Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
BlairJB, yeah, I always look forward to speed sessions, they are just so much more satifying! I run my easy runs at about 5:00 - 5:15, which is still slightly too fast I think, but I'm having trouble slowing down even more.
MickJogger, are you referring to that dumb reporter from USA saying that we commute to work by ice skating? For me, it has been many years since I last skated on natural ice. The winters are just not tough enough anymore (although next week it's getting pretty cold for Dutch standards). 4:45 for the half might be tough, but over the last half year I ran several 20+ km runs, with a pace around 5:00 (with a few photo breaks sometimes). We'll see! I'd be disappointed if I wouldn't get close to 1:40.
Hi, Marcel,
As already stated 42:16 is very promising, however, your mileage is not. If I were in your situation I would try to increase my mileage but it will hardly enough for the race in 2.5 weeks time, and coming from injury.
You didn't mention anything about your long runs but giving your mileage, they should be short. If you are injury free, try to go for a couple of "long" runs in the following 2 weekends, at a VERY easy pace. Get them in the 16-18K range, at least. Then I would just enjoy the race, not going for a goal time.
If you are injured, then it's better to skip the race.
Shin splints, as said before, are an indicator of too much too soon. Ice, stretching and massaging them helps a lot.
The last thing to mention is sub1h30 HM is easier than sub40 10K for most mortals
JMac: I'm happy for you!
Me: I tried my 10K tempo outside as predictor for the half and it didn't go well. I averaged 4:17 for the 10K. I initially blame my legs since my weekend long run was rather hilly and I don't feel fully recovered. But the conditions were not good, either. It was windy, my route was not totally flat (87m despite what garmin says - temperature effect on the barometer), sidewalks had plenty of water and I arrived to one place just after a high school had finished and hundreds of students and buses were around. On the positive, the heart rate was very low (146 or 80%HRR for the tempo section)
jaimehy - I know increasing mileage won't make a difference for the race in 2.5 weeks. I think the shin splints are pretty much gone. Last sunday I did a 12K without any problems, and last tuesday an 8K temporun at 4:30. So far so good, no pain during or after those runs. I'm not skipping the race, but I might take your advice into consideration and start off a bit slower than I would like to.
After the half marathon I will try to slowly and steadily up the mileage and keep the long runs in your range of 16-18K. The reason why my goal of sub 40 minute 10K is prior to my goal of a 1:30 half is because I'm probably not running any more half marathons until at least fall of this year; got a few 10K races coming up in April/May/June.
BlairJB, yeah, I always look forward to speed sessions, they are just so much more satifying! I run my easy runs at about 5:00 - 5:15, which is still slightly too fast I think, but I'm having trouble slowing down even more. MickJogger, are you referring to that dumb reporter from USA saying that we commute to work by ice skating? For me, it has been many years since I last skated on natural ice. The winters are just not tough enough anymore (although next week it's getting pretty cold for Dutch standards). 4:45 for the half might be tough, but over the last half year I ran several 20+ km runs, with a pace around 5:00 (with a few photo breaks sometimes). We'll see! I'd be disappointed if I wouldn't get close to 1:40.
No its just because nowadays you suck at football but win a ton of medals at the winter games (I assume its because you have influenced the committee to include 20 different distances in ice skating from 100m to 25k...
I am European myself so don't get me started
Otherwise it looks like you are quite fit if you are able to run 20k+ at a 5min pace with practically no specific training at all. I don't have any advice other than some longer runs at your easy pace to build endurance. I so envy you for your talent man. Take it easy and I am sure you will do great.
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Cobra Commander Keen
JMac - Congrats on the triumphant return. Hopefully things progress well.
RoXX - Welcome. You do seem to have quite a bit of speed for such low mileage (kilometerage?). That certainly bodes well for sub 40 10k / sub 90 HM, but it may take some time to build up the endurance for those. Stick around!
Blair - It's strange that running at that low of an effort can be challenging, huh? Don't worry, it gets better!
The weather here has turned ugly since early Tuesday morning. Lots of sleet and freezing rain and it could be that way until Saturday. I run in a rural area and my roads won't be cleared of ice at all, so I may end up with 5 of my 6 runs on the treadmill this week.
