The Clare Valley Half Marathon is an event I’ve been involved with since 2014 when it was my first ever half marathon. Prior to this year I had run it 5 times, with a PB in 2016 following one of my 3 worst half marathon efforts in 2015 (surprise surprise, I went out too fast and died in the second half!). I then ran it as a pacer in 2018 before running it ‘properly’ again last year. In between times I had also run the 5k twice in 2017 and 2019 (I know, it’s a long way to go for a 5k but it’s the famous Clare Valley wine region! How could I not go, even if I wasn’t up for a half?)
This year was a bit different as I’d only decided to do it 3 weeks earlier, after my previous race at Myponga. So there was no real thought given to training as such but I’m sure the Myponga training, albeit slightly shorter distances BUT with big hills, definitely helped!
I did my last run for the week on the Thursday, and did nothing on Friday and Saturday (last year I’d smashed out a parkrun the day before, and although I was happy with my half marathon result, I couldn’t help but think I could have done better with fresher legs!)
Despite the resting, the legs weren’t exactly going to be ‘fresh’ on Sunday as there was no accommodation available in Clare or surrounding towns, so the only option was to drive up in the morning. I’d never done the 2 hour drive on the day of the half marathon before so I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. (On the plus side daylight saving ended that day, so I got an extra hour’s sleep so my 4:50am alarm was really more like 5:50!)
My original plan was to try to go a bit quicker than last year (a bit over 1:44) but plans changed and I initially planned to try to beat my PB set in 2016 (1:42:27) and then decided to try to go sub 1:42. Thought that was a bit ambitious. Given that Clare is an out and back and, although undulating a bit (mostly uphill until about 1k from the turnaround then down to the turnaround, and obviously the opposite on the way back), it is net uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back, so a perfect course for a negative split!
Now in 2015 when I did my first really bad half, I set a goal to run 5 minutes per kilometre for the first half, then pick up the pace in the second half (downhill) and in the process I would get an overall PB (not just a Clare PB, and people who have run it know, Clare is not the easiest course for a PB due to the gravel surface, the camber and the ‘hills’). Sounds simple right? Not so much – turns out 5:00 per km was me at my limit and I had nothing left for the downhill – I recall walking a fair bit and even contemplated DNFing but I still managed to run 1:48 or something which wasn’t terrible (my first Clare was about 1:46) but I did not enjoy it!
So pretty much I was going to do the same thing again but this time I was going to run 4:55 pace for the first half and then 4:45 for the second. Or something like that.
I think it was about 7:40am or just before when we arrived at Clare Oval for the 8am start. So not enough time for a warmup, just time to take off layers, put sunscreen on, put my bib on and a quick toilet stop before an easy jog to the start line. No time to think “What the hell am I doing here?” which actually may have been a good thing!
At the start there were signs for the different pace groups, having got there a bit later I ended up a bit further back than I would have liked but again this may have been a good thing, as I would not get caught up running too fast. From memory I think I was in the 1:55 to 2:10 section where I should have been in the 1:40 to 1:55 section. Plenty of time to get myself into the right spot though – 21.1km is actually quite a long way!
The first few kilometres were pretty spot on the pace I wanted to run. I only went over 5 minutes for a couple of kilometres early on when I was trying to run conservatively (plus they were two of the steepest kilometres for elevation) but a few faster kilometres balanced it out.
By the time I got to 9km which is roughly where you start going downhill for a bit, I had got into the 4:30s. I wasn’t paying too much attention to splits at this stage, as long as they were under my goal pace everything was good!
At the 11km mark (not that I did the maths at the time, I worked this out afterwards), I was sitting on 4:50 average pace. Comfortably under my goal pace, but I didn’t feel like I was overexerting myself (which is what happened in 2015). And with the ‘downhill’ to come, I should be able to improve on that in the second half.
The great thing about an out and back race is you get to see everyone, from the front runners to the back of the pack. I know a few people called out to me and I didn’t always get to see who it was before they had disappeared! I looked out for people I knew (there were a LOT) and one of the guys who was running with me off and on commented “Do you know EVERYONE?”, to which I replied, “No, only like every second person”. On the way back I tried to give encouragement to as many people coming back the other way as I could (and 10k runners who I passed), while still trying to maintain my PB pace!
I didn’t end up stopping for any drinks. I didn’t really feel like I needed it. It wasn’t too hot. I probably should have had some electrolytes but I was going well and I didn’t want to stop even for a brief moment to grab a cup and keep running.
Sometime in the second half I started doing some basic calculations in my head. It was probably with about 5km to go as the 5 times table is not too much of a mental strain! I worked out I was going to go WELL under 1:42. All being well, I might even be able to go for a sub 1:40, which was something that had not even entered into my thinking! (I had been gunning for sub 1:40 at Victor Harbor last year but I went out WAY too fast and ended up not even getting under 1:50! Lesson learned… I think!)
In that last 5km or so I averaged just over 4:30 and by the time we left the Riesling Trail and got back onto the road I thought sub 1:40 was definitely on the cards! The only issue was, exactly how far did I have to go? (GPS watches being notoriously inaccurate). When we got to the point where I could see the finish line, I was pretty confident of making it, but just to be sure I put on a sprint finish. Also to make sure no-one would overtake me in the finishing chute. I knew I wasn’t a contender for an age group placing but I wanted to get the best time AND the best position that I could!
I ended up finishing in 1:39:22 (net time) which was not only a Clare PB by over 3 minutes, it was 5 minutes quicker than last year, AND it was only my second time under 1:40, about 90 seconds off an overall PB!
With a few flatter halves coming up this year, I reckon I can give that overall PB a crack, and I definitely did not think I would be saying that this year! I definitely can do better!
I was very happy with my run and my time, but I can’t really explain what I did that I could then try to replicate next time! My pre-race dinner was leftover nut roast and roasted veg from Mum, which was delicious but I am not prepared to go to the effort of cooking that for myself next time!
In more general terms, since fracturing a toe in June 2022 I started doing a Pump class on Fridays and then when I resumed running, I kept that up instead of going back to my usual routine of running Fridays. So I’m now running 4 times a week instead of 5, but doing 3 Pump classes whereas previously I was only doing 2 classes a week consistently. I’ve also been doing at least one and often two Body Balance classes a week, whereas previously I would do one MOST weeks but not with any consistency. I only recently added a weekly RPM class into my routine, but I don’t think I’ve been doing that for long enough for it to have had any impact on my run at Clare. So maybe there’s something in all of that?
Thanks to the organisers and all of the volunteers for putting on another fantastic event!
Of course when in Clare you have to go to at least one winery so that happened as well!
