EnduranceLife Suffolk Half Marathon Race Report 2023

Race Information

Goals

Goal Description Completed?
A Sub 2 Yes
B Sub 1:55 Yes
C Finish - without stopping Yes
D Don't get injured Yes

Splits

Kilometer Time
1 5:10
2 5:02
3 5:31
4 5:08
5 5:08
6 5:22
7 6:18
8 5:05
9 5:14
10 5:00
11 6:03
12 5:38
13 5:30
14 5:24
15 5:34
16 5:21
17 5:24
18 5:10
19 5:21
20 5:02
21 4:55
22 5:22 (I think)

Training

I (M 26) picked up running this year in May 2023. Previous history with running was doing a 10km race in high school for gym class, and couldnt't remember the time but the effort was poor. Was committed to getting fit this year, but didn't think it would be through running.

Started in May using Apple Fitness runs, with no half marathon in mind. Started doing a 5km almost every day because it felt good.

Saw two friends do the Toronto Half Marathon, and thought I should make that my goal. Put the timeline to before 30, then once starting realized I could probably do it this year.

Dropped the Apple Fitness app, and got on Nike Run Club and did their Half Marathon training plan (was good for me).

Averages the following - a little over 3 runs a week. - did 233.4 kms of running before the race approximately - Active training time of about 24 hours - Average training pace of 5:28

I live in Montreal, near the mountain, so I started running up that as much as I could. From there, I started researching what run I could do. I was aiming for October, to sneak in one of the last races of the season. Could not do the Montreal or Toronto ones, and happened to be in Europe in October. Running up Mont Royal all the time made me decide doing a trail run would be cool, so I googled and found EnduranceLife, and knew England had a good community of runners (right?).

Bought the tickets for the race and began focusing in.

Life style wise, I greatly reduced drinking, smoking and and began to eat quite healthy and carb focused for long runs. Only let loose for a few weddings.

Injury wise, I suffered a sprain ankle during my first night run quite early on. Almost broke down in tears thinking my training was already ruined. I took about a week and a half off, and was better but that injury taught me a few things. I immediately bought real running shoes (for trail and road, more below). The better supporting shoes helped, and taught me how to run with an injury incase it came up on the trail , which could be likely.

I only trained with phone tech, no watch or anything else fancy other then some new running clothes. Will treat myself to some tech upgrades now maybe.

I did not train with much water while running, unless there was fountains . I did not use gels until race day, and ended up being fine stomach wise.

Pre-race

Got into the race area the day before around 5 pm. Relaxed, got some food at a local pub, carbed up and got some good rest. Woke up very early to try on my kit, pack my two gels and pre drink water and electrolytes. This was good prep.

A few days before the race, I did not read the instructions properly and realized I HAD to run the half marathon with water. So I only got a few small practice runs in running with an actual water bottle in my hand instead of a sack. Got to the race early, tried to stay warm, got my last minute bites in and then undressed. Race started at 9 am.

Race

I had some worries as I had to do my first long run with my water bottle in my hand, due to not reading the instructions properly. The organized did not actually check this, but I did not want to get DQ'd just in case.

I started near the back of the back, as I was unsure of my capabilities. Quickly picked up, and tried to find a few different packs to join. Having a pace buddy really helped, but most groups I would abandon at some point.

Track wise, running a trail for the first time was crazy. Beginning was a small road to get to the trail, some beautiful gravel paths, then some sandy beach (beautiful, but killer), then board walk, and then KNEE HIGH water. It had rained the past few days but was beautiful for race day, but since it was by the water, we had to walk for almost a good 30 seconds and get completely soaked from the knees down. Was refreshing , and only affected the half marathon trail. Cool experience.

After that, was the bushes of hell. I didn't expect it to be this unmanaged, but it basically felt like getting stabbed for 3 kms. So many scratches and blood, as well as crouch running and getting hit in the head with branches. Very happy I kept my speed up during this , but this was the toughest part for sure. Super easy to sprain, fall, and it was so narrow you could not really cross people. Had a guy push me forward because I almost got stuck, and stepped into shin high mud. Very rewarding though.

Once getting through that, it got beautiful again. Training on Mont Royal elevation really prepped me for the hills, as the only kms I really found I slowed down were due to terrain roughness, not elevation.

I put on my race day playlist for the last 30 min, and stayed with a fit male for the last 20ish minutes of the race. Once we passed the official 21.1 km mark, I emptied the tank and passed about 5 people to hit the finish line.

Post-race

Quite emotional. I came all the way from Montreal to do this first race alone, as a big milestone in my life. Was not very athletic growing up, but I hit all my goals, and the course was much tougher then I thought, giving me hope for doing an even faster road HM.

My metric half marathon time was 1:52:49 but the full race time was 1:58, both which were within my goals.

I would recommend EnudranceLife, and this race specifically to trail folks. Not too many people took wrong turns (I only went the wrong way once for about 10 meters).

I ended up finishing 17th out of 108 men, which I thought was awesome. Got my shirt, got a bar and drank my recovery drink and watched the ceremonies and wore my medal. Could not get a drive to the local train station, so had to walk for two hours (8 kms) post race to take the train back to London. Celebrated with chicken katsu, and some pints, then took the flight home today (Sunday) to Montreal.

All in all, was an amazing life changing experience. Going to focus on half marathons more, fix my form ( I think I get stress fractures in my left foot after runs longer then 20 kms) and going to make a sub 20 5km my next goal over the winter. This sub helped a lot.

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.