Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019 (Read 641 times)

Munners


    Hi everyone, just stumbled onto this forum and looks like a great place to keep motivated.

     

    My name is Tom, 44 year old Kiwi with a wife and 3 kids (7,9,11) living in Singapore for the past 2 years.

     

    I've always run to keep fit but never raced. My first HM was in 2016 in Taupo NZ with a 1:39:48 and also did the Auckland HM that year. Last month did my third HM at Angkor Wat in Cambodia with a 1:36:54.

     

    No running in my first 12 months in Singapore as it took a long time to get used to the heat and the expat lifestyle is tough on the body having blown out drinking and eating far too much I decided I needed to get back into my running to get in shape. To keep motivated I need an event as a goal as once I have my training plan I stick to it like glue.

     

    I travel regularly for work so the hotel treadmills are my go to as i'm in locations where running outside isn't an option. (mainly in India).

     

    Goals this year is to run sub 1:35 in the first half of the year at the Kota Kinabalu HM in Borneo and then a sub 1:30 in December back in Cambodia at the Angkor Wat HM.

     

    There is a HM every month in Singapore so will run a few locals ones as well but I prefer to get out of Singapore and head to some interesting destinations to run with a group of mates for a fun weekend away.

     

    The biggest challenge for me is time between the family and work, but I just have to get my arse out of bed earlier in the morning and hit the road (not a morning person!!!).

    dj_dubb


      Piwi K - yep, saw that GSW loss. Any time they lose it puts a smile on my face. Denver needs to have some losses. I should clarify that I'm a 90% lock on that OKC game the 17th (18th for you?). It's the home game against the Lakers. I'm going to wait until the last minute for stub hub prices to plummet, and then I'll snag a ticket. There's always a small chance that they will all sell out, but not likely. There's no such thing as too much icing on the Achilles, only thing that helped me last year.

       

      Cfarr - thanks, they'll be playing the lakers at home that game.

       

      Flavio - Oh I was guessing squats or something like that perhaps. Take the wife to the track, or a small repeating course for the runs. Then you can run at your pace, whilst also running "with" her so to speak (?). Just a suggestion, maybe that's not in the cards.

       

      Watson - go get em at the 5k, keep us posted on the result.

       

      Welcome Chris, James, Tom.

       

      I delayed my last tempo to today or tomorrow. Yesterday I ended up wandering around an area of town with some paved trails through a park system. Got lost and ended up running a total of 16 miles, when I was only planning on 14 or so. Not complaining though.

        Chris welcome and good luck.

         

        Tom welcome as well. Mark and I ran Taupo 2016. That was the freezing cold race with snow ? Small world.

         

        James welcome back sounds like good times with you and your boy. Yeah I think they are more interested in the food when I take my son to big events !

         

        Watson solid week and good luck on the 5k.

         

        Flavio exciting times with the coach. Most people who get a coach make improvements from what Ive noted.

         

        DJ the Nuggets are very consistent. I dont think LeBron will be back by then so shouldnt sell out.

         

        Jmac how are you, I mean what level are you up to on Candy Crush now ? 

         

        A non running weekend for me. I was watching the international cricket on TV saturday evening which happened to be just down the road from where I live and the cameraman picked up what looked to be a meteorite breaking up. I went outside but only the vapour trail was left. Turned out to be an old Russian Satellite burning up. Also got a great view of The Space Station crossing over us the last 2 nights.

        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 "      

         

        SteveChCh


        Hot Weather Complainer

          piwi -  I saw that on the cricket - it was a nice distraction from the awful bowling!

           

          Welcome Tom, Chris and James - great to add to the group.

           

          Flavio - You could point out to her that she is selfish for wanting you to compromise your training...but females are not so good at receiving "advice" in my experience.

           

          Solid week for me, although achilles remains a bit tender.  Ice, ice, ice is the plan (thanks DJ), and perhaps a day on the bike to just give it a break (if absolutely necessary).  I want to get into some speed again asap but the achilles and the heat put me off last week.  First day back at work so I'll be running evenings during the week now which will make it easier.

           

          Monday                70 mins easy 14.47km @ 4:50mins/km

          Tuesday               Weights

          Wednesday          70 mins easy 14.48km @ 4:57mins/km

          Thursday              70 mins easy 14.46km @ 4:54mins/km

          Friday                   Weights

          Saturday               90 mins easy 19km @ 4:52mins/km

          Sunday                 Weights 

          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

          Marky_Mark_17


            Chris - welcome!  Always great to see new faces and hopefully you get some motivation from hanging around here.

             

            James - good to see you back again and hopefully you have those injury niggles under control.

             

            Watson - nice week.

