weekevie04 Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 Hi folks, was curious to see and imagine how diverse the board is, that a few folk have ran/cycled in races, and how the experience was. From about 2010-15 or so I was a very keen runner, maybe even ran too much! Then kinda mixed it in with walking, cycling, and the gym, so I ran a bit less. Although when I did run even in my 'running years' I mostly ran from between 3 miles to 7 with the occasional longer one, and did 13 miles once - with a fairly decent time. I'll be hoping to lose about 15 pounds or so before August too. Anyhoos, havers galore, but I'm going to register to run a race but trying to decide between 10km and 21. It's in August, so I have some time to prepare ; but also, I'm interested to see if anyone has any pointers or even just stories of the difference from running solo or with a pal ; to being in an actual race and what not to do to keep up or ahead of people e.g how to pace yourself and not going too fast due to the circumstances of a race etc. No idea if I have worded this right and its not I'm holier than thou post, just would be very interested to hear of people's experience in a competition and what not to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in5omniac Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 I do a bit of racing - anything from 5k to ultra distances, in the process of coming back from a year long injury which is still not quite right. I do a lot of my training solo, but in doing this I find it hard to slow down to more of a 'training' pace, which is definitely where running in pairs/groups would help in training. I always find the race day atmosphere is easy to get caught up in, sometimes this can cause you to go out too fast and regret it later on, sometimes you'll have done the work in training and the feeling good on the day of the race will work with this and you'll maybe go faster than planned but it will work out for you, sometimes you'll set off a bit slower, sensible perhaps, and build it up depending on how the race goes and how you're feeling once your legs have been moving a bit. If the race has a pacer and it's the same as your target time (or thereabouts), it is good to stick with them - they're often happy to chat a little bit and offer encouragement, if you're comfortable with a few km to go, or even 1km to go, pull away and claim whatever extra seconds you can. An alternative to using a pacer is if you know someone around the pace you're aiming for to try to keep just ahead or behind depending on which side of target time they would be, you tend to learn this by doing a few local races or parkruns (local to whichever one you've entered in August). At the end of the race, you'll often get a boost when the finish line is in sight and audible, enjoy this - again, it's not much but a few seconds off your time. Just one more little tip for race day training, practice your pre-race food as well as any gels and drinks you may take on the run, trying these for the first time on race day can end badly for your stomach! Hope that's helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weekevie04 Posted May 15, 2019 Author Share Posted May 15, 2019 Top man, Inosmaniac. Cheers very much for the information. I'm toying between 10k and half marathon, so using the next month or so as training month. Thinking half marathon may be a bit of an ask, but will see. Very helpful your info and thank you once again! Happy running, cycling and iron manning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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