Hoka Half Marathon: 5 Things I Learnt

With my first official half marathon done and dusted and a new personal best time, I couldn’t be happier! On Sunday 3rd May, I tackled 21.1km of running around the scenic Sydney harbour, swerving in between 30,000 other runners and raising some money for the Heart Foundation during Heart Week. Thank you so much to everyone that donated, your support meant a lot and the money will really help a great foundation and cause. I finished with a time of 1:54:58, smashing my previous best and I thought I’d share a couple of things I learnt along the way. 

1. Train for hills!

Hills aren’t fun, and for that reason I absolutely neglected them during my training, always opting for nice flat runs. Sydney however is a very hilly city, and the course designers of the Hoka Half Marathon decided to put the worst of the climbs in the last 4km of the race. Not fun. Future training blocks will definitely involve some incline running to avoid the rude shock of a Mrs Macquarie’s Road at kilometre number 20. 

2. Carb loading works

I decided to pay extra attention on fueling right for this particular event. ‘Carb loading’ is a term that many have probably heard of; “a big bowl of pasta the night before” or something similar. In reality, effective carb loading for a race day starts around 48-72 hours before-hand, increasing the volume of carbohydrates consumed at each meal to maximise glycogen stores in the muscles. Starting around Thursday, I made sure to eat plenty of rice, bread and pasta as well as juice and fruit throughout the day. It worked. I felt my energy levels remained high throughout the whole race and I avoided ‘hitting a wall’, plus it was a good excuse to eat more. 

3. Invest in some better headphones 

I learnt this around 19kms into the race when my airpods decided to run out of charge. I’m someone that needs music to distract me on long runs, so this was far from ideal. The head noise got very loud with no thumping techno music in my ears, thankfully the thousands of people watching gave me the last bit of motivation to get across the line. Buying some headphones with a longer battery life will however be on the to-do list for next race.  

4. Strength training 

When you think about training for a long distance event, running long distances is obviously the key. But often ignored is the benefit of strength training alongside running. In the months leading up to the race, I made sure to consistently train my lower body in the gym to make sure my legs were strong enough to run 21km, not just aerobically fit enough. I finished the race sore and tired, but not nearly as sore as previous efforts where strength training had been less consistent, and I found I was able to walk around pretty well the next day which came as a surprise. Strength training should definitely be a priority for long distance running. 

5. The support 

A massive takeaway from the whole experience was just how good the support was, from the incredible number of donations in the lead up, to the random strangers on race day yelling words of encouragement and keeping me going when it got tough. I can’t thank everyone enough and I know that support absolutely allowed me to shave a few minutes off my time.