             

            Flavio - nice week.  I had to scale back / adjust my weights programme around a year ago as it sucked trying to hit a workout a day or two after doing leg day at the gym.  Mostly do low reps now (4-6) as that builds strength without hypertrophy/mass gain.

             

            Tom - welcome... I did both those races in 2016 too.  Taupo was miserable but I had a decent run there last year.  Auckland was awesome that year though, perfect weather.  Singapore would be pretty tough for running so I can see why you took a bit of a break.

             

            Steve - nice week.  Doing efforts in the heat is tough going but it does get easier.

            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"

              Steve Mark Flavio Watson nice week by all.

              Watson good luck in your 5k

              Tom Welcome aboard

              Piwi hope yo can get back at it next week

              I hope to have some news on my 5k planned for Saturday by Wednesday.

              My week ended up at almost 50 thanks to 2 days off from work this week.

              Next week I'll be hoping to manage at least 40 since I am back at work for the full week.

              I did dust my treadmill off and brought it in out of the garage so I hope I can use it to get those extra miles in when I have little time

              no excuses now...

               

              Weekly Summary
              Monday, Dec 31, 2018 thru Sunday, Jan 06, 2019

              <tfoot> </tfoot>
              Day Miles Pace Description Link
              Mon 10.1 9:05 Morning Run strava
              Tue 10.1 8:56 New Years Day Run strava
              Thu 5.0 8:59 1 wu 8x.25 with .25 recoveries (6:03 on treadmill) strava
              Sat 10.5 8:43 Afternoon Run strava
              Sun 13.5 8:24 Lunch Run strava
                49.2 8:47  

              PR's

              1m  5:38 (2018)

              5k    19:59 (2019)

              HM  1:33:56 (2018)

              FM  3:23:07 (2018)

              CommanderKeen


              Cobra Commander Keen

                DJ - Go Short, Go Long, Go Vey Long? I'd be running the 50k there if not for my complete lack of running over the last 5 weeks. I looked and looked for a course map/elevation chart but didn't find one, but it should be flat.
                I'm already a lower-carb person than most, particularly most runners, but just because I discovered that eating more fat & protein tend to fill me up better than carbs.
                If you want to break from that for a day after the race check out Andolini's Pizza. Delicious!


                Piwi - Chess players don't typically peak early - probably in the 30's for most (assuming starting playing as a kid). It's actually kind of like running, in a way. Running you have speed and endurance, with speed more the realm of the young, but it fades earlier and faster than endurance as we age. Chess has calculation (if I do this, he does, that, I do that....) and then positional knowledge (knowing piece arrangements and how to best play with them)/pattern recognition (knowing how to play a new scenario based on similar ones from the past). Calculation abilities are typically stronger in the young but then start to slide, but the positional aspects decline much more slowly, and can even be improved with age/experience.
                That kid is probably in the top 1% of chess players in the world, but the gap between him and those at the very top of the game is staggering.
                Awesome sight seeing that on TV, and that you could just look outside and see the remnants yourself.

                 

                Mark - Nice week.


                CFarr - I did manage to win one, so now we're at 1 win/1 draw/ 1 loss each. The next game is still in the early stages.
                Dark Wave (mostly in sub 3:20/sub 3) lives in the DC area and is dealing with some of the same shutdown issues. If I recall correctly she showed up for a race that was cancelled and the RD told everyone " the race is cancelled, but if you all want to start your own individual runs at once while wearing your bibs, coincidentally at the same time that I start this clock for no reason at all....".
                Nice week!

                 

                Chris - Welcome! Definitely stick around and contribute - there's a lot to be learned here. Looking forward to seeing your progress.


                James - Welcome to you, as well. Have you seen a PT or trainer about the injuries? Hopefully injuries don't give you problems this year. Seeing those games with your son must have been a ton of fun. There's actually a minor-league soccer club in OKC and I've been meaning to take my oldest daughter to a game.


                Munners - Howdy! Sounds like you'd have quite the exotic running heatmap on Strava!

                 


                Not only am I out of shape, I'm WAY out of practice in getting up early. Stayed up too late the last couple nights, slept in this morning. That's got to change! Given the state of my fitness I can still fit in the full distance of the run I missed during lunch today, so it shouldn't be a complete miss.
                The local running club had their first group LR Saturday, which I missed. They covered the new section of the start for the full and half, and I know others who extended their runs and went over new parts of the half course as well. The remarks I heard about this were unanimously negative. The new sections at the beginning are in sketchy, very non-scenic areas (no cheering spectators there!) and it adds two new bridges to run up/over, and apparently the second half of the new HM course is a good deal hillier than before as well. I have heard that next year will feature some more course changes, with the possibility of even more changes the year after that (all due to various construction projects), so hopefully we'll wind up with a better course than before.

