The Big Half has become one of the most popular races in the capital with enormous crowds, impressive views of London and a course that follows a similar route to the first half of the London Marathon.
Tom headed to Tower Bridge to take on the event for the first time and to see where his fitness is for Valencia marathon coming up in December.
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00:00 – Intro
01:40 – The Big Half 2024
05:30 – New Balance SC Elite V4
07:35 – Suunto Sonic
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Hey there Tom here from the room testers I am in London this weekend my old haunt Uh I'm here for the big half it's a race That I haven't done before so we wanted Do it for a few years but every time I I Plan to do it there's always a holiday Or something that comes up so finally I've got a chance to do it and see what It's like um I am not match fit at the Moment so I don't think I'm going to be Get anywhere near a PB I'll be happy to Get uh comfortably under 130 um that should make me feel a bit Better about Valencia in December um I'm Going to be testing out the uh New Balance SC v4s today and the I'm wearing The sonto Sonic uh bone conduction Headphones as well so uh should be Interesting one it's going to looks like It's going get quite hot so um I'm not Very good in the heat especially at the Moment um but a big thanks to New Balance for getting me a place to do This race uh and I will report back on How it went sure L see you in a bit [Music] [Music] So that is the big half 2024 done really Enjoyed that race I think it's a really Really nice course um I've done Landmarks a few times now not a massive Fan of landmarks I don't like the twisty Course I don't like uh that you're in Between lots of big buildings all the
Time you can't really see a lot um but I Really like this one it's nice and open In a lot of bits The Roots really Enjoyable there's a lot of little Hills In it a lot of slow gradual Hills that That really get you there's a bit at the Start uh which is about 3K in which is Under a tunnel which you really speed up In cuz a lot of it downhill and then you Come out and you're going back uphill so It's mentally it's quite a tricky race To get right um and but the conditions Are really good today it's it's was Getting a bit warm at the start but then It got quite nice and Breezy so all in All really good race lots of uh water Stations there's a bit of Luc casade on There um lots of showers spraying water So really enjoyed that crowds were Fantastic um very much London Marathon Kind of vibe to it and it is a large Part of the London Marathon course but It's a really nice bit of the London Marathon course I actually before doing This race I thought it would be the Whole of the start section of the L Marathon which isn't um traditionally Seen as being a very nice part of the Race um but it actually doesn't cover a Lot of the stuff that is not that Enjoyable in the first half of London Marathon it's some really nice bits uh Canary Warf is a nice section when you Come back into towerbridge that's great
And you've got about 9k left um and then Gets a bit tricky towards those final UK Until you come back into uh c s but That's a nice finish as well really Enjoyed it really good race so my race Today was um I wasn't expecting a lot I Was going to try and get under 130 but I Decided that um I'd test out some Pacers Uh during the race so the first 5k I did At my marathon pace which is the pace I Should be doing Valencia right which is About 4 minute kilometers did that for About 5k wasn't really it felt fine but I just couldn't maintain that for the Whole for the whole race I think I would Have um had a really tough race if I Tried to maintain that race that pace um So I then took it down a little bit to About 415 but okay uh and then start Hitting a few Hills lost a bit of time And I just by about 10K I was thinking I'm just going to enjoy this and just Just get to the end and and feel Comfortable uh so I really enjoyed it Didn't push myself too hard in that this Is essentially the kickoff race for my 3 Months um training plan for Valencia and It was quite eye opening I think I'm a Long way off the time I won I I would Like a 250 in balencia but that's a big Big aim um and I've got a lot of work to Do to get to get to that at the moment My marathon time would probably be 315 If I if I went all out and I think it
Would be a pretty hard uh Marathon if I Was if I was going for 315 at the moment So three months of quite hard work to do Um but uh it was a nice nice kickoff to To that Marathon block uh and as I say Really enjoyed enjoyed the race um the Baggage drop and collection was really Quick uh I'd heard issues on the past in This race but they've really sorted out Now and it's really nice to finish up in Grenwich park I'm just sat on the on the Ground in grenwich park chilling out now Uh before I head to the uh New Balance Events so big thanks to New Balance for Inviting me along to do uh this race Finally because I've been really Keen to Do it it's one of the the races that I've not ticked off and I've done most Of the races that take place in London Um so yeah really really good race and Really enjoyed it so uh let's talk about The kit [Music] Okay so the kit I used the uh New Balance SC Elite v4s now I only used Those for a 10k race before that was Quite early on in the year and I think At the time I said they're the the best Racer that New Balance have got um it's Not my favorite uh race shoe uh from the Carbon plate Racers out there but it is A solid comfortable option which is Quite accessible for a lot of people It's not as aggressive as you're going
To get from some of the carbon plate Races but it's Very got a dog here Hello Um yeah so uh uh it's not uh it's not The most aggressive one it's a good Accessible one for people who are Looking for comp racer but don't want Something like the Endorphin Elite or Maybe um the alpha fly it's a little bit More natural feeling than that um it's Definitely not the most propulsive shoe Out there it doesn't feel like it's Really pushing you forward um but it's a Very comfortable cruising one I Definitely it's better for longer Distance events I think it' be better For a a marathon than um for 10K events And 5K events it doesn't have a lot pop For those shorter distance races but for Longer distance races it's got nice uh Consistent um uh transition feels feels Quite comfortable to wear I did have a Bit of an issue with these though that Um I uh rubbing quite a lot on the top Of my feet and I think that's because There's a lot of downhills in this race And I could really feel it on those so I Definitely think I've I should have Sized up half a size in these I've got Size eight in these shoes um I should Have gone for 8.5 because the upper Section of the front of the shoe is a Little bit shallow uh on my toes so it
Was rubbing a little bit on those so Definitely should have gone up half a Size with these which I didn't notice Idea to 10K in them um so all in all Very much enjoyed running in those I Still probably wouldn't pick them for a Race I think for me they they just don't Have the aggressiveness and the Repulsiveness that I like from my shes And the bounce but for most people I Think they're going to be a really solid Comfortable option there are a lot of People wearing them today so it's Clearly a popular choice of shoe um and The other thing I say these stto uh Sonics so these are bone conduction Headphones from sunto uh me and Michael Be doing a full review of these soon uh Worked very well um very pretty much Like for like what you're going to Expect from uh shock's open runs um the Only difference I would say with these From uh that run is I think they're just Slightly less loud than uh the open runs In the open run Pros not massively but I Did notice it in some of the sections um That definitely the open run Pro twos Are allou in these um they were Absolutely fine on that race I didn't Have any major issues but would have Light would be a tiny bit louder um but Sound quality seemed fine to me um and Skipping the tracks and everything and The controls exactly the same as what
I've experienced in the other shocks uh Well the the shocked headphones Equivalents that you can get so I think They are a solid option if you look for A pair of bone conduction headphones um And you for some reason don't want to Get shocks um so yeah comfortable fit Was absolutely fine like the color uh so If you do want to get these you're Getting a very similar um uh design and Uh feature sets as you're going to get From the shocks uh bone conduction Headphones um so that is me from the the Big half very uh not not a successful Race in a PB terms but a successful race In enjoyment terms big thanks to all the People that shouted at me along the Route um I was amazed that people Noticed me even from behind I wasn't Even wearing a run tester top I was Wearing this New Balance top uh which Very comfortable very much like this top I suppose it's a similar color to the Run testers so people might spotted it From that but big thanks to everyone who Said hi and well done because uh most of You overtook me uh who said hello along Along the course um so yeah that's me Done um thanks a lot for watching and if You go into the catch and blow you can Find it to our podcast comes out a Couple of times each month catch you Next time [Music]
