Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019
Cobra Commander Keen
James - Glad you seem to be recovering from that 10k, even if it is taking longer than expected.
Mark - Another killer race, way to go! Is the race broadcast reviewable anywhere? How am I just noticing this... You're wrong-handed?? Nice pictures - I'll get through the RR soon.
Watson - Nice week.
Marco - Good luck on the rest of your taper.
Flavio - Bummer about not snagging a new PR, but with your recent fitness I'm sure you'll get it when you have a good day. 6k race? That's something you'd never find around here!
DPS - Great week!
CFarr - If you're not used to it, running in HR Z2 can be VERY slow - usually a sign that your aerobic system needs development. Sticking with it can bring about some fairly rapid results, though.
Paul - Glad you weren't (seriously) hurt with the fall. Got tripped up on a rock/root or something?
JMac - Nice volume on that easy week. Allergies or weather maybe causing the lungs issues? Or just a symptom of "easy run madness"?
Last week was a bit crazy for me. DW and DD1 were sick, while DD2 faked out her mom and got to stay home from school, so I was off work helping take care of them. Thursday/Friday I helped move my grandfather into a new place, then soccer stuff all weekend. DD3 also decided she wanted to potty train herself mid-week, which was a (welcome) surprise. And it's sign-up day for squeakers, so that's a thing. I just noticed that one of the local fast guys (~2:35 marathon) is right in the middle of one of the pictures on the B.A.A. website (blue singlet, bib 353 - 52ND OA at Botswana last year).
Weekly SummaryMonday, Sep 09, 2019 thru Sunday, Sep 15, 2019
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
3 months til Masters
Race is up to watch on Athletics NZ Facebook page. There is a race before the 10k so skip ahead.
2023 Goals
Marathon Sub 2:37 (CIM) 2:41:18
10k Sub 35:00 (Victory 10k 34:19)
5k Sub 16:00 (Hot Dash 5k in March (16:48), Brian Kraft in May (16:20), Twilight 5000 in July and August (16:20/16:25 Both heat index 102-103F)
Sub 1:16 Half Marathon City of Lakes Half Marathon 1:15:47)
Sub 56:30 in 10 mile (Twin Cities 10 mile, Canceled due to weather, 56:35 as a workout)
2024 Goals
Sub 2:37 Marathon
Sub 1:15 Half
Sub 34 10k
Sub 16 5k
Jmac Nick Willis lives in the US. The Robertsons live in Kenya. The fastest coming out of school often get scholarships to US Colleges. Sometimes you hear of them again and sometimes not so much. Its pretty competitive out there.
Mark - congrats again. I swear to you, I used to use the name "Johnny McGee" as a made up person, so the fact that you have a) I make fun of you all the time for your running pals and b) YOU ACTUALLY HAVE SOMEONE NAMED JOHNNY MCKEE is amazing. I was thinking that it's a weird dynamic in your part of the world, as the best runners probably flee the country to go make money elsewhere, correct? Like where does Nick Willis live? I can't imagine the pro NZ runners actually call NZ home as it would be too difficult to travel to major races. But I could be wrong. Flavio - I don't think you can go to the well too often in 10K and shorter races. Don't take too long off, I think maybe 6 weeks is right before your next race. Paul - glad to hear you're okay, I was starting to wonder what happened to you. Corey - slowing down is always good, but especially coming back from injury like you are. Very smart, keep it up. DPS/Marco/Watson - good weeks. James - a new PR will often make you sore! Me - not much to report except a whole lot of easy running. Lungs have been bothering me lately, not sure what's going on. Otherwise, I will end this easy running hell in a couple of days! Weekly SummaryMonday, Sep 09, 2019 thru Sunday, Sep 15, 2019 Day Miles Pace Description Link Mon 10.9 8:36 Evening Run strava Tue 8.9 8:08 Evening Run strava Wed 10.8 8:15 Never Forget strava Thu 9.1 8:17 Well I'm runnin down the road tryin to loosen my load strava Sat 10.9 7:52 Afternoon Run strava Sun 17.0 8:08 First time crossing state lines on a run strava
Mark - congrats again. I swear to you, I used to use the name "Johnny McGee" as a made up person, so the fact that you have a) I make fun of you all the time for your running pals and b) YOU ACTUALLY HAVE SOMEONE NAMED JOHNNY MCKEE is amazing.
