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

Running Problem


Problem Child

    JMac have you considered doing your long runs after your kid goes to bed for the night? Figure by now she's doing 4ish hour sleep sessions. Should be enough time for you to get a long run in, and not have to wake up for mornings. I was thinking about you at 4am this morning when I went out for a run. I fell asleep on the couch probably before 9pm, rolled into bed around 10pm, and woke up around 3:20. If your best work hours are 9p-11p why not use it to your advantage? 202 wasn't enjoyable for me. Even the 5k time trail wasn't enjoyable since it's just a time trial and not a race.  Also, I'm not surprised you're in finance. The one time we met I assumed you wear a suit and tie very often, and you seem to strike me as someone who works in finance.  I mean that in the nicest way possible. With the vaccine for COVID 19 hitting the second round of injections, March Madness being held in one location, and towns reaching more and more debt I could see fall marathons happening. CIM almost had an in person "Project 26.2"event on race day that was canceled last minute. I think CIM and Boston are the only races I expect to run this year. Boston because it's my first. CIM because I need something to push me and I anticipate (HOPE) I'll be working from home for the next 12 months at a minimum. If only I could get a defined end date so as to save money on daycare.

     

    piwi I had to look it up too. Never know what an Actuary  ACTUALLY did. Wow...that sounds funny to say.

     

    zebano there was also his MMA career....oof.

     

    Day 3 of morning runs. I decided 29F at 4am is the same as 30F at 7-8am. Turns out I was completely wrong, should have done strides like keen because I saw two coyotes (possibly the same one) and got back in time to find out I programmed the coffee pot wrong. I was expecting a full pot and came back to an empty pot because nothing started. I think I'll do another week of morning runs before I want to do some TRX. The Theragun is making all this running worth it. I've also found out walking is a totally different leg muscle group. weird...I know.

    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

    Marky_Mark_17


      Steve - there is a group of runners I know who live in Mt. Roskill and will do that Waitaks loop from time to time.  They even go past Lydiard's old house!  Good news on the knee and I hope it stays that way.  I wish they hadn't changed the Christchurch timing either - I know why they did (better weather), but it adds to the April/early May event logjam, and as you say there's really nothing in terms of decent marathon courses between May and Sept/Oct other than Wellington, which has a massive wind risk.

       

      Either there's a certain amount of arrogance or a certain amount of ignorance among some race directors in NZ.  Moving Christchurch to the same day as Waterfront was just a terrible idea (the two fastest flat HM courses in the country), and there's also the fact that Queenstown set itself up on the same weekend as the much longer-running Kerikeri HM which - for quite different reasons - are two courses that have been known to attract reasonable elite fields.

       

      Anyway good news in the cricket with us now ranked as the #1 test-playing country.  Some great digs on the Fox Cricket page about how the Australians can wipe their tears away with sandpaper.

       

      JMac - if you're wired to be that much of an evening person, early morning runs might be an uphill battle.  I'm undoubtedly a morning person but I'm also useless after about 9pm at night - in fact my natural sleep pattern is pretty much identical to Keen.  If you're working until midnight then getting up at 5am to go running is just a terrible idea.

       

      RP - 4am.  I like it.

      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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

      Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

      "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

      SteveChCh


      Hot Weather Complainer

        Steve - there is a group of runners I know who live in Mt. Roskill and will do that Waitaks loop from time to time.  They even go past Lydiard's old house!  Good news on the knee and I hope it stays that way.  I wish they hadn't changed the Christchurch timing either - I know why they did (better weather), but it adds to the April/early May event logjam, and as you say there's really nothing in terms of decent marathon courses between May and Sept/Oct other than Wellington, which has a massive wind risk.

         

        Either there's a certain amount of arrogance or a certain amount of ignorance among some race directors in NZ.  Moving Christchurch to the same day as Waterfront was just a terrible idea (the two fastest flat HM courses in the country), and there's also the fact that Queenstown set itself up on the same weekend as the much longer-running Kerikeri HM which - for quite different reasons - are two courses that have been known to attract reasonable elite fields.

         

        Anyway good news in the cricket with us now ranked as the #1 test-playing country.  Some great digs on the Fox Cricket page about how the Australians can wipe their tears away with sandpaper.

