Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 half marathon in 2017
Congrats, Mark, on the PR and o the win. And this is on the back of a marathon
Awesome tempo, Flavio, How is it going with the form exercises? Keep healthy for longer and you will smash
Justin: Nice to hear from you. Congrats on your 35+ PR!
Piwi; C'mon! go sign up for that 5K. Do it for fun and go with no expectations, Just a time trial with people pushing you to get a better time, and others cheering for you.
Me: I tried my tempo today 7Km @4:13/Km and I suffered a "bit" (spelled as L-O-T). It seems that I'm developing a cold.
Flavio - great job on the tempo. It is always satisfying when you can comfortably pull off a tempo quicker than planned!
A brief RR...
The Corporate Challenge 5km is a reasonable-sized event (~1,700 entrants) but skewed towards the more social side of things. However there are normally a handful of competitive runners there and last year's winner was sub-16. It's a 2 lap course in the domain, with probably just over 1km on grass and a deceptively nasty hill, so it's not especially quick. I'm hoping there will be some fast guys there to make it competitive as I'm really interested to see what sort of time I can post, having not run a hard 5km for probably a year.
I don't see a lot of guys I recognise there other than Julian Ng, who is normally around the 17-min mark. However at the start there pretty quickly emerges a lead group of 6-7 runners. I suspect some of these who will be guys who have the competitive attitude but not the fitness and sure enough, the group is down to 4 by the time we are headed up Museum Hill after 1.5km or so - me, Sam Sygrove (I didn't know his name then), Julian and one other. I am definitely the one pushing the pace with Sam on my shoulder and the others hanging behind. This also meant I had to do a lot of the work into a surprisingly gusty northerly for around 500m or so. Km 1 is 3:19 and km 2 is 3:22 so we are setting a good pace despite the warm temps (it was 20C / 68F) and the course.
By the time we drop down the hill and past the Gardens it's down to just me and Sam. Julian is not too far back, maybe 10 seconds. Back on to the grass and the first lap is down. The second lap presents a different challenge as we are catching the walkers who are spread across the course. Despite the best efforts from the marshal on the bike ahead of us to clear a path there is still some weaving required, which is slightly frustrating. Sam is on my shoulder but I sense he is starting to flag just a little and working to keep up. Km 3 was 3:27, the slowest of the race. I figure if I give it a nudge going up the hill, I might be able to build a lead. Although my lungs are burning, the strategy works and by the time we are back down the hill, I figure I have 5 seconds or so on him. Km 4 was 3:24, slowed up a little due to the hill and traffic. I figure a PB is entirely possible, but with 1000m to go, and the lungs starting to burn in that 5km race kind of way, I am more concerned with just holding my pace and finishing strongly. Coming up to the finish I hear some of my team mates cheering as they are just finishing their first lap. I've never actually won a race of this size so it's a special and slightly surreal feeling to be approaching the finish line knowing I'm leading. I haven't looked over my shoulder because I figure I'll hear anyone coming and I've kicked it up a little for the last 150m towards the finish line. Crossing the line first is an awesome feeling, even better when I look at my watch and it says 16:44 which is a new PB (my previous PB wasn't really a PB because it was an unofficial TT effort anyway). I'm sucking in the big ones as Sam finishes second, 10 seconds or so behind and Julian is another 10 seconds or so behind him. It doesn't sound like a lot but when you do the maths its probably like 40-50 metres which is actually quite a long way! Km 5 at 3:11 was the fastest of the race, helped by the fact its net downhill, but still nice to have a bit of a finishing kick too.
Very pleasing result on the time, considering I hadn't really trained with any specificity for this race, and it was not a flat and fast course. I guess the combination of recent marathon mileage and a few track sessions over the last couple of weeks to build speed really helped. Has me feeling optimistic for the Omaha HM in a few weeks as well. I seem to have continued my weird habit of setting PB's on tough courses too. My watch had the course slightly short at 4.95km but there were some tree covered areas that can throw the GPS a bit. According to the official race time (16:43) I did exactly even splits, I suspect most of the faster runners would actually have been slightly positive.
