Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020 (Read 618 times)

watsonc123


    Mark - nice RR.  I presume other half Racers had a similar GPS issue?  There was a marathon a few years ago in Tauranga which was either short or long by about 2km!

     

    Good job on time aim too.  It can be a big mistake to not downgrade based on course and/or fitness.

     

    It is pretty embarrassing how bad NZ courses are at accuracy.  It seems many courses don't even attempt to be accurate.

    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

    JMac11


    RIP Milkman

       

       

      Darkwave - enjoyed your RR.  Must've been odd being close to / over the distance and still not quite sure when the finishing line was coming.  It's funny how the 'participation' medals that many of us generally didn't worry too much about (hell, I think JMac threw out many of his!) have become a lot more special at the current time.

       

       

      Mark's memory is so crazy, I don't even remember saying that but it's right: I don't keep any of the medals for non-goal races.

       

      I'll get to my race report soon. I'm taking some down time right now (weeks) on paternity leave with my daughter + letting all these annoying injuries heal up before a spring cycle.

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

       

       

      watsonc123


        Jmac - I missed your 5k PR.  Congrats.

         

        Darkwave - I missed your race too.  Nice 5k.

        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

        Running Problem


        Problem Child

           

          Mark's memory is so crazy, I don't even remember saying that but it's right: I don't keep any of the medals for non-goal races.

           

          I'll get to my race report soon. I'm taking some down time right now (weeks) on paternity leave with my daughter + letting all these annoying injuries heal up before a spring cycle.

           

          Toddlers don’t care about annoying injuries. It’s like a whole new world of pain. Except you look at as cross training and not excruciating pain after hard workouts. I hope your child is not as large as mine. It sucks being slow AND weak.

          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


             

            Toddlers don’t care about annoying injuries. It’s like a whole new world of pain. Except you look at as cross training and not excruciating pain after hard workouts. I hope your child is not as large as mine. It sucks being slow AND weak.

             

            My 3 year old daughter (who is pretty big and surprisingly strong) likes to yell out “Rumble time!” and then jump on me.

            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"

            flavio80


            Intl. correspondent

              DW/Mark - thanks for the race reports!

               

              Zeb - that sounds like a difficult race, but it seems you love the trails so it should be fun.

               

              Piwi - you also need that big van to carry home all that fish when you’re gone kayaking, right? 

               

              Watson - good to hear there’s some progress!

               

              Mark - Pink is a blueish red, so that part is forgiven. I’m not ready to forgive though that your crew wasn’t in uniform, such an oversight by you 

               

              me - There was snow here today. Thankfully it was my day off. I certainly don't fancy going running when it's snowing. I guess I need to gear up, some water deterring jacket and maybe some gloves.

              It's odd cause I work from home and I could go running at any time, like I could wait for the snow to stop. I just dislike messing with my routine of running early morning and working throughout the day.

              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

              zebano


                Mark - Great report and solid pacing! I don't know how you remember that much of a race, I always feel like things just go by in a blur and then there's nothing but pain. It was nice of you to coordinate your shoes with your daughters shirt.

                 

                "The wind is SOMEHOW STILL A HEADWIND after the turnaround"

                 

                BWHAHAHA - we've all been there, but it's nice to read about someone else suffering that particular pain. For some reason I find this phenomenon is much much worse on a bicycle than while running.

                 

                Cherish the little kids rumble games, I look back on those fondly. I now have a daughter who is much too serious for anything like that and a son who is 5'11" 150 lbs of muscle (year round swim team) who keeps trying to prove he's stronger than his dad by ambushing me (he's not, but it will happen sooner than latter).

                 

                I'm now eagerly awaiting the hourly forecasts for Friday. Based on the next couple days it should be between 25-30F when I race which is about the coldest weather I like to race in. I'm really questioning whether or not I have the fitness to pull off my goal.... but it's been awhile since I really challenged myself to do anything epic pace wise so I'm ready to give it a shot and if I blow up, then I blow up. .

                 

                Flavio -  Yes, I love trail races. In fact, if I didn't already have plans for early next year, I'd be looking to try a SwimRun which are notable for 4 things if you're not familiar with them. First it's more of a SwimRunSwimRunSwimRunSwimRun. Second the runs are usually on trails, often islands. Third anything you want on the course, you must carry the whole way, including shoes and fourth, it's a partnered event. As a bonus/challenge, they don't exist where I'm at so it would require a vacation (of course Covid makes another reason that I've got this on my 2022 radar instead of 2021).

                 

                Also, suck it up and enjoy that snow!!!

                 

                p.s. I find gloves and a buff to be must have gear but other than that it's easier to just layer things than buy particular outer layers but YMMV.

                1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)

                Running Problem


                Problem Child

                   

                  My 3 year old daughter (who is pretty big and surprisingly strong) likes to yell out “Rumble time!” and then jump on me.