         

        Agreed on the lunacy of moving Christchurch - in a year where they can't expect any international runners, they move to the same day as a fast, flat race in Auckland meaning they'll lose 90% of North Island runners too.  The weather on race day was fine, calm and clear for so long (all but one time I've run it), then bad weather in 2017, 2018 and 2019 seems to have spooked them into a move.  The people who might be put off by the weather are probably from Auckland so moving the race to the same day as a big Auckland race isn't going to help.

         

        I went to day 1 of the match down here.  I also got into it with some Aussies on Facebook.  They crack me up - "you can't be number 1, you haven't won in Australia" to which I respond "you were number 1 without winning in India" so they go to "you never win away from home" which of course invites the response "we beat Pakistan away - you couldn't beat Pakistan, India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka....".  Can't they just let us enjoy the moment???  We'll drop back down to #2 in 2 weeks when the Australia vs India series finishes.

        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

        watsonc123


          Plus Christchurch used to be on a long weekend, which encouraged visitors.

           

          2018 weather was good for roughly 2 hours, so for me running the half, I had very good weather (9 Celsius with light winds).

           

          I did early morning runs in 2015.  I did not like it.  I'm not as extreme as JMac, but I'm definitely not an early riser.  Similar to JMac, I'd sleep 9-10 hours a day if I could.  Working from home on average 3 days per week has definitely improved sleep.

           

          JMac - I would be casual about 2021 running due to your other commitments, plus the good chance of race cancellations.

           

          Steve - Have you considered seeing a physio?  There might be some exercises that will help?  Where in the knee is it sore?  Is it the patella?  Anterior tendon?  Maybe see a physio?

          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

            RP uh I love those The Town jerseys and which they would make for good singlets.

             

            Zebano: a shame that most of them proved to be heavy on steroids. I didnt actually know that Jose tried his luck in the MMA omg the one fight I saw was so incredibly embarrassing....

             

            Jmac: just keep at it. It all gets better with time. And then you will have the second one Smile

             

            Flavio: Swiss Land is all white at the moment. Perfect for some easy jogging (not as crazy as Keen). Got all ski equipment ready and hope they wont close the slopes.

             

            Piwi: noone really cares for actuaries Smile we usually keep them in the basement of our office building! (Sorry Jmac, I still respect your achievement but...) Smile here is one of the jokes about actuaries: how do you know an actuary is an introvert vs an extrovert? The extrovert looks at the other persons shoes while speaking while the introvert starres at his own shoes Smile

            HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

             

            2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!

              Or this one: Why do male actuaries like to use the end urinal? Because it reduces the probability by 50% of being pissed upon by someone else.

              HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

               

              2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!

              flavio80


              Intl. correspondent

                Funny, I only know this Canseco dude because he had an MMA fight against Korean giant Hong manChoi.

                 

                Jmac - When I was a teenager I’d also stay up very late and wake up at noon. This once I woke up at 4pm.

                These days I’ll be happy if I can sleep to 8am.

                 

                Steve - do not rush it. Keep doing that strength training to rebound safely.

                You absolutely should not try to increase mileage in the next 2 weeks (at least not to marathon training level).

                 

                Mick - I heard that joke about people from Finland haha.

                 

                me - For no reason at all, today I did another 5k time trial. I thought, hey, I've not run hard since Sunday, I'm actually feeling lighter and bouncier. I'll just go very early so there are no dogs.

                Weather was perfect. No dogs either, I managed to do 4 satisfactory laps. I was bouncy and light.

                But had nothing left in the well. Splits were even worse than Sunday: 3:38, 3:33, 3:41, 3:51 3:48. Total : 18:31

                So yeah, the theory that you should taper for a 5k is correct, and the theory that you shouldn't race too often (or go too often to the well) is also correct.

                Food for thought, if you never ran a 5k without taper, now you know that you're running 1 to 2% slower than you could.

                PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021

                Up next: no idea

                Tool to generate Strava weekly

                  Flavio so in Finland they also don't like to being pissed upon? I remember the Brazilian golden shower story....yikes!

                   

                  Btw are you now officially legal or still unofficially illegal?

                   

                  Bummer about the dogs not showing up to see you run...good effort though you are a beast. Adding the Nike Next% might make it possible to go to the well without taper and still PR Wink

                  HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

                   

                  2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!