I have a 15k next weekend, which I plan on using as a fitness test since I haven't actually raced anything since late April last year. There is some construction at the start/finish for the usual race course, so alternates are being looked at. We're still waiting on certification for the course, but what looks to be the currently favored option would be run largely in a direction that turns the annual majority headwind/tailwind into a majority crosswind, which would be nice.
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
JamesD
RoXX - Welcome. I also run low mileage (30 km/week when I set my 10K PR two years ago, 50-60 now), run my easy runs at around your pace, and am injury-prone, so a couple of things that have worked for me might be of interest. Wearing compression calf sleeves after long runs, speedwork, and races seems to help me avoid or minimize shin pain. I occasionally wear them during long runs too, but more often I'll wear compression tights on long runs. That seems to reduce quad soreness.
Another thing: since increasing mileage too quickly would injure me, I swim once or twice a week for the aerobic benefit. Although I've never seen any studies, my heart rate is similar after moderate swims and easy runs, so I imagine 30 minutes of swimming might have a similar aerobic benefit to 30 minutes of easy running. (If anyone knows more about this, please chime in.) If I can work my way back up to two 30-minute swims a week, that might be the aerobic equivalent of running an extra 10-12 km/week, which would be significant at my volume.
Good luck!
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
MJ - Thanks for the advice. Don't know if it's all talent... don't underestimate over 20 years of badminton 2-3 times a week ;-)
Keen - I'll stick around for sure. I finally found an active forum, with a perfect topic that fits my goal. It seems like you are a bunch of friendly and very helpful guys out there. Although running is very popular in The Netherlands, there doesn't seem to be any active forum on running. Probably because of Instagram/Facebook and such. Too bad.
JamesD - Thanks! Wearing compression calve sleeves might be a good idea while building up the mileage!
RIP Milkman
Uh oh. There are too many non Americans on this thread that I really need to start stating things in KM!
RoXX - Welcome. Sore shins the day after running isn't a big deal, but definitely wouldn't run through it. As someone returning to running, I'm sore way more than I'm used to. However, the key to increasing mileage often is running more days. For example, I would try to run at least 4x per week. At that point, it's better to add a 5th day rather than increasing your KM on those 4 runs, unless you feel life can't let you run 5 days a week. In my situation, I started running at 4x per week at 6KM per day. As I wanted to increase, I bumped that up to 5x per week at 6KM per day. I would never start running, for example, 10KM per day but only 3 days per week. Then once, I felt comfortable at 5x per week at 6KM, I bumped it up to 10KM.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Roxx - welcome. I agree with the suggestion of more days. I would consider adding runs of 15 minutes first. And push them up to 30 minutes. Frequency helps a lot.
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
Uh oh. There are too many non Americans on this thread that I really need to start stating things in KM! RoXX - Welcome. Sore shins the day after running isn't a big deal, but definitely wouldn't run through it. As someone returning to running, I'm sore way more than I'm used to. However, the key to increasing mileage often is running more days. For example, I would try to run at least 4x per week. At that point, it's better to add a 5th day rather than increasing your KM on those 4 runs, unless you feel life can't let you run 5 days a week. In my situation, I started running at 4x per week at 6KM per day. As I wanted to increase, I bumped that up to 5x per week at 6KM per day. I would never start running, for example, 10KM per day but only 3 days per week. Then once, I felt comfortable at 5x per week at 6KM, I bumped it up to 10KM.
That's a pretty aggressive bump
I only know what Jack Daniels recommends and that is to add 1 mile per weekly workout but never more than 10 miles per week. He trains a lot of college kids who run twice on some days.
That's a pretty aggressive bump I only know what Jack Daniels recommends and that is to add 1 mile per weekly workout but never more than 10 miles per week. He trains a lot of college kids who run twice per week on some days.
I only know what Jack Daniels recommends and that is to add 1 mile per weekly workout but never more than 10 miles per week. He trains a lot of college kids who run twice per week on some days.
I should have clarified, thanks for bringing this up.
I haven't heard that recommendation, maybe that's in an older version. In the third edition, he stated that you should only increase your mileage by the number of days per week (eg run 5 days per week = 5 MPW increase), but then hold that amount for 3 weeks straight before increasing again. This rule has generally worked very well for me as it's much better than the standard (and honestly silly) rule of 10% per week.