                  Does she have her WWE stage name picked out yet? Top rope leg drop finisherhttps://youtu.be/WMXrotXnD_M (ala the great Hulk Hogan), Huricarana or DDT type?

                  My (soon to be) 3 year old son has been informed the names of some activities are "aaaaaaaaannnnnnddd BOOOM" or "whoa whoa" because it's more fun than "run down the hallway at full speed and smash into your father" or "fly around in circles in dad's arms" although this one is being renamed to "bin me" by the little lad.

                   

                  EDIT: Got some lab work back. Some interesting numbers. I'd expect to see a lot of oxygen rich blood. Turns out I'm still consistently JUST above the "normal low" mark (4.94 M/uL) and my cholesterol is WONDERFUL. LDL is 119 (yeah you read that right) and my HDL is 58. 189 total and 57 mg/dL triglycerides. Glucose rocking 85 (going for that "normal high limit" more and more each year) because I have a sweet tooth. Doc always tells me it's the whole picture, and my LDL doesn't concern her much just because of how active I am, and my HDL is high. Imagine if I had some seriously oxygen rich blood and ran. I'd never feel exhausted!

                  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

                  JamesD


                  JamesD

                    Mark - Great RR, and good on you for getting Miss 3 to color-coordinate with your shoes.  I may be the wrong gender to suggest an answer to your second people-watching observation (sports bra w/leggings), but I often wear half-tights for the compression benefit for my hamstrings, even in warm races.  There could be a simpler, appearance-related, reason for what you saw, though.

                     

                    Zebano - Thanks for the swimming comments.  On Monday, when I noticed a new soreness in the outer part of my right shoulder (the inside of the left shoulder is what's been bothering me), I remembered your post and realized I was crossing my right arm under my body on the downstroke instead of pulling it straight back outside my body.  Changing reduced the soreness significantly.

                    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

                    JMac11


                    RIP Milkman

                      5K Time Trial Report

                       

                      I completed my Jack Daniels 5K training for about the third time, although this one I ended up training for more weeks. I did lose 10 days to some weird foot injury, which I'm still not sure what it is. It started up in my calf, migrated to my achilles, but has ended up in my heel. So it's not exactly achilles tendonitis, and it's not exactly plantar fasciitis. The more injuries I get, the more I realize that sometimes things don't fit into a neat little box. It's probably some chain issue going on.

                       

                      Most of my work pre-race indicate I could shoot for a PR, which was 16:41. So I knew I wanted to go out around 5:20 and go from there. I did have some high hopes for sub 16:30 as I ran that 16:41 at the start of this cycle with no 5K training in place, but rather coming off higher mileage from the spring when I thought I was going to run the Boston Marathon.

                       

                      Weather was absolutely perfect - wind was lighter than expected, with temps in the upper 40s.

                       

                      First 2K - 3:18, 3:20

                       

                      Good start for me in the first KM. I slowly got into speed, and felt like I was ready to go. The second KM though, I expected to be speeding up, but I wasn't. I decided it was too early to really start pushing, so I was just going to go with the flow and see how things went

                       

                      Third KM - 3:24

                       

                      This was a disaster (I saw this as the second mile, but reporting in KM makes more sense for a 5K). I honestly thought I was running hard, but clearly the pace was slipping. If I had gone out hard and then eased back to this pace, that would have been fine, but I never run that way: I always start easy and ramp on down.

                       

                      I really thought I was running hard, so it was a big letdown. Thoughts creeped in that it wasn't going to be my day, but I did a systems check and felt fine: I was breathing really hard, but not fish out of water hard, so I knew I was fine and could get things going again.

                       

                      I'll have more thoughts on this at the end of the report.

                       

                      Last 2K - 3:13, 3:17

                       

                      After that terrible third K, I kicked myself in the butt and said "lets go." The 4th K was great, and the fact that I actually slowed down a little in the last K when I felt like I was giving it my all tells me that I actually ran an okay race. If I was still speeding up at the end, I'd be worried I threw away too much time in that third K.

                       

                      I only looked at my total time with about 100 meters to go and saw that it was going to be tight! So I ran as hard as I possibly could, and came home at 16:37, a 4 second PR!

                       

                      Conclusion/Thoughts

                       

                      1) Can't say I wasn't a little disappointed in the time. To only run 4 seconds faster than your rust buster after putting in 10 weeks of hard work was not great. BUT - I'm never upset with a PR at this point in my "career", especially in a 5K TT, which is a mentally difficult task by yourself and a young man's distance.

                       

                      2) I'm really not suited for shorter distances at this point. Part of it is pure ability: my threshold miles I always had to dial back in training, whereas equivalent Vo2 max was a complete struggle. I could run mile repeats for LT at 5:30 pace, but 5:15 pace for 1200 meter repeats is very difficult for me.

