Forums >Racing>Sub 2:00 Half Marathon thread
Hello all,
Aiming to break the two-hour mark here as well.
My first half I ran in 2:19:59, which barely beat my goal of 2:20! I ran my second half (Cascade Half, Turner, OR) yesterday and finished at exactly 2:02. I actually would've come close to the two-hour mark, had it not been for a couple of unplanned stops -- had trouble ripping open a GU with my teeth! It was literally freezing so my hands were gloved and a little numb, so they were of little use! Took me about a minute before I finally downed the GU and washed it down. Lost another minute in a frantic bathroom stop -- also complicated by numb, frozen hands! My Garmin time came up at 2:00:26, so it was pretty disappointing to come so close to sub-2:00 and miss.
Looking to finally break the two-hour barrier in three months at the Eugene Half.
Current PRs:
5K: 27:06 (11/10/12) | 5M: 44:03 (6/1/13) | 10K: 1:00:48 (7/4/12)
15K: 1:27:53 (3/17/13) | 10M: 1:30:25 (4/13/13) | HM: 1:59:55 (4/28/13)
Next race: Ashland 4th of July 10K
CeeDot- Congrats on the race this weekend! Conditions have been terrible for running lately! I don't know the course, but I think of Turner as fairly hilly, too. I bet you'll get your sub-2 in April for sure!
In this cold weather , central ohio, I never seem to do as well training for a spring race. Although we have a very nice treadmil I can't seem to run the pace I want on it and always do better outside. That said when the temps dip and the wind picks up doing a 8 miler with 4 @ race pace after work is sometimes a challenge outside. I still would rather do a 20 miler outside rather than 5 on the mill.
Thank you! Don't know much about the rest of Turner, but the course was flat as a pancake (70th Ave-Little Rd-Bishop Rd). And yes, it has been terribly cold! I didn't realize how cold it was until I ran my hands through my hair only to find it frozen together!
Like many others, I am coming over from runnersworld. I am running my first half marathon on March 30th. I am relatively new runners when it comes to running over 4-5 miles. I started training for half marathon from end of the October and was in the process of increasing my mileage. Last week I ran for 8 hours in a week for the first time and thinking about not increasing for now. I run for an hour on weekdays on TM at around 10 minutes/mile and for 3 hours on Saturdays at over 11 minutes/mile on trails.
Joggaholic
Yesterday I signed up for a 30K coming up this Sunday, while it's not a half, I'm aiming to pass the half point in under 2:00. As luck would have it, today I caught a bug and my nose is now swimming in mucus... hopefully I'll recover in time...
Nice to see more and more people on here!
REgarding this cold spell, it is a pain for running, but I would rather put up with this for a few weeks a year rather than have to put up with humidity in some other climates.OF course, I woud have a different perspective if I was in Minnesota, Wyoming, the Dakotas.....
CeeDotA: the sub-2 isin the bag for the next time
Lurch: a pound a week is fine. slower the better. Slower they come off, longer they stay off!
I set a PR this morning for......distance run on a treadmill. It's only 8 miles, which is nothing compared to some, but my previous high was 4 miles. I have always hated TM runniong, but I was watching soccer on the TV in the basement, and it actually wasn't all that bad.
Personal bests (bold = this year): 5K - 23:27 / 5M - 38:42 / 10K - 49:31 (track) / 10M - 1:24:26 / HM - 1:51:17 / M - 3:58:58
Next races: NYC Marathon, Nov 2014
If you ask
I prefer TRAIL running over road but oftentimes, my travel schedule has me running road races. I was in AZ earlier this month and ran a 20K trail run, it was awesome!! After the first 2 miles, we started to climb, for about 5 miles, it was a gain of at least 1500 ft, switchbacks, rocky single track trail, and the view from the top was glorious!! I try to run at least a 10 miler and/or a HM each month, this keeps me motivated to stay in 'training mode' throughout the year. I am also training for another full marathon in May and possibly, another in late summer or fall. So glad to hear of another trail runner and your schedule is gonna keep you busy; good luck and safe running!
Az - Yes, it is nice to meeat another trail runner here! I hit the trails on Weds and Sundays with my brother, and about half of the racing I do is trails. I, too, like to stay in "training mode" and like to feel that I could run a half marathon on any given weekend. That's the fitness level I try to maintain.
Miele - so nice to see YOU. Yes I am running quite a few of the same races as last year. The reasons being that a) I love the races of this particular director (he's a nut) and b) there isn't a whole lot of trail racing with less than a 2 hour drive from my home. Half Wit is a half tral marathon that is so great. Ryan Hall's plan looked great but too much speed work for me. That certainly is my Achilles heel. But for you, I think you would thrive.
