Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Thanks all for the suggestions! I will try what you suggest and keep you posted. Piwi, I hope to find the fast in me, for now it's a lot harder than my brain seems to remember and wants to deal with. I hope the 10 k next week will bring me some more of my old self runner back.
have a good week
Marco
PRs since re-started in 2013:
5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18)
HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)
Upcoming races:
???
Hot Weather Complainer
Ugghhhh...
Set out to do a tough intervals session last night and was cruising for about 2.5km of warm up at around 4:45 - 4:50 km pace, when suddenly, bang, huge pain on the inner right calf. I kept going for 5-10 steps but then had to stop. Walked back to the car and tried to jog but stopped after 100 metres. This is a first, normally I get a gradual build up of pain but this was sudden, sharp and painful. This isn't the calf that has had some soreness recently.
Iced it last night and this morning and it feels much better than I expected it to - last night I'd written off doing another race this year. This morning there is a minor pain when I walk and it is twitching a lot.
It is so frustrating not getting a clean run of training - if I did I feel that I'm right on the cusp of a PB.
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
RIP Milkman
Bro - I would love to get some easy miles with you if I was around (or a beer, it’s the same ), but I’m in Europe this week, so enjoy them with the wife. Enjoy running in the park, I get frustrated with it but whenever I travel I realize how amazing it is to have a 4, 5, and 6 mile loop at your leisure with no cars. Make sure to yell at the tourists and bikers to make it seem like you’re a true New Yorker . Let me know how it goes. Regarding the R pace, I was actually hitting them around 1:15. They burned like hell after doing around 13 miles previously, but felt good to do something so fast. Daniels can be a real beast with some of the workouts he combines in marathon training.
Keen - insane mileage. I really think you’re due for a huge PR with the consistency you put up. You must be approaching or above 2K miles at this point for the year. I believe you said you’re tall and thin, so unless you’re really lacking in talent, I think you do have a sub 3 in you one day.
MJ - Don’t talk to PIwi about dew point. He gets real hot and bothered by it .
Piwi - see above. Also, can you start posting on Strava again? I don’t like this elite training with hidden workouts you’re doing.
Mark - seems like the consensus is that I am wrong and you will recover. I hope that’s the case and you smash a PR. I really want to take a crack at my half PR next year. I’m running Boston (you know, the sign up is in September if you’re interested...), but I do have a half in the middle of that. I think I can crack 1:20 next year.
Corey - that Sunday long run was outrageous. I could never imagine doing anything close to that. It’s funny you mentioned inner thighs. I noticed mine were killing me during the I and R workout last week. I guess they’re utilized a lot during speed, but it seems weird. You would think they’re utilized more during turning type work, like playing soccer (football for you non-Americans) or baseball.
Steve - you’ve been bitten by the injury bug. Kiwi seems to have a lot of history with calf injuries, he may be able to give some guidance.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
JMac- thanks, me too. Just missing the PB last time was annoying but this looks to be a quicker course and my race strategy will be better for the previous 10km too. Funnily enough I did remember the other day that Boston sign up is not far off. I think you'd cruise under 1:20 on your current training and it could make for a good mid-cycle hit out.
Steve - bugger, hope it's nothing serious. May be just a muscle spasm or something like that?
Keen - insane week.
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"
Steve hopefully its ok. I did something similar during a tempo a few months ago, sharp pain in calf and had to walk home. It wasnt as bad as I thought and I was fine after a couple of days.
Mick/Keen of course I always have energy for THAT even when I was an emaciated 70 mpw marathon runner. No Im talking about yard work, doing stuff with the kids etc, surfing with my son, kayakfishing, building my wife a chicken run, just the usual stuff long runs are the killers for me, I usually end up comatose on the couch eating for the rest of sunday.
Jmac I will get my Karma as the temps rise here and I start to struggle Tall and thin is probably not as good as been short and thin judging by the elite marathon crowd. Thin is the common denominator though
My strava stuff is not worthy right now with mostly 8km runs at over 8 min pace. I did do a nice 8kms in the countryside today with loads of climbing, no wind beautiful clear skies, green grass rolling hills, baby sheep etc etc and low tide beach run yesterday in the same pristine conditions.........
Keen you handle high mileage well. From what i see on these forums, high mileage guys make the best marathoners. They sometimes cant break 18.30 for 5k but can run sub 2.50 marathons and can keep a steady 4 min/km for 42.2kms. Dont let Jmacs lacking in talent comment get to you not everyone can run sub 3 no matter how many miles they run but you are doing everything right to get there.
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 "
Jmac where are you at and what are you up to? If you happen to pass by Zurich let me know - I will let you buy the beers
Enjoy the last days of summer. And the low dew point
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Piwi building a chicken run for your wife huh? Haha yeah right if thats what you call it
Stop telling us about the great views you get and take a picture and post it on Strava like our instagram boys Rune and Flavio. btw has anyone seen Rune???
