Hitting the wall - General running

Flimby

09/10/2011 at 16:05

I have today ran the Leicester 1/2 & had one of my worst performances ever having run out of steam about mile 7 & walk/jogging the rest. I am no stranger to 1/2s & felt I had trained adequately for this. The previous 2 1/2s I did went pretty well. I ate all the carbs yesterday, started today with a bowl of porridge etc etc. Has anyone got any tips how to avoid this as I have just signed up for the Bedford 1/2 in December & don't want a repeat!!

M...eldy

pirate

09/10/2011 at 16:09

If you have done nothing different and felt that you have done nothing wrong then there may well be nothing that you can do .. bad runs do happen, you may also be sickening for something perhaps? Do you take account of RHR to rule out anything physically wrong?

Flimby

09/10/2011 at 16:19

Thanks for reply. Dont think I am sickening for anything. Did drink quite a lot of lucozade sport isotonic drink before & during race. I stuck to water prior to previous races & barley water whilst running. Maybe overdid the sugar do you think? Ps, whats RHR??

M...eldy

pirate

09/10/2011 at 16:28

RHR = Resting Heart Rate, if you know what yurs is normally then it is a good indication of impending doom

If you have done other HMs before then you should know what suits you, I would not expect to need a quantity of sports drinks before/during/after

Flimby

09/10/2011 at 16:32

Thanks for that. Need to check my rhr as not sure what it is. Think you are right about the sports drinks!!

M...eldy

pirate

09/10/2011 at 16:56

tricialitt

09/10/2011 at 17:27

You shouldn't really be hitting the wall after 7 miles. Did you go off too fast? I'm assuming it wasn't a hot day? Perhaps you ate/ drank too much- sounds like the amount of food/ drink was more than really necessary for a 1/2

Or just put it down to a bad day.

mrs. hog - mousey

09/10/2011 at 17:52

Not having a suffient taper - too many races too close together?

I had an absolute pants race today - I know I'm just getting over a cold and ran a hm two weeks ago when I had the cold and had a poor run then, though better than today by a long shot.

When I finished I just wanted to sleep, I also know that my rhr is elevated still, don't run with hrm but I know that my hr is higher than normal as I can feel it. All I wanted to do post race is sleep - for 13 miles thats abnormal.

Don't knock yourself over one bad run, though I know yu want to because I am right now.

It really does sound like you are eating / drinking too much before the race. I have max one bottle of water before a hm. Try not to drink during a race, just a mouthful of water and spit it out.

What was the terrain / elevation like? Did you hit the hills too hard? Just bog down? So much can go wrong.

Back to the drawing board.

Flimby

09/10/2011 at 17:53

Hi tricialitt , you may have hit the nail on the head. Yes I did set off above goal pace for first 4 miles to try & ensure I beat my p.b. The weather was ideal. Think in future I will pace myself better early in race whilst still warming up & step up the pace later. Similar thing happened to me last year in Notts 1/2 so I should know better, easy to get carried away with the atsmophere!!

Flimby

09/10/2011 at 18:00

Hi imelda mouse, Lots of valuable points there. It was a flat course & I dont feel impending illness. I am starting to think I hammered it too much too early, drank too much fluid & had an off day!! Yes I am beating myself up but I got home & booked the next race in Dec (Bedford 1/2) Did the same last year after a dissapointing 1/2 & ran a p.b! Hopefully do the same again!

M...eldy

pirate

09/10/2011 at 20:24

I'll see you at Bedford then !!!

Flimby

09/10/2011 at 21:35

M...eldy, Small world eh although runners scene even smaller!! To be honest it was the only 1/2 I could find that fitted round my shifts. Have you run this before? what is the couse like, from what I have seen looks ok!

Finney71

09/10/2011 at 22:04

Hitting the wall after 7miles i would be gutted too,i ran 7.5mile today with a stinking head cold,just a bad run mate every run isnt the same,and also i thought you hit the wall on a full marathon at around 20miles?

Flimby

10/10/2011 at 09:14

Thanks to all for the advice which is greatly appreciated!

David White 35

10/10/2011 at 16:45

Peter Johnson 10 wrote (see)

Did drink quite a lot of lucozade sport isotonic drink before & during race.

could have got an insulin spike from that and then a drop off causing lethargy. I would avoid sports drink prior to a run. On a half I normally take my own Isotonic drink and have just a couple of sips every 3 or 4 miles.

You know, it's been shown that you run better slightly dehydrated then fully hydrated

Flimby

10/10/2011 at 19:53

David, thanks for that Not only was I drinking the isotonic mix but I took a gell bar halfway round & 1 about mile 11 in desperation which had NO effect. Kind of confirms what you are saying, ie my body was already satuarated with sugar! It turns out that yesterday's humidity was sky high which I'm sure also affected me as I came back drenched even after walk/jogging the last 5 miles!

M...eldy

pirate

10/10/2011 at 20:13

Finney71 wrote (see)

Hitting the wall after 7miles i would be gutted too,i ran 7.5mile today with a stinking head cold,just a bad run mate every run isnt the same,and also i thought you hit the wall on a full marathon at around 20miles?

Hitting the wall is not a goal, train properly and you will avoid it !!

Peter, not run Bedford before but I work in MK so I can fit it in before my shift starts

Flimby

10/10/2011 at 21:43

M....eldy, Plan to do plenty of training prior to Bedford!! Nothing worse than the dreaded wall... From what I have seen of Bedford 1/2 course looks great & sounds well organised with the shuttle bus laid on. Enjoy!!

We'd love you to add a comment! Please login or take half a minute to register as a free member