Aviemore Half Marathon

So today was the Aviemore Half Marathon. It was a lovely day for it. The wind woke us early but it was dry and the sun came out… hitting 15degrees in the town centre.

The main aim of the day was to try a new concept of negative splitting.

“A negativesplit or the action of negativesplitting is a racing strategy that involves completing the second half of a race faster than the first half. It is defined by the intentional setting of a slower initial pace, followed by either a gradual or sudden increase of speed towards the end of a race”

The main reason for this is that I expel too much energy in the early stages going too fast and then really struggle at the end of races to finish well. I set out with the goal in mind to run 50mins for the first 10.5km then come back in under to hit 1:40:00 roughly.

The reason for this is that negative splitting allows for the compensation of lactic acid build up, going out too hard builds up a level of lactic acid that the body can’t process fast enough causing the runner to slow down (link)

This concept was tricky, both as the first part of the course is trail and the next part on road, but also as I had never had this type of strategy or any strategy for that matter before… it was exciting to have a game plan but also nervous in case it backfired.

The first section has more up hill sections and has more elevation gain than a lot of people give it credit for, with the second part being a slow descent into Aviemore itself.

My un-confirmed time was 1:38:03 which I’m delighted with. I set up the second part of the run and it went well but had a few lessons to take away from the weekend….

1. Gel use in later parts of run
2. Chaffing is sore
3. Cotton socks are a nightmare
4. Robert Taylor (with a sore back) is still quicker than me.
5. I am not great at pinning numbers on straight

Throughly enjoyed the weekend, and recommend the half or the 10km to anyone. The scenery was beautiful and the route challenging giving both a trail and a road aspect which combines both my fave types of running.

What runs have you completed recently that you recommend?

Thanks as always for reading.

Run long and Prosper

James

SPEAR:RUN