomach, had gummies which i usually use towards the end of a long run, tend to run 5k's and ten k's and up to 8 or nine miles fine without taking on fuel as i am not a fast runner (about a 12:35 ish pace).
when i ran out of steam was at 1k would have to check but usually do 10k in about 1 hr 15, would be about that on sunday
My daughter's recovering from COVID, however untested negative for it hence running the race , slept well all week but had a rubbish night before the race probably had 4 hrs of sleep just couldn't drop off, off day not sure I had initially put myself down for a quicker time but knew that was wrong even before the day, moved back to the last pen and watched my pace really well , breathing seemed fine etc can't put a finger on it , I know I have mild hyper tension but I take medication and did so that day as well I just can't get it in my head what happened , I think of I knew what happened I could mentally put it in a box, categorise it and work out a plan of action as I is I can't 🤔
Don’t worry too much about the lack of sleep the night before. I remember reading once about one of our athletes at a past Olympic Games and she said that she didn’t sleep at all the night before her big event. She then went out and won gold! The night before all my races I think about this and it does help 😴
used water stations to drink as well, and to splash onto face to help cool down... i know theres a hill at mile 3 which i slowly run up but from there to mile 6 i felt fine, it was only when i had to slow down cause of gel wrappers littering the floor that i couldn't start back up, my legs refused to run i tried jeffing and i couldn't maintain it i completed the race bvy running 6 miles and walking the rest , i know its the taking part, i completed it and i should accept it but part of me can't if that makes sense :/
The first thing you need to do is stop beating yourself up for it! You didn't give up, you finished and that takes determination!I ran one HM where a similar thing happened - at 11 or 12k I started walking, and I decided I preferred it to running and never really got going again! I just felt tired and couldn't be bothered. I never knew why (although it was warm). The good news is that it was a one off thankfully.
My first ever proper race was the 10 mile GSR. I thought it was a disaster and was so fed up with myself afterwards; it took several weeks (and lots of lovely support here) before I began to come to terms with that.
But I have run lots of 'successful' events since: 10 k, 10 mile, HM and one jeffed marathon. I keep learning about me, i accept that some runs and some events go better than others. I know lots of factors can contribute to a good vs bad run - oncoming illness as Nowster says, weather conditions, sleep, hydration/fuelling and my mood on the day. Each run informs the next, but they don't ever define that next run.
I went from a disastrous 10 miler to several successful HMs, Chester Metric Marathon (which was totally fabulous and a must do!) and one full marathon. I even signed up for an ultra (but had to pull out because of injury).
So don't give up on you, don't view Cardiff as a disaster. Try to accept that runs vary. You may never get to the bottom of exactly why this one went as it did, but that doesn't mean the same will happen next time.
You don't need to stay at HM distance in training. I, and many others, drop back to running free for a while before picking up a new plan for spring. That new plan will start back at shorter distances and build up over the winter.
Sorry for the long reply, I just don't want you to give up on yourself 😊
thanks for such a lovely reply, i will stick to the winter training i usually do and see what next year brings, think i had high expectations and wanted to do better as i was running in memory of my dad i know either way he would be dead proud of my achievement i might feel the same in a few days time :/
He would indeed be proud!It took me a while wirh the GSR thing, but I did change my mind. Then last year I went back and slayed that demon properly. 👊 Back again in two weeks - it'll be a much slower affair, but hey .... I'll find something else to enjoy 😊
Hey WJ, we were most likely running/walking together for lots of the 2nd half without realising it! I finished in 3hrs 16ish, so very close to you. 😀
Yes it was warm, yes the second half felt hard (I Jeffed from 13.5k onwards due to my unconditioned legs threatening to seize right up). There was a huge field and plenty finished way behind us. It was my slowest HM too, but I went into it with no expectations as I hadn’t trained.
Don’t be down on yourself. How many people can complete that kind of distance? My non running friends are incredulous (my running ones think I’m batty not training!) You did it! Please be proud of that and don’t give up on the distance.
thanks for the kind reply, as i said i'm not sure what to do ... will probably stick to some winter training both indoor and out and see what next year brings ... i might ease away from organised races maybe for next year see what i can achieve in my own goals and bounce back from there, might my expectations have been too high ? possibly i felt initially i could have achieved them apart from a rubbish nights sleep saturday night i felt really good at the start line, perhaps if i had felt rubbish there it might have been different lol .... what i think i am trying to say is i have no idea of what happened how it happened, i struggle and will openly admit i struggle i think the embarrassment of having to walk as far as i did affected me personally and it shouldn't ... i might feel differently about it all in a few days time and probably will just overthinking about what coulda/woulda/shoulda been :/
I’ve only ever done one race so I’m no expert but I was really disappointed in my last HM. On the back of that race I decided that I wasn’t ready to run a FM this year. I think I could have been ready so now I have to wait another year. My advice would be to not make any big decisions whilst you’re feeling down about your race. Well done for completing it womblejogger 🤩
thanks ... going to give it a while and try and improve my training ... see if i can shift some weight whilst i am at it as well, difficult over winter but will see what i can do
I’ve just seen a comment on Insta from someone saying that they ran their slowest HM & wanted to quit running (forever)at Cardiff so maybe it was just a tough race.