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"
Jaime I think you are right just dont put pressure on myself.
Mark I saw some of the guys you ran with had 4.8kms and one at 4.7 also one at 5kms. Your last split was 3.14 on strava and the 4th km was 3.26. The hills and grass likely made up for any short course anyway.
Im up to run 24 up Papamoa Hills now. Trying to average one per day for the month. One guy at 40 ascents but I think he walks up and jogs down. On hiking websites it says its a tough 45 min walk up, I ran it in 10.11 the other day they must have their info wrong
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 "
Intl. correspondent
Jaime - the functional training has been steady work and I’m collecting the results.
Their mantra is no pain all gain and I definitely support that.
Every workout is different (though I repeat exercises from time to time).
So far so good.
Mark - great job winning it overall as well. It’s odd that the 15ers didn’t show up but I’m sure you won’t complain haha.
Piwi - I agree a 5K is in order after all this hill training. You might PR.
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
Berkeley Half RR:
As you've all seen this race didn't go as planned or hoped, and I will have to reflect some more on that later, but here's the RR at least.
After some rain in the forecast earlier in the week, the forecast changed and we had something close to perfect conditions for the race. Starting temperature was 45, with a few clouds in the sky and almost no wind. My wife dropped me off at the start, I took care of business, met briefly with a couple guys form work who were also running, did a quick 1 mile warmup and found the 1:35 pacers. Chatted a bit with them and their planned pace for the first miles were about the same as my estimates were for their pace, so all was good. As mentioned earlier my plan was to run with them for a couple of miles and then pick up the pace slightly to get to my goal time. Difference was about 10 sec per mile between my average goal pace and theirs.
Mile 1: Slightly uphill, not much to talk about except that I wanted to make sure I didn't run it too fast. Last year I did, felt like I never really recovered, although that race ended up being paced much better than this. Pacers were right on my adjusted pace + 10 with 7:17, and everything felt about as relaxed as it should for the start of a HM.
Mile 2: First decent hill, elevation change of 145 feet, uphill all the way. The hill gets steepest towards the end and I actually let the pacers go by a few yards towards the end as I felt like they were pushing too hard at the end, something the time reflected. Pace for the second mile was 7:37, actually 4 seconds faster than my planned pace, so the pacers were definitely going hard here. Hindsight I probably should have held back a hair more here, but I don't think this killed my race.
Mile 3: Mostly downhill. basically 145 feet down again with a short flat section at the end. Eased back to the pacers again and for a little while I had a fleeting thought that maybe I should just stick with them for a while longer as that pace seemed right, but before I knew it I passed them and still felt pretty good. I guess I should have listened to myself. Goal was 6:36, I ran 6:46, which I figured was fine since the previous mile was a bit fast.
Mile 4: This is the start of the second uphill section, which is about a mile and a half long. It's just a steady uphill with 75 feet of total elevation change, but enough to affect your pace by quite a bit. I tried to focus on going at a comfortable pace and more or less sticking with my plan. Planned pace was 7:27, I ran 7:20, which I realize I wasn't very worried about at the time. Maybe I should have been as the uphill sections seem to be rough if run too fast.
Mile 5: Half uphill and half downhill, just about a 100 feet elevation change in both directions with the last real uphill section before the end. Here I was preparing for a time slightly slower than planned of 7:05 as all experience I have on the section says it's a bit tougher than predicted. I ran 7:34, which was more of a difference than I was hoping for but I was looking forward to the downhill sections that started here.
Mile 6: Nice, downhill, 165 foot elevation drop, and I was feeling good. I let my legs go and realized I could keep the planned pace down this hill without too much trouble. There was an aid station at mile 6 and I grabbed some water to flush down some GU chomps. My goal for this mile was 6:37, and I ran it in 6:36. Perfect.
Mile 7: More downhill, although very slightly so with an elevation drop of 65 feet. I was still feeling good so I was trying to stay on pace (6:51) and clocked in at 6:55.
