Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition (Read 448 times)

darkwave


Mother of Cats

    Piwi - love the run titles

     

    Marky_Mark - oof, that was bad timing for an outbreak

     

    Flavio - sounds smart to cut the LR short rather than get injured.  Oops on the surprise hill?

     

    Mick Jogger - I think they call that "vaccine tourism" - is Israel open to people coming in from outside to get vaccinated?  Since they're so far along, I guess they might be, if it also resulted in tourism revenue.

     

    Steve - I can't believe it's been 10 years since that earthquake.  Thanks for the link to the news- one of my weirder hobbies is watching news coverage from other times and/or locations.  You can pick up so many nuances and details just by watching the local news.

     

    ***

     

    my week:

    64 miles, 1500 yards swimming, and 1 hour of pool-running

    M: 50 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.

    T:  12 miles, including 8 Iwo Jima hill repeats (2:00 up, 90 second jog, 25 second stride, 75 second jog).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming

    W: 10 miles very easy (9:11), drills and 2 strides, and streaming yoga.

    Th: Upper body weights/core and 5 miles very easy on treadmill (9:15) (pool was closed, so no pool-running)

    F: 12 miles on treadmill including 6x1K in 4 minutes each with 75 seconds recovery jog and then 6x45 seconds at 6:00 pace with 75 second jog in between.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.

    Sa: 10 miles very easy on treadmill (9:10) and streaming yoga.

    Su: 14 miles progressive on treadmill, split as first 4 miles averaging 9:17 pace, next 5 miles averaging 7:48 pace, next 5 miles averaging 7:08 pace and then a ~.5 mile cooldown.  Followed with streaming yoga, injury prevention stuff, and 500 yards recovery swimming + 10 minutes pool-running.

     

    We had some icy/snowy (most icy) weather starting Thursday morning, so I just ran on my treadmill the rest of the week rather than cruise around looking for a clear place to run.

     

    As I think I've mentioned, my treadmill incline motor has been broken, so I propped up the front feet on a piece of plywood - doing some very rough math (using the width of the plywood and the length of the treadmill) I estimated a 1% incline.

     

    Of course, when I gave it some more thought I realized that the better calculation was the width of the plywood versus the distance between the front and back feet of the treadmill. When I do that calculation, I get a 2% incline (assuming, of course, that my treadmill would be perfectly level but for the plywood). Which makes sense since it seemed like my paces for the same effort were a bit slower on the treadmill than outside on flat terrain).

     

    I will be interested to see what my paces are when I switch back to regular track workouts.

     

    CK - when you have a chance you can put me down for the Salisbury Half-Marathon on April 3.  Goal time TBD.

    Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.

     

    And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.

    SteveChCh


    Hot Weather Complainer

       

      Steve - I can't believe it's been 10 years since that earthquake.  Thanks for the link to the news- one of my weirder hobbies is watching news coverage from other times and/or locations.  You can pick up so many nuances and details just by watching the local news.

       

      You could probably go down a deep youtube rabbit hole looking at the coverage from that day.  I find it interesting to go back and see how it was described when it was breaking news.  A radio station has put their stream from the day online - the studio was based in Auckland and they were taking talkback.  The initial callers were people outside Christchurch - it took a while for people inside Christchurch to be able to call in.

       

      Newstalk ZB February 22, 2011 Part 1

      5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23

       

      2024 Races:

      Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55

      Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024

      Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024

      Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024

        Mark the mornings have cooled nicely although I haven't run today yet. These covid flare ups are likely to happen every so often. Great quality week by you.

         

        Steve ahh Mick Jagger I only just realized too 

        My relationship with Christchurch only started last year but the empty lots and buildings in a state of disrepair are still around to remind me of the tragedy.

        Dave Parsons has been smashing out 160 km weeks at about 4.30kmpace !

         

        Darkwave very consistent by you and nice physics calculation on the treadmill 

         

        Flavio another nice 80kms for you. My back has finally come right. I started doing some core stuff again. Forgot how hard it is.

         

        Mick is it 2 shots of that vaccine? Some side effects but very minor in the grand scheme.

        55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT

        " If you don't use it you lose it,  but if you use it, it wears out.