Wouldn't say it's the easiest, it's advertised as being flat which it is to a degree , most of the course undulates , and there are 3 cracking hils one at 3nmiles (long and gradual) the other short and sharp at mile 12 , have run this course before knew what to expect but something just wasn't right I suppose this time , wanted it to be special and that's probably why I'm disappointed
I do feel for you. I ran New Forest 10k in September, I probably had delusions of grandeur because I've run several 10k's.For all sorts of reasons it felt very hard and less enjoyable than I expected,I felt lousy afterwards and when the results came in I was disappointed to find I was slowest in my age group.
But.. ...I did it and you did yours... I finished...as you did and you ran further than I. So, we both beat everyone who can't run or run/ walk those distances.....be proud that you finished, 3 hrs 17 mins! In my book that's awesome!
I was going to enter the Brighton half a few years back.....knew I'd be close to the cut off time on a good day.....thought about the hours of dedicated training I'd need to do.... so I didn't, on that one I quit before I even started.....you didn't quit, so be very proud of yourself x
Thank you , I need to reflect and learn and strive to be better , I didn't quit because I was doing it for my dad ... and I was bloody determined not too , disappointed yes but I will learn and grow from it
I think we’ve all done it WJ! Disappointing runs or races - sometimes for no apparent reason - making us doubt ourselves.
Runners of all ages, shapes and sizes make up this community of ours. I love that we’re all out there competing on equal terms. It’s not about elites, they’ve gone in 60 seconds leaving the rest of us to compete amongst each other, having fun mostly 🙂
I had a hard race a few weekends ago and was a bit disappointed with the time. I wasn’t disappointed for long as I finished it and was proud of my work rate and commitment 🙂🏃♀️ I walk when I need to and that’s usually when I drink and refuel 💪
I always think that the next event will be much better 😀
I have only had one moment of real doubt, early in my 10k racing attempts. I was struggling and asked myself who I thought I was kidding. Then I noticed many more older women than me absolutely ripping it up out there 😀 On a cold Sunday morning at 9.30 am what else should I be doing? 🤷♀️ The ironing, polishing me nick nacks? 😁 After that I never gave the “why” another thought 🙂
Good luck with this running of yours 💪🙂🏃♂️ Let us know how it goes!
i will do ... i think the disappointment could be that i had done the race before albeit 2019 and had thought i had improved to the point where i could be better than i was, was i being over confident maybe i know i will learn from it, i'm certainly getting hope from everyone's kind words
I have run just 3 HMs, so there may be an element of “so what do I know?” Nevertheless I will plough on! At 71 years old, I have to make sure that my prep is right and the same applies to my expectations. The latter is vital, because I know that from the beginning of the run, my pace must be right, or I will blow up part way through. I think my “right pace” is 15 seconds/k below the pace of my last pre HM 10 mile training run. So my starting pace is linked into the quality of my training runs.
I finished all three runs, two of them were all run, but I had to walk a bit at the end of the second run…the circumstances surrounding that run were such that it was a miracle that I finished it at all. It was three days after a sudden bereavement; I was running for a related charity…so I can say with conviction that the emotional impact of running for your dad will have been huge. That run was a one off.
For my latest HM I used the NRC HM plan. I have learned so much from it. I now know the paces I need to achieve in my build up, so my HM race pace is a calculation rather than a guess. I had plenty in the tank at the end ….maybe I should have run a bit faster 😂
thinking about it my prep probably wasn't enough, in my head i had thought i had done enough miles but with the extra timber i carry it was probably not enough, i have settled into the slower pace mentality and reallky enjoy it and the first half of the half was only ten seconds faster then my usual pace, i've even thought that the hill at mile three could have wiped me out but i "seemed" fine after this, deffo going to give it another go but not next year, will take a year off from "races" next year to concentrate on me, getting fitter , training better and losing a bit of weight ... that and getting into the right head space to both conquer and accept when things go wrong
Oh ok don't worry about it if I'm right I think you are over running the beginning of your run it's not all about speed that will come you need a routine you need a plan of how many days you run through the week and in that you need slower runs tempo and reps and distance running reps and long runs will improve you what you need is to join a running club it will bring you on. But if you want me to do a plan for you give me your weekly days running how many miles you do in a week and what's your 5K 10K half times as I will need this to do you a plan.
much appreciated , usually use my garmin to sort out all the training was following along to a half marathon one but i stopped and started to do my own thing which didn't include any of the variation i needed it to ... probably need to slow my pace down further to conserve more for later in the run any slower and i'd be walking lol
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