Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
hey everyone just back from vacation, lots of activity that I've missed, I'll have to come back and read through when I have more time. I hope everyone is doing well and injury free.
I was still able to get in a few runs and managed another solid week. Time to get to serious training now though.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Aug 06, 2018 thru Sunday, Aug 12, 2018
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
RIP Milkman
Flavio - He actually does state the warm up miles in 2Q. The whole point is to run in tired legs to prep you for the second half of a marathon, so you can't just move the miles unfortunately. Also, nice week, good to see you back out there.
Watson - ah sorry! I thought you were racing this past weekend. Now that workout makes sense.
Mark - This osteo discovers everything for you. Certainly worth all of your trips there!
Keen - I don't train by HR so I have no idea. It's a bit hard imo to understand what the HR data means for his T workouts, because they can end up feeling like you're racing at the end of it. I will say this, and it's something that he mentions in the book: it is much better to be training 5-10 seconds too slow on your T pace than 5-10 seconds too fast. However, if you have a few good workouts in a row where you feel like you can up your T pace, I would go up 1 VDOT, which means 5 seconds per mile. Then hold that until you can prove more fitness gained.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Cobra Commander Keen
Mick - Good idea to check previous workouts for pace and HR. Taken from a 1T, 2T, 1T workout on July 9 the on sections were (middle two were continuous):
6:30 / 163bpm 6:30 / 169bpm 6:25 / 176bpm6:28 / 173bpm
After 8x 200m R this morning my 2T were both 6:25 with HR at 159 & 166bpm. Weather looks to have been similar between the workouts, though likely a bit more humid today. The VDOT bump is in 2 weeks. I think that'll certainly get me closer to the HR zone recommendations.
Watson - Good week. How are you feeling about the half?
Mark - Solid week, and good luck on the 10k this weekend. And close call on the meta-thingy!
Flavio - From when they first started almost all of the updates to Stryd have been software-based. They moved from a chest strap to the footpod (and beefed up the specs a bit in doing so), but that's really the only significant HW change. I think Garmin's biggest issue with their implementation of running power is that you have to have one of their watches in addition to their pod, and that watch has to have a barometric altimeter (Stryd has one built-in). That last part is becoming more common, but leaves out most of their past-generation running watches. What I do really like about theirs is that they try to compensate for wind, which Stryd absolutely can't (or at least doesn't) do.Awesome that you're already seeing results from the functional training.
Cfarr - Good week as well. I like the quad on Thursday!
My week below. This week should be a little lower on mileage, before bumping up next week towards what I'll (likely) peak at for the cycle.
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
Cfarr, Mark, Flavio and Steve - good weeks.
Keen - great week. My feeling for the half is as always some uncertainty as to whether I can hit my aim. The last two months have gone quite well training wise.
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
Flavio: thanks for the suggestion, I will look into it
Keen, you are correct, I have ran a HM in Lisburn in June (1:31:37) but I have never run 10K). I also think it is a good idea if I can find the condition...
Piwi, I am not sure I will manage a sub 40, I will definitely give it a go...
Mick, running definitely helps. I got back on my Saucony (good friends and listeners) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, getting back on track (achieving >40 Miles in the week) see below
Last week did not start well. As mentioned, I could not run on Monday, only managed 4 miles on Tuesday and did not run on Wednesday and Thursday. However, I managed 10 miles on Friday, 12 on Saturday and 15 on Sunday, getting my total for the week at 41. I am happy I managed another week above 40 miles (as suggested when I first started posting here I am managing a few weeks in a row above 40... let's see how it will work in September...). I feel better, the weather condition is a bit better (below 30 finally!!) and I managed to get a bit more out of my legs in those medium-long run.
I think the combined impact of the warm weather and the increased miles hit me hard in the last couple of weeks, but I am not going to give up on speed/threshold training and tomorrow I will try the 6X1000 at 5k pace. Let's see if I can manage 3'45''/3'50''...
have a great week
marco
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:
???
Mark: I read an old RW article that suggested 20% less two weeks out, 50% less miles in the week of. This would be for the 10k specific tapering and no real quality, other than some R and strides. But then again, noone does this, everyone more or less just runs through it - or at least thats what it stated in the article.
Keen: Seems like you could easily increase your paces now, ahead of the scheduled VDOT bump. Cool stuff, HR is totally in line with your perceived effort and honestly having been following your murder workouts, it doesnt surprise me at all.
Marco: yes those Saucony's are really good friends Mines are called Adidas, Asics and Brooks; I cycle them as I need a lot of comfort from my friends. Terrible to see what happened in Genova....
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Marco - good week.
Mick - is the 50% inclusive or exclusive of the race day volume of warm up and race?
https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20834464/tapering-for-optimal-race-performance/
Watson - I read it as exclusive of race miles. I copied the link in - its a very old article by Pfitzinger.
Marco - Saucony are my friends too (also Mizuno).
Watson - strangely, I've had better races in the last little while when I wasn't going in with a hard/fixed goal. My last 3 races... actually now I think about it, my 5 fastest HMs... I all went into with a relatively soft goal, or no specific goal.