Mile 8: Flat, but with a quick up and down and looping around to pass over the I-80 freeway to make it down to the water. Again, experience told me that the turns and the freeway overpass was enough to slow my down a little bit, but when I finish the mile at 7:26 I get a little bit worried. I thought I would go faster than this at this point, and even though I know the hard work would start around here I was expecting to keep the pace up better. Oh well, two completely flat miles along the water were following so I figured I'd see how they would go.
Mile 9: I have to start digging hard to keep my pace up but just can't keep it where I wanted to. The flat sections should be run at 7:00 pace but I can only manage 7:16. I'm thinking that if I can keep it together I can still make it under 1:34, which I justify to myself as a moral 1:32:56 as I know the hills slow me down by a minute or a little bit more compared to a flat, easy course.
Mile 10: Turnaround of the flat section is at mile 9.1 where the timing mats are and it's a little bit more than a mile back along the water to the freeway overpass I ran across earlier. Shortly after the turnaround I see a pace group coming the other way and I'm thinking to myself it must be the 1:35 group, so I still have a lead on them and a good chance for the moral 1:32:56, or if nothing else 1:35. It then feels like a punch in the gut when I see it's the 1:40 group and I realize the 1:35 pacers must be right behind me. And sure enough, suddenly I hear the voices of the pacekeepers for 1:35 behind me and I figure I will have to try to hang on them whenever they catch up with me. My watch beeps at a 7:18 pace.
Mile 11: The flats are pretty much done with by the time we get to the overpass again and the 1:35 group catches up with me. I try to stay with them for a minute or so but I can't, especially as we go over the overpass. I try to keep them within some sort of reach but my legs are dead and I just have to dig in to keep going. Right before the next mile marker a local running group is handing out beers and I'm tempted to take one but decide against it. Hindsight maybe I should have grabbed one. The mile is slower with the slight uphill (my plan said 7:09) but I clock in at 7:46. Ugh.
Mile 12: Uphill almost all the way with dead legs and my calves start cramping. I ignore it but can feel the cramps wander up and down a few times. Just two miles left so I keep pushing, even though it's slow goings. 7:57 for the mile and I'm suddenly wondering if I'm in danger of not making my PR. At this point in a race my math usually goes out the window and it's all about getting to the finish line as fast as I can, and I decide against trying to figure out how close it is.
Mile 13: More uphill, and as before it's not steep but pretty constant, and it's brutal at this point in the race. Cramps are still there but I tell myself that at the end of this mile it's pretty much flat all the way to the goal line. At mile 12.9 we round a corner and it's a straightaway to the goal line and I manage to somehow pick up the pace. I give it all I have at the end, mile 13 goes at 7:46 and I finish the last 0.1 in a 6:42 pace. I bend over right after the finish line and instantly dry heave a couple of times but nothing comes up (there's a good picture of me doing just that among the race photos).
I'll come back with some more reflections later, including where to go from here.
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Rune - nice RR on what sounds like a challenging race. FWIW I reckon you should've grabbed the beer, although I probably would've done the same as you, not taken it and then half wished I had!! Did you take anything to try and deal with the cramps?
Piwi - just do the 5k for the fun of it! I went into yesterday's race just looking forward to having a bit of fun and seeing where my shorter distance efforts were at and I really enjoyed it. I have been meaning to hit up one of the many weekly 5km's nearby for a while but just haven't got around to it. With all those hills you will be strong as anything at the moment.
Flavio - haha yes nice to get the W but I wouldn't have minded if any of the 15: xx guys had showed up. It's always a bit of luck with local races as to whether or not any of the super-quick guys show up, and mostly I was just out to have a bit of a blast.
Jaime - hope you're feeling better soon.
Rune all I got to say is...OKC smashed Golden State today
Mark I will do one I promise before xmas usually won in 15 or 16 mins down here. Theres a young guy Sam Tanner lives about 2kms from me who often wins it. he just ran a 3.50 1500m beat Theo Quax Dick Quaxs son. Some great talent there.
