Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Cobra Commander Keen
JMac - A look back sure does do wonders at times. I have seen that thread, which is the most quality I've seen from that site in a good while. I need to double-check my plan, but if I remember correctly recovery during I work is at or slightly less than 1:1 (e.g., 4 minutes after 5 minutes of running). I always feel like I'm just on the cusp of actual recovery when the next I section starts, which is I is my least favorite Daniels workout.
Flavio - I do see your point, but had you said "under trained >> injured" I'd certainly agree more. Given my base going in and that I'm pretty closely following the plan (adding in some extra E miles I think should have been there all along) I don't think potentially swapping 1 E mile for 1 T mile would put me over the edge. And all I did was update that workout on my watch, I'm not committed to it at all. If I don't 100% think I can handle it I'll just continue with the cool down and skip that extra T mile.
Marco - Flavio's predictor workout is a good idea. You haven't had any other races recently, have you?
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
Flavio - you need to find a race soon even though it is too hot. You also seem to take big vacations at the best training time of the year. Re hot races, I suspect it will effect you less than people who train in cold conditions and then get a hot race.
JMac - I am still over a week out from my race. So a 8km / 5 mile tempo 10 days out will be fine.
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
Here's one I want to toss by anyone and everyone familiar with Daniels:My HR and T pace/effort don't seem to line up at all with Daniels recommendations. For the T segments of my workout today (3E warmup, 2x 2T, 4x 200m R, 1T) my HR average and max (in percentages of max HR) for the T segments were:
T1 77% avg, 81% maxT2 81% avg, 83% max
T3 80% avg, 83% maxT4 84% avg, 86% max
T5 84% avg, 88% max
Paces for these were from 1 second slow to 8 seconds fast. These did feel surprisingly doable given the conditions. Daniels typically gives T pace/effort as being 85-90% max HR. Given this and that I'm averaging below the floor of this range does that mean I should be picking it up a little on T workouts? Or should I just keep the pace at where it is now?
Keen I dont know much about any of that but what I do see is some great miles been logged by you which will bring nice results.
Flavio yeah stop taking vacations and eating pastries ( I just bought 6 big apple danish with chocolate on top for me and the fam
Watson looking good for your half. Will you target 4.05/km pace ?
Jmac I can relate to what you go through on your runs as today during my 5 miles at 8.48 pace in 15 c 59F i had to remove my gloves
Marco props on the family support which I imagine is hard work. Sub 40 10k is an awesome barrier. Its equivalent to about a 1.28 half.
I havent quite kicked my chest infection so Watsons 6 week duration seems about right as Im at week 5. Its not bad but enough to sap some energy. Ive been doing alot of surfing this week which is tiring and messes with my toes and lower leg muscles making them sore for running,
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 "
Keen - as Piwi said, you've had a lot of really good weeks. My gut feeling is that your pace is close enough.
Piwi - 1:25:00 is 4:02 pace. I'll try for about 4:15 for first km, then 4:10km for the second km, then 4:05km for the third, then 4:00/km from then on. That's the plan anyhow.
Keen: I am a JD pussy as I bailed out of his camp and joined the whimpy Hanson brothers. Hence I am in no position to give advice. Sounds like you are reaching a new level there, congrats. How did your HR look for similar workouts a couple of months/workouts ago? Do you observe a trend of lower HR at similar effort? And you mentioned that you had a VDOT bump coming up. Would that be in line with upping your time to get closer to the JD HR range?
Marco: very sorry to hear that about your dad. I feel like running is a great therapy to clear one's mind and I hope it helps you too!
Piwi: when I did surfing it was primarily heavy on the arms since I would have very limited time standing up. I guess you ride those monster waves and I can see how that can be taxing on the legs, doing all those tricks and all...btw I guess you have to wear a wetsuit. Does that qualify you as a MAMIL?
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Watson that sounds like a good way to warm into the pace.
Mick its winter here and the water is about 14c which is ok with a good wetsuit. Wetsuits are heavy though and drain your energy. I mostly feel it in my back which powers the paddling.
Got in an 8km run today and 2 surfs so I will sleep well.
My week is done. It went quite well. Thursday's tempo was a little slower than ideal, being 8km at 4:10/km pace, but it wasa morning before work run which is never the quickest.
One week to my next half.
Watson - nice week. I never read too much into individual workouts as all sorts of things can impact them.
Piwi - bugger about the illness. My old man has been crook for over a month now. Chest infection that went away and then came back.
Hope you are better soon.
Keen - like others have said, I have no specific opinion on your workout but man you have been putting the work in!
Me - decent post race week at 67km. Started it pretty easy but had a great track workout Saturday. Nice run this morning too, aside from almost getting taken out by an idiot cyclist ignoring the pedestrian/cycle lanes on Upper Harbour Bridge. There is a lot of drivers vs. cyclists angst in NZ... in my experience there are idiots on all modes of transport. Next Sunday is Auckland Road Champs 10km, as long as conditions are good it will definitely be a PB attempt. I will probably try and log some decent workouts early in the week and then get a mini taper in.
