Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
50mm stack height Zeb . I would go for a Wild Boar Taco with over 375 grams of meat 🍖
That sounds 100% Offal
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
I am rather surprised and annoyed that Adidas has released a 50mm shoe.
Realistically, races are not going to be able to stop people racing in them. They could check the place getters but that is about it. Will people BQ etc. in them.
Assuming they are quick shoes, as opposed to an ultra cushioned easy day shoe.
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
Mother of Cats
DW Do you need new shoes that aren't race legal? Check out the Prime X
That would be a double no.
a) because I won't race in anything not allowed, even if I could get away with it (I don't accept drinks/gels from friends on course, for similar reasons).
b) because the higher the stack height, the more trouble I have with the shoe. The VFs are frankly higher than I would like.
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.
Hot Weather Complainer
Thanks all for nutrition advice and thoughts. I like the idea of a big meal at lunchtime the day before and light until race start. I had considered when to take the first gel and 5 mins pre-race then every 45 mins or so. Maybe 40 mins as I'm expecting to take 6. The literature suggest they take 15-20 mins to find their way to the muscles. Anyone have any thoughts on when to take the last one? I'm thinking there's not a lot of point in the last 10 minutes.
The main weather service in NZ has their first forecast out and it's worst case scenario - rain and strong northerlies (which will be VERY strong on the course). So I'm going to ignore that since a 9 day forecast is meaningless.
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
Those Adidas shoes are ridiculous. I agree with Watson's comments on this front.
Steve - the challenge in marathons late in the race is not when to take the gel, but whether you can actually force it down. Even with products like Maurten that are very easy on the stomach, I found that even though I knew I needed it, actually bringing myself to take it was a challenge. I dunno, it's like your body has pumped so much blood etc. away from your digestive tract and into your legs that your brain actually sends a message that "this particular system is not available at the current time". So you want to try and get them in early, without putting too much in your stomach, because you might not be able to late in the race.
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"
Steve I would take the last one at about 35kms
DW you are not going to like the new Boston.
It's no longer the safe shoe that can be used for daily training and races. It has a carbon half plate in the heel and carbon metatarsal rods in the forefoot.
Described by Kofuzi as very firm and not nice at slower paces.
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 "
RIP Milkman
Steve - I have the most sensitive stomach in this group, so I've found Maurten to be a lifesaver. I took my gels in my last marathon at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mile markers. I've heard of people getting them down beyond mile 20, but even that was rough for me. I've also heard people with iron stomachs taking them every 5K. I would say at the minimum, I would take at the start and then 10, 20, and 30K. I will say though even my previous PRs of 2:44 and 2:46 were done with only 3 total gels at the 10/20/30 mark with no gel at the start.
I would also say this is not something you should be going into the marathon without having practiced. Have you tried getting down gels at MP? It's another reason I'm a big fan of long sections of MP: it trains my stomach to take down gels and water at the right intervals.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
I know this board has some cyborgs who never get injured, but I'm dealing with one of the weirder ones in my running career (my plantar/achilles issue is still really bad and I can't get out of bed without limping, but it's at the "manageable" phase with running. This is brand new)
I have a generic pain in the upper half of my left leg that I literally cannot pinpoint, but was so bad at the start of my run this morning I pulled the plug and will take a few days (I was limping / changing my gate significantly, which is my sign to stop). At points, I've thought it's the hip flexor. Then I thought it was my abductors. This morning it felt like the adductors.
how in the world does one treat an injury they don't know what it is? I guess I just do some strengthening and rolling/massage gun? My guess is that it's actually some trigger point that is causing this, it would explain the referred pain. It's not a nerve type pain so highly doubt it's that.
Cobra Commander Keen
Go get it, DWave!
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
JMac - I will fight you for the claim of worst stomach, I've never eaten a gel past mile 15. Steve there are studies out there (I first heard about this in Hutchinson's book Endure) that simply swishing a carbohydrate drink and spitting it out fools your body into thinking more energy is on the way and your body seems to make more energy available to the muscles. I strongly suspect that choking down a gel late in a race will have a similar effect even if there's no way for the glycogen to actually make it to your muscles before the race is over though clearly this is just a hypothesis on my part.
I am not a cyborg sorry. I have had injuries that present one day as high hamstring, next day in the calf and the day after that as low hamstring which simply drive physical therapists crazy. That said, if a few days rest doesn't fix things I would talk to a PT hopefully one that is experienced at working with runners or at least serious athletes.
