Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Piwi - yep we have a solid 4-5 months of weather complaining in front of us now. JMac has a solid 4-5 months of telling us we're soft.
TBH I did lose 1kg on this morning's run, it was an hour with moderate (not hard) efforts, so it was definitely warm.
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"
Hot Weather Complainer
I started the weather complaining at least a month ago, so it's going to be tough for non-Overlords for a good 6 months!
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
I had a warm lunch run, and it was really nice. Admittedly easy pace, tempo/intervals would be a different experience.
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
Steve- I humbly defer to your superior weather complaining.
RIP Milkman
I've been away for a few days playing golf and drinking beer (aka opposite of marathon training), but I'm glad I've returned to our Kiwi overlords complaining about 20C weather (20, seriously?).
Keen - Good luck staying sane this week! Can't wait for your race this weekend.
Piwi - Feel better with the calf, looks like we're both going to be battling injuries in this very early part of our spring cycle.
Me - Foot still bothering me, no change. Just think I'll have to deal with it for this cycle. I hope it's one of those things that miraculously goes away a couple of months from now. The current pain is manageable, but if it returns to what it was when I first felt it, I'll be in trouble.
Going for my first run today in 10 days. Temps here plunged to the freezing mark. I'm not ready for winter
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
Just to taunt our overlords, I'm going to put out there that conditions for my run today were 15F/-9.4C, clear skies, and without even a whisper of wind. Absolutely awesome!
Piwi - Take care of that calf!
Mark - You're coming to Nebraska??
JMac - I'd say you've earned some time away from running.
I've thus far avoided issues during the taper, aside from my wife getting strep throat (that's an issue for me, right??), and some odd thoughts along the lines of "is it even possible for me to run that far at any pace?". I don't recall those thoughts before my first marathon - likely because I had exactly zero clue as to what I was about to get myself in to.
Forecast is still looking good for Saturday - ~36F/2.2C to start, good cloud cover, and little to no wind. Combine that with the flat course and I'm afraid I won't have any valid excuses if this doesn't go well!
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
Keen - I wouldn't even worry about those thoughts. I feel like I used to have those before any race, but especially marathons. Before my second marathon, I remember thinking "how can I run sub 6:52 pace when I could barely run 21 miles at 7:45 pace in training?" Now, it's more of "how can I run threshold pace for 10 miles in a race when I want to die at the end of a 3x2 session with rest?" For the marathon, I think it's clear that the taper plus rest gets you about 18-20 miles of the way there, and sheer willpower to not give up gets you the final 10K. If I felt in a workout like I did at mile 20, I would have just stopped running and bailed on it. But because it was a race and I had to finish, I found a way.
I imagine most people do that for any race distance. For this board, I've said before that I think you should be on the edge by mile 8 of a half marathon. If not, you're running it too slowly. By mile 11, you should be redlining and just trying to hold on for dear life.
JMac- I did another 20C run today. It sucked. I seriously think there is something to be said for the impact of the sun beating down though - it felt warmer than that.
But yeah totally agree with you regarding the seeming impossibility of maintaining threshold pace in a race when hitting it in workouts with rests can be (brutally) hard. It's a weird mystery that I've just come to accept is a combination of preparation, plus taper, plus race day adrenaline.
I think you're more or less right in terms of half marathon pacing at the end. I tend to hit that redline zone around the 18-19km mark, although often I only find it because I'll try and kick up a gear and discover that maintaining pace or just a touch quicker is the best I can do. However, I don't seem to get the 'on the edge' feeling from ~mile 8 that you describe. Not sure why, often I seem to get a second wind through the middle and often that third quarter of the race will be when I feel the best.
Keen - just relax and enjoy it!! It's tough not putting pressure on yourself but tbh it sounds like it'll be a neat race in good conditions so just go out there and enjoy it. Most of my best races have come when I've just gone out there and been as relaxed as possible at the start. It took a while to be able to get myself in that frame of mind but I can vividly remember standing on the start line in Dunedin thinking "this is an awesome morning for running and I'm gonna have some fun today" and that turned out pretty well!
JMac- I did another 20C run today. It sucked. I seriously think there is something to be said for the impact of the sun beating down though - it felt warmer than that. But yeah totally agree with you regarding the seeming impossibility of maintaining threshold pace in a race when hitting it in workouts with rests can be (brutally) hard. It's a weird mystery that I've just come to accept is a combination of preparation, plus taper, plus race day adrenaline.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like this...so many times on the rest period of a tempo I think to myself that if I'm this fatigued in a workout, I'll fall to pieces in a race. I probably go slightly quicker in training than I need to which adds to this feeling.
20C in Auckland with the higher humidity is a killer especially with the sun high in the sky. 20C at 6am would be much easier...and that should lock in the next few pages of weather discussion
Slight change of topic but I've decided I'll experiment with caffeine and see if it does anything for me. I have the odd workout where I'll get a bit annoyed because I feel like I could've gone quicker but didn't quite get there or didn't push myself enough. Just interested to see if caffeine makes a difference at all, if it does I might also consider using it in races.
Steve - at the moment I'm treating it as useful weather acclimatisation for my next two races - the Corporate Challenge 5km (which has a 6pm start but could still be quite warm at that time), and the Omaha Half Marathon (which is a 7:30am start, but the last couple of years has had pretty warm conditions), i.e. I might not like it but it's probably good for me.
(and yes, 20C at 6am is definitely easier)
In the experimentation camp, I mayyyyy have purchased a pair of Vaporfly. I need to see what these things are all about. Piwi is going to skewer me.
I'm also getting yelled at by the over 50 crowd in Sub 3 because I said Age Grading has a slight bias to it that benefits older people. It's not going well. I may retreat back to this thread and realize that maybe our new Kiwi overlords are not that bad after all.
JMac - go tell them it benefits females too...if you feel like some real fun
Jmac I havent read the sub 3 thread on that age grade argument. I will do so after this post. Personally I know that the world best performance for 50 is not as strong as the open as most Africans give up on running in their 30s. Its all about money for them. There was a new 40 age group marathon best set the other week of 2.07 though....
Jmac Im only jealous on Vaporflys as I cant afford them.
Mark one of the guys on sub 3 swears caffeine can give you over 2 mins saving in a marathon. Add in Vaporflys and you would be in the 2.20s
Keen forecast looks good for you. Im in touch with OKC weather through following the basketball
Watson nice to see you back on Strava hitting Oriental Bay.
No running for me today but i did get in a surf with my nephew. I can feel the calf tight and pulling even when I walk.
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 - one thing I keep forgetting is that Steven Adams is a fellow Kiwi! I was like “why is Piwi so obsessed with them, I don’t get it.” Then, I was watching a game and they mentioned it and I literally went “ah!” out loud. I’m glad nobody heard it because it would have been hard to explain the connection to my step up from imaginary friend (as Keen calls us).