Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Hot Weather Complainer
Yep, I have a coach but he’s always happy to be questioned. I’ve questioned maybe twice, and once we changed it.
He doesn’t want me to blindly follow but 99% of the time I’ll go with what he says.
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
Intl. correspondent
Jmac - You have a point there with the dew point thingy. We’re in the mountains, and even though the weather forecast says 18c 65f it feels much cooler.
Watson - It’s great to see you back in action with a nice week. You were on the shelves for a long time and now the fitness is coming back nicely.
Steve - another awesome week.
Coaches - I try to execute the workouts even when they don’t feel doable. I surprise myself often.
Other times I just can’t reach the paces. I think there’s some intuition involved in coaching as well.
You must trust the process, cause otherwise you’re limited by your mindset.
Me - A nice week though I’m pretty tired and I have asked for a cut back week next.
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
Flavio - nice week. Biggest week for a long time?
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 - Nice one, building up nicely to show the sub 3 thread who's boss.
Also, you (and watson) are right - I will listen to my coach! He's only run about 100 marathons and trained people for thousands...looks like he's updated my online document and this week looks more like 80 which is a decent drop. Still a long midweek run but much shorter weekend run.
It's still 20 days to go but I feel like taper madness will be epic. I'm already studying the weather to see if I can use the 10 day forecast to extrapolate out to 20...
I'm very proud of you.
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"
Mother of Cats
Steve - have you identified several different weather services to cross-reference? That's the next step. Enjoy the taper!
Flavio - good week with lots of quality!
James - I'm glad to see the consistency. Interesting comment on the little things that keep popping up. For me that's honestly part of running - there's almost always something that I feel that has to be managed (and prompts regular deliberation of "should I run on this or not") I'm curious to hear what others' experiences are. And I'm guessing that in your case, these are more than just "wow, my quad is a bit tight today"?
Nice week Piwi- I want to run in a place called Papamoa.
Marky-Mark - congrats on beating the downpour (and not being hampered by the cold)
watsonc - that was a good steady performance in that 5K. And congrats on the weekly distance PR.
***
Obligatory cicada comment. So...I saw one of my running buddies this morning - he's from NZ and still a citizen - he now works at the World Bank or IMF (I forget which one) but returns to NZ regularly. I asked him if they really did have cicadas like this in NZ. His response was that yes, you have cicadas. Normal cicadas. Your cicadas are not like ours at all. Specifically, you don't have swarms of them everywhere and flying into everything (it's become normal to get struck by cicadas several times during a run), and yours aren't as loud.
So there. Our cicadas are superspecial.
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.
My week:
63 miles (101 km) running, 1000 yards swimming, and 2 hours pool-running
M: 1 hour pool-running and streaming yoga.T: 5 miles/8 km (9:15/5:46), upper body weights/core, and then 3.5 miles/5.5 km (9:09/5:36).W: 11.5 miles/18.5 km (9:03/5:40) and streaming yoga.Th: 4 miles/6.5 km very easy on treadmill (9:47/6.05), 1 hour pool-running, and upper body weights/core.Fr: 12 miles/19 km, including a track workout of 3200, 1600 in 13:08 (6:36/6:32) and 6:24, with 5:22 jogging recovery between the two. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Sa: 10.5 miles/17 km very easy (9:12/5:46) plus drills and 6 hill sprints, and then streaming yoga.Su: 16.5 miles/26.5 km progressive, split as first 5 miles/8k averaging 8:49/5:30 pace, next 6.5 miles/10.5 km averaging 8:02/5:00 pace; next 5 miles/8k averaging 7:46/4:50 pace. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.
Recovered from last week's race with some easy miles, then did some work in the late part of the week. Since this is the weather whining thread, I'll note that this morning's long run sucked. By the end it was 84 F/28 C with a dewpoint of 74 F/23 C. And sunshine. I basically just tried to pick up the pace slightly but not dig myself into a hole. Even so, I took a LOT of water breaks.
Coaches - I try to execute the workouts even when they don’t feel doable. I surprise myself often. Other times I just can’t reach the paces. I think there’s some intuition involved in coaching as well. You must trust the process, cause otherwise you’re limited by your mindset.
Even without a coach (previously), I always get through a full warmup and try the first rep. It's usually do-able if the workouts are tailored to you. This also feeds in to DW's point that there's always something (beyond general soreness) that has me questioning if I should run. Sometimes it's an achilles, other times the lower back or hamstring. Most of the time a small ache is ok but I try to determine if it's changing my stride.
The heat in the US is getting unbearable. I'll leave it at that but I miss the spring.
A good week. The 2x.1.5 was honestly quite difficult and if I didn't have water on my long run I would have struggled. My watche's navigation feature kinda sucks. I guess that's 46 miles of running.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Darkwave alot of Maori place names over here with a big push to correct pronunciation which is hard when you grew up saying them a totally different way 🤔
Thanks for bringing the cicada talk back 😆
Zeb its incredible how quickly we go from its too cold to its too hot. I guess we won't be moving to Mars too soon 😕
Great job on your fitness week.
Flavio solid week you have earned a cutback week.
Looks like Jmac went sub 18 in his 5k which is slow for him but a dream for most of us. I bet it was horrible and hot though.
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 - yep would've been a miserable day for that Mount Joggers Half.
Steve - I've challenged my coach on things from time to time. The best coaches know when to listen and modify the plan accordingly (and when not to!).
