Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019
Mmmm Bop
Hi all, my first taper week is in the book. A strange taper week, with a couple of days in which I had to paint (good strength exercise for my arms, but I was very tired in the middle of last week ...) I managed almost 50 miles, with good speed (Race pace or below) in a few intervals. On Thursday I will run my last interval VOmax training and then is real taper until the 5th of May. Mikkey, good luck with London, and see you in Belfast (at least for a coffee, since I doubt I will want to run fast - at your recovery pace have a good week marco
Hi all,
my first taper week is in the book. A strange taper week, with a couple of days in which I had to paint (good strength exercise for my arms, but I was very tired in the middle of last week ...)
I managed almost 50 miles, with good speed (Race pace or below) in a few intervals. On Thursday I will run my last interval VOmax training and then is real taper until the 5th of May.
Mikkey, good luck with London, and see you in Belfast (at least for a coffee, since I doubt I will want to run fast - at your recovery pace
have a good week
marco
Thanks and good look with Belfast....I had a quick look at the course and it’s changed quite a bit since I ran it 10 years ago! I’ll be quite busy when I go back but would be up for a short easy run possibly the Thur/Fri before your race. My parents live literally a few doors down from the Dub Lane shops so you’re welcome to call in for a FREE coffee!
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Mikkey - good luck for the London Marathon! Enjoy!!!
Belfast didn't change for 35 years, but this year they had to change due to increased cost for the organization. They moved it to Sunday (it use to be on Monday Bank holiday) and they changed the course. It has been sold as flat course, but I found an annoying hill around 16 miles and a series of ups and down and curves all along. I will let you know what it feels like on the 6th.
My wife is away, so I need to stay home with the kids next week, but I will be able to run in the morning (9-12 if I get organized with work) on Thursday and Friday. Let's organize on private email after the weekend.
Looking at taper, today I ran my last VOmax on the track as called by Pete... 3X1600mt. at 5k pace with 2 minutes jog + 4 miles (warm up - cool down). I am very happy with the outcome, especially considering that I was out the door at 5:15 am and on the track at 5:30/45... I kept a very constant 90' per lap throughout the workout, hitting 6 minutes each 1600. what made the day was how easily I recovered after each repetition. With some more dedicated training, I will probably be able to get a good 5K PB over the summer, if I find a race.
-10 to the marathon. Then I'll see how I am feeling about jumping back and run the HM in July (6/7 weeks after the mar..)
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:
???
Mikkey - all the best for the London Marathon! Pretty impressive elite field.
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"
Intl. correspondent
Keen - yeah, yellow and black are the team colours. Team name is something like Company of Horsesand the logo is 3 horses. The running coach used to work as a cowboy to make ends meet.marathon distance long run is just something unthinkable for me, as it wouldn't make any sensesince it would take me 4 weeks to recover from it.
Jmac - Believe me when I say your experience was very mild. There are other 7 layers of hellbellow that.
Piwi - Remember Rachelara? She'd have an even shorter stride yet she made it to the NY city marathon elite field.I remember watching her on TV and it looked very weird but she was fast as hell!!!
Steve - I second the guys here saying it's okay to replace the long run with a short race.I've done it many times, you don't really lose any fitness and it's better for recovery.
Mark - According to https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/bench-press/lb#standardsMalea 180lb beginner male should be able to bench press 120lb, roughly 54kg.I'm slightly above that but I doubt I can bench press much more than 40kg. I'm currently doing it on a single side with a 16kg kettlebell for 12 reps.So what that means is that I have to work hard for the next few years to become a beginner, I guess.
I'm feeling very smart now for having never gotten into a street fight
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
RIP Milkman
Keen - I agree with mark that hill is just nuts
Marco - good luck with the rest of the taper, this is the time to take it very easy. With 10 days to go, the hay is in the barn.
Flavio - you guys had someone posting here that got into the NYCM elite field??? If so, that's crazy. We all suck.
Mark - I'm surprised you don't have shoes for those types of workouts even if you don't race a lot. I'll do any sort of Rep work or V02 max in those shoes, not just when I'm racing. I can't imagine doing 5K or faster paced work in trainers.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Jmac - Yeah, she was very, very fast, sub 2h50 marathon if I recall correctly. You can see her on the official broadcast here:
https://youtu.be/ZxFyROS8420?t=66
She's the one to the right, her bib reads RACHEL, with the singlet and black socks up to the knees.
She paced Piwi in one of his marathons to 2h54, but she was feeling good and dusted him on the last few km
And she was 44 years old
Ok, enough with my fanboyism, I know it makes Piwi workout his glutes.
