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

Corey - nice race and always good to see the speed improving!

Me - put some work in this week, if it helps me find another few seconds next Sunday it's definitely worth it.  Good to catch up with Steve for a beer in Christchurch on Fri night and then had my longest run since May on Sat morning.  Always enjoy running down there, there's no pesky hills and Hagley Park in particular is great for running.  Legs were pretty tired for this morning's workout but will likely take a pretty easy week heading into Sunday's race.

M: weights

T: 13.2km easy

W: 14.5km incl. 6x 2 min hard / 3 min easy

T: 13.5km incl. hills

F: weights

S: 28.6km long run

S: 13.7km incl 5x 5 min moderate / 1.5 min jog

Total: 83.6km

JMac - I guess we will find out. My coach tends to err on the conservative side and most of what I’ve read seems to suggest a 7-10 day taper is fine. I actually just checked the archives and I ran a very fast (3:56/km) 22km run 7 days before my current 10km PB. Marathon training is a lot more complex in my opinion whereas for a 10k or even half I feel like a week taper is generally plenty.

Piwi - you must have rubbery ankles for recovering so fast.

jmac - heh yeah I caught myself taking pictures of squirrels in central park a couple of years ago, it was only after I realized there were dozens of them that I stopped.

I think Mark will be fine. He’s a real life Wolverine in regenerative abilities.

Corey - awesome result, the mile/1500 is nice because you only really hurt the last 2 laps.

Bro - your mileage and that 22 mile run was very encouraging, though off course you can never know how it’s going to play out in the day of the race.

Marco - I’d keep something fast but lower volume, something like 3x1000 fast 1000 slow or the like.

me - 52km for the week in nearly 5 hours of running and a 18km long run.

The girlfriend just completed 18km in 5:38 pace roughly (watches were disagreeing on distance), she could run sub 2h for the half today easily.

I kept throwing random questions from time to time just gauge her breathing pattern and she was fine.

Weather was perfect with 6C, humidity at a rare 64% and not much wind except on the lake side.

I reckon she could run 1h54 on race day.

Marco, I'd keep some speed in there but lower volume than usual.

Had a good week overall although the intervals last Monday were hard on my legs - my achilles/calf was bad enough for me not to risk it on Wednesday which was a good decision but it does have me wondering if intervals are just too risky right now.  Perhaps I do all my speed work at tempo pace, will I lose much from doing that?

Had a drink with Mark on Friday which was great - Christchurch turned on perfect weather for his long run.

Monday          70 mins incl. 3x(1,2,3) intervals.  15.91km @ 4:39, interval pace 3:50-3:55

Tuesday         Weights

Wednesday    60 mins stationary bike

Thursday        70 mins easy (14.47km @ 5:01min/km)

Friday             Weights

Saturday         90 mins incl. 5km tempo.  19.28km @ 4:37min/km, 5km tempo 20:32

Sunday           Weights

JMac/Flavio haha re squirrels, I remember being in Boston 10 years ago (my brother was studying there) and being totally fascinated by the squirrels.  He'd only been there 4-5 months and he thought I was a bit crazy.

JMac, Steve, Flavio, Corey - nice weeks

Steve - yeah it was pretty much perfect running conditions Sat AM in your town - glad I brought my gloves though! Looks like you got a good tempo workout in on Sat too.  I personally think it's good to have a little bit at faster than tempo pace because that's what helps your leg speed, but it only needs to be short intervals.

Marco - I'd drop volume down to 25-30 miles pre-race.  You want to keep some intensity in there, though.  Something like Flavio suggested (3x1km fast 1km jog) as an interval workout is good, and then maybe a short tempo workout or some strides on one of the other days.

Mark/Jmac at Marks level of fitness i think his pre pre race week was fine. His weekly mileage isnt huge anyway and 10ks are pretty easy to taper/recover for and from.

Jmac great job on those intervals. You are starting to reap the hot weather training benefits. Thank god for high dew points 

Flavio I think I have the opposite of rubbery ankles like you Im stiff as a board all over. Your girlfriend may have underestimated her fitness and sub 2 looks promising.

Marco i checked your profile and you are one brainy dude who used to be fast. That fast dude is still inside your body 

Cfarr great effort on the mile. Ive never raced one but I imagine its balls to the wall from the start. I know by feel the difference between marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k pace but below that it all becomes sprinting to me. I guess lots of short intervals would help in that department.

I ran 48kms last week nothing like you proper runners but did have alot of energy for other stuff.

CFarr - Great race and placing, especially in a high-mileage week with a couple other quality days.

Bro - Life does sometimes get in the way of important stuff like running, huh? With your speed there's no doubt in my m ind that you should be able to BQ, but that doesn't mean you have to get it done this year. Getting a solid marathon experience under your belt and working on improving endurance will go a long way toward getting that. No need to rush the process.

Mark - Good week. I, of course, am also anxiously awaiting your next race.

Marco - Glad you're learning a lot (that's what we're all here for!), and looking forward to your race as well. I agree with what has already been said about workouts pre-race, so I can't really add anything else.

JMac - Nice week, and killer 400s after the 1200s, too. I have to try running crazy mileage, as without it I can't even get close to the times you and Mark are running. And it remains to be seen if I'll be able to get close even with the crazy mileage...

Piwi - I'm also interested in this "other stuff" you speak of. Of course if/when I find out what it is I may regret my interest.

New weekly mileage PR for me, by ~4 miles. I had to move my LR to Sunday to help accommodate some family stuff, which also means that I will almost certainly end up with a new weekly (rolling 7 day) mileage PR by this Saturday as well, since I'll have 7 days of running in a row. Hotter (75-80F 23.8/26.6C) low temps have returned, but for the last couple days the Kiwi point and humidity have been a bit lower than usual, so those temps haven't seemed as bad as usual.

DD1 isn't going to have her first soccer game this Saturday like I thought, so I'm now quite strongly considering running a 5k this weekend on what's one of the fastest courses in the state. Stimulus-wise it would be a suitable replacement for my first I session of this training cycle and should be good to get an idea of where my fitness is. My one hesitation is that short, fast races kinda scare me, especially since I'm pretty unsure of what I could run now. I should probably just put on my big-boy running shorts and pink racing shoes and go for it.

Weekly Summary
Monday, Aug 20, 2018 thru Sunday, Aug 26, 2018