Cobra Commander Keen
Steve - Bummer on the calf pain. Hopefully that was just a one-off weirdness and it disappears soon.
JMac - Thanks! Garmin says I'm at 1,954 miles YTD, but Strava has 1,931. Weird, since everything in Garmin Connect should also be in Strava. And I certainly hope for a big PR, otherwise I've been doing all of this work for nothing! I'm sure I'll hit sub-3 one of these days, but it will probably take at least another cycle after this one. So far I do think that my best race distances are in the 10k-HM range, though. 1:15 400s??
Piwi - Thanks, and no worries about JMac - I know just what he means. This is (by far) the most mileage I've sustained for even this long - hopefully it gets easier next time!I agree with the short/thin being better for distance running than tall/thin (in general). I recall seeing some research that something to do with body weight to skin surface area ratios allows smaller people to cool off better than larger folks, for one. And you should know we don't care if your runs are slow now, we just like seeing them on Strava. And we need pics of the views on those country runs, too!
MJ - I haven't seen anything from Rune in a while, here or on Strava. I hope things are ok there. ETA: I've gotten kudos on Strava from him, but haven't seen any activities.
Solid tempo/Rep workout this morning. It took my legs a bit to warm up when I first started running, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. This was my first workout of the cycle with faster paces compared to what I have been running, and I'm a bit glad that it was 5x 1mile rather than something like 3+2, or even 2+2+1.
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
Definitely. It's one thing to handle 80mpw or more, but being able to throw hard workouts into that type of week is another. That's something that most people can't handle but that's where you undoubtedly have big breakthroughs.
Keen - I might have asked you before (and you might have dodged the answer) but what is your upcoming goal hm time / or are you running through the hm and your main race is the full? If so: whats your marathon goal time?
Keen - Your mileage is awesome and definitely points towards some great upcoming results.
Piwi - Thanks, I hope my experience is the same...this is a new one for me, the initial pain was as bad as I've ever had and walking afterwards was not fun. 24 hours of icing and it now feels fine to walk on and I can't feel it when I dig my thumb in. Maybe it was just a weird spasm/cramp. I'm considering trying to run on it today but will stop at the first sign of trouble. I may be kidding myself or it may turn out that I'm the King of thinking injuries are way worse than they are.
Mark - Good luck this weekend.
Central Park is really nice for running...and I didn't get yelled at once.
Mick - If I dodged that question I didn't mean to, but I don't have a super-solid answer to that for either of us. I'm almost certainly going to run a 5k this weekend and I'll use that to help determine a goal for my HM. It scares me a bit to think I might target ~18:45 or faster this weekend.My HM is fairly hilly, but I've run it twice before and I think I know the best way to run it. I think I'll be targeting ~1:26 or so for that, depending on how the 5k goes (and conditions, etc.). I figure I'll front-load my mileage before this race so I can have a couple lower-mileage days immediately before, without tanking overall mileage. I'm planning that for this week as well ahead of the 5k.The marathon is my big goal - I really want ~3:05 (should be enough to get me in to Botswana 2020), but I'll nail down a goal for that closer to time.
Steve - It's all fine and dandy that you didn't get yelled at in Central Park, but how much yelling did you do??
To be fair, I think you have a bit of work to go on that front before you beat JMac or me during Marathon Taper Madness late last year!
It may actually have been just a cramp. I got one or two playing hockey where I actually thought I'd pulled a calf, they tightened up that fast and that painfully. Sometimes a little bit of residual tightness the next day but it cleared off soon enough.
Keen: I was just thinking your shorter distance PBs look like they are ready to be taken down. I am sure you will crush that 5k! Good luck & taper for that! And ok now it makes more sense - you are looking to qualify for the marathon in Massachussets! Nice goal to have imo.
Steve: I am just wondering - not getting yelled at in Central Park, does that still qualify as the real NYC experience??? Phew...New Yorkers are getting soft....get well btw!
Keen - The last time I ran there was the morning after the last presidential election. People were very quiet and subdued and I was keeping my chuckling inside...I didn't particularly like the guy who won but I really didn't like the woman who lost. I better leave it at that so the thread stays on topic!
Mark - I think it must have been cramp. I went out last night with the plan to go easy and stop if I got any signs. There was a dull ache in the same area for basically the whole run but it never got worse, even when I picked it up a little towards the end. It wasn't a fun run though, couldn't relax and got paranoid about every little pain. Hopefully I can get through the next few and do the speed work I need if I want to do a race in 3 weeks. If I can only stick at easy pace then I'll be in the same boat as the last race, under done and unsure about setting out at the pace I need.
Mick - Every time I've been to New York I've found the people to be fine. Not as friendly as down south but not too different to most cities I've been too. All I wanted was one "I'm walking here..." and I would have been happy.