Ugh - French. How does anyone find this language appealing? This guy's voice (the second one) makes me want to claw my eyes out. It sounds like he's trying to get a hairball out.
Probably should have prefaced this with "nobody is French here right?"
Cobra Commander Keen
Piwi - I was only planning on hobby jogging it, so if I end up missing it I'm not going to be upset at all.
Flavio - The last marathon/LR really wasn't that bad. Taking it easy & not being afraid of walk breaks certainly made it easier than trying to run it all the way through. Don't get me wrong, I certainly felt it afterwards and wished I had more than 1x 18 miler in the 4 months prior, but the effects on my legs certainly weren't as bad as one might have thought. I checked out that strength standards page and I have no idea if I could hit the beginner standard for the bench press - which probably means I can't. I did manage to hit novice for a few body weight exercises, so I guess that's a plus.
JMac - To me the French do typically sound like they are speaking with a mouth full of marbles...
DD1 is on the mend, but I'm still feeling absolutely exhausted - I don't have the fever she did/does though.
I just found out that I won't be able to run the "race" up that hill - DD1's last soccer football tournament for the season lasts that whole weekend.
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
You guys talking about the French language, never heard Carla Bruni or Zaz singing
That said, French is seen as effeminate by us low level scum Portuguese speakers
Mikkey best of luck on Sunday. Very excited to see what you run after your fast 5k.
Jmac I see version 2 Vaporflys is out or at least ready. Rachel is often in the Boston elite start. There was one cool bit where Meb ran past her on his way to victory a couple years ago while she fan girled him on. She pushed to get me a " preferred " start at Melbourne which meant I went into this little roped off pen with all the Africans and elites....I felt such a fraud
Marco very nice workout. Busy life with kids and working.
Keen ah I remember kids soccer interrupted life. It only lasted 10 years for me.....I ended up a coach a few times so was fully committed.
Flavio yes Rachel told me her cadence was something like 200-220. She could hold that pitter patter stride at 4 min/km pace comfortably.
Mark 80kgs bench sounds very good. You may be the best bench presser/half marathoner in NZ
I've decided on my low mileage to never run recovery pace. Maybe I should follow that FIRST training
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 "
Jmac I see version 2 Vaporflys is out or at least ready.
Everybody is hoping that means the old 4% will go on sale. If they do, BUY A PAIR. They are worth it. I'll definitely be buying another pair if they go on sale given mine already have 60 miles on them, which is like half their useful racing life.
Piwi - I'm unlikely to end up as a coach for either daughter, but we'll see. I did recently discover there is a Strava segment that circles the soccer complex my girls play at, and the men's CR is well within my reach - the overall CR much less so, but maybe possible. One of these days I may have to take that down rather than watch practice.
Vaporfly - I saw the new version dropped just in time for London (good luck Mikkey!). JMac, I've been marginally tempted to try them, but I've never run in shoes with greater than a 4mm drop, and only zero drop for almost 2 years now - I'm a bit worried that it might cause issues for me if I suddenly jumped to shoes with an 8-10mm drop (depending on which version).
Keen - you are speaking to the right person! I have been using the PureFlows for about 5 years now, which are 4MM drop, as my main trainer. I made the switch because I was having so many knee and hip issues and learned that lower drop shoes often remove the stress from those parts of your body (in exchange for stress on your feet/achilles/calves). Most of my other shoes were either 4MM or 6MM drop for racing as well. I resisted for a long time buying the VF for exactly the reason you're stating. I had serious concern about moving to a 10MM drop shoe. I did probably HOURS of research trying to find a good shoe at the lower drop and getting mad that the VF was such a high drop.
I will tell you that they do NOT feel like a 10MM shoe when you are racing at MP or HMP. Easy pace they do feel a bit goofy but they're not meant for that. Additionally, remember that you are only wearing these for 10K and up races, not for training.
The downside to racing in Vaporflys is you will never be able to race in anything else if you want to PR unless you have some dramatic training improvement or.....hopefully all manufacturers come out with a similar product.
JMac - Thanks for the input. I didn't move to zero drop due to any issues, I just liked the extra room in the toe box I get with Altras - with the exception of sore calves for a couple days the first time I raced a 5k in them (after wearing them for just a couple days) I haven't had any calf/achilles problems. How does the sizing in the VF run compared to other brands? I might try picking up a pair if the price is "right", but I've gotten spoiled buying Escalantes for ~$70-80.