Question: I am planning to run my first marathon in three weeks on April 21st. I
will participate in a half marathon next weekend as part of my training.
The half marathon will be the last longer run before I start tapering.
I am not yet decided what my goals should be for the half marathon.
Should I run it as I have planned the first part of the marathon
(meaning: relatively slow) or should I try to run the half marathon as
fast as possible? What are your recommendations?
Answer:
You might try running it at your goal marathon race pace to get a
feeling for maintaining that pace for a relatively long time. I
wouldn't recommend racing it, although it's conceivable that someone
with more experience might wish to.
A lot depends on your recovery rate. If you are not sure
and want a conservative approach try half-n-half.
Run negative splits with the first half at your marathon pace
and then pick up the pace for the second half.
It depends on your race rate, in order to do this is to maintain your
pace while you run and then you will slow down your running pace, such
as walking during the race after you run the first part of the race.
