Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark - Nice week. I hope you feel better soon. Could it be worth skipping the race? Wouldn't want to drag on your recovery a few more weeks. If I did the Canterbury Half it would be at a pace where I couldn't suffer, kind of a training run and maybe just pick it up towards the end. If the forecast is bad I won't do it though.
Forgot to mention in the RR that Rosie finished in 1:36.38 and is a 1:30ish runner on the road.. Her first 11km averaged 4:25, last 10km 4:45. For me it was first 11km 4:18, last 10km 4:43 so very similar. Almost everyone I know had similar blow ups so it makes me feel okay about it.
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
Mother of Cats
Steve - I enjoyed your race report. I personally think that times in trail races are their own beast, and cannot be compared to road courses, except in the most rudimentary "probably would have been faster on a road course"
Re: uneven performances at different distances - the elite poster childs for that in clude Zersenay Tadese and Dathan Ritzenheim - neither of which ever ran a full marathon performance to match their halves. I also think that being even in all distances is perhaps an indicator that you haven't maximized your full potential yet
Antibiotics - oh yes, they knock me out. I've learned that I simply cannot train on them - I need to stick to easy runs until I cycle off.
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.
Steve - fair question and something I've definitely thought about. I'm pretty committed to running it, although I'll moderate my effort based on how I feel during race week and during the race itself - i.e. basically I'm just going to enjoy the run and race day atmosphere rather than go out as a full race effort. I've run a half marathon race every single year since I've been running so it seems like kind of a waste to pass it up given I'm entered already and we've got a few nights booked there as a family and the Airbnb has passed its fully refundable deadline. So it's basically a family holiday with a run on Saturday morning for me.
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: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Completely understand where you’re coming from. Hopefully you’re able to focus on your well being and ignore your natural competitiveness if someone not in your league passes you. It’s something all of us at all levels deal with. Sometimes it’s hard to remember it’s a long term game
Marco - hey, good to hear from you. Did your lungs eventually recover from that funk you were a couple of months ago?
My lungs yes.. my muscles never...still cannot recover. I guess lack of good training too...
Thanks for the RR Steve, nice
Mark hope you feel better soon
PRs since re-started in 2013:
5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18)
HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)
Upcoming races:
???
Marco - by muscles not recovering, is that the effect of Covid-19? How many months ago did you get it?
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
Intl. correspondent
Steve - awesome race, I hope you enjoyed, it sounded like you had a fall too, so perhaps a bit of trail running to break the pattern.
I’m assuming you guys didn’t have to wear masks or social distance, so that should have been an excellent experience.
It looks like there are no PR enabling half races in New Zealand. Either you guys are running up a mountain or it’s trails or mud or river crossings.
I’d assume there’d be some stretch of flat, smooth tarmac in the country, but I guess there isn’t heh.
Watson - Hang in there. I suppose arm exercises are off, but can you at least do squats without pain?
Piwi - NOPE, not gonna google that. I do remember a while ago an elite female runner had her boobs out of the singlet for the last 100m or so.
You did manage to bring MickJogger out of the bushes though heh.
James - so did the 2 year old have a camping tent LOL, thanks for the chuckle
Marco - thanks for the update, hopefully you get to recover soon.
me - Very nice week and finished it feeling I could do more, which is always a good sign. I'm following the guidelines from the Hansons advanced half marathon plan, though I did make some changes already. Each mile on easy days I changed to 10 minutes of running, so I'll have roughly 20% more mileage on those days. And I'm making the tempo runs easier. In the plan it maxes out at 7 miles tempo at HMP for 3 weeks in a row. 7 mile tempo is too much for me, I'll probably max out around roughly 10k or less, and only once, 10 days out from my "race".
I've found another park to run workouts which is amazing. 8 minutes from my place, so roughly a mile, pretty flat, a bit over a km in distance all the way around.
Friday was run under the rain with 10 degrees out. That was a bit tough though thankfully it was not heavy rain. I had to wear my jacket to try to keep the water out as much as possible. I also got lost on the way back LOL, so had to run a bit less yesterday.
My 16 minutes Tempo on Thursday went really well with an avg of 3:59 per km, very close to my last half race pace. Hopefully I can keep these tempos around this pace throughout the training period.
1 degree celsius when I left for my run today, though no wind and with the sun out, so it didn't feel that cold, it was a very pleasant run.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
I just finished my week and I have a whole day to relax!