        Somewhere in between is about right "      

         

        Marky_Mark_17


           

          You could probably go down a deep youtube rabbit hole looking at the coverage from that day.  I find it interesting to go back and see how it was described when it was breaking news.  A radio station has put their stream from the day online - the studio was based in Auckland and they were taking talkback.  The initial callers were people outside Christchurch - it took a while for people inside Christchurch to be able to call in.

           

          Newstalk ZB February 22, 2011 Part 1

           

          Yeah, that's right.  I remember the cellular network got totally overloaded there and presumably the fixed line network was either the same or just broken.  It was pretty surreal as there had been a previous earthquake a year or two prior which was in the middle of the night - damaged a few buildings and fortunately not very much else.  Quite the opposite with the Feb 2011 earthquake which was far more serious than anyone could've expected.

           

          Interesting fact for those not in NZ, there is a 'red zone' around certain riverside areas in Christchurch where houses have been demolished and there will be no new buildings in those areas due to liquefaction risk from future earthquakes, they're being turned into parks / wetland.  The Christchurch Marathon (and half) runs through this red zone area along the riverside.

           

          I got tickets to the Foo Fighters concert at the Auckland Town Hall (~1500 capacity) where they donated the proceeds to the Christchurch recovery.  Still got the t-shirt.  At the time the Auckland Council venues were using a woefully inadequate online ticketing system which unsurprisingly crashed when probably 100,000 plus people tried to get 1,500 tickets, I think I ended up getting mine over the phone. Anyway ended up about 3 rows away from Dave Grohl when he went walkabout around the venue during the extended solo section they put in the middle of Stacked Actors for a while.  That was just ahead of Wasting Light's release, seems like a long time ago now.

           

          edit: Steve, I just saw your original post.  How the hell did they manage to have a wedding in CHC the day after that?!?!?!?!

          3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)  

          10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)

          * Net downhill course

          Last race: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

          Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

          "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

          SteveChCh


          Hot Weather Complainer

             

            Yeah, that's right.  I remember the cellular network got totally overloaded there and presumably the fixed line network was either the same or just broken.  It was pretty surreal as there had been a previous earthquake a year or two prior which was in the middle of the night - damaged a few buildings and fortunately not very much else.  Quite the opposite with the Feb 2011 earthquake which was far more serious than anyone could've expected.

             

            Interesting fact for those not in NZ, there is a 'red zone' around certain riverside areas in Christchurch where houses have been demolished and there will be no new buildings in those areas due to liquefaction risk from future earthquakes, they're being turned into parks / wetland.  The Christchurch Marathon (and half) runs through this red zone area along the riverside.

             

            I got tickets to the Foo Fighters concert at the Auckland Town Hall (~1500 capacity) where they donated the proceeds to the Christchurch recovery.  Still got the t-shirt.  At the time the Auckland Council venues were using a woefully inadequate online ticketing system which unsurprisingly crashed when probably 100,000 plus people tried to get 1,500 tickets, I think I ended up getting mine over the phone. Anyway ended up about 3 rows away from Dave Grohl when he went walkabout around the venue during the extended solo section they put in the middle of Stacked Actors for a while.  That was just ahead of Wasting Light's release, seems like a long time ago now.

             

            edit: Steve, I just saw your original post.  How the hell did they manage to have a wedding in CHC the day after that?!?!?!?!

             

            They were quite lucky (not as lucky as another couple who got married on the same day after the wife was trapped in a building for 6 hours 3 days earlier) - the wedding was at a Vineyard close to Templeton which didn't get hit as hard as some other areas.  Everyone coming from elsewhere, including the couple, had lost their hotels though so they went into overdrive to try and billet people out.

