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

Jmac hammies have been pretty trouble free for me. Had a bit of an ache in one for a month or so but it held out. A little stretch after each run was all I did. Calves seem to be more prone to playing up for me.

Re Strava segments yeah running in Central Park where Elites and every runner who visits NY run, would lend itself to some of the most competitive segments in the world. You would have to find some obscure random ones that run down back alleys etc 

Mick the 2 segment crowns I got this week were both very lame. Apart from that one guy no one else would have run them all out. They just happen to run through that segment on a easy jog. There are some tougher ones round here where im 20th or so. They usually are part of a race course. Longer segments hold more kudos. Short ones like 200m give the crossfit guys a chance at glory 

JMac - whereabouts in the hamstring is the tightness?  In the middle or at the top near the attachment to the glutes?  I had some tightness at the top a year or so ago, which is more of a hamstring tendon issue.  Foam rolling the glutes, hamstrings, and the hamstring tendon helped.

If you have access to one of those hamstring stretch machines at a gym (where you lie back and basically crank the angle up), they are the best way of stretching the hamstring.  The classic hamstring stretch of standing up and putting your leg out horizontally to stretch is actually not a great way of doing it because it loads up your lower back.  Another good alternative if you don't have access to a hamstring stretch machine is to just lie on your back on the floor and use the corner of a wall or doorframe to stretch your hamstring by placing the leg to be stretched vertically against the wall.

Jmac great photo there. Your hammie issue seems a bit more than a niggle.

Mark nice recovery week, Where are the relays been held ? What did Stephen Lett say your marathon potential was ? 

Anybody hear from Watson ? If you are lurking I hope you are still jogging at least.

I had a good week although pathetic mileage wise to you guys. 46kms mostly all through the sand dunes with a couple of harder efforts to secure some weak crowns. Ran a couple of short runs with my 20 year old including handing him my watch to have a crack at the segment known as " Shazzas hill " which I hold at 53 secs up a steep 200m hill. He got 53 secs  on 3kms/week lol. He is trying to make a living through producing video for Real estate etc and has a nice drone. Making a vid of our local area and took some footage of me running through the dunes and on the beach. I went kayakfishing sunday and saturday went in a Table tennis tournament with my 12 year old boy. Im a good garage hero at table tennis but totally out of my depth at the tournament 

Mick yeah wow just watched on livestream 2.01 by Kipchoge and he looks fresh as a daisy

Watson - Good to hear from you

Piwi - I would love to see that drone too! Not to see you of course but rather the beautiful terrain 

Me - Did just sneak in under 1:30 for my half this morning with 11 @ MP. The weather was horribly hot, more than the forecast called, with temps at 81/27 at the end of the race with not a cloud in the sky. It ended up feeling more like a real half than a half at MP, but I’m not overly concerned given how damn hot it was. I was struggling once I hit about mile 8 and just tried to hold it together. I also wasn’t able to fully execute my nutrition practice strategy, which was part of why I did this, because my stomach started giving me fits before I could get a second gel in.

Regarding my hamstring, it’s started to localize more in my tendons that connect the hamstring to the knee. I had something similar to this a year ago, so I know what I’m about to go through. Going to do lots of rolling and heat to keep it at bay, but certainly worrisome. It definitely flared up toward the second half of the race. Not bad enough that I would ever thinking of bailing, but enough to say “this is going to be an issue through my marathon”

Mark - you are an absolute machine given your lack of injuries. I felt like I was cruising along all year and had no chance of injury, but here it is. All that strength training you do must certainly help.

Weekly Summary
Monday, Sep 10, 2018 thru Sunday, Sep 16, 2018

​

Watson - good to see you are still around!

JMac - Nice week and solid effort on the HM.  I think the strength work helps but I also think my osteo has helped prevent a lot of issues.  Also luck.

MJ - yeah sometimes you gotta just stick at it, I guess the key is that you are enjoying it!

Piwi- Steve said under 2:40.

Berlin - yeah amazing stuff.  Kipchoge is insane.  It still blows my mind when I think about the pace that he is going at.

Thought I'd share a good email I got from RunnersConnect last week - I downloaded a time prediction calculator there which also provided the speed you should be doing your long runs at and I've been on the mailing list ever since.  This one really made some good points especially as I battle a small niggle now.  This is written by Jeff Gaudette:

The 4 Biggest Mistakes I Made When I First Started Running

To get you started off on the right foot, I want to share with you a few mistakes I've made in my running career that I wish I could go back and re-do.

You see, I think most runners think elite athletes get everything right. Our training is perfect, we don't make mistakes, running comes easy.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

My hope is that you can learn from my mistakes and prevent yourself from making the same mistakes. It's a simple way to avoid the most common traps.

I’ve been fortunate to be a runner for more than half my life (albeit I am still pretty young) and had the opportunity to train with some of the best running groups and athletes in the US.

Likewise, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to learn from some of the best minds in our sport as a coach. I guess you can say I’ve been a lucky runner!

Yes, I am a big enough running geek that this is what I would do if I had a time machine.

Follow along, and hopefully you can apply some of these lessons to your own training and prevent some of these pitfalls yourself.