M: weights
T: 11km easy
W: 15.1km easy
Th: 11km w 6x 2 min hard / 3 min easy
F: weights
S: 13.7km track workout
S: 16.2km incl. 35 mins moderate effort
Total: 67.1km
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"
Mark: assuming you are human, why would you do any workouts the week of your PB attempt???
Me: had a mixed week with 4 runs, consisting of 1 easy, 1 interval, 1 tempo & 1 long run. I had to skip two easy runs - one due to feeling sick (probably some shit I ate the day before) and one with torrential rain. Total of 50km. I will take it as a mini taper. Some weight training as well. I should do more core work but I am just too lazy.
Mick - I will do two workouts this week, both cut down. Some people can have an easy week and race well, others do better with some quicker stuff in the week leading up to the race.
I know - I mean you guys are so experienced I am certain you know exactly what works best for you. And actually I dont even know how different taper needs to be for a 10k vs a half. But you are going to cut down your workouts vs Mark who wants to get some "decent" workouts in. He wont benefit from it come race day since its too close to his race. And he will attempt to set a new PB. So that seemed a bit counter intuitive....I will have the popcorn and beer ready and look forward to next week
Intl. correspondent
Keen - sounds good, it makes sense now.
I've taken a look at Stryd as your posts about it got me intrigued. It's been around for 2 years now, I wonder if all the updates have been on the software side and how they're handling direct competition from the Garmin Pod.
IIRC you like the Altra Escalantes quite a bit. I hated them at the beginning as I found them too bouncy for my taste. But it seems after a while the sole has compressed a bit and now they're quite good.
Watson - training on warm paces does help, but not much. I have very little resistance to warm weather and the heat from the sun.
Good luck on your race!
Piwi - you're a 50+ year old surfer. You should have a show on the Off channel. You'd go around surfing waves, having encounters with nudists, running and all around bantering. I'd certainly watch.
MJ - You should stop eating shit, it's bad for your health
I bet Mark will answer either of the following 3 options:
a) I'm not tapering for this race
b) It's a lower volume workout just to keep the legs sharp
c) I'm not human
Mark - Good luck at the 10K race, that sounds like a big race, the kind most of us would not even qualify, so big congratulations for being on the start line.
me - My week is done with 59km in 5h04. A fantastic week if you ask me considering I could barely walk due to lower back pain back on Monday. I'm approaching 6 hours of running and 2 hours of functional training per week which is when the weight cannot resist anymore and is forced to drop. I'm banning bread for a while until the weight goes down.
I'm pondering increasing the functional training from 2 to 3 times a week. I know that running is the best exercise for running, but I've realized I'm way below average when it comes to core strength, and strength in general.
Just to give you an example, there's a rowing exercise I do (TRX inverted row -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prw1ACiWgsg , after doing it just a few times I'm already noticing those muscles under the scapula helping me keep my posture upright, and pulling part of the body weight up while lessening the effort of the lower body (calves, ankles and feet), allowing for less effort while running, better running economy.
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
Hot Weather Complainer
A good week for me given it was post-race. I'll ramp it up a bit this week but be mindful that I'm still in the injury danger zone - if I didn't have a race in 6 weeks I'd probably have another 2 weeks of 100% easy paced but I'll add in some intervals and tempo instead...
Monday Weights + a lot of post-race eating
Tuesday 50 mins stationary bike
Wednesday 50 mins stationary bike
Thursday 70 mins easy (13.33km @ 5:13mins/km)
Friday Weights
Saturday 90 mins easy (19.01km @ 4:49mins/km)
Sunday Weights
My legs came right a bit quicker than usual. Thursday's run with a mate at very easy pace was fun and felt very comfortable. The first 60 mins on Saturday felt great and I thought about doing 2-3km of tempo pace but then I suddenly had very heavy legs and had to grind it out to get home. Feeling good today though so I'm going to try some intervals tonight.
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 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Mick - I always tend to do workouts the week of a race to keep my speed up, albeit if it's a half I'll keep them pretty short. Also, I'm still building towards the Dunedin half marathon in a month's time, and a 10km only needs a small taper (I actually will admit to having no idea how much of a taper a 10km needs). My mileage last week was already a little lower than normal due to it being a recovery week as well.
Flavio - nice week and hope that back is feeling better. I have found core strength to be great for running posture. Also the race is open entry as long as you are registered to a club, albeit there are going to be a lot of very fast runners there. I think if I place in the top 6 in my AG I will qualify to represent Auckland at NZ Road Champs in 3 weeks. Based on last year's times (same course), if I PB I will do that comfortably.
Steve - nice week. You should find that your recovery will improve now that you are running a bit more frequently too.
Me - my osteo discovered that I have the beginnings of metatarsalgia in my L big toe. Likely caused by the combination of a slightly weaker left leg, low drop racing flats, and the road camber on the first half of the Taupo HM. It's barely noticeable at the moment though (only when walking - not running), and with ice and rolling the PF it should be fine, she reckons. Phew!