A few weeks ago, I posted an article titled “My First Half-Marathon Kit List,” as I prepared to race a personal best at my first official half-marathon at Battersea Park. I was brimming with confidence leading up to the race, but despite all my preparations, I broke every race-running rule for this half-marathon.
Race-Running Rule #1: An (In)Adequate Warm Up
Warming up is essential, especially when pushing for a personal best. A good warm-up increases blood flow and oxygen to the working muscles. It also activates the nervous system, loosens joints, and reduces the likelihood of injury when sprinting off. Mentally, it primes you for the run ahead, helping to focus your attention on the race ahead, while also preparing you mentally for a fast run.
I usually skip a warm-up, but this time, with a PB in mind, I planned my warm-up. It was to be a short walk that would take no longer than half an hour. This would increase my blood flow and loosen my joints while getting me to the start line, saving me from the mercy of public transport. The only problem was that I massively underestimated the distance.
My warm-up turned into the distance of a park run, and a quarter of the distance of the race ahead. My 5km walk took me over an hour and left me feeling a little fatigued in my legs before I started the race. Fortunately for me, I’d run a couple of ultramarathons, so I felt confident in my ability to run. However, I didn’t know if breaking this rule would affect my ability to run consistently at speed.
Race-Running Rule #2: Brand New Shoes
A few months ago, my friend Will brought a brand-new pair of running shoes. It took one run to fall in love with them, and he instantly recommended them to me. Will wouldn’t stop letting me know how much I needed these shoes. The problem was that I’d already bought new running shoes and had my half-marathon race shoes already in my rotation. The shoes in question? Adidas Adizero Evo SL.
These shoes were superlight and springy, but that wasn’t their most significant selling point. The Adidas Adizero shoes, at least by the standards of good running shoes, are priced quite cheaply. But I didn’t need new shoes. That didn’t stop me from leaving the Adidas store in Battersea Power Station without a black pair.
This wasn’t just an impulsive decision; it was breaking another running rule. Never run a race in new shoes. Everyone said I was an idiot. Storm, Will’s wife, said I was risking my PB in unfamiliar shoes. My mum said my feet will suffer in the end. But those new shoes fit perfectly, and it felt like nothing was there. How bad could it really be?
Race-Running Rule #3: Focus on Nutrition
On race day, I usually have pancakes and syrup. This time, however, I changed to my usual pre-run breakfast of carb-heavy porridge with raisins. Breakfast wasn’t the probably, nor was my nutritional strategy. I’d taken gels and water with me, ready to fit it all into my new running belt, which I’d used throughout my training.
But I didn’t stick to the plan. The pre-race online briefing said water and gels would be provided at checkpoints. This would equate to every 2.5km lap. This meant I ran without anything but my music and phone, which I was used to swinging in my pocket.
Grabbing a small bottle of water every lap had a few challenges, but it didn’t slow me down much. The biggest challenge was rehydrating while breathless at speed in time to discard the empty bottle in one of the bins provided before we set off on another lap of the park.
Yet, my biggest concern came from the lack of gels offered at the first checkpoint. I didn’t need one at that point, but the second lap was also gel-less. This began to worry me because I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain my pace without a carbohydrate boost. Fortunately, by the 4th lap, gels began to appear at the hydration station. I’d left a variety pack of SIS gels in my bag and traded them in for the same apple-flavoured Apple gel every other lap. Everything about this race felt repetitive.
And The Laps Kept Coming
Speaking of repetition, this race was repetitive. The lap of Battersea Park was just under 2.5km long, meaning a half-marathon equated to a distance of 8.75 laps. I’ve never felt like 2.5km was a long distance, but by lap 5 or 6, having lost count and trying to work out how many more times I’d need to pass the finish line before I crossed it, grew tiresome.
It sounds crazy to admit having run a 70km on a looped course, but this half-marathon took its toll mentally. Each lap of the 70km ultramarathon was double the length of a Battersea Park loop, with trail terrain and significantly more elevation. Battersea Park was utterly flat. In fact, if there was any elevation at all, it was slightly downhill on the first 500m of the loop.
I’d had this conversation with Will before the race, then again, afterwards. Running further vs running faster are two distinct sports with different mental challenges. When you run far, you can go slow, and the pain takes a while to arrive. Yes, you spend more time with the pain, but it creeps up on you, allowing you to adjust as you go. When you push all out from lap one, it hits you, and as you change, the thresholds shift, and the pain intensifies. Every time I passed the finish line, I wanted to bail.
All the Broken Rules, But How Did it Go?
Well, it broke me. I struggled to stand initially after giving my all. For context, I wasn’t anywhere near a medical emergency, so I’m exaggerating a little, but I was heavily fatigued, more than I would be after a race or run of this distance. I’d run a 25km race a few months earlier, and it didn’t feel this gruelling.
As I write this, that 25km race sits fifth on my list of most challenging exercises according to Strava’s relative effort. Battersea half-marathon sits third, behind a race I DNF’ed and one of my first long runs. But was it all worth it?
Of course, it was. I finished my half-marathon with a time of 1:56:07, which means I smashed my target of a sub-2-hour run. I probably could have shaved another minute off that time, too, if I hadn’t stopped early on to use the toilet. However, nothing about this race went as planned for me, and I still managed to smash a personal best. I guess these half-marathon race rules were made to be broken.
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