Stop running while injured

Like all runners, I’ve had my fair share of running injuries.

Whether they were from adjusting to the mileage demands and intense training as I grew as a runner or from pushing the envelope too hard and not getting enough rest, I experienced just about every injury you can imagine.

Most were short lived, a few were painstakingly long, and one ended my career as a serious runner.

While some injuries can’t be avoided, at least not when you’re pushing your limits, my stubborn approach to injuries could have saved me a lot of time on the shelf, prevented further injuries, and allowed me to be more consistent with training and racing.

You see, my first instinct when I came down with an injury was to ask, “How can I run through this?”

You’re nodding your head because I know you've had this same thought. It's how all runners think.

Instead of realizing the tell-tale signs of an injury, thinking long-term, and deciding to take a few rest days, which would not have impacted my fitness in the slightest (seriously, here's the research), I chose to run on it until it became so bad that I needed weeks, not days, to fully recover.

The trick with most running injuries is that if you identify and treat them early, they tend to disappear rather quickly.

For example, if you feel a slight tug at the bottom of your foot (a sign of plantar fasciitis), sleeping in a splint, resting for a day or two, some massage, and strength exercises will knock that case of plantar fasciitis out before it has a chance to become anything meaningful.

However, decide that it’s okay to run through, despite the increasing pain at the bottom of your foot, and you may need six months off and two surgeries to run again (I speak from experience, obviously).

If you feel an injury creeping up, take the time to get rid of the pain and the source of the problem early.

It’s infinitely better to take one or two days off to ensure you’re healthy than need weeks or months down the road.

[Insider Bonus: Injured? Download our free guide to running injuries inside your members area]

Being tough doesn’t mean being stupid

Along the same lines, I should have learned early on that “being tough” didn’t mean running through extreme fatigue or never needing a rest day. As the legendary coach, Alberto Salazar, once said:

 You’ve got to have the confidence in yourself where you believe that you can take those days off and you can recover and you can run great. A lot of what we see in athletes that just train all the time and never give themselves adequate recovery is often portrayed as toughness. What I’ve realized over the years is it really is a weakness. It’s an insecurity that you’re not good enough to recover like other athletes: I’m not good enough to do that; I need to keep training; I can’t take time off; I can’t take easy days.

This “tough” mentality was ingrained since childhood, which it is for many athletes.

I grew up in a football-crazed town, which meant I played hurt and water was for sissies, but that mentality couldn’t be further from the attitude needed to be a good distance runner.

My stubbornness only lead to up and down workouts and race results.

Looking back at all my training, I’ve never once said, “Boy, I wish I had trained harder,” but I have looked back and wished I would have trained smarter.

Don’t skip on the ancillary work

Even as a semi-professional runner, finding the time and energy to fit in all the “little things” was difficult.

If I wasn’t rushing off to work, I was passed out on the couch after a tough training week. For me, getting in all the miles and the workouts was priority number one, and finding time for supplementary work, like strides, hill sprints, core work, and drills, was a luxury for those days when I had extra time.

Many of you probably approach your supplementary work the same way, and I am here to tell you that making this type of training a priority will make you a better runner.

Getting in speed development work, such as strides and explosive hill sprints, will allow you to run more efficiently and improve your top-end speed.

Likewise, if you’re a beginner or injury-prone runner, working on strength, core, and form work will ultimately allow you to train more and stay healthy.

Getting too stressed about bad workouts

Perhaps my biggest mistake when I first began running was being too hard on myself. 

Looking back at my old training logs, an outsider reading them might think I was suffering from severe depression. Having a bad workout on Friday would ruin my entire weekend.

Not only is this not productive from a training standpoint, it’s not a healthy or fun way to approach running.

Relaxing about my training would have made me less nervous at races and allowed me to enjoy the process more. Just as important, it would have prevented negative thoughts from creeping in my head and causing ruts in training and racing when I couldn’t get positive momentum going.

Western runners can learn a lot from the approach to training Kenyan runners adopt.

First, Americans have a mentality that you are only as good as your last race, or as good as your last workout, and carry this with us from race to race and workout to workout.

However, when you talk to Kenyan runners, their approach to their fitness is the opposite. They think you are as good as your greatest day, even if you have not had it yet.

Likewise, Kenyan runners learn how to leave their workouts at the track or on the roads. They train hard and push the limits during the workout, but as soon as it’s over, they forget about it—good or bad. This allows them to move on after a bad workout and not let it linger and bleed into their next race.

So, what is the biggest mistake I see runners making in their training?

Building mileage the wrong way and running their easy days too fast.

Steve - thanks for sharing

Jmac - nice effort on a hot day

me - I bought a garmin 645 and was running exhilarated with it. Last Friday the battery died during the workout. I didn't have time to set it to charge until today, I'm not sure if that was the culprit but now the display is very, very dim, I can barely make what's on it.

It seems like I'll have to send it for repair, I'm so bummed, this had never happened to me

It's a great watch and I was even considering gifting it to my girlfriend since it's a bit small.

On the running front I got 30k last week.

I also found out there's the state championship races in about one month and I'm keen to give the 1500m another shot, maybe I can go sub 5 again, like the first time.