How much you can increase your mileage though is highly dependent on your history. For my marathon, I was running 60 to 65 miles per week. Then, for effectively 3 months straight, I didn't run at all. I had a few weeks at 20 miles, but most were big fat zeroes. Now, does that mean that I'm starting up again, that I need to start back down at like 20 miles per week and only increase it 5 MPW per 3 weeks? Assuming some down weeks, that would take me almost 8 months to get back to 60. No, I can probably ramp up fairly quickly to something like 45 miles per week, and then take it slowly on my way back up to 60.
I know that going from 20 miles per week to 30 miles per week is not a big deal for me anymore, even though a few years ago that would have been a big jump, which is effectively what I did.
Phew, lots of activity here since last time I checked in. Welcome RoXX!
Been busy with work and kitchen remodeling and start of baseball season for my oldest son, but running is going ok. Last week was kind of crappy with a stomach that didn't want to cooperate, so I only completed 2 out of 5 intervals in a planned 5x4 min session, and just didn't run at all on one of my planned easy days. Still ended at 29 miles for the week though. This week has been a bit better, although my tempo session yesterday, which I ended up doing on a treadmill, was brutal. 2+1.25+2 miles at tempo effort (6:50 pace) was not doable, either due to a fast treadmill, me having a bad day, running inside in a long sleeved shirt, or all of the above. I ended up cutting the last interval to 1 mile, and with a HR of 178 at the time it looks like that was the right thing to do.
In other news, my goal race in 4 weeks just posted the official course profile, and the full marathon went from being a hilly course with an elevation change of close to 700 feet between the highest and lowest point, to something nearly flat as a pancake. I might end up running the full marathon but will make a final decision after my 20 mile training run this weekend.
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Intl. correspondent
roxx - welcome aboard. Most of us have a similar history of starting with very low mileage 25k per weekend increasing from that.
You will soon see (if not already) that consistency is king. It's better to run 3 weeks at 50km per week than one week at 100 and then getting injured.
Mark is a great example of consistency, he rarely bites more than he can chew and as a result he has a progressive trajectory up.
I'm a great example of the opposite LOL. The best way to explain my strategy in the past is a person who keeps running themselves against a wall in hopes to cross it.
I'm on the up now since starting with functional training late last year.
Jmac - that's great news, here hopes that you can go back to your former speedy shape.
Busy bees - keep running yall.
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
Roxx - welcome!! Great to see another newcomer on the thread. 42:16 is a pretty solid 10km time off reasonably low mileage so that is a promising sign and it will be mostly about building some endurance. As Flavio and others have said, the key is to build up your mileage slowly as that is likely what has triggered the shin issues, particularly if you are running mostly on the road. I started running in late 2015 and gradually built up from an average of probably 30km/week, to 40, to 50, to 60 over the course of basically a year. Then up to 70 and later 80-90 when I was training for a marathon last year. I have had good fortune with injuries for the most part but did have some ITB issues after the marathon, which I think was just delayed onset fatigue but I guess I kind of know my limits now!!
The other thing that can help is doing some runs on softer surfaces e.g. trail/grass/track as that also reduces some of the impact. This definitely helped me when I had ITB issues.
Increasing the frequency of running is helpful too although I still feel it helps to have a couple of days off running each week to give the body a rest.
Jaime - bummer on the workout but I wouldn't read too much into one bad workout. It sounds like tough conditions and we all have off days. Especially after you hit that really good tempo workout not long ago.
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"
I should have clarified, thanks for bringing this up. I haven't heard that recommendation, maybe that's in an older version. In the third edition, he stated that you should only increase your mileage by the number of days per week (eg run 5 days per week = 5 MPW increase), but then hold that amount for 3 weeks straight before increasing again.
I haven't heard that recommendation, maybe that's in an older version. In the third edition, he stated that you should only increase your mileage by the number of days per week (eg run 5 days per week = 5 MPW increase), but then hold that amount for 3 weeks straight before increasing again.
This is exactly what I meant. I only own the third edition. And I agree with him: a 50% increase that wouldn't cause you any issues (20 to 30 miles) would probably lead to injury for most newby runners me included. Too much too soon is a tough advice to give imo.