                       

                      3) Building on two: I'm not equipped to race shorter distances. I think one of the things I'm most proud of is my pacing in general in longer races. I never fly out of the gate, I know how to ease myself in, and I know how to hold on when the pain is really bad. Although that concept clearly applies in a 5K as it does in a marathon, I don't have enough practice at 5Ks in order to get that feel down right. I definitely could have ran harder in that 2nd mile, but my body felt like it was running hard enough. I'll always run 5K/10K as rust busters, but I think I'm done with them as goal races, unless there is no chance at a HM in the spring due to COVID.

                       

                      4) Taking almost all of December off. I have that weird foot injury stated at that top, plus this sports hernia which is not healing (I cant sneeze or cough without pain right now). They're both fine to run through, but I'd rather get fully healthy before next year. Plus, I'm on paternity leave with my daughter for 4 weeks, and I refuse to get up at 5 am to go running (I know that's heresy on this board).

                       

                      Anyway, I'll still be around on the boards, so I'll peak in here and there to comment on how things are going.

                       

                      Oh yeah - I also ran a mile TT about 4 hours after my 5K and missed the 4:XX mark by 8 tenths of a second. Same issue with the 5K - didn't know how hard it should feel in the 3rd lap and completely blew it there: think I ran a 1:16 or something like that. These distances require a lot of practice for feel.

                       

                      AND ONE MORE! - I ran a 100M dash with a buddy who was at the track with me. Holy shit I don't remember what those feel like! I felt like my hamstring was going to RIP at any minute. I also cannot believe how up on your toes you are! I thought I was going to fall down, it felt so unstable. I lost that, even though he ran the mile in 7:30.

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

                       

                       

                      Marky_Mark_17


                        JMac - really enjoyed your RR.  I honestly think you paced that really well.  3rd km is kind of make or break, it could easily have been the case that your pace faltered after that but the fact that you were able to pick it up for the last 2km suggests to me that you got it just right.

                         

                        Me - think I might take a leaf out of JMac's book and take a week off.  Even after a comparatively light few weeks of training I'm still feeling a bit off, a little sluggish, and paces are much harder than I'd expect them to be.  Plus, I'm probably never going to get a better time, with 5 months until my next goal race.  I've got niggles floating around in my foot like JMac which have gone from plantar fascia to peroneal tendon to the achilles to the post-tibial tendon, I'll talk it through with my coach but it seems like the right time just to try and hit the reset button.

                        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"

                          Flavio snow is a novelty to me. The van is good i can slide my kayak in without having to break my back.

                           

                          Mark running with you and Steve really was like running with mates that I've know for a while. So much to talk about and so little time makes the run fly by. Great photo of you and your daughter.

                          Get those niggles sorted and have a relaxing Xmas.

                           

                          Jmac while it was only a small improvement for you ,it was still a great effort by yourself and with some significant niggles that you have had this year.

                           

                          Zebano I'm looking forward to your trail race. Hope the weather cooperates.

                          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

                            Zeb - that race you described does not sound fun at all haha. But then again hundreds of people run the Spartathlon in Greece every year so…

                             

                            RP - glucose is not an important number, you could have a daily spike when you had your blood drawn. Glycated hemoglobin is the test you want if you’re looking for diabetes. It shows the “average” from the last 3 months or something.

                             

                            Jmac - thanks for the race report. Ideally you’d even split it, though I suppose that’d only be possible if somebody paced you from start to finish.

                            Still a PR is a PR, if anybody complains it was only 4 seconds tell them Sergey Bubka broke his own world record 1cm at a time so he could collect the check many times.

                            You left roughly 10 to 15s on the track buy running the mile time trial 4 hours after the 5k. You could easily run 4:50 when fresh and with better pacing.

                            Now, don’t leave us hanging, what’s your time on the 100m dash!

                             

                            Me - Set out for my 20 minute tempo run today. Got to the place I usually run these tempos and the path was full of small FROZEN PUDDLES. Damn! So I had to extend the warm up a bit and run on a side street because somehow the cement expels snow and water and it was clean.

                            It was a nice tempo run with 3:55/km average pace, sub 20 5k so no gaga for me today.

                            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

                            flavio80


                            Intl. correspondent

                              I forgot to mention, but today I geared up finally. Got myself some new gloves, a wind/water proof jacket and a neck warmer. The store owner's last name is Lasagni, which I thought was an awesome last name. He had all his BIBs from marathons and ultra races pinned to the wall behind the cashier, super nice guy as well. I had initially thought about purchasing these things on Amazon, but honestly Bezos does not need that 700th yacht, I'll try to help the local economy if I can, especially these guys who had a nightmarish first semester.

                              Anyway all of that plus a beanie and I was ready to go. In short shorts of course. Now if only I can learn not to step on puddles to keep my feet dry...

                              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

                                JMac Nice RR congrats on the PR Good luck with the injury hope the Dec. time off helps.

                                PR's

                                1m  5:38 (2018)

                                5k    19:59 (2019)

                                HM  1:33:56 (2018)

                                FM  3:23:07 (2018)