Flavio theres no way i will PR a 5k but sub 18 would be extremely hard and satisfying. I did the 18.18 on the track solo a couple months ago.
I ended up running the skinny turkey half today. I ran the same race last year and won the masters at 1:32. This year i could only manage 1:36, which got me to age group 3. This is my 3rd race in 10 days and 2nd in 4 days. I thik I need a break from running so that I can recover and come back stronger next year. I have one more half left on Dec 9 and I am pacing the 1:45 group, so as of now I am done with racing this year
Arvind - that is a LOT of races! I ran 3 half marathons in 5 weeks last year and I thought that was a lot.
have anyone tried Hansons plan
https://hansons-running.com/pages/training-plans
I wanted to give it a shot for my next half in march. If things go well for my Chicago as well.
JamesD
Never tried Hansons plans - too many miles & runs/week for me. That said, I know a lot of people have had success with them, but I was surprised to see that there are only easy runs the last 10 days before the race, with the last run at HMP being Thursday of the week before a week ending in a Sunday race. If I didn't do at least a little tempo-pace running the week of the race, I think I'd feel sluggish. For my recent half, I did 2.5 miles at tempo pace 8 days before and a mile at tempo pace 2 days before. What do others think?
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
Late to report...but I had pretty good training block last week:
Monday: 4.1 miles at 8:16 pace
Tuesday: 4 x 1 mile at 6:18 tempo pace with 1 minute standing recoveries
Wednesday: 5 miles at uptempo pace (6:48 pace)
Thursday: 9.1 miles
Friday: 5x400 at 5:56 pace, 5x200 from 5:15 down to 4:46 pace.
Saturday: 2 miles easy with my wife
Sunday: 10 miles at 7:29 pace.
Total: 44.3 miles
I'm going to take a bit of a break until next Monday. I'm not doing anything structured and just running if I really feel like doing it. For the past 28 weeks I've averaged 40.5 miles a week and I think I need to hit the reset button a bit and try to get recharged. Racing went really poorly this year due to some bad circumstances, health reasons, and poor race tactics. I've lost some confidence in my running and I really think I need a lot more miles to get anywhere close to where I want to be.
Arvind - I have successfully used a small variation from the Hansons marathon plan. I did some changes because it was a 50K race. I mostly used the same workouts they define and did some longer long runs. I had a blast and I found it to make perfect sense.
At least more sense than Pfitz that makes you run 39km (24 miles) in on go during training. I know some of us are unbreakable (like Fred who used to post here) and can handle that no problem, but I”m a mere mortal and running 39K is just too much.
Piwi - you never know, maybe you wake up to speedy legs
Rune - Could you please list the last 12 weeks before your race while listing weekly mileage, long run mileage and what workouts you did that week?
It’d be easier to think about it looking at the whole thing.
Bro - if you race worse than you train it usually means you have to take it easier in training. It might be worthy though to schedule a chat with some local coach you trust, even if you don't pay monthly, just one hour to talk about your training history, your running vices, form clues etc.
Took several days off after my half last Saturday. Calves are tight, but knees aren't too bad, & everything else seems ok. I'm planning mostly easy runs the next few weeks before a two-week vacation at the end of the year.
Sun-Tues - off
Weds - 20 minutes swimming
Thurs - off
Fri - 4.3 miles easy, stopping every half-mile for exercises
Sat - 5.7 easy
Total - 10 miles
8-week average - 23 mpw
Flavio nice 20km run i saw on your Strava.
Mark I like that 2 x 5kms hmp tempo block today in muggy conditions.
James vacation=best time to run
My week done not huge mileage but still some good climbing at just over 2k metres.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Nov 20, 2017 thru Sunday, Nov 26, 2017
Just a few more days to go till the end of the hill climb challenge Im doing. Im way behind some who are over 40 ascents. Most of them walk up jog down though. Still some great efforts been put in. Im still leading fastest time by quite a bit.