My Watch Paced Me To A Half Marathon PB
Hi, My name's Sarah and today I'm going to be running a half marathon at the Garmin
New Forest Marathon Weekend in the hope of getting a PB.
And my watch is going to pace me. These hills are savage.
Sorry, I can't speak to you in this bit because I'm going all out. I'm very glad there's a shower at the end of this.
I've got 20 seconds to spare.
This is the closest
it could possibly be. First, though, if you want to join the fastest growing
community of runners in the world then hit subscribe and give this a like. Please cheer me on,
I'm gonna need all the help I can get.
There is nothing better than the feeling of getting a shiny new PB,
but sometimes it can feel like an impossible task.
Unless you can guarantee that the course is entirely flat or that no one is going to get in your way,
it can be really hard to predict what pace you need to be running at.
Am I the only one that goes a little bit stir crazy before hitting that start line?
Thankfully, my watch has agreed to do all of the thinking for me today. So I'm going to be
using Pace Pro on my Garmin in order to guide me through the route.
Now, my current PB for a half marathon is 1 hour and 56 minutes,
meaning this is going to be quite a tricky run in order to beat that.
Now the course is pretty undulating as well, so that's going to make it even harder.
But I am in the middle of marathon training, so I need to make sure that this run is at the right
intensity.
I guess we better do this. Right.
Walking to the start line.
Let's do this.
So I've got it set up on my watch. Ready to go.
Off we go, over the line.
Start the watch.
Still in the first K. Regular updates.
Um, I am on track for 5:10 for my first
split, which I'm pretty chuffed with, to be honest, because running on grass, not my
forte, but the watch is great.
Tells me what my split is.
Tells me how ahead I am overall, because that's the worst bit of the maths, isn't it?
When you're running along, anything longer than a five K and you have to add up all the
kilometre splits and work out how much time you have, how much leeway you have.
I don't have to do any of that.
So you use Garmin connect to map out your course or to choose from hundreds of pre made
courses mapped out in the app.
Then you enter your target pace and voila.
The app does the rest for you.
So the map will highlight the difference in elevation and pace adjustments on each section of the route
so you can be prepared ahead of your run.
You can, and this is really cool,
also adjust the pacing so that you can run even, positive or negative splits.
I'm keeping this nice and simple.
I'm gonna run even splits because I'm not sure how I'm going to feel at the end of this. As well as this,
you can decide if you want to run hard at the hills and recover on the downhills or take it easy
on the uphills and push on the downs.
Then you save it,
send it to your watch and it will keep you right on race day.
Pace Pro simplifies all of your running preferences into one plan helping you to look ahead,
manage your race and achieve new goals.
My favourite thing about this is it breaks the race down into subsections, meaning once
you've selected your course profile, all of your metrics will be aligned and you will run a better race.
You can set the splits to be every mile or kilometre or based on elevation,
so it tells you how fast you need to pace each flat, uphill and downhill section.
So I've just turned the corner and there is a disgusting -
dunno if you can see that - kind of undulating hill. These
hills are savage. Like, I want to
cry, hating this savage. If you're enjoying my pain,
please give this video a thumbs up.
I need it.
I'm currently running with Gemma.
Gemma is smashing it.
I am not. I need to go faster.
If you are thinking of doing a kind of more trail
five K, ten K, full marathon,
whatever is your preferred distance,
this is so useful because there aren't going to be as
many people there than if you are a kind of a big road race, but your watch
kind of becomes your personal coach.
I just stacked it.
There's probably mud on the lens.
Oh dear.
Need to get my breathing back.
Very glad there's a shower at the end of this because I am
covered in mud.
Oh, and there's a sign saying
'whine now, wine later'.
Very accurate.
Very accurate.
If you've had a really tough race recently, and you struggle with motivation
or your maths is rubbish then honestly,
having a watch do it for you is an absolute lifesaver.
And we like being lifesavers at The Running Channel,
so we're going to be giving away a Garmin watch
to one of you lucky viewers, so that you don't have to do any thinking -
hiya - in your running either. All you have to do to
enter is like this video
if you haven't already - I told you to like it earlier, joking - like this
video, drop a comment down below and you could be in with a chance
of winning. Right, I am almost at nine K.
I am not going to be referencing the camera that much, because I
am scared of falling over again.
Um, I'm 22 seconds
behind what I want to be overall, but this terrain is too technical
to go any faster than the pace it's asking me to,
so I'm just gonna try and stick at pace and
make it up later on.
Not sure a PB is possible.
This is one of the hardest races I've ever done.
I've had a gel, I've had some water.
But my legs are just completely in bits.
Okay, we're back in the shade.
I'm three minutes behind, but that still means I'm three minutes ahead
of my current PB. Coming into the Garmin aid station.
I see happy people.
I'm not one of those people.
Look at these guys.
Ey!
Thank you.
This is going to be tight.
4:34 behind. My legs are aching.
I need to crack on.
Pick up the pace.
I've got 20 seconds to spare.
This is the closest it could possibly be.
All right. This is it.
Leave nothing on the table.
Sorry, I can't speak to you in this bit because I'm going all out.
Come on, come on.
That was the hardest race I've ever done.
That was, honestly, the most disgusting
thing I've ever done.
And up until today I was always like, ooh, trail running, a trail half, a trail marathon.
That sounds great.
No, no.
If you are going to do one, oh my goodness.
Get yourself a Pace Pro watch, because I walked
and I still did that which battles me.
And if anyone, if anyone, comments down below saying imagine how fast a time you could have
got if you didn't walk: I will find you.
And pour water over you.
Wow, I am speechless.
That race had a lot of firsts for me.
That was my first ever half marathon race.
That was my first time falling over in a race.
And that was my first time using Pace Pro in a race.
And aside from the first two, I was so happy with how that
went. It was so hard, so technical, so warm, so hilly.
But I came away with something that I am really, really proud of.
Now, it was close, and at the start of this video, I said that my previous half
marathon PB, which I just ran by myself last year, was 1 hour and 56 minutes.
Now I didn't go into seconds, but I'm going to have to because that's how close this was.
So my previous PB was 1 hour, 56 minutes and 39 seconds.
And today, I ran 1 hour, 56 minutes dead.
That's the time that I got on my watch, still waiting for an official chip time.
But either way, I am so, so pleased with that.
But I absolutely would not have been able to do that without using Pace Pro.
It was so valuable, especially on such a hilly course in such difficult
conditions.
Really, really valuable.
Do you want to give Pace Pro a go?
Have you got any races coming up where it will be a valuable tool?
Let us know in the comments down below and make sure you drop a comment to be in with winning a
Garmin watch and we will see you next time on The Running Channel.
