Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
RIP Milkman
NYC is fairly extreme in terms of weather. The summers are brutally hot and the winters are brutally cold. It's not as bad as Chicago, but much worse than most of the country. I will say though that training through the summer, while demoralizing with how slow you are and that you feel like death at the end of every workout, really helps your overall training once the cooler temps start. We got 60/15 degree temps on Monday with light rain and I was absolutely cruising through an easy run. I forgot what it feels like to finish a run and want to get inside because you're afraid of getting cold.
The average high in the summer for Auckland is 75/24 and you guys "melt" in the summer and feel like you have to get out early to beat the heat????
Flavio gets the highest complaining rights. His average high is 88/31 and it's just constant humidity. His winters aren't much relief either. Maybe he's secretly a sub 1:20 half runner if he found the weather like Mark got in his recent races.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Hot Weather Complainer
It's the kind of heat that does me in...I lived in Melbourne for 7 years and could run in 40+ degrees (C) without falling to pieces (most of the time) but now I'm back in NZ I seem to struggle with lower temperatures. Must be something to do with dew point, anyone heard of that
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 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Piwi - yeah that was still the one and only time I've ever felt cold in a race. Misery.
Marco - don't worry, we all have days where workouts are tougher than expected or don't go to plan. Don't worry about it too much, it's all part of the journey sometimes.
JMac - oh god here we go on weather again haha.
To Steve's point, there is something about NZ - possibly humidity at sea level or Kiwi Point - that makes temps feel more extreme than they actually are. I've been running in Sydney in 35 degrees and it felt a bit hot but it was basically fine, similar to Steve's Melbourne experiences. But man, that Orewa Beach HM this year, 22 degrees and 99% humidity was just downright inhumane even though I wasn't racing it at full tilt. A couple of people got heatstroke at Omaha back in Dec as well which was similar although slightly cooler. Similarly when I was running in Canada in -10C, it only really felt cold when the wind got up (I would still usually break a sweat).
Also I am crap in warm temps in general, so I am always more inclined to complain about heat and do whatever I can to avoid/minimise it. Most of the HMs between October and March/April will typically have an 8am start so that works OK.
None of this is to say that New York isn't tougher because it is clearly more extreme weather-wise (as is Brazil!) in absolute terms, it's just that people are acclimatised to their local environments so smaller variations might feel more extreme if they're getting towards the outer bounds of 'normal' in that location.
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"
If I'm not talking about weather, it means I'm . I do agree it's about acclimation though, and Kiwi Point is almost more important than temp. That's why Flavio is the thread champ. Also Mark I saw you talking about weather on Strava. It looks like I've infected the group.
I've got probably my hardest speed workout in a long time coming up tonight: 8 mile warmup followed by 6x1200 VO2 max. It's going to be raining, which is good for controlling my internal temperature, but bad for shoe grip. I find doing anything above LT pace to be difficult on wet roads, although it could be my shoes. Anyway, this is the type of workout where I will be cursing that ole bastard Daniels throughout. I may treat myself to some cookies tonight as a reward if I complete it
OK guys...predication time. I'm running an 8K next weekend....what do you think I can run based off of this workout this afternoon?
3 x 1 miles at 6:02 pace (90 second standing recovery)...which is equivalent to a 18:45 5K.
What pace should I aim for an 8K?
Bro you will run 31 mins flat in the 8k so 3.52.5/km
Jmac here in NZ we get alot of rain and alot of sun so the drenched ground one day will have beating sun on it the next and its like a sauna coming out of the vegetation. Also the sun here is very harsh from a UV level and will burn you up quickly due to the hole in the ozone layer over this region. Apart from that its still very decent for 75 % of the year
Been running in the dunes all week, Im a creature of habit very enjoyable almost like trail running. I dont see anyone else and theres lots of little hills and turns etc to keep my mind busy. Saw there was a couple of segments and had a go at both but totally ballsed up the start of one and only ran half the segment 500m in 4.10/km on soft sand with hills but wasted the effort. The other ones is 1km long and I missed a turnoff and lost about 10 secs doubling back the other day ended up with 4.36 for the 1km segment 1 sec behind the leader. Made ammends today with 4.14. Its a tough one when you are running hard out 1km pace on soft sand with hills !
Oh and as you can see Im no longer competitively minded
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 "
Piwi - If you do get a segment, I expect a picture of you in a crown. Didn't you post something like that a while back?
Bro - Too hard to say off one workout. Did you taper into that workout? What have you been running in terms of MPW? What do other workouts look like?
Me - Got in my 6x1200 and it went pretty well with an average of 4:12, which is about 5:40/3:30 pace, in very warm/humid conditions. I feel like something has clicked recently. I treated myself to a disgustingly large dinner . Not sure if it's because I only ran 20 miles a couple of weeks ago that my body finally responded to training, but I've noticed all of my paces picking up, especially easy pace, which has dropped a good 15 seconds per mile. I'll be running a half marathon this weekend, but it'll be 2 miles easy and 11 miles at MP. I may be able to squeak it in under 1:30, but it's going to be close.