                    Flavio nice commitment putting yourself through another 5k. I think the Lady Gaga rule applies to you if you don't run sub 18.30 

                     

                    Jmac 8 hours sleep for me 9pm to 5am. I love the quietness of early morning runs where not many people can see this hobby jogger doing speedwork etc 😀

                    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 "      

                     

                    flavio80


                    Intl. correspondent

                      Jmac - I sleep as much as I can. The limiting factor is my own internal clock waking me up against my will. Usually from 10pm to 7am.

                      I miss the mid afternoon naps I took a while ago though. 30 minutes and you're fresh again.

                       

                      Mick - I was referring to the introvert joke LOL. I'm officially Italian, though they did take their time with the recognition process taking 6 months and it required another 45 days before I could have my ID and passport done.

                      I'm really becoming Italian now, I'm already becoming picky about food and complaining about the government in Rome.

                      Now I'll describe my breakfast today, and probably only Marco will understand:

                      A small round Pretzel bread with Italian Ricotta, some leaves of baby lettuce (Lattughino), olive oil and a bit of Barilla tomato sauce. It's hard to describe how good this is. And it will only make sense if you try these foods here in Italy, especially the Ricotta.

                      BTW I can now see why Italians always say that Italian food outside of Italy is mostly bad food.

                       

                      Piwi - LOL, that's not fair but it's a fun rule.

                       

                      me - Here are the last few 5ks I've run:

                      2016-04 - I ran 18:05 on a day my first K was a 3:24. I figured I'd soon be running sub 17 at that pace.

                      2016-07 - I ran another 5k in similar shape, but it had a lot of wind (you know I don't care much about wind, so this means it was a LOT of wind, my bib almost got ripped of). 18:30. Not bad, I'll train again and soon run at least sub 18.

                      2017 - spent the whole year injured, no 5ks

                      2018-03 - warm day (over 21C) for a slow 19:03

                      2018-04 - another warm day, slow 19:19

                      2018-10 - perfect weather, 1C near Hamburg Germany. Went out blasting 2k in 7 minutes. Faded horribly to 18:34.

                      2019-08 - After hiring a coach, and setting a 3k PR a few months prior, went out again in PR pace but faded a bit to 18:12

                      2019-09 - After a 1500m PR I thought I had a chance for a PR. It was already beginning to warm though and hit a warm day with 19C temperatures and surprisingly 18:00 but for a short course 4.85km.

                      2020-09 - After restarting my running career after the lockdown, I was in prime shape, the coach assessed my peak perfectly and I was full of run. I ran an astonishing 18:02 and it could probably be even faster on a track, cause I had to run extra 60m to account for GPS inaccuracies.

                      2021-01 - 2 failed time trials. I thought I had it, but my cardio is not at a good level at the moment and a recent up in weekly mileage has left me a bit tired. 18:13 after reaching 3k in PR pace (10:47). The other one today was even worse, but because I spent all the water in the well last Sunday. So all is good.

                       

                      So yeah, I keep running against a wall and sub 18 seems unbreakable at the moment. I've recently upped my weekly mileage a bit and I believe there will be some good gains in the long term, I just need to be patient and wait a few months.

                      I'm always a bit impatient because father time is there to drag you down, but I suppose I can still progress faster than father time can drag me down.

                       

                      Going forward I have a potential 10K time trial down the time to try to break my PR (38:12) and then perhaps a half marathon around mid March, which will probably also be a time trial from the looks of it.

                      PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021

                      Up next: no idea

                      Tool to generate Strava weekly

                      JamesD


                      JamesD

                        Wow, lots of activity on the board the last day or two.  As a politically engaged person who lives in Georgia and used to work for the federal government in DC, I've been following other things the last couple of days.

                         

                        Sports Fandom - Mostly baseball these days and occasional college football and national team soccer, though I followed lots of sports more closely when I was growing up.  Have been a Braves fan since 1970, though I expect they'll be changing their name in the next 5 years.

                         

                        Sleep - 7 hours is usually enough, but lately I've been sleeping 9.  DW gets up at 4 to be at the gym just after 5, so she's in bed by 8:30 and also naps in the afternoon.  I'm not quite that extreme but am a morning person, and in pre-covid days I liked occasional early-morning track workouts that would start in the darkness and end around dawn.  Our 17-year-old son slept from midnight to noon during the Xmas holidays, so one of us was asleep for about 75% of each day.

                         

                        Financial Nerd Cred - Not a CFA or an actuary, but have a master's in economics & and an undergrad degree in math & economics, and I read for fun DW's MBA investment analysis textbook.