Problem Child
Steve I used JMac's experience with Maurten gels for CIM and took them about every 45 minutes AND at the 40k mark HOPING my stomach would hold on and just stop cramping a little bit. It was probably from how hard I was breating and how fast I was running, but I had that gel and no complaints after the race. I also, as he asks, practiced with them at race pace. Part of my training was a Thursday MP run for 5-10 miles with a 2 mile warm up. I'd take one when I was starting to get dressed, then another at the 45:00 mark just to practice running on two gels at marathon pace. I wanted to be absolutely certain they'd work for me. I think I convinced myself that just one gel on that run wouldn't let me know how it feels when I'm taking number 4 towards the end of a race. A friend of mine was training for a marathon and would take this mayple syrup gel halfway through a run and I just rolled my eyes thinking he'd only practiced with one and four of those just might be too much. I think taking them on long runs is a good idea to find out if there is a flavor or brand you like/don't like. I think there is a LOT of value training with them at race pace. Heck, I even loaded up like it WAS a race with all 5 gels to see if they were hard to manipulate just because I was doing so many MP runs it made it easy to simulate race day.
EDIT:
Jmac honestly I'd try stretching or plyometrics, or yoga to figure out where it's at if possible. Maybe some strength training would help figure out what motion causes the pain, or where it's at. I'd take a guess and say you're right about it being the flexors and the abductors, and they're just tight from the speed workout you've done. It sucks getting old, but also....how much speed work have you been doing this year vs the past? Don't you always apparently get injured in summer and that ruins your fall marathon potential? Could you back off speed work 5% or 1-2 VDOT paces and see if that changes anything for a week or two when you get back to it? I know it sounds stupid of me to say "slow down to speed up" but maybe that actually works for a week or two while base building.
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
Mmmm Bop
I know this board has some cyborgs who never get injured, but I'm dealing with one of the weirder ones in my running career (my plantar/achilles issue is still really bad and I can't get out of bed without limping, but it's at the "manageable" phase with running. This is brand new) I have a generic pain in the upper half of my left leg that I literally cannot pinpoint, but was so bad at the start of my run this morning I pulled the plug and will take a few days (I was limping / changing my gate significantly, which is my sign to stop). At points, I've thought it's the hip flexor. Then I thought it was my abductors. This morning it felt like the adductors. how in the world does one treat an injury they don't know what it is? I guess I just do some strengthening and rolling/massage gun? My guess is that it's actually some trigger point that is causing this, it would explain the referred pain. It's not a nerve type pain so highly doubt it's that.
It might be worth getting an x-ray regarding your plantar/achilles issue just to rule out heel spurs as they can form at the back and bottom of the heel. A good Chiropractor might be able to figure out and help with your new injury.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Good luck to Darkwave.
Jmac - it sounds like you need to get medical advice. Possibly stop running as well?
Darkwave great job in that hot marathon !
Jmac sorry to hear i hope you can get it sorted.
I had a good week over 90kms with some quality.
I did 10x200s early in the week wasn't sure about these but they averaged @36 secs which i have no idea is good or bad.
Yesterday hit a 8km tempo @3.50/km pace and felt good at the end but had some tailwind.
Oh and the strength training feels amazing like I have an extra engine in my upper legs and butt 🙃
Piwi - haha our rivalry continues, nice week, you beat me this time.
DWave - well done on the marathon.
JMac - honestly it sounds like you should dial back the mileage a bit to try and get on top of that. If you're limping around when you get out of bed that's not a great sign.
Me - slightly lighter week, I'd planned to tack a few more miles on after today's race but honestly my legs were pretty trashed. It was a fun event, mostly trails but there were some dirt sections which after all the rain of the last few days had gotten very muddy. Lots of hills in there too, so it was pretty slow but great strength training and great trail racing practice which is what I was using it for. The half in August has less hills and is on good gravel trails the whole way so today was quite a bit tougher. It was a two lap course, ran a fairly egregious positive split but that was because the lead group (me and a couple others including a young kid) went out pretty hot. I knew the kid was quick but had limited endurance so I intentionally stuck on him. He does quite a bit of orienteering so he was far better on the more technical sections than me but there was also a lot of climbing where I clearly had the edge. Sure enough he was starting to battle on the uphills and I pulled out a small lead on the climb at the end of the first lap and just slowly extended it over the second lap where I focused on pushing the uphills and cruising the rest. The race is part of a series and I think he is a bit of a crowd favourite judging from the cheers so possibly it was a bit of an unpopular victory!