Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition (Read 448 times)

Check this out guys.

Craig Engels early celebration then mowed down by Kiwi Geordie Beamish, it's pretty funny.

Check where Beamish is with one lap to go in this mile race which was a couple of days ago.

 

https://youtu.be/OvxQUSj3kNQ

ohh oops. FWIW he laughed about it on the Citius Mag podcast but that's gotta be a bit embarrassing. I hear Frerichs ran sub-9 in the steeple so I'm going to watch that next (Jeruto ran 8:53!!).

Corey, good luck at the race.

Cromwell half on October 24 looks like the only possibility. Not great flights into Queenstown at the moment but that may change when levels drop. Maybe.

It's run by the same guys that run Southern Lakes.  I suspect a decent chunk of it will be on trail surfaces so probably not the quickest.

There's Auckland too but the hills make that a little slower (having said that, it has been a PB course for me in the past).

 

Hmmm, I guess it's not what I'm looking for then.  Mt Cook is another option - it's all on roads but a sharp then gradual downhill to halfway then a gradual and sharp uphill in the second half means it's probably not that fast either.  Not to mention potential weather.  It's probably too late to find a good spot to stay...and it's a long drive.  Haha, I guess that's a no.

 

Maybe I'll have another look at getting to Wellington and just do the half there.  Of course, that will be touch and go to even happen as they would need to be back to level 1.  So if I plan on that I guess it guarantees a cancellation....(yes, I am feeling pessimistic about any race I enter now - not even Queenstown is a lock)

 

Update - Found Wellington flights cheap-ish and a place to stay with free cancellation.  I'm only doing the half though - on a good day it's the fast course I'm looking for.  6 weeks until race day, so possibly 50-50 chance of happening but at least I have a plan.

 

Keen - Can you please update the front page?  Dunedin = postponed.  Wellington half-marathon on October 10, goal: PR.

I think Wellington is a reasonable chance of happening, and a decently fast course too (subject to weather).  At this stage it's looking like everyone else should be free and clear in a few weeks but we are likely to be stuck in lockdown for longer in Auckland.

The reality is that this risk of community spread has been lurking all year and we have dodged the bullet a couple times (in Feb and then with that Australian tourist in June).  I'm grateful I got Southern Lakes HM in when I did... the reality is that it's not until you're on the start line that you can be certain it'll go ahead!

Keen - while you're on the updates... can you please flag National 10k Road Champs as postponed for me, and add Nelson Half on November 7 (I hope).

 

Any idea how many seconds per minute I should allow for racing on dirt and/or crushed gravel versus road?  I've found a half in the Dallas area that I can do while I'm accompanying my wife to a convention in October.  It's about half an hour from our hotel, which seems a lot easier than driving 2-4 hours to overnight near a race.  Average temps seem to be around 50/10, which is about as good as I can hope for, though the range is quite high - in some years it has been just above freezing, and in others rains have left the trail muddy or even flooded.  It's about 5 miles on roads and then 8 on dirt/crushed gravel walking trails (which look pretty smooth in the video).  Will that take 10 sec/mile from my time?

What's the terrain like?

I'd probably be around 3:25/km for a flat road half in VF's.

My recent trail race was more like 3:50/km, but it had a lot of hills, and no VFs.  Plus quite a lot of twists and turns which also slow things up (there were quite a few switchbacks on the downhills which are particularly unhelpful).  So that's a 25 second/km gap, but probably 5 secs is footwear and 5-10 secs for hills and turns and stuff.  So, like for like on a flat, relatively straight course, maybe call it 10 secs/km or ~15 secs/mile?  Obviously that would only apply to the trail section of the course.

That's just guessing of course but it's as good as anything I can think of.

Thanks.  The trail section of the race is relatively straight with one loop U-turn, and pretty flat - it's a walking trail around a lake in a planned community.  One reviewer said there were small uphills that slowed him down a little and the corresponding downhills weren't long enough to speed him back up, but everyone else seemed to think it was pretty flat.  Sounds like 2 minutes might be a reasonable estimate for the time cost, or much more if it's muddy, of course.

Yeah that sounds about right to me.  Mud would make it worse of course.

new shoes! new shoes! new shoes! new shoes! 🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳

Orange Torin 5 and Blueish Paradigm 6.

It's a glorious day!

I would say the trail will be anywhere from 5s/km to 30s/km slower.  It really depends on the trail.

Flavio - yay for new shoes.

I have also ordered shoes, yet to arrive.  Saucony Endorphin Pro v1 at a good price (NZD 261 ~ USD 183).

My Asics Meta Racers are really good for up to 10km, but are not great for me longer than that.  As you must mid/fore foot strike on them, and as I tire I shift to heel striking.

So hopefully Wairarapa half on 7 November happens.

Zeb - I had the Torin 3.5 and this one fits exactly the same.