Mon 40 min EZ bike(AM + 50 min run w/ 9 uphill strides.
Tue bodyweight work, 80 min run w/ 20 min at Threshold (6:56/mi), 40 min bike w/ 11x:25 sprints (approx :90 rec)
Wed 20 min bike, 50 min run all EZ
Thur 20 min bike, 90 min run w/ 6x3on / 2 off. Looks like I'm just outside of 20 min 5k shape because these averaged 6:28/mi
Fri 20 min bike, 50 min Ez w/ 6 strides
Sat 2:35 long run / 17.3 mi double loop of a hilly trail around a lake. Very happy with how solid my legs felt in the second loop though I could tell I was working a bit harder than a true Z2 long run (shrug).
Sun 20 min ez bike, 40 min ez run w/ 4 strides.
60.4 miles / 8h 38m running
3h 18m cycling
First "full" week in awhile. I'm happy with that and just trying to figure out if / when I'll taper for a 20k trail on 12/5. I haven't had much great training so I'll probably go for one more full week w/ a big workout on Thur (9 days out) and roll with a 6 day taper.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
so I don’t mind looking funny wearing a beanie and arm warmers while I pool run.
James - way to keep the fitness up while injured! I figure pool running automatically looks silly so you might as well do whatever you want on top of that.
Steve - happy birthday & it sounds like you ran a pretty strong race considering the conditions. Headwinds at the end of a race should not be allowed =) . Since you're soliciting opinions I wouldn't race again in 3 weeks, just because that feels like too much recovery time and not enough training over a stretch of a couple months. Plus who wants to race at midsummer?? brutal. Put in the work and find a fall race.
Mark - solid training, tkae care of that foot!
Marco - sorry to hear that. I thought covid hit the lungs and not the muscles or am I mistaken? Hopefully this is something that will recover as you can start training more.
Piwi - I'm also unwilling to google that lol
Flavio - those are basically the temps I've had the last two days and they're pretty awesome in my book. I'd much rather be cold (within reason) than hot.
Zebano that's a great week and you got in some cycling as well.
Flavio nice job on the tempo. Just don't try 7 miles at 10k pace
Steve cheers for the race report.
I think the start time of that next half is risky. It won't be mid summer but the start of summer but still risky. Christchurch seems to go from 26c to 14c in a day
In response to Flavio asking why we don't have flat course over here. I think alot of events are put on with scenery in mind so running around or up the local tracks and bush walks is usually incorporated.
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 "
There are flat half's in NZ. Christchurch, Wellington, and Wellington Round the Bays are flat. I am pretty sure there are others too.
Watson but in Wellington they counter balance the flat course with a 30 knot northerly
Mark your jog in sub 1.20 pace is faster than my 10k pace damn you
I wouldn't worry too much about Saturday as im pretty sure the courses will come up short once again giving us Kiwis no credibility.
JamesD
...I figure pool running automatically looks silly...
On Tuesday's pool run I not only looked silly but felt even sillier after about 20 seconds when I realized that the reason I was feeling out of sync was that I had forgotten to put on my flotation belt before getting in the pool. Wasn't drowning, and I probably could have kept it up for a few minutes, but it would've been a much harder workout, and my planned hour with the belt was more like a longer easy effort after my somewhat harder-effort swim the day before.
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
Round the Bays is a net south course, so it would probably be quite quick with a Northerly! The only year I have ran it was a light southerly. I am booked for the 6.5km on 2021 which would be really quick if a Northerly!
Wellington marathon (Incl.half) has the last 8km normally running in to the Northerly.
Christchurch and Waterfront are the two flat HM courses that most elites shoot for. Wellington is flat, but always risky with the wind.
Piwi - yeah I am just going to try and suppress my competitive instincts and have fun haha. I'm tempted to have a week off after I get home... just give the niggles some time to sort themselves out and there's nothing important race-wise for quite a while now.
Marco - thanks, hope your body starts to feel a bit better.
Flavio - nah, we are pretty lucky. It's basically life as normal for us here at the moment, aside from having to wear masks on public transport. I'm not convinced that's appropriate either when we are confident it is contained at the border, and it seems very inconsistent when there's no requirement that people wear masks in crowded bars or other gatherings. Nice week too, I'm guessing those temperatures are a far cry from what you had in Brazil!!
Zebano - nice week, are you using the bike as warm up before running?
James - a few of the elite guys here who have injuries are right into the pool running at the moment. Luke, my masseuse, has become a bit of an expert.