Jmac thats great looks like the heat training is paying dividens now. Yes I won a childs dressup crown for having the fastest time to the summit of Papamoa Hills last November. It was part of a local running facebook group challenge. At least it motivated me to run hills for a month
Intl. correspondent
Jmac - LOL actually I'm a 1h24 half marathoner in good weather
I've been 13 days here in San Jose, I'm about starting to like the city, but thankfully tomorrow I'm going back to Brazil.
I've had some nice runs in here.
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
Piwi: saw your interaction with the previous segment champ. He said he runs his dogs there. Those dogs must be fast I probably have zero chance to ever hold a segment crown as I live in the country of the crazy triathletes but were exactly do you see those things on strava? Btw beautiful pictures - I really need to get to NZ at some point. Didnt know you get snow too.
Me: I am having a hard time hitting the Hansons tempos and intervalls. I can blame heat but its not the cause of it. I am cutting most of my workouts short. In general my legs are really really heavy despite going super slow. Either I am going through menopause like Piwi or I am at the lowest point of the U shaped performance curve and will pick up speed soon just like Jmac (but on a much lower/slower level).
Flavio: save travels back. Disappointed you didnt take pics of you running around Google Facebook etc campus man.
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Mick ah Manopause thats what Ive got
After a Strava run click on your run and then on segments on your PC or the little cup on your phone and all segments run within your run will show. You can then check the leaderboard to see where you ranked. Be careful its addictive.
Strava - Too many of my segments are either run by guys who are doing 4:50 miles, or were stolen by a bike recently. I don't think I'll ever hold a crown. I may have to find a remote location this winter to steal one.
MJ - what are you basing your pace off of for tempos and intervals? You don't have a lot of recent race experience, so it may just be that you're running them too fast. One thing I really learned this cycle was that hitting all of your intervals/tempos at 5-10 seconds per mile slower is worlds ahead of trying to nail them exactly and blowing up. Daniels talks about it a lot in his book, but I've seen it elsewhere: it's much better to train slower than your actual LT pace than faster.
Me - Unfortunately, a hamstring niggle has crept up. I've been injury free this whole cycle, but I guess it wasn't going to last forever. I'm keeping a watchful eye on this, but it's a bit too late in the cycle for me to just take days off at this point, plus I don't think it's at that point. It's one of those things right now where it's just "something isn't right" vs. "ow this hurts when I run," which usually means I can run through it. Sort of like extreme tightness and feel very sore vs sharp pain. I was able to complete my 1200 repeat workout with no sharp pain, so I think that if I can get through that, I should be okay. However, still worried, probably at a worry level 2 out of 10. Anyway, if people have history with hamstring niggles and have advice on what to do, I would love to hear it.
I had a good string of 60 mile weeks before I went to NYC and had to make a business trip the following week. Other than the 6:02-pace mile repeats, I did 10x200m hill repeats at 5:56 pace. This hills climbs roughly 45ft of elevation in just 200m, so it's very steep and challenging. I did a 5 miler at 6:46 pace last night in higher humidity, pushing the cadence a bit.
I'm thinking 6:14 is about right for the 8K pace...but I'm expecting a bit slower because I've been doing mainly threshold stuff for the past month and very little top-end speedwork until the past two weeks.
It does sound like you had a bit of a break before these workouts, i.e. you weren't running them at the end of those 60 mile weeks. So I would say you're a bit fresher than normal. Your 5 miler probably is a better indicator than anything else, given it's pretty much an 8k test run. I think that, generally, whatever you can hold in training you can hold at double that distance for a race, which means you could probably do a 10 mile race around 6:40 or so in perfect conditions. That puts you around 6:25 for an 8K. The thing is though, your history of not being able to run sub 1:30 says that you may have more speed on shorter distance, which could lead to a 6:15 or so pace in an 8K.
So I'd recommend you go out around 6:20 and if you have anything left in the tank, try to pick it up to 6:15 or better for the last 2K.
Jmac: bummer regarding that hamstring. Weather is just turning in your favour but then this is keeping you from training at the limit. I loved your Strava comment of: Everything in the south is a tunnel. The kind of quote I can see as a good book title or as a catchy line in a cool hip hop song. And I should know this since I lived in Newport/Pavonia just above the Holland tunnel for close to 6 months. But there is the Verrazano bridge down south right?
Re tempos: I have been able to hit the tempo and interval workouts as well as the long run paces during the last 10 weeks no problem. But this has been the last two weeks a bit of a struggle. Actually I feel mentally fatigued. I am in week 12 of 16 and this is only my second cycle and I guess I need to dial back the paces or else I wont be able to have quality in the last 4 weeks. Terrible feeling. Now as regards to the paces: Hansons have a pace chart which is more detailed as what Daniels has. It tells you all paces and the tempos are pretty much run at goal pace. And the intervals/strenght roughly 10 sec/km faster - thats roughly your threshold. I have guestimated the paces based on recent shorter races and as mentioned I had no issues with the workouts during the heat. Might just be general fatigue or wrong food, stress, or.....I will try to figure it out.