                         

                        Running - Hit a milestone of sorts in my recovery from the hamstring injury yesterday when I went 91 minutes on the treadmill without any walk breaks.  Glute was sore but not too bad.  Have a long way to go before I'm back to normal, but a week ago I was still taking breaks every mile or so, so this is progress.

                        Post-1987 PRs:  Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)

                        '24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32

                          Flavio: I am drooling. Sounds so good. Marco now only gets to eat black pudding with backed beans and shepherds pie. No more dolce vita. If I wanted to work my way up to say 21:30min for the 5k, would you recommend any specific workouts or should I go with Daniels? Whats an intermediate step i.e. 1k time I should be able to run - something like 3:45? My app says me taking December off resulted in a V02Max of only 37 right now, down from 45 in November. So waaaaay to go. It will probably take me 2 months.

                           

                          James: I have been to one Giants Braves game that SF lost big time. And all Atlanta fans were making the Tomahawk Chop. That was funny I think they banned that now.

                          HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

                           

                          2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!

                          JamesD


                          JamesD

                             

                            James: I have been to one Giants Braves game that SF lost big time. And all Atlanta fans were making the Tomahawk Chop. That was funny I think they banned that now.

                             

                            The Chop didn't get started until 1991, when the team had a player who had played football for Florida State, which used the chop (and has a good relationship with the Seminole tribe).  Fans initially used it to celebrate him, and then when the team had a good year it took off.  I believe late in 2019 the team management decided not to have the organist play music to encourage the chop, but some fans still did it.

                             

                            Even the team's name doesn't have a direct link to any particular native American group - one of the team's early co-owners in the late 1800s or early 1900s was a politician with ties to New York's Tammany Hall political machine, which had an Indian as its symbol, and the name was a reference to him.  I expect that now that the football Redskins have dropped their name and the baseball Indians have committed to change theirs, in a few years there will be enough pressure on the Braves and the football Chiefs that they'll change too.  A couple of Braves message boards I post on have been speculating about new names, and management may see it as an opportunity to sell lots of new Hammers (or whatever) jerseys/kits.

                            Post-1987 PRs:  Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)

                            '24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32

                            darkwave


                            Mother of Cats

                              Wow, lots of activity on the board the last day or two.  As a politically engaged person who lives in Georgia and used to work for the federal government in DC, I've been following other things the last couple of days.

                               

                              This is a large part of why I've been absent.  It's been frightening - slightly less so than 9/11, only because I was downtown for 9/11, and in Arlington for this.   For those of you not familiar with the Washington DC area, Arlington is basically "the other half" of DC - the two places form a square when joined with the Potomac River dividing the two.         

                               

                              As I mentioned on the other thread - many of those coming in for the protests in DC were staying at several hotels in the Arlington/Alexandria area, rather than DC (since Arlington hotels are cheaper).  One of those hotels was very close to my house, so that was concerning - the fear was that people who hadn't fully expressed their anger downtown would finish up the job in other areas - this happened with the last round in December.

                               

                              (I want to be clear that I have no issue with people who have different political beliefs from me coming to DC, peacefully assembling, and holding signs and shouting.    If you want to come here to yell about a stolen election - I disagree with you, but I'll still welcome you and point you towards the metro.  My concern was with the small subset who had previously expressed their intent to be violent and destructive while in DC, some of whom acted on that intent).

                               

                              As it turned out, nothing happened in my neighborhood (at least that I have seen yet) - we ended up with a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am last night, and I think that helped.  I didn't sleep very well, though.

                               

                              Two pictures:

                               

                              This is my local metro (subway) station yesterday morning.  The US flag being dragged on the ground makes the photo, IMHO.

                               

                              This is a park field on the side of one of my regular running routes in DC.  It has never to my knowledge been used for parking before.  But apparently a bunch of people who drove in to protest even didn't understand how inappropriate it was to park there, or just couldn't find parking and decided "whatever."

                               

                              I'm trying to give people the benefit of the doubt - I know that when I've traveled to Kansas, people have raised their eyebrows when I asked whether I could park somewhere or where the parking signs were.  It may be that in certain areas of the US, anywhere you can put your car or truck is a legal spot.  (Not so at all in DC)

                              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.

                              watsonc123


                                Hopefully it will all be over soon.  Surely, post 20 January it will all stop?

                                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