Reading Half Marathon Training
Your half marathon training support network
What's the route like?
Leading up to last year's race I sent out an email describing the race route.
Though I will be doing this again nearer the time (probably two or three weeks before race day) something Tom wrote in his post on the "Not Sure" discussion gave me an idea for a discussion on the forum.
If you have run the race before, you can add your comments about the route right here - which bits do you find particularly challenging? How do you cope with the stretch down the A33? What is the start and finish like?
In short, what tips do you have for RHM Newbies?
To echo what Tom said about the hills, there really are only two main hills. One about 2 miles in and the other at around the 7 mile mark.
The rest is flat or down hill - yay!
George
Though I will be doing this again nearer the time (probably two or three weeks before race day) something Tom wrote in his post on the "Not Sure" discussion gave me an idea for a discussion on the forum.
If you have run the race before, you can add your comments about the route right here - which bits do you find particularly challenging? How do you cope with the stretch down the A33? What is the start and finish like?
In short, what tips do you have for RHM Newbies?
To echo what Tom said about the hills, there really are only two main hills. One about 2 miles in and the other at around the 7 mile mark.
The rest is flat or down hill - yay!
George
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jennie Pither on -
It's a great idea - the first part of my training consisted of walking the marathon route (well 9.8 miles of it!) It took me just over 3hrs, but it was good preparation! I would definately advise it.
BTW this is my first half marathon (first time i've ran anything - apart from sports day at school!) It's a bit scary, but exciting too!
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Permalink Reply by George Anderson on -
Hi Jennie, great idea to go through the route at this stage of your training! Loads of my clients have done part of their training on sections of the course in the past and then come race day there are no suprises.
Not too practical if you're not from Reading, but if you're one of the 6 thousand (out of 17 thousand!) runners who come from Reading then this is worth doing at some point.
Good to hear you're a little bit scared about the prospect of training for the race, once you get your program sorted and into the swing of things it will seem a little less daunting.
Make sure you've signed up to my mailing list at www.readinghalfmarathontraining.co.uk and keep your eyes peeled on this forum for useful discussions.
Good luck,
George
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Permalink Reply by pete morris on
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yeh the weather can be very cold and wet or warm and dry
Jeremy Hopkins said:It's a fairly flat and pleasant course and the atmosphere around the town gives you a good lift. On the downside, the final approach to the Mad Stad is very tough mentally -after a seemingly long and boring stretch along the A33 the stadium seems very near, but then you have to do the Green Park loop which adds another couple (or so) of very long miles that you really could have done without ! Oh yeah, and the weather is usually awful (sleet in 2007 if my memory serves me well) - maybe global warming could help us this year...
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Permalink Reply by Justin Saunders on
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The hills on the course aren't too bad at all folks... Yep, you'll feel them, but at the bottom of the 2nd hill, the local pub gave out free mini cups of beer last year so if nothing else, you can stagger up! I chose to run past - not sure it'd have helped!
The finish is BRILLIANT! Don't speed up too early tho - once you get into the stadium grounds, you run about 400m around the outside of the stadium... THEN you enter the stadium to what must be a good 3000 'fans', and leg it for the last 200m! I felt like Usain Bolt - except much muuuuch slower!!!!
:-)
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