Yay for seeing Stever and hector!!! The gang's all here!
Paden - hill work always seems to beat me up more than anything. I'm usually quite fatigued after long trail trail running (much hill work involved).
zelanie - nice to meet you. Congrats on the new shoes. I love new shoes. I was super excited to run in my PINK and black LaSportiva trail shoes. So cute!! Heehee.
Harrier - hello! your training plan sounds a lot like mine, meaning I never follow an exact plan, and just adjust it to match my life and my needs. My long runs, too, are Saturdays, and I avoid a lot of speed work (with the exception of running with people faster than me) as I was injured from track work on my first three marathon attempts.
Lurch - my first half was around 2:20 and my second was 2:06 so your goal seems doable. I'm just wondering if your easy runs should be closer to a 9:30 or for a sub 2 finish. Anyone??
jan - so excited to read your report!
and a great big how do to those I may have missed!!
me - I raced Sunday and turned my ankle a bit (swollen, but no pain) so I'm resting it for two days and will hit the trail tomorrow.
Happy running.
Ok, I'm back to attempt my race report. I'm not very good at these, so bear with me.
Our hotel was a little over a mile from the start, so we decided to walk instead of taking the light rail. It was in the low 40s, so it was pretty chilly on the walk over, and even chillier standing in the starting corral. The day before we bought some cheap throw-away sweatshirts at Walmart to keep us warm, and when they gave the minute to go signal, we tossed them. By mile one I wasn't cold anymore.
Miles 1-9 were fairly uneventful. The course was flat, and for once the cars were limited to one lane and the runners had the rest of the very wide streets. It was crowded, but not so much that it really impaired our speed. Hubby was wearing the Garmin, because it tends to mess with my mind when I wear it in races. I had no idea what our pace was, but it felt pretty easy.
At mile 9 there was a slight hill - although some of the runners around us didn't think it was slight. I'd estimate about a 3% grade. It actually felt good after being flat for so long. It was probably at least a 1/4 mile climb, and the downhill felt much more down than what we'd climbed up. After that there were a few rollers, but nothing major.
When we hit mile 11 I knew I had some left in the tank, so hubby and I took off. It was at this point that the marathoners joined our course, so it got kind of crowded and was a little difficult to really put the hammer down. By mile 12 the crowd had thinned out a bit, and we were able to pick up some more speed. I couldn't believe it when I saw the 13 mile marker - the last mile seemed to go so fast (the whole race really did). Our last 2 miles were sub 8s, which is the fastest I've ever run at the end of a half.
I felt great during the race - right before we started to climb my left hamstring got a little grouchy, but once I started using my quads more to climb, it was fine. The next morning my shins were super sore, as were my quads. I never, ever have sore shins, so I'm attributing it to so much TM running and different ankle flexion. If anything, I think all those treadmill miles helped me maintain a faster pace for longer. I never felt the mid to end of race fade that I normally do. The majority of my LRs were 12 milers, exepts for a 13 miler in mid December. My other runs were faster than what they probably would have been outside, mostly because I wanted to get off the TM sooner. Taking that into consideration, I think focusing more on race pace runs, a few 5-10K pace intervals, and capping the LRs at 13ish might be something that will work for me in the future.
My final time was 1:53:42 (8 seconds away from a PR), and I finished 31st out of 663 females in my age group. We definitely plan to run that one again next year.
I can see I've missed a lot of happenings in here, so I need to read back a page or two and come back later for personals.
PR's: 5k - 23:33/ 10k - 48:30/ 5 mi. - 39:21/ 13.1 - 1:53/ 26.2 recent - 4:34
Upcoming races: Resolution Run HM 1/1/13
Phoenix R&R HM 1/20/13
Hi all, hoping I can join this board for some motivation. I've done 6 half marathons and contemplating my 7th in April. My PR is 2:03:27 and I really want to break 2 hours at some point! My last one was last June in VA Wine Country, very hilly, and this is where I PR'd. The one coming up in April is in Myrtle Beach so much flatter I haven't kept up the distance running since the half in June though--I got really burned out. I enjoy cross-training, HIIT type stuff so I did mostly that for 2-3 months after the half. When I was motivated to run again, I stuck to shorter distances in the fall (10k was my longest). I did run 6.25 miles this past Sunday, and I did the holiday run streak from Thanksgiving to New Years and that helped me get faster on my shorter runs. Hoping that the faster shorter distances and the flatter course will get me closer to that sub-2 goal.