I was thinking that it's a weird dynamic in your part of the world, as the best runners probably flee the country to go make money elsewhere, correct? Like where does Nick Willis live? I can't imagine the pro NZ runners actually call NZ home as it would be too difficult to travel to major races. But I could be wrong.
Flavio - I don't think you can go to the well too often in 10K and shorter races. Don't take too long off, I think maybe 6 weeks is right before your next race.
Paul - glad to hear you're okay, I was starting to wonder what happened to you.
Corey - slowing down is always good, but especially coming back from injury like you are. Very smart, keep it up.
DPS/Marco/Watson - good weeks.
James - a new PR will often make you sore!
Me - not much to report except a whole lot of easy running. Lungs have been bothering me lately, not sure what's going on. Otherwise, I will end this easy running hell in a couple of days!
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 "
Flavio - I agree with JMac, shorter races you can hit pretty frequently, and actually I think doing so helps keep a bit of race sharpness. The recovery from a 5k or even a 10k is pretty negligible compared to longer distances.
Keen - 78 miles in a week with all that going on? You are a machine. We are going through potty training with our daughter at the moment too. She's embracing it willingly but not always successfully!!
How did you pick the left-handedness - was it the watch in the photo? I'm left-handed, but I actually wear my watch on my left hand most of the time, except when I'm running I switch it to my right. Yeah I know that makes no sense.
JMac - CRAZY! I don't know Jonny very well as it's actually the first time I've raced him - I have a feeling he was a very good middle distance runner and might even have had a sub-4 minute 1500m to his name. And yeah like Piwi says, there's absolutely NO money in running in NZ so all the good runners go overseas - Nick Willis, the Robertsons, Malcolm Hicks, Camille Buscomb, etc. Lydia O'Donnell was probably the highest-ranked NZ runner still training in NZ at the start of the year but she's moved to Melbourne now so go figure. Anyway nice week and I'm sure you're pumped to start hitting some workouts again.
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"
RIP Milkman
It's a shame you guys don't have your pros locally. I couldn't care less about actual celebrities, but I have to say it was pretty cool being in the corral in Boston and watching all of the pro men streaming by you as they go to line up. I also got a little of that in the NYC Half with the top women. Plus, I had a Mary Keitany sighting last year in CP, and I'm about 90% sure some pro running the 5th Avenue Mile blew by me 2 weeks ago in the park, but I couldn't tel who it was given how dark it was.
Mark - I feel like you wearing your watch on a different arm for running makes complete sense given your crazy rituals.
Keen - Nice week. I saw you just did the 20/15/10/5 run. Be careful with that, it's a lot of T work and I would actually mix it up more. For example, I would do something like a TLT run before going back to that run, or maybe just a T interval workout with 6-8 mile warm up. You want to vary the types of T work you do AND progress in each one.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Mark - Yeah, it was the second photo. My dad and his mother are/were left handed, as is my FIL, so it runs in my family. For a while we thought DD1 might have been, but nope. Your daughter looks a like an older version of DD3! The miles help keep me sane, even if they do cut into sleep.
JMac - That is a lot of T work, but I still felt pretty solid afterwards. That might have been partially due to an emergency break a bit more than halfway through the second T segment - also because the last half of the last interval was downhill. Tried keeping the intensity up, which lead to a ridiculously fast pace for that one. I definitely do want to break that up going forward, for a while at least. T work has always been my favorite workout intensity. I've wondered before if it's because my muscle fiber makeup favors that.I'm thinking either intervals (most likely) or a longer 7-8M+10-15minT for Thursday, and I'll figure out another mixture next week.
Starting to see more and more people posting runs to Strava noting they've gotten into Botswana for next year.
You've got about as much time as I have to my full. You should try these two next, you're doing enough mileage to handle these and if you can do 50 minutes of T work, these should be difficult but fine. One is a TLT and one is a cruise interval repeat workout.You can then build upon these.
2E + 2T + 6-8E + 2T + 2E
8E + 3x2E + 2E
Also Keen - looks like you and I are up next on the race page, no pressure! Is your goal still to win, or is it a PR? Remember our rule on this thread: no sandbagging goals. If you have better than a 25% chance of a PR, that should be your goal.
