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

Steve - the only thing I take a little umbrage with is the advice to not run through injuries. I think that's great advice for beginners, but it doesn't apply to everybody and often is too conservative. And no, I'm not just saying that as someone currently running through an injury . I'm saying this because there are different types of "injuries." Some are niggles, some are severe, some are in between. If I stopped running every time something felt off or I had a pain somewhere, I would be taking a week off every month. Granted, at this point I know my body and what constitutes something I can run through and something I can't. There are injuries that I could take 4 weeks off and still feel them, like a tiny strain I had in a tendon in my foot during July/August of this year. Another good example is the IT Band. Sometimes it gets a little wonky and you know you just need to roll it out and work on it over a week or two. Other times, it may be bad enough you need to stop. I think the key to all injuries is developing your own system for determining when it's serious enough to take a few days off. For me, it's a question of pain while running. If it's only a 1 or 2 out of 10, i.e. "this feels off but not really painful", then I will keep running. Additionally, pain progressing throughout a run is a serious sign. I go through a system of checklists each time something creeps up to determine whether it's something I can run through, e.g. a niggle, or something serious, e.g. a real injury.

Piwi - The point about keeping blood flowing is so true for me. One thing I learned after my last marathon cycle was that I can't just take a few weeks off, as it seems to actually cause more injuries. My entire foot thing crept up after I took it way too easy in November. My guess is that it's for the reason you stated. But the vast majority of my injuries do better if I keep running. My knees especially feel like crap once I stop.

Regarding Kipchoge, it really is unbelievable. He ran a negative split of course.

I follow a guy named Brendan Martin on Strava who lives in the NY area. He ended up running a 2:16! Pretty impressive.

Hi all,

I am in North carolina, arrived with the tale of the Hurricane Florence on Sunday afternoon. It hasn't stopped rain yet...

but where I am it's all good. I ran 30 miles last week, with a couple of intervals and a few race pace. This week I am aiming to run 4-5 times 3/4 miles with some race pace to taper to Sunday. I will be back on Saturday at noon in Belfast. So if everything goes well, I should run my target half marathon on Sunday morning.

I feel positive, but starting to get the taper doubts ... I definitely put the work in, I hope I can get the target time, but I have enjoyed the process... I missed Kipchoge ... where was he running? 2:01!!! the guy is incredible!

hey everyone... hope you're all doing well.

Just jumping on to post last weeks training

As I expected this weeks volume was off due to traveling over the weekend, I managed to get up and run Saturday but a bit disappointed in myself that I didn't drag my ass out of bed Sunday morning and get in the 10 I had planned done....

30 miles for the week

Back on Track this week

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

Rolling equipment free advice . Anybody else feel free to chime in for what they think works. I feel like we haven't really had this discussion and would love to know what everyone uses.

For calves, I find the stick is by far the best (https://www.thestick.com/)

For quads, IT Bands, and hamstrings, I find the TP foam roller to be the best (https://www.amazon.com/TriggerPoint-Roller-Instructional-Original-13-inch/dp/B01LW755GP)

Finally, for glutes, adductors, and other very deep localized spots where you need a high amount of focused pressure (ie the stick or grid doesn't do the trick), I find lacrosse balls or other hard massage balls to work. I use something called the Tiger Ball but any hard ball would work.  (https://www.tigertailusa.com/product/tiger-ball/)

Came into a conversation about hard balls at the wrong time 

Re Kipchoge - yeah phenomenal run.  Had to do all the work himself for the last 17km, just an absolute machine.  Piwi, there were a couple of Kiwis who did alright too, Malcolm Hicks 2:16 (debut marathon!) and another guy in 2:18.  As much as I think the Nike Breaking 2 thing was a bit of a Nike branding/science experiment and not really running, maybe it's just given him a little bit of an extra kick.

Corey- nice week

Rolling - I have 2, a fairly normal Obie foam roller, and a spiky PTP roller.  The Obie one does the trick for most things but sometimes I need to use the spiky one on my calves.  And I'll roll my feet on a golf ball sometimes to help prevent PF.

Steve - I tend to only get massages before/after races but have found them pretty good for releasing any tight spots, might be worth a go.

Mick I think mine are the 6s as have had them over a year. I cant see a model number on them. If I could only have one shoe for training, 5ks to marathon it would be it. I have about 5 pairs of various running shoes in rotation right now and I suspect they are all " dead " but I havent been keeping a tally on mileage. Im getting away with it as my mileage is low and Im running mostly on softer surfaces.

I too feel to poor to go buy some new ones 

Mark good to hear some nice results by those kiwis. Still a world away from the sub 2.10 crowd but very good nonetheless.

Ive never foam rolled my hard balls or used a stick