I haven't signed up for this race yet as I'm still on the fence, but I thought posting something here might give me a little more of a push to sign up...
Wow, lot's happening in the thread lately! I had to open 2 screens and read one and reply on the other to try to keep everything straight.
pcaharrier - My only thought on your cobbled together plan is that you should be careful on your Tempo run at Half Marathon Pace. That's getting closer to a real Tempo run pace and the Hanson Plan Marathon Pace Tempo run really isn't what most would consider a Tempo run. Mainly I would avoid going much past 60 minutes at your Half Marathon Pace. In the later part of the Hansons Plan they have you going up to 10 miles at Marathon Pace, but I wouldn't try to do that same workout at Half Marathon Pace, save that for the race itself.
Edith - Welcome over here on RunningAhead. Looks like you have some fun plans ahead of you. I wish there were more trail races around me, I run on gravel roads a lot, but would LOVE to run more trail races, there just aren't many of them and the few that are within a couple hundred miles seem to conflict with my real life schedule.
Zelanie - Good luck with the new shoes. I've been having a little knee issues lately, I've got a massage stick on order that I'm planning on putting to good use!
Lurch - What was your mileage like before you ran your HM last week? Is your running log accurate and you just started running in October? If so, a 2:21 after just 3 months of running is pretty darn good. Just make sure you don't ramp things up too fast and get injured. As someone who has gone from 240ish to 205ish in the last 2 years, sheding the pounds really does help on your running. It takes less energy to move less weight, especially up hills! A pound a week and you'll almost be at your goal for your September race. I think I've read somewhere that losing 10 pounds will make you 15 seconds per mile faster. If you lose 40 pounds that knocks a full minute off your mile pace. The big motto you'll hear on running ahead is "Run a lot, mostly easy, sometimes fast". Sounds like you have that in your plan and you should find that as you keep it up your easy runs will get faster and faster. Last year I went through a period where I ran pretty much all of my runs easy for 3 months. I ran 110.3 miles in May at an average pace of 11:01, 110.0 miles in June at an average pace of 11:20 and 130.8 miles in July at an average pace of 10:53. And that was after I ran my sub 2 hour HM at the end of April. You have plenty of time to pull a sub 2 hour HM in September.
Jan - sounds like a fun race with your husband. Too bad you didn't decide to start pushing it in just a little bit sooner, sounds like you could have ended up with a PR for sure. Still sounds like a fun race and glad you had a great time in Phoenix.
CeeDotA - Welcome to the group. Sounds like you have 2 hours right in your sights.
Hector - Welcome to Running Ahead. Good to see you over here. 8 hours in a week is pretty impressive!
Wing - hope you get over the sinus issues and good luck on your race Sunday!
2ft - I'm in Arizona on business right now. Ran last night after work and it was 68 degrees!
amn77 - Just do it. Flat = fast, go for it.
me - Wow, that was a lot of stuff to reply too! Still following the Hansons Plan for my first marathon coming up. Intervals last night was 5 X 1000m with 400m recoveries and they were tough. Ended up going closer to 10K pace instead of 5K pace. Messed up and my audio cues weren't set to tell me my current split pace so I really didn't know how fast I was running them and just went by effort and my fast parts of my splits ended up at 7:40, 7:58, 8:05, 8:12 and 7:57 pace. Just 4 more weeks of these speed intervals and then they slow down and get longer which sounds appealing to me. Today's easy run will tie my record streak at 21 days in a row, but my last streak only covered 118.5 miles in those 21 days and this one will be 133 - 134 miles in 21 days. Looking ahead, barring sickness or injury it's going to be a while before this streak stops too, I'm running 7 days a week for the next 12 weeks on the plan! I'm sure I'll miss somewhere in there, but I'm very curious to see how long I can keep it going.
Oh well, enough of the novel for a post. Happy running to everyone!
Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)
Current PR's: Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)
Jan26.2: CONGRATS on the HM; great finish time too!! How wonderful to share your experience of the HM with your hubby!! WAY TO GO!!
You Rang?