IT IS 19 DAYS UNTIL MY FINAL RACE THIS YEAR AMD ALL I WANT TO DO IS RUN IT SO I CAN GET INTO MARATHON TRAINING AND I'M SUPER ANXIOUS AS IT WILL BE THE ONLY TIME I GO DEEP TO THE WELL THIS YEAR AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.
That is all. Carry on.
IT IS 19 DAYS UNTIL MILE FINAL RACE THOS YEAR AMD ALL I WANT TO DO IS RUN IT SO I CAN GET INTO MARATHON TRAINING AND I'M SUPER ANXIOUS AS IT WILL BE THE ONLY TIME I GOT DEEP TO THE WELL THIS YEAR AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. That is all. Carry on.
IT IS 19 DAYS UNTIL MILE FINAL RACE THOS YEAR AMD ALL I WANT TO DO IS RUN IT SO I CAN GET INTO MARATHON TRAINING AND I'M SUPER ANXIOUS AS IT WILL BE THE ONLY TIME I GOT DEEP TO THE WELL THIS YEAR AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.
It's pretty early for pre-race madness, but there's no denying this is pre-race madness - and I would know!
You've got about as much time as I have to my full. You should try these two next, you're doing enough mileage to handle these and if you can do 50 minutes of T work, these should be difficult but fine. One is a TLT and one is a cruise interval repeat workout.You can then build upon these. 2E + 2T + 6-8E + 2T + 2E 8E + 3x2E + 2E Also Keen - looks like you and I are up next on the race page, no pressure! Is your goal still to win, or is it a PR? Remember our rule on this thread: no sandbagging goals. If you have better than a 25% chance of a PR, that should be your goal.
The second one looks rather easy - it is all E
Also Keen's week was awesome given all the other things happening. I was expecting a 25 mile 'life got in the way' week.
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
Nice Race report Mark!
everyone is having Great training good luck to all those with upcoming races...
I'm off to go get in a short run this morning.
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
Intl. correspondent
Paul - I hope it was nothing. I’ve had falls before, but thankfully only scraped my elbows and knees (it was on a sidewalk and my foot got caught on a lose stone)
Jmac - you guys run long runs after 5ks. I live in a different, much weaker world. That said, I’ve recovered a lot faster from this last 5k, warm races tend to be like that.
You’re very disciplined during your base period, that’s a good trait to have.
Keen - you need to explain now how you know Mark is left handed. Is it because he was caressing his daughter’s hair with the left hand?
I’m sure Marco will laugh at your “wrong handed” comment, in Italian they say mano sinistra for left hand. Sinistra also means sinister.
As a matter of fact, one of my aunts was left handed but was forced to use the right hand, cause the left hand was associated with the devil.
Last but not least:
Mark but especially DPS:
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
Lol.
I think in my past I have raced 10-12 times in our 9 month season. I'll do 6 races give or take this year.
Work is also crazy stressful right now so I am hopped up on adrenaline all day which isn't doing me any favors in coping. Also leave for my first vacation (other than paternity leave) in 10 years since our wedding day. 2 days after the race. So I'm ready run and then sit on a beach and drink little drinks with umbrellas. Can't get here soon enough.
Flavio - you don't need to run long after the 5K, but you can easily race a 5K every 2 weeks with no damage done.
Mark/DPS - I agree with Flavio's meme. This also somewhat applies to keen if he tells me he isn't going for a PR.
Watson - you always catch my errors, you have a position in my cabinet as Editor in Chief.
JMac - That second workout looks WAY easy! I'm guessing that's supposed to be 3x2T in the middle? I'll have to get up a bit earlier to log that mileage, but that should be doable. As for the race, I actually hadn't thought past just trying to win it. When you put it in those percentage terms then I guess I should go for a PR since mine should be pretty darn soft right about now, even though this is a hilly course and likely to be hot & humid. I'm not sure that I could put a more specific time goal on it, though.
DPS - Breathe!!! Deep breaths, now!
Watson - Thanks, but I would have gone crazy week without running. I was at least fortunate enough to not know that DD1 was sick (and that DD2 would fake it) before I went on that day's run.
Flavio - The biggest tip-off was the watch on the wrong hand! I didn't know about the Italian's reference to left handedness.