A good day at the office - The 2024 Nelson Half race report
10:51am, 3rd Nov 2024 | The Nelson Half | 33 Comments
Blog by Mark J 🇳🇿
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It's that time of year again. Springtime in Nelson can only mean one event: the annual Nelson Festival of Running, which encompasses multiple events from a 2.5km fun run and walks to the half marathon, on a picture-perfect, flat-as-a-pancake, PB-potential course. This year saw a record number of entries at 1,100 across all events, with just shy of 300 (294) taking part in the main event, the half marathon. And as is so often the case, the weather did us proud, with the conditions out on the course being just about as good as they could have been: the sun shining in a cloudless blue sky, with the temperature at the start at 8:15 am a perfect 10-12 degrees and the faintest of cool breezes coming in off the sea. Lovely!
Today's race marked exactly two years to the day since I decided to embark on this journey of personal discovery. My race result that day was 1:52:04, and quite simply, I believed I could do better. This was to be my seventh race since then, and to date, I had successively PB'd all of them: three consecutive half marathons, a full marathon, another half, and then a 5k. For some reason, though, today I was feeling far more nervous than usual, even though I had a really solid training block in the buildup. I had even managed to taper down to where the Coros Training Hub had me dropping into the "Performance Zone" yesterday morning—bang on time. In retrospect, I do wonder if I had actually put added pressure on myself for today, as I had it in my mind that since getting the news I had a GFA qualifying place for next October's Chicago marathon, I was viewing today as the benchmark for what I might be capable of. Knowing that what I wanted to aim for—a sub-3 next October—meant that, realistically, at some point I would need to hit a 1:25. How close to that did I honestly think I was capable of?
Fortunately, the race is only about 20 minutes from home. This meant I was up at 6:30, having my usual race day breakfast of peanut butter and jam on toast or a bagel, with a mug of strong black, freshly ground coffee. Mrs. J was also going to run the half—a last-minute decision on her part—and the kids were doing the 2.5k fun run, which started much later on. So, Mrs. J kindly offered to sort a sitter and do the running around to allow me to take the camper van to the race ahead of them and on my own. I get quite anxious on race day, as mentioned earlier. So, if she can, Mrs. J takes that stress away from me, just as I do for her when she's doing a big important race. It works well that we both understand the requirements for those "special" races and events.
I arrived in plenty of time to say some hellos to friends and acquaintances and exchange the usual conversations around "How are you?" "What are you aiming for?" etc. It also gave me time to chill out a bit, go through my usual warm-up routine, set my watch, and set my phone's metronome app to 177 bpm, double-checking I had everything ahead of the race briefing, which I can never concentrate on due to nerves. This year, the race had pacers every ten minutes from 1:30 through to 2 hours, and given I was going for a potential PB, I entered the pen with the front block of runners, who looked about 20 years old—they probably were—and ahead of the 1:30 pacer. The only real difference this year was that for the first time, I actually felt like I belonged there. That's a strange feeling.
Having recently joined a coaching group, the "Faster with Data Run Club," and following some advice from Dr. Will discussed earlier in the week leading up to race day, I had a fairly simple race strategy. Using my favored metronome pacing technique, I planned to go out for the first couple of km at a cadence of 177 bpm, to enable a gentle-ish start and to allow my heart rate to get up to pace without going off like a nutter. From there, I would up my cadence to 179 bpm, which has been pretty consistently the right ballpark for today's target pace of around 4:05s. I was then going to run at that cadence until the last couple of km, when I'd try upping to finish on 181 bpm—all while monitoring my heart rate and trying to keep it in zone 4 and between 148 and 151 bpm. Well, that was the plan, at least. With that being the plan, I had my data screen on my watch set to a three-field option of live heart rate, power, and stride length, choosing today to only check pace progress as the km laps ticked over. The other small change I made today was the timing of my gel intake, now every 20 minutes instead of 25, and also the caffeine amount. I had opted for caffeine gels only today, with the first one ingested half an hour before the race start.