Keen - great week. Man you just keep on putting in the work.
Steve - I am in Christchurch Fri/Sat next week for a client AGM. Fly in Fri evening (arrive 5:30) and out Saturday afternoon. If you have some time for a jog and/or beer on Fri night, or a run on Sat morning (would need to be fairly early as I think the AGM starts at 9am), let me know. I am staying out near the airport but can Uber into town.
Re tapering - depending how this weekend's 10km goes, I'll review my taper before NZ Road Champs in 2 weeks time and maybe drop the mileage a bit more.
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"
Flavio - Something I forgot to mention about Stryd: I LOVE using it to pace workouts, especially on hills. 200/400m repeats are just too short to check that on my watch, but for longer stuff it's great. Having one number to try hitting for a workout (300w on a T workout, for example), regardless of hills, is awesome. Zero need to worry about pace - and in my experience the grade adjusted pace in Strava for hilly sections paced by Stryd comes very close to the target pace (were I on flats).
Mick - Good article, thanks.
Shoes - I'm seriously considering getting a pair of super-cushioned shoes for easy days and LRs that don't have quality in them.
Keen - Nice week. I have three pairs of shoes: most cushioned, medium cushioned, and light cushioned.
Most - easy days, recovery days, and long runs without quality
Medium - all days with M or T pace in it, including all race distances above 10K
Light - all days with I or R pace in it, including all races 10k and lower.
Hmm, good discussion to be had here I reckon.
Most cushioned: Saucony Freedom ISO / Mizuno Wave Inspire - long runs or recovery. The Freedoms are light enough that they can handle a tempo block in a long run OK too.
In-between: Mizuno Wave Catalyst / Mizuno Wave Sayonara - hill reps, M pace, easier interval workouts
Lightweight: Saucony Kinvara - tempo sessions, hard interval workouts, track sessions, basically anything above HMP.
Race: Saucony Fastwitch / Mizuno Wave Sonic
Yes I have a lot of shoes. What of it. In practice the Freedom ISO's and the Kinvara's get the most use.
JMac & Mark - That sounds like a pretty good system. Though for R work (and I, if done on track) I'd probably want to swap between most cushion and least cushion for warm up/ cool down vs speed. Now to do some research on high-cushion shoes...
Tempo run today went pretty well, though after getting several miles in to the extended cool-down I started getting a side stitch and felt pretty drained. There's a huge amount of work being done on or around most of the schools in town, which includes a new fence around the track/football field complex. Workers were finally putting up a gate in front of the ticket stand, which means that I might have to find a creative way of getting in come next week. I'm quite certain that the various coaches wouldn't mind at all, since I've had nothing but "good mornings" when they show up to setup practice and find me doing laps well before they unlock the inner gates. Maybe I could negotiate a key for myself...
Keen - I'm surprised you do your T workouts on the track. 6 miles on a track sounds horrendous. I just do all of that on the road. The only thing I would do on the track are I or R workouts. I'll also note that I'll complete longer (12-14 miles) I paced work in the 2Q all in my low cushioning shoes. Ideally I wouldn't, but I have to run to my location and can't really leave my high cushioned shoes lying around in Central Park. It's okay though as long as your legs are accustomed to it. Allows the body to keep adjusting to different muscles used by different shoes.
Mark - Throw me up on the front page for the Bronx 10 Mile on 9/30. I have absolutely zero idea what the weather will be, but if it's standard (low 60's, not the upper 70's I raced in last year), I think 62:00 is a good goal since I'm only mini-tapering into it.
Me - I'm pretty down and out on training right now given how bad things have been going. I know we joke about the weather here, but it's really starting to wear me down in the middle of 60+ mile weeks. However, I did just go back to the beginning of this thread to remind myself how far I've come this year since my running mileage YTD as of January 23 was exactly 0. I've run more over the past 7 weeks than I ran in the first 17 weeks of the year. Sometimes have to go back to how awful things were to put in perspective how lucky I am to be injury free right now, regardless of how mentally drained I've become. I also looked back at my log last year for the marathon and I had barely started training by this point in terms of the heavy Q days. Yeah yeah I know, once the cooler fall weather comes I'll be okay, but sometimes it's hard to convince yourself that things will work out when you keep getting beat over the head.
JMac - Doing T (and I) workouts on the track is only for my upcoming race. The course for my goal marathon is far more flat than anything I can run on without driving for 20-25 minutes (except the track, of course). I'm just trying to get as used to the flats as I can ahead of the race. After this race the only thing I'll do on the track will be R work. Oh, and it's not "just" 6 miles on the track. With the exception of heading to/from my neighborhood (.75mi each way) all of my workout days are on the track, so I'm getting ~13-15 track miles on those days.
I believe it was you a couple pages ago who said to me something to the effect of "it's amazing what a look back can do". I hear you on getting beat down by the weather conditions, though. Hopefully that 5:1 rest makes things a bit more manageable.