                5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                 

                Upcoming Races:

                 

                 

                matthewfschwartz


                  Hello! Excited for another year of running, and to be back on the HM forum again. I'm Matthew, 19, from the USA, and I'm looking forward to some diversity of races in 2019.

                   

                  I have a half marathon on January 20 in Arizona, but I have been having knee issues for awhile. I've been biking the last week or so and have a scheduled physio appointment tomorrow to see what's actually wrong. I'm still hoping to run the half marathon, but will have to give up my goal of sub 1:20:00, and may even have to give up the race as a whole. The half marathon is a part of my leadup to Boston 2019, so naturally, being healthy for Boston is my priority.

                   

                  Despite giving up my sub 1:20:00 goal for this upcoming HM, I hope to still break it in 2019 and I still hope to go 2:45-2:50 at Boston this year. After that, I will probably rest up and I might prepare for another half or 10k in fall 2019. Looking forward to see what everyone does in 2019 and can't wait to get back on the roads!

                  PR's: 800 - 2:01.9, 1600 - 4:34.4, 3 mile - 16:00, Full Marathon - 2:54:49

                  Goals: Break 1:20 HM, Break 2:45 FM, Break 34:00 10k, Break 16:00 5k

                  Upcoming Races: 

                  Strava link

                  SteveChCh


                  Hot Weather Complainer

                    Too many of us dealing with injuries/illness in this thread!  Good luck to everyone in overcoming these.

                     

                    I did my first run including some speed efforts for ages last night and felt no achilles pain, the occasional dull ache at worst.  A bit tender when it cooled down so iced it again but at this stage it is one of those "run through it" injuries.  Hopefully it disappears completely soon.

                     

                    I planned to do 4x1km in the middle of my run with 200 metres rest at a pace of around 4:20min/km just do ease back into it but did 4:12, 4:01, 3:59, 4:02 without feeling like I was really going too hard.  Heart rate was fine and much lower than some easy runs last week in hotter conditions.  A cooler day and all the shade at Hagley Park makes a big difference.

                     

                    piwi - I'm in Tauranga next weekend and will probably do a run around the mount on Saturday morning (that's the 19th).  I'm guessing you'll be done before I wake up though...it's my partner's family reunion and I may be a bit hungover on Saturday morning so I doubt I'll be running at 5am...I'll just sleep in and run while feeling dry and hungover in the heat of the day and then complain about it!

                    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

                      Steve nice job on the tempo and always good to go faster that you thought. I may be able to adjust my " run early " schedule .

                      Its only about 3kms around so we could tack on some extra. 10k seems to be my safe number right now. Unless I go fishing or surfing I will try and make it.

                       

                      Matt good to see you back. Yeah I think the sensible thing is to not run that half. I ran a 10k with a dodgy calf 8 weeks ago and still havent got it sorted. You will easily break 1.20 one day as your shorter speed is so good.

                       

                      Keen- sleeping in is addictive ! The funny thing about that space debris burning up was the live Cricket coverage showed it and nothing was said. Im thinking what the hell why arent they talking about it as it was so spectacular. Then in typical understated Kiwi way the commentator says " apparently thats a meteor shower " and that was it back to the cricket.

                       

                      Cfar thats a solid week. I love the holidays too with more energy and time to run on non work days.

                       

                      I ran 10kms today after 3 days off. Legs were good slight ache in both calves after. Im scrapping the marathon plan for now as I cant cope with it physically. Ive got 3 months till the race so just a gradual increase in mileage/fitness is all I can hope for.

                      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 "      

                       

                      SteveChCh


                      Hot Weather Complainer

                        piwi - I'll let you know closer to the time...I have a feeling I might go 9-10ish though and I'm planning on 90-100 mins so I can keep going once you've decided you've had enough if we end up running together.  I'll probably get lost and end up doing more than I want as often happens in new places (haven't been to Tauranga since the late 80s).

                        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

                        JMac11


                        RIP Milkman

                          Wow a lot to catch up on! My laziness got the best of me with my injury. Looks like me and Keen are battling it out for slouch of the week. Sorry for not addressing everybody, if I can get back on the running train I will be much more engaged going forward.

                           

                          Piwi - I have reached level 300 as promised in candy crush. Also, the Thunder were terrible yesterday. They lost by 18 to the Wizards at home!!! Also, good job scrapping the marathon plan. I lost 12 days and I've completely scrapped doing the 71-85 Jack Daniels program and brought it back down to the 56-70 plan. I also don't plan on running a quality day any time soon. That's assuming everything goes perfectly with my PTT, which it won't. I think as we're both learning, consistency is more important than getting some big workouts in. We need to keep reminding ourselves of that (and looking up to Mark for proof).