Lurch - What was your mileage like before you ran your HM last week? Is your running log accurate and you just started running in October? If so, a 2:21 after just 3 months of running is pretty darn good. Just make sure you don't ramp things up too fast and get injured. As someone who has gone from 240ish to 205ish in the last 2 years, sheding the pounds really does help on your running. It takes less energy to move less weight, especially up hills! A pound a week and you'll almost be at your goal for your September race. I think I've read somewhere that losing 10 pounds will make you 15 seconds per mile faster. If you lose 40 pounds that knocks a full minute off your mile pace. The big motto you'll hear on running ahead is "Run a lot, mostly easy, sometimes fast". Sounds like you have that in your plan and you should find that as you keep it up your easy runs will get faster and faster. Last year I went through a period where I ran pretty much all of my runs easy for 3 months. I ran 110.3 miles in May at an average pace of 11:01, 110.0 miles in June at an average pace of 11:20 and 130.8 miles in July at an average pace of 10:53. And that was after I ran my sub 2 hour HM at the end of April. You have plenty of time to pull a sub 2 hour HM in September. Oh well, enough of the novel for a post. Happy running to everyone!
My RA log is accurate to my join date at RA. Before that I'd been pretty consistent in the 25 to 35 miles per week range. I am a RWOL spam refugee. I am 6' 6" tall and started running 18 months ago as a part of a weight loss program. I've shed 125 lbs. The half marathon last week was my third half marathon. It was at Walt Disney World and was a part of a seven day vacation. I did not run it all that hard, as I did not want to injure myself.
Since returning from Florida, my easy run pace ha jumped to 10:00 to 10:15 mm. Although today's 8:00 mm run on the mill was a killer.
Rick
PR: 5k 25:01 (10/15) 10k: 57:44 (7/14) HM: 1:57 (5/15) FM: 4:55 (1/15)
Two-Foot-Shuffle – great job in setting PR on TM! I know its boring to run on TM, but you got your mileage and that counts!
EdithRevisited – hope our ankle feel well soon.
Jan26.2 – congratulations on your awesome race. I run on TM on weekdays and glad to know that it worked well for you
amn77 – welcome! I am sure that following this thread will motivate you to sign up in no time!
Npaden – nice interval work. I don’t follow any specific training plan, but three times I have done short intervals of 2 minutes with 2 minutes cooling down in between – 5 of those and that is my hardest workout. Initially I did it to find out my maximum HR and then decided to do it once every three weeks. 21 days streak is impressive!
Lurch – congratulations on shading 125 lbs
Me- ran for 6.3 miles on TM today
Godzilla
pca- Thanks for the clarification on your plan. I might do something like that, too. Unfortunately, the first two links didn't work but the third did. I've still got a couple of weeks to think about how I'm going to go about it but I do know that I'll make it a 12 week plan.
Zelanie- Ha! Yes, 'recovery time', that's what it is. How are the easy miles treating you? Hopefully the knee/hammy issue is resolved. 'Grats on the new shoes! I love new shoes.....
Lurch- Wow! Great job on your weight loss! You've definitely got a sub-2 in your future. 1) You're relatively new to running, 2) You're continued weight loss combined with your continued increase in fitness= sub-2. No problem. And your 8mm tempo runs are speedy!
No advice from me. Just keep on keepin' on.
Cee.- Have to agree that a sub-2 is a lock. I've struggled with Gu packets before. What a pain. I have made little snips in packets of shot blocks which helps but I haven't yet tried it with GU. Maybe if you don't cut all the way through but just enough to help....
Flat- Stay warm! I'm visiting my folks right now and they have a TM. The fact that they keep the thermostat set at 80 makes it especially unbearable.
hector- Howdy! Nice running, as usual!
Wing- How're you feeling? Good luck on Sunday!
2ft- Sports are great for passing the time on the TM but I find soccer to be one of the dangerous ones for me. I tend to use too much body language and have been known to grab the rails to keep my balance. Then I look around to see if anyone saw me looking ridiculous
Edith- Yeah, the Ryan Hall speed work is pretty daunting and best avoided if you're prone to injuries. If I decide to go that way, I would back off the speed work if I felt any twinges. How's the ankle?
Jan- Congrats! What a great race you both ran! And the final two miles @ sub 8s?!? Crazy! So some good did come from all those TM miles, after all.
amn- Get off the fence and just do it! Flat is goodness. You'll do great. April isn't that far away. I have a HM in late April so my 12 week training will start Super Bowl Sunday. Ok, I'll start the training with a rest day consuming pizza and sipping wine but, regardless, it'll be the first day of training.
Nathan- I've had to do the two screen thing, too. You've got a good streak going. Those 1000 intervals are tough. I have to check my pace regularly to make sure I'm not backing off too much but I think it's better to learn how to pace by feel. Now if I would only do that.
me- Not doing too much. I'll go out for 3 tomorrow with strides and then Sat. is the 10k. The weather looks like it might actually cooperate this time. Ok, now I've just jinxed it.
10K: 47:12* / 13.1: 1:50:56 / 26.2: 3:53:48