             

            I actually came over for 2 weddings, one on February 25 in ChCh, one on February 26 in Dunedin.  I arrived about midnight on the day after the quake, and my partner at the time who was from Dunedin, had no interest in sleeping on the lounge floor at my Mum's or in staying in Christchurch at all so I borrowed a car and drove her to Dunedin that night, arriving about 5am.  I slept for about 2 hours, then went to the supermarket to load up on water and headed back to ChCh - there was a convoy of packed up cars going the other way, I was the only one heading into ChCh.  On February 25, I went for a run then went to a mate's work to get his house keys so I could have a shower since Mum had no water.  Got home then another mate picked me up and as we were driving to the wedding the groom texted saying "Where are you guys?"  I thought "that's weird, shouldn't he be focused on getting married in 30 mins?"  Then I worked out I'd got the times of the 2 weddings mixed up and had missed the ceremony after all that!  The bride didn't speak to me until later in the evening which I thought was harsh....There was quite a big aftershock that night which destroyed most of the glassware at the vineyard.  I then drove back to Dunedin the next morning and thankfully got the time right for that wedding.  Then on the way back to ChCh the car overheated and my brother had to come and get us so we'd get to the airport on time.  Quite a stressful "holiday" but it was easier for me than the people who lived through 2-3 years of aftershocks, let alone the people who were injured or lost someone.

            5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23

             

            2024 Races:

            Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55

            Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024

            Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024

            Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024

            Marky_Mark_17


              Anyways, just catching up on the weeklies...

               

              Flavio - honest confession, if I'm trying a new route I'll often plug it in to mapmyrun now and if the hills look nasty, I'll just avoid it.  TBH I get plenty of elevation anyways and I'm not training for any hilly races so I just can't be bothered with it haha.  Honestly that sounds like really tough going for your wife's friend.  It's hard enough having a c-section, or having a baby during Covid times with no family help allowed in the hospital... but both of those together?!?!  Yikes.  Anyways good week again.

               

              Mick - good job and you might get that mileage up sooner than you think!  Cal hasn't been around for a while now, he disappeared in the middle of last year and wasn't on Strava for a long period either.

               

              Steve - good week.  I've been in Christchurch periodically since 2013 and it's been interesting watching the rebuild.  Very slow progress at times but some great new buildings (finally) too.

               

              Piwi - we had some good cool mornings last week but it looks like it's pretty warm again this week.  We will be into autumn soon enough with cooler temps though so we're on the home stretch now.  Overall I don't think this summer has been too bad in terms of running temps and humidity.  I feel like I suffered a lot more last summer and the summer before but maybe I'm just getting used to it now.

               

              Darkwave - ugh on the ice and treadmill incline failure combination, but at least you found a creative solution!  Icy conditions would be horrible.

               

              Judging from Strava it looks like Watson's race went ahead yesterday although I think he was just pacing one of his daughters while he is on the comeback trail.

              3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)  

              10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)

              * Net downhill course

              Last race: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

              Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

              "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

              Running Problem


              Problem Child

                darkwave what about using your phone to determine the angle? Plenty of apps out there. There are also a few $15-35 digital angle finders (like a protractor but better) sold at popular online shopping websites. The app could tell you a 1 or 2 genres measurement. Even if one side is higher than the other.

                Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.

                VDOT 53.37 

                5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22

                zebano


                  Hey all, my son swam in the 10 & under state swimming championships this weekend so I've been busy. It also means I got to run in on new trails which was a blast.

                   

                  I ended last week feeling tired with 3 easy runs so I continued that M-W with only easy runs and felt good when I started running harder. I backed way off the triathlon training but I'm signed up for a sprint so I need to find a balance where I can work that in. We're supposed to get multiple days above freezing this week and while I'm worried about ice, I cannot tell you how excited I am to run on pavement instead of snow. My habit of doing drills / strength /plyos post run fell apart so I need to rebuild that too.

                   

                  M 24 minutes cycling + 4 miles "easy" running .... couldn't find easy so I called it early.

