Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018 (Read 704 times)

Mark - let's put it this way: you definitely do not physically need gels for a half. They serve absolutely no physical purpose as they would in a full, where they prevent you from running into glycogen depletion. Almost all runners have enough glycogen in their system to last 2 hours, if not longer. Think about your long runs: do you take gels? No? And do you bonk during them? Slowing down in a half is miles away from bonking, which is the only place where gels actually help you. Trust me, I had the same amount of gels in my first and second marathons, and yet my second was light years better just because I was prepared. I slowed down almost a minute per mile in my first marathon, whereas I actually ran a negative split in the second marathon. It wasn't the gels. However, where gels may impact you is psychologically. It could be the caffeine if its in it, or just sugar hitting your system and giving you a mental boost. Obviously mental is just as important as physical in races, but don't kick yourself over this. I think most marathoners could get away without gels too and just drink Gatorade, but it's hard to take that chance.

Rune - good RR. Similar to my note to Mark, one thing that sucks the most about headwinds is the mental part of it. It's just so draining to run into a headwind, especially in the second half of the race, that sometimes you can't overcome it. I have no idea how anyone ran Boston this year. Second, don't go by JD's pace recommendations. You should be running your VDOT based off of recent performances, not some specified time period. Sometimes your VDOT can improve over 3 weeks, sometimes it might not improve for 12 weeks. It depends on so many factors and it's better to just go by your recent race performances.

JMac - Thanks for the advice. Regarding gels, I'm close to being convinced that they have a detrimental effect on me at a HM or when running at that effort. I don't know, of course, but if I look back at my HM history, there is a correlation between taking gels somewhere around halfway through the race, and my pace and form going downhill shortly thereafter. Of course that doesn't mean the gels caused the dip in performance but still. Last year I even though about it after a tempo workout I had, where I took a gel during and shortly thereafter my pace dropped and I felt very sluggish. Also, at my HM in February I didn't take any and finished much stronger than this weekend, but there were other contributing factors too of course. But I'm pretty sure that when my next HM comes up in 6 weeks I will stay away from gels during the race. At marathon pace effort I have never noticed a difference though.

Mark - Thanks, I think I'll just try to look forward from here and hope for better conditions in my next race.

Steve - Nice race for you! Good thing somebody managed to exceed expectations this weekend.

Mick - I looked at the age group results and it was pretty thin. 280 runners total in the race, 21 guys in my age group, and number 4 in my age group ran a 1:45. But then again, I can't control who else is showing up for these races. Bummer though was that #2 was only 25 seconds ahead of me.

This week will be a challenge training wise as the family is going to Norway for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow. But I will do what I can to stay on top of things and juggle workouts around if needed to make it work. Good thing is there will be more nice pictures on Strava again.

MJ - don't they honor the sale price? How can you be poor, we all know people living in Switzerland are millionaires owners of banks and watch makers hehe. Now that is a fun stereotype to have!

Me - I woke up to horrible news. Some guy took down my course record on a Strava segment. It's roughly 600m, I had run 2:50 and he ran 2:31. Now I have to go there and run faster than that. It should be doable 

The Kiwis have a lot of sheeps. And Kiwi fruit.

I'm not entirely convinced that country exists though, see http://worldmapswithout.nz

The Kiwis have a lot of sheeps. And Kiwi fruit.

I'm not entirely convinced that country exists though, see http://worldmapswithout.nz

Actually sheep numbers have been on the decline (although there are still a lot of them) - less than half of 'peak sheep' numbers in the mid-1980's.  There are less than 6 sheep per person now whereas back in the day it was probably something like 20:1.  Cows (dairy) are the big thing now but the greenies all hate them and are trying to shut them down.

And yes the worldmapswithout.nz thing is funny.

What, Igor went to Brazil?

Flavio I know a pretty lame joke about the Swiss millionaires:

An American man (pretty fat and stupid) walks into a bank with a black suitcase. He gets cloee to the glas and whispers to the teller: hi, I have a Million bucks in cash here on me and I would like deposit that on a secret Swiss account. And the teller replies in a normal tone: Sir, there is no need to whisper. Poverty is nothing to be ashamed of here in Switzerland.

On a more serious note: I love Switzerland but I am not from here and its pretty darn expensive. I will stay as long as I can and hopefully be in the position to retire early in some cool country such as Brazil or Thailand, play golf and occasionally run a halfmarathon in 90 minutes

Jmac speed golf is a thing. One of Marks Strava mates set some sort of record for it. Oh and I am a Kiwi but born in England to an English father and German mother who are both 87 now so Keens wifes Grandparents story is making me feel old 😁

Mark my mate ran his 1st sub 1.30 in Taupo. He recently broke 20 for 5k and then got it down to 18.50 a few weeks later so I knew sub 1.30 was doable for him. You could be right about the course length as my Tomtom reads about 200m short over 20kms and it measured 21kms exactly. I think gels in halfs do have a placebo effect.

Rune I enjoyed your race report.

Flavio strava crowns are temporary untill some elite dude crushes them 😀

Mick/Flavio we had a big tramp on our back lawn for about 10 years untill it finally rusted out. In my early 40s i could bounce away no problem but once i started running and my legs tightened up i lost alot of the relax and bounce ability.

I ran yesterday and privatised my Strava because thats what elites do 

Mark - check the date of your last race in your signature.