Watson - decent week with a lot of quality there (and the usual healthy dose of elevation). Not sure how I keep fluking elevation gain on track workouts!
Darkwave - sounds like miserable conditions for a long run. Good job getting it done.
Flavio - another good week, I'd say not a bad time for an easier week tbh.
Zebano - nice week and welcome to weather complaining, which is our second favourite hobby on here after running.
..., which is our second favourite hobby on here after running.
Highly debatable which is first.
"Running" a bit behind this AM.
I managed another decent week within my target miles range 30-35 hitting right at 32, a little less than last week but was recovering early in the week. Feel good right now we will see how this week goes.
I've noticed the thigh soreness has gone now I think I just needed to hit a certain level and maintain it through and now I'm good.
Feet a bit sore not unusual for me it really comes and goes but I think it is time for some new shoes as I am right at about 400 on my current pair.
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
Watson That's huge improvement in the 5k! Your comeback is progressing nicely.
Steve 3x7k @ MP is huge! The only problem is I can't tell where your intervals end and the recovery begins. You must be in stellar shape.
Mark I hear you on global XXX day. Apparently a few days after global running day was global donut day so I happily munched on the donut a coworker brought in. I'm done with strava challenges, they're meaningless and don't aid my running in any way.
Piwi Solid week, what's next for you?
CFarr Regarding the plated supershoes. I notice Saucony released the Endorphin Pro 2 and the originals are $150 on their website but if you sign up for their email list you get 10% so $135 for super shoes... if I hadn't been underwhelmed when I tried them on in-store I think I'd have pulled the trigger by now. Your training is consistent! glad the soreness has passed.
FLavio Does your coach instruct you in how many uphill versus downhill strides to do? That's super interesting as I could really see the uphill ones helping build strength while the downhill ones could help get used to the quad-pain that comes from too many downhills.
DW just doing DW things. You're running Grandma's right? My relatives in MN say it's been well over 90F there (Twin Cities, not Duluth) so fingers crossed you get some good marathon weather.
Did anyone see Hassan's 10k WR? She was 90 seconds ahead of 2nd place! Crazy, Reminds me of Tsegay's 1500m indoor record earlier this year. Shame she's a Salazar runner, but honestly I'm not convinced anyone in pro-sports are clean these days so it doesn't really bother me. It does seem like some runners are starting to use the new light systems and I wonder if that makes WRs more vulnerable.
RIP Milkman
James - I remember when you were averaging 25 mpw. Really well done.
Steve - I agree with Piwi's point on the fitness gain being there regardless of what happens. We sometimes put all of our eggs in one basket with marathons and then feel it was all a waste if it doesn't go well. This will be your first marathon and you have to be prepared for it to not go exactly as planned. However, heading into the spring you will be in top shape and can smash a bunch of PRs at other distances as well.
DW - I was watching the golf tournament this weekend in Ohio and I couldn't believe how bad these cicadas are. I grew up with them my whole life, but I never saw so many that were on people.
Zebano - I feel like we never get the 70s. It jumps straight from 60s to 80s/90s here in NYC. Agreed on the Strava challenges too: they're good for new runners to push themselves but otherwise don't help me.
Corey - I find my shoes usually go at the 350-450 mark, so that sounds about right.
Me - 5K sucked as expected. 17:44, so didn't even get my heat adjusted sub 17:30 I was pushing for. I won the race by a huge margin (it was a charity 5K with 50 person staggered starts), but I don't think that impacted me at all that I didn't have someone to run with. It was the heat plus humidity (according to the nearest weather station, it was 80F plus 66F dew point, or 27/19 for the weirdos), plus the fact I haven't done a V02 max workout since October! My legs were fine, I just couldn't breathe. I know that's usually the case with 5Ks, but this air sucking was way worse than normal. I know I'm in better shape than that time because I did a 6 mile tempo a few weeks ago around 5:50 pace, so I'm not too worried. I knew the race was in trouble when I saw the pink unicorn around the 1.5 mile mark, which was way too early. Piwi - I barely even deserve a participation certificate. They should have just given me swift kick in the groin and sent me home without a medal.
Still, it was fun to be out there racing again. Going to try to find another 5K to suffer my way through in 3-4 weeks. Also going to do a couple of V02 max workouts in the coming weeks to get that breathing fixed. CIM training won't really start until August so I can dedicate some time to the fast stuff now, which should be great base prep for marathon training.
ETA: I always remember what DW has said which is that even a bad race is a good workout. I gained some fitness by running this race, so I feel confident I can run a good race when I try again in a few weeks, barring another awful weather day.
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
Watson - Well done on the park run, and great week overall!
James - Great job with the consistency and higher mileage, especially with the niggles.
Piwi, Steve, Mark, Flavio, DWave - Great weeks.
I'll hop on the weather complaining train as well! Our temps and dew points are projected to start really ramping up in the coming week. Kiwi Points of 140 are likely to be a best-case before long.
Another solid week in the books, with my longest LR in 3 months or so (which was probably my best feeling run of the week). Since starting working with this coach I'm certainly touching a wider range of paces that I have been, and possibly would have been had I just started making up workouts on my own.
My planned workout for Wednesday looks aggressive, though perhaps it's just a relative lack of workouts recently. 2x 2mi at ~10k effort or a tad harder with 4 minute recoveries, then 2x 800m at something between 5k and mile effort (3k-ish?) with 3 minute recoveries, plus warm-up/cool-down of course. Should be fun!
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