                  T 40 min easy in 3F (heat wave!) feeling normal + drills

                  W 40 minutes easy + 5 minutes of uphill bounding (walk down)

                  Th 20km at moderate effort! Someone groomed the first ~8 miles of trails and it was glorious. + 400m swim in the evening w/ my oldest son (his ankle has been bothering and he wanted to test it outside of swim team .. sadly it's still hurt)

                  F 40 minute shakeout

                  Sat 90 minute progression on a flat 5km trails first loop Z1/2, second loop high Z2, third loop Z3-4, CD to 90min. 6 min of drills

                  Sun 90 minutes of a glorious wooded, hilly trail. Effort level was clear grey zone, but it was just a really fun run and that's worth something in my book. + 50 min shovelling which counts as weights in my book (LOL)

                   

                  400m swimming

                  24 min cycling

                  50 miles / 7h 20m

                   

                   

                  I remember hearing about that earthquake, I can't believe it's been 10 years. Honestly I'm amazed that your cell network was only overloaded and not down altogether! That's what happened to my cousins recently in Texas with their ice storm and up here a few months ago with the Derecho.

                  1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)

                  zebano


                    Flavio  that's a huge hill, I'm actually jealous. Unless it's so steep it messes up your stride, that sounds like a great place to run uphill mile repeats!

                     

                    Mark ugg, that's terrible timing. I hope the 2 weeks doesn't throw you off.

                     

                    Piwi  watch out, you're creeping up on Keen for the weekly mileage crown!

                     

                    Mick Is that actually an option?

                     

                    DW - Impressive as always, especially since most of it is on the mill. I hope you can get fluffy fixed soon.

                    1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)

                    CommanderKeen


                    Cobra Commander Keen

                      Piwi - Excellent week, including more father/son runs!


                      RP - What's this about paying for 3 kids and getting 1 free? By my count I've been ripped off. I want my free kid!


                      Flavio - Nice week. Is your wife's friend doing better and their situation more "normalized" now, or are there still covid-related issues?


                      MJ - Good week with the increase. Slow and steady is a good approach!


                      Steve - Good week. 10 years already?


                      DWave - Race page updated!


                      Zebano - How'd your son enjoy the state championships? I played many games in state tournaments (baseball) during high school and it was always a great time. Well, not the losing in the finals 3 seasons in a row, but the rest was awesome!

                       

                      Watson - We need a report on your race/pacing gig!

                       

                      Oklahoma nice - An unidentified someone in the neighborhood cleared off the driveways of every single house in my neighborhood (snow shovels and blowers being rather uncommon here). I didn't get any great use of it personally as I was out of town when it happened and it likely would have all melted before I got back, but it's still a great gesture.

                       


                      Last week was very light for me (27mi in total) - just 2-5ish mile runs, all easy as I was getting over a cold. Feeling much better now and glad to be getting back to my usual mileage this week. I've planned for a 5k (ok, 5,000m track) TT for Friday, which it looks like I'll have good weather for. The plan is to use that as a fitness test and see what I should target for my half in a few weeks.
                      All of our snow from this past week (~6"/15.25cm) has all melted and the temp is currently ~65F/18.3C. Quite the change from being below freezing for more than a week (likely a first in my lifetime for the area).

                      5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                       

                      Upcoming Races:

                       

                       

                        Keen buy that mystery snow shoveler a beer 🍺 😀

                        Look forward to your 5000m.

                        I'm sure your legs will thank you for a forced cutback week.

                         

                        Zebano that's really cool about your sons swimming. Excellent that you made use of running in a new area while there.

                         

                        Mark I saw the Wellington round the Bays on the news. Doesn't Auckland still have a huge race called that still ?

                         

                        Steve thats a heck of a trip back to NZ after the earthquake.

                        That bride sounded a bit  grumpy but I guess its a stressful day 😅

                         

                        Thanks for the comments on my mileage. I really hope to see some gains at some stage over last year. I need to break off the 18.25 5k which I seem to get stuck on last year. I did some 6x800s today which were basically the same as 4 weeks ago. I've got 8 weeks over 50 miles now but its crucial I stick at it to see gains as running fitness takes months to accumulate.

                        55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT

                        " If you don't use it you lose it,  but if you use it, it wears out.

                        Somewhere in between is about right "      

                         

                        Marky_Mark_17


                          Piwi - yes Round the Bays is supposed to be this Sunday.  It's a massive event but very social and generally only attracts a handful of elite runners, I think partly because it's a weird distance (8.4km).  With your mileage I reckon you might not see big improvements on something like 6x800m unless you are taking rest days but you would see it on something like a 3k or 5k TT.  Also don't forget to take the odd down week!  Your body needs that to recover and adapt especially if you are running every day.