                           

                          Keen - As Piwi alluded to, being lazy is addictive. So is running every day. The power of habits I guess. When you're running 6 days a week and you need to take a few days off for illness, you go crazy. When you're not running for 2 weeks straight, you feel "meh" about starting up again.

                           

                          Matt - Welcome. You can join the Sub 3 thread if you'd like as well since there are a bunch of guys in there going for quick times in Boston. My Boston sub 2:40 goal is in the toilet right now but gotta see how I come back. For now, I'm just worried about getting back out there.

                           

                          Munners - Welcome! Just what we needed, ANOTHER Kiwi (j/k, but also not j/k because it's getting a little scary how many of you there are)

                           

                          Ckelly - Welcome as well! You will find a lot of inspiration on these boards of just some hardworking folks.

                           

                          Me - Finally got some progress with my PTT. Tested it out on Saturday with a 4 mile run. It wasn't 100% pain free, but good enough that I felt like I could go for 6 the next day. My run on Sunday was completely pain free! It's very encouraging, but I know it's a long road back, and having witnessed all the recurring calf injuries and horror stories about PTT from people on this forum, I will be taking things easy. The injury is certainly not completely gone. It hurts sometimes just walking around, and especially when stretching the area or doing exercises. That's what led me to wait as long as I have to test it out, as I expect the pain to decrease more. I don't think that pain will go away for weeks if not months. But I'm following the rule I always do with running: if it's not above a level 1 out of 10 pain when running, you're cleared to run. I am sticking with theraband foot exercises, icing, and heavy lacrosse ball massaging (thanks to everyone who gave me all these tips).

                           

                          Going to stick with easy miles this week as I try to build back up. I have a few big tests I know I need to get through: multiple days of 60+ minutes in a row, one long run, and finally a long run with quality in it. Either way, this cycle will obviously need major adjustments after 12 days off, even if I can come back full time soon, but I'm just taking it one day at a time right now. The most important goal is to get back running healthy, not whatever time goal I was thinking of.

                           

                          One thing I've done though in all my runs is taking ALL of my 90 degree turns like an old man. I slow down and turn very slowly. I realized that I think my PTT was caused by heavy heel striking during 90 degree turns on city blocks, as I was trying to avoid putting too much pressure on my metatarsalgia. That doesn't work when you're running 20+ long runs.

                           

                          Good news out of all of this though: I'm super motivated right now to get back out there, and my metatarsalgia is completely healed. I do know that I can't expect the sort of cycle I planned out, so I've reduced all my mileage significantly. I may have to take my BOTT back off of the table for the moment while I get healed up.

                           

                          All goals for races are thrown out the window. Goal right now is just get a healthy cycle in and manage this PTT over the next few weeks as I try to build back up. I hope that I am able to.

                          5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                           

                           

                            Hi, it was fun reading all the different stories we have with one passion (or obsession??) for running at the potential we believe we are worth! Welcome Chris, James, Tom (others?) and welcome back everybody else. It seems even my strange record of travelling will be beaten this year... I am travelling a lot for work as well Tom (I am currently in Manchester for a few days) and I hear you when you say hotel treadmills are your go to running location... unfortunately the hotel I am at the moment has no gym!!! so running outside in the dark is the only option. this morning I only managed 4 miles before my first meeting at 7 am ... I hope to get more in tomorrow (late start at 8!!! Smile

                             

                            Piwi good to see you are taking it easy and rationally, but also good to see your 10k today! We are still in the early stages so I am sure you'll get where you want! Smile

                             

                            Steve, you are getting controversial I'd leave the conversations between Flavio and his girlfriend outside the discussion Wink (but I do agree...)

                             

                            Matt good to see you back!

                             

                            have a good week everybody Smile

                            PRs since re-started in 2013:

                            5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18) 

                            HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)

                             

                            Upcoming races:  

                            ???

                            Marky_Mark_17


                              Steve - saw on Strava you'd logged a workout - nice one, you've been very patient keeping it easy!

                               

                              Keen - I hate it when a course gets changed and gets made worse in the process... although if it's due to construction I guess it's unavoidable.

                               

                              Matthew - welcome back.  You're still young so heaps of time to work through those niggles and set some quick times.

                               

                              JMac - great to hear you are getting back out there.  I never thought about how the block structure in NY would force you into a lot of right-angle turns.  Most of my routes tend to be either loops or out-and-back courses.

                              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"

                              JMac11


                              RIP Milkman

                                Piwi - I’m feeling you on the DOMS. I forgot how sore you get when taking a bunch of days off in a row. My easy pace was around 7:00 per mile on my runs with no real loss of endurance, but I can barely crouch today without significant quad pain. It feels like I just ran a marathon! I’m taking it easy on my leg strengthening / PT work today and just doing a complete day off to give my body some time to rest.

                                5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)