On June 5, I took part in the Tushinsky Rise half marathon. Time, to put it mildly, did not suit me. In this report I will tell you about the organization, the route, the preparation and the actual running itself.
Organization
First, I want to say about the organization. I liked her very much. Everything is done for people. Excellent support from volunteers, a clearly and clearly marked track, an excellent package with food at the finish (more on this below), free toilets, a left-luggage office, buckwheat with meat for all finishers, musical support - for this special thanks, running past the drummers, strength appeared from nowhere.
Overall, I am very pleased with the organization. Many noted the problem of a long queue for things after the finish. I didn't hand over my things, so I personally can't say anything about this.
The starting deposit was 1300 rubles.
Starter Pack, Finisher Pack and Awards
The starter package consisted of a bib number, to which was attached a disposable individual chip, an energy drink, several discount coupons to various sponsored stores and the package itself.
In general, nothing outstanding - the usual starter package
However, they made up for the usual starting point with an unusual finish. Immediately after the finish, they gave me a paper bag with food. Namely, a banana, baby juice, two bottles of water, a piece of halva and a Tula gingerbread. An excellent option to "close the carbohydrate window", which may not even exist. In any case, it is very tasty and satisfying.
As for the prizes.
The awards were held only in absolute categories, that is, the first 6 finishers for men and women were awarded. In my opinion, this principle can only be used on a handicap. In a regular race, this is not fair to older competitors.
I took 3rd place and received a scale that determines not only weight, but also body composition - the amount of fat, muscle, and so on. Quite a convenient and practical thing. In addition, I received 6 Powerup energy gels. They came in handy for me, since I was going to buy them anyway to prepare for the 100 km run.
And a certificate for 3000 rubles to the sponsoring store for Mizuna products. And everything would be fine, but in such cases it would be better if they gave money or prizes. And all because it was not immediately clarified in which store this certificate would be valid. First, we went to the same store where the registration took place. It turns out that this certificate is not valid there. We were sent to the main outfit center, where this certificate is valid. He was not very close. But after going there it became obvious that there was nothing to buy for it. It's good that my wife is also a runner, since there were a couple of things for her - namely, running shorts and socks. For myself, I am for 3 tr. could not find anything. As a result, having squandered with this certificate for several hours, we lost these very few hours, and many plans were closed because of this.
When before that I received certificates at some competitions, these certificates were valid in any sponsor's store and were the equivalent of regular money, that is, they were subject to all discounts. Here, nothing extended to them, and there is not much to buy for them either, since the choice is too small.
If I lived in Moscow or nearby, I would not think that this is a problem. But since my time was so limited, and because of them I still had to lose 3-4 hours, this has already become a problem.
Track
The half marathon is called "Tushinsky rise", which implied the presence of at least one slide. There were more of them. But they were pretty short. Therefore, I will not say that the track is very difficult. Although you cannot name a fast track due to these climbs.
But at the same time, the track itself is very interesting - a lot of steep turns, from which it almost makes it out of the track. Half of the distance ran on tiles and asphalt, the other half on rubber. Which, of course, added convenience.
The markup is great. There was never any doubt about where to run. There were always volunteers at the sharpest corners. The volunteers were not only at the bends - they were all over the track and very well supported the runners. Plus a special thank you to the drummers, they were very motivated.
In general, I liked the track, interesting relief, and with different types of surfaces. The only small minus is that the road is narrow, so sometimes we had to run around the roundabouts on the grass. But this had to be done only 3 times, this could not affect the result.
The food points were located very competently - two on a 7 km circle. One of the points was just at the top of the hill, that very rise. I didn’t drink water, so I cannot say how it was served and whether there were queues at food points.
My preparation and the race itself
I am now actively preparing for the 100 km race, so this half marathon was originally a secondary start. Just in May, I was planning to work on speed, so the half marathon was supposed to be an excellent test of my skills. But, unfortunately, I didn't.
2 weeks before the half marathon, I did 2 tempo 10s at 33.30 with a difference of 5 days. Judging by the training results, I expected to run out of 1.12 in good weather conditions. The weather conditions did not disappoint, but I did.
Plus speed training, of which there weren't many in general, but still, they said that I was quite ready to run for this result.
As a result, from the very start, the run was hard, there was no feeling of ease of work on any of the kilometers. Due to the starting acceleration, the first kilometer turned out in 3.17, I ran 2 km in 6.43, and 5 km in 17.14. 10 km in 34.40. That is, the layout initially did not go according to plan. At 4 km, my stomach ached and did not let go until the finish line. And the legs didn't work very well either.
After 16 km I sat down and just crawled to the finish line, trying to keep my 3rd place. As it turned out, there was a very tight fight behind, since from 3rd to 6th place the results of the winners were kept within one and a half minutes.
After analyzing why such a result, I came to the following conclusions:
1. On the eve of half a day I wandered around Moscow to shop - it was necessary, while there was an opportunity, to buy normal sneakers and running clothes. It could not go in vain, I understood it, but there was no choice. The purchase was no less important than the half marathon in this case. As I said, the start was secondary. Before an important start, I would never walk for 8 hours. This is fraught.
2. Lack of high-speed work for a half marathon. As I already wrote, a month before the half marathon, I was doing speed work. However, in very small quantities. Which is enough for 100 km, but completely insufficient for such a high-speed distance as 21.1 km.
3. Slides. No matter how small they are, there are slides. They clog muscles, increase heart rate. In the flat half marathon, I am sure, even in the same condition, I would have run a minute better. I do the work uphill in the required amount, so I won't say that they "cut me down". But the complexity was still delivered.
4. Psychological unreadiness. I was not in the mood to run for a high result. Even at the start, there was no usual mood for the race. The task was just to run. In this case, I still set a personal record. But I understand that he is far from my real capabilities.
5. Large training bias towards endurance. In this case, you need to understand that large volumes of slow crosses will dampen the speed. And then you can't keep up with two hares. Either speed or volume. You can, of course, do a large speed volume, but I'm not ready for this yet. In this regard, I talked with a guy who took 2nd place. He has a weekly volume of only 70 km, but the work is mostly high-speed. And out of my 180 km I have a speed limit of no more than 10-15 km. The difference is obvious. But we must not forget - this guy is a master of sports in mountain running. That is, he has a base that allows him to do 70 km of high-speed work. I don't have such a base yet. I'm working on it now.
These are the conclusions I made. I will also talk to the coach about this, but I think he will confirm my words.
Now the main goal is 100 km in Suzdal. I would like to try to run out of 9 hours. And then how it goes. My task is to prepare and hope for good weather and mood for the race.