The starting gun fired, and we were off. I behaved and stuck to my cadence, and as always, it felt too hard for the first 500-800 meters or so. I find I always spend that time wrestling with my pacing decisions in those early stages. Even though I was behaving with the cadence, I still clocked the first couple of km in the low 3:50s. So, rather than upping my cadence to 179 bpm, I decided to change tack and stick with 177 bpm, as in terms of leg turnover, it felt comfortable, and at that stage at least, I didn't see a need to up it at all. Certainly, for the first 10k, I was hitting target pace or better without having to adjust anything. I went through the first 5k in 19:40, and the 10k came up in 39:50, which also happened to be a PB for me at 10km. I was really pleased with this—not just because it was a PB but because after the first few km in, I actually felt really comfortable and in total control of what I was doing. My heart rate remained perfectly pitched in its target zone, as it had been from around 1.5k in. My stride length was also consistently 140-142 cm, a great average for me, being a short arse. This also meant that I knew, as long as I didn't do anything stupid, the half marathon PB was in the bag today. It was now just a case of what it was going to be. At this point, I'm not saying it was easy, but it was under control, and I felt great. The early race nerves were now all long gone.
At just over the 11 km mark, the course turns onto The Great Taste Trail, which is a predominantly gravel cycleway. So here, you leave the consistency of tarmac underfoot, and you have to work a little harder for the next 8k. It's still flat as you like, but just not even underfoot, and certainly more twisting and turning is required as you wind your way up the coastline for around 4 km before heading back along the same trail on your return to the start/finish line at the Saxton Fields Sports Grounds. Here, I noticed my lap times slipping slightly, and also my stride length dropped to an average of 138. I was also aware that my right piriformis was growling at me far more than usual. Due to the slight increase in workload that the surface demanded of me, I wasn't tempted to try and change anything to counter those differences, as I didn't want to blow up before the final couple of kms back on tarmac. By this stage of the race, I knew I was sitting in the top 20 pack, and we were all pacing very evenly, with little to no change in placings as we all plowed ahead. I was trying to see if I could work out how old all my fellow runners were, and I felt that at least one of them was in my age bracket of 50-59. He was ahead of me and consistently so—not by much, but always ahead.
After almost the full 8 km of gravel, I was definitely feeling it and thought I was very likely going to run out of steam, but I knew I was close to the end of the gravel and the last couple of km of tarmac—very slightly undulating but tarmac nonetheless. My watch ticked over the 19.1 km mark I had set. I was sitting just behind a couple of guys I'd been following since about 4 km—always about 20-30 meters off them. At this point, because I knew the PB was in the bag, I thought I'd up the metronome to 180 bpm to see what would happen. I gained reasonably quickly on the two guys in front, and then went ahead. The pace, although tougher, didn't feel like it would make me blow out before the finish, so I stuck with it and therefore put a small but comfortable gap between myself and the chaps I'd just passed. Beaten them—job done on that front.
From here, the course is all on pathways that meander up and down through a couple of underpasses until you reach the Saxton grounds again, where it turns back to grass. And just to really annoy you, you have to go up a slight stock bank to get into the finishing field and the last 400 meters to the finish. A really nice little effort just to remind you that you are actually knackered by this point. At this moment, my watch decided I had run the half marathon and beeped for me to finish. I knew it had been slightly over distance, probably due to some weaving around as we passed people coming back from the turnaround point. It gets busy in places. I obviously just pressed resume. I had no idea where the person in front of me was, as we were now joined by the 10k finishers, so it got a little busier with lots of people finishing at the same time. But I did know that I was clear of anyone realistically able to catch me from here. A little spurt of energy for the finish. I kept an eye on the clock for the last 100 meters and could see that with a touch of speed, I’d get under 1:27. Nailed that by 2 seconds, and if I had to say what my target for a PB was going to be ahead of the race, I would have wanted 1:27:30 or better. As for where I finished, well, 16th overall in a field of 294. I finished 20th last year, but annoyingly, this time around, second in my age group to the man I couldn't see in front of me by a mere 30 seconds. I won my age group last year with a 7-and-a-half-minute slower time—harumph!
Am I happy with today? You bet I am. Although my official time over the distance was 1:26:58, my watch was showing better, given the additional weaving around. So, I'm bloody happy. This is my starting point for targeting a sub-3 full marathon next year in Chicago. To achieve that, I know I need to hit a sub-19 5km. I WILL do that on December 14th. A sub-40 10k? I did that today. And finally, a 1:25 half? I honestly finished today knowing that with the right race and a well-executed strategy, I am so close to that already. I'll aim for a 3:05 PB in Christchurch next April along the way. It's been a huge year and quite an incredible two years since my 1:52:04. Unlike my previous PBs, where I felt like I'd probably hit my limit, this time I feel like there is still a little more to give to eke out just enough pace for this old man to hit a sub-3 before he’s done. After all, I have foolishly promised my boy I'll be the fastest man of my age at some undetermined race distance before I die. Bloody idiot.