                           

                          Zebano - eh, that postponement is what it is.  Nothing I can do about it!  Shovelling DEFINITELY counts as weights / resistance training.

                           

                          Keen - that's a helluva temperature swing!

                          3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)  

                          10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)

                          * Net downhill course

                          Last race: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

                          Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

                          "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

                          zebano


                            Did everyone see that Daft Punk broke up?

                             

                            Keen  That's some serious dedication to getting healthy. Hopefully it doubles as an amazing taper for your TT.

                             

                            My son loved the state meet. This (swim) season has been strange. They've raced but only against their teammates so this was his first "real" meet of the year and he was bouncing off the walls. He didn't come anywhere close to winning anything except a random heat but he had a blast. Also young swimmers like hotel pools where they can goof off and don't have to train at least as much as meets. I think I spent at least 2 hours playing Marco Polo with my twins (we had a 9 foot deep hotel pool that allowed diving!!) . Between that, new trails and getting take out food for every meal it was a blast for all of us (until it started snowing 2 hours before our drive home and added an hour to our commute).

                             

                            Mystery shovelers are the best! It's funny, around here you can tell which neighbors aren't liked because they never get help shoveling their driveways. I'll second Mark's recommendation, buy that man a beer.

                             

                            Finally I ran on bare concrete yesterday and it was glorious, so I did it again after work.

                             

                             

                            Speaking of Round the Bay, how do people generally feel about random distance races? I'm a trail runner by nature so it doesn't bother me but I know people feel differently. We also have a somewhat famous race about an hour away known as the Bix 7... Huge, social, hilly, on streets so I've never ran it, but not because of the 7 mile distance. I've just heard that if you don't get in the first corral you simply spend the first 3 miles weaving and that doesn't sound fun.

                            1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)

                            CommanderKeen


                            Cobra Commander Keen

                              Zebano - Part of the serious reduction in miles was simply due to exhaustion (I was sleeping a solid 10 hours per night). I didn't have much energy to do much more, though I think I would have gotten more miles had I stuck to the treadmill rather than running outside. Where's the fun in that, though?


                              Our current game isn't looking good for me at all, but I'm trying to find a way out of it!


                              Unusual distance races seem like fun to me. Perhaps it's something about the uncertainty of having a definite reference to how hard the effort level should feel.

                               

                               

                              I did a (slightly modified) tempo workout this morning. My planned one didn't sync from my Garmin calendar to my watch, so I slightly modified the closest one I had saved on my watch. My legs definitely felt heavy for the first work section, but I somehow managed to speed up a bit for the same effort as the workout progressed.

                              Just in the interest of data-nerding I think I'll post a screen grab of what Stryd predicts I can do for 5k on Friday morning prior to that TT to compare to the actual result. Here's hoping I can get on to the track and not get caught disturb anyone.

                              5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                               

                              Upcoming Races:

                               

                               

                              JamesD


                              JamesD

                                Sorry I've been AWOL - our building changed internet providers on Friday, and we just had service restored today (Tuesday).  Lots to catch up on.  RP, congratulations!  On vaccinations, I'm not quite old enough to get priority, so it's looking like  a few more months of not doing much outside the home.  Nothing dramatic in my running last week, just slow progress.  I feel like my fitness is gradually improving, as I can hold a decent pace for longer.  Hamstrings/glutes aren't inhibiting me from easy or moderate running, but I can still feel them, & I'm not sure if they would complain if I tried a faster pace.  Should probably try some strides.

                                 

                                Sun - 7.8 miles easy in park @8:51

                                Mon - 9.4 miles stronger in park @8:33

                                Tues - off (weather turned rainy & colder than I like, so the rest of the week was on the treadmill)

                                Weds - about 14 miles slow on treadmill (2:06 at what felt like sub-9:00/mile pace)

                                Thurs - about 11 miles easy TM (1:39)

                                Fri - about 11 miles faster TM (1:39)

                                Sat - off

                                 

                                Total - about 53.2 miles of effort, 8th straight week 50+

                                Post-1987 PRs:  Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)

                                '24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32