Today's race marked exactly two years to the day since I decided to embark on this journey of personal discovery. My race result that day was 1:52:04, and quite simply, I believed I could do better. This was to be my seventh race since then, and to date, I had successively PB'd all of them: three consecutive half marathons, a full marathon, another half, and then a 5k. For some reason, though, today I was feeling far more nervous than usual, even though I had a really solid training block in the buildup. I had even managed to taper down to where the Coros Training Hub had me dropping into the "Performance Zone" yesterday morning—bang on time. In retrospect, I do wonder if I had actually put added pressure on myself for today, as I had it in my mind that since getting the news I had a GFA qualifying place for next October's Chicago marathon, I was viewing today as the benchmark for what I might be capable of. Knowing that what I wanted to aim for—a sub-3 next October—meant that, realistically, at some point I would need to hit a 1:25. How close to that did I honestly think I was capable of?
Fortunately, the race is only about 20 minutes from home. This meant I was up at 6:30, having my usual race day breakfast of peanut butter and jam on toast or a bagel, with a mug of strong black, freshly ground coffee. Mrs. J was also going to run the half—a last-minute decision on her part—and the kids were doing the 2.5k fun run, which started much later on. So, Mrs. J kindly offered to sort a sitter and do the running around to allow me to take the camper van to the race ahead of them and on my own. I get quite anxious on race day, as mentioned earlier. So, if she can, Mrs. J takes that stress away from me, just as I do for her when she's doing a big important race. It works well that we both understand the requirements for those "special" races and events.
I arrived in plenty of time to say some hellos to friends and acquaintances and exchange the usual conversations around "How are you?" "What are you aiming for?" etc. It also gave me time to chill out a bit, go through my usual warm-up routine, set my watch, and set my phone's metronome app to 177 bpm, double-checking I had everything ahead of the race briefing, which I can never concentrate on due to nerves. This year, the race had pacers every ten minutes from 1:30 through to 2 hours, and given I was going for a potential PB, I entered the pen with the front block of runners, who looked about 20 years old—they probably were—and ahead of the 1:30 pacer. The only real difference this year was that for the first time, I actually felt like I belonged there. That's a strange feeling.
Having recently joined a coaching group, the "Faster with Data Run Club," and following some advice from Dr. Will discussed earlier in the week leading up to race day, I had a fairly simple race strategy. Using my favored metronome pacing technique, I planned to go out for the first couple of km at a cadence of 177 bpm, to enable a gentle-ish start and to allow my heart rate to get up to pace without going off like a nutter. From there, I would up my cadence to 179 bpm, which has been pretty consistently the right ballpark for today's target pace of around 4:05s. I was then going to run at that cadence until the last couple of km, when I'd try upping to finish on 181 bpm—all while monitoring my heart rate and trying to keep it in zone 4 and between 148 and 151 bpm. Well, that was the plan, at least. With that being the plan, I had my data screen on my watch set to a three-field option of live heart rate, power, and stride length, choosing today to only check pace progress as the km laps ticked over. The other small change I made today was the timing of my gel intake, now every 20 minutes instead of 25, and also the caffeine amount. I had opted for caffeine gels only today, with the first one ingested half an hour before the race start.
The starting gun fired, and we were off. I behaved and stuck to my cadence, and as always, it felt too hard for the first 500-800 meters or so. I find I always spend that time wrestling with my pacing decisions in those early stages. Even though I was behaving with the cadence, I still clocked the first couple of km in the low 3:50s. So, rather than upping my cadence to 179 bpm, I decided to change tack and stick with 177 bpm, as in terms of leg turnover, it felt comfortable, and at that stage at least, I didn't see a need to up it at all. Certainly, for the first 10k, I was hitting target pace or better without having to adjust anything. I went through the first 5k in 19:40, and the 10k came up in 39:50, which also happened to be a PB for me at 10km. I was really pleased with this—not just because it was a PB but because after the first few km in, I actually felt really comfortable and in total control of what I was doing. My heart rate remained perfectly pitched in its target zone, as it had been from around 1.5k in. My stride length was also consistently 140-142 cm, a great average for me, being a short arse. This also meant that I knew, as long as I didn't do anything stupid, the half marathon PB was in the bag today. It was now just a case of what it was going to be. At this point, I'm not saying it was easy, but it was under control, and I felt great. The early race nerves were now all long gone.
At just over the 11 km mark, the course turns onto The Great Taste Trail, which is a predominantly gravel cycleway. So here, you leave the consistency of tarmac underfoot, and you have to work a little harder for the next 8k. It's still flat as you like, but just not even underfoot, and certainly more twisting and turning is required as you wind your way up the coastline for around 4 km before heading back along the same trail on your return to the start/finish line at the Saxton Fields Sports Grounds. Here, I noticed my lap times slipping slightly, and also my stride length dropped to an average of 138. I was also aware that my right piriformis was growling at me far more than usual. Due to the slight increase in workload that the surface demanded of me, I wasn't tempted to try and change anything to counter those differences, as I didn't want to blow up before the final couple of kms back on tarmac. By this stage of the race, I knew I was sitting in the top 20 pack, and we were all pacing very evenly, with little to no change in placings as we all plowed ahead. I was trying to see if I could work out how old all my fellow runners were, and I felt that at least one of them was in my age bracket of 50-59. He was ahead of me and consistently so—not by much, but always ahead.
After almost the full 8 km of gravel, I was definitely feeling it and thought I was very likely going to run out of steam, but I knew I was close to the end of the gravel and the last couple of km of tarmac—very slightly undulating but tarmac nonetheless. My watch ticked over the 19.1 km mark I had set. I was sitting just behind a couple of guys I'd been following since about 4 km—always about 20-30 meters off them. At this point, because I knew the PB was in the bag, I thought I'd up the metronome to 180 bpm to see what would happen. I gained reasonably quickly on the two guys in front, and then went ahead. The pace, although tougher, didn't feel like it would make me blow out before the finish, so I stuck with it and therefore put a small but comfortable gap between myself and the chaps I'd just passed. Beaten them—job done on that front.
From here, the course is all on pathways that meander up and down through a couple of underpasses until you reach the Saxton grounds again, where it turns back to grass. And just to really annoy you, you have to go up a slight stock bank to get into the finishing field and the last 400 meters to the finish. A really nice little effort just to remind you that you are actually knackered by this point. At this moment, my watch decided I had run the half marathon and beeped for me to finish. I knew it had been slightly over distance, probably due to some weaving around as we passed people coming back from the turnaround point. It gets busy in places. I obviously just pressed resume. I had no idea where the person in front of me was, as we were now joined by the 10k finishers, so it got a little busier with lots of people finishing at the same time. But I did know that I was clear of anyone realistically able to catch me from here. A little spurt of energy for the finish. I kept an eye on the clock for the last 100 meters and could see that with a touch of speed, I’d get under 1:27. Nailed that by 2 seconds, and if I had to say what my target for a PB was going to be ahead of the race, I would have wanted 1:27:30 or better. As for where I finished, well, 16th overall in a field of 294. I finished 20th last year, but annoyingly, this time around, second in my age group to the man I couldn't see in front of me by a mere 30 seconds. I won my age group last year with a 7-and-a-half-minute slower time—harumph!
Am I happy with today? You bet I am. Although my official time over the distance was 1:26:58, my watch was showing better, given the additional weaving around. So, I'm bloody happy. This is my starting point for targeting a sub-3 full marathon next year in Chicago. To achieve that, I know I need to hit a sub-19 5km. I WILL do that on December 14th. A sub-40 10k? I did that today. And finally, a 1:25 half? I honestly finished today knowing that with the right race and a well-executed strategy, I am so close to that already. I'll aim for a 3:05 PB in Christchurch next April along the way. It's been a huge year and quite an incredible two years since my 1:52:04. Unlike my previous PBs, where I felt like I'd probably hit my limit, this time I feel like there is still a little more to give to eke out just enough pace for this old man to hit a sub-3 before he’s done. After all, I have foolishly promised my boy I'll be the fastest man of my age at some undetermined race distance before I die. Bloody idiot.
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Mark J 🇳🇿
I'd been a body abusing, clubber for so many years until my wife inspired me to start running. I used to run well at school but stopped on leaving, took up smoking full time and didn't put any running shoes on again until 2008. Didn't really take it too seriously (just over 500 miles across three years) until 2011, when I entered my wife and I in to our first marathon. The mileage went up and so has the addiction. Personal goals †I’ve gone way over where I ever thought possible. So now it’s just a case of keeping at a level and as long as I am enjoying, I’ll just keep on putting in the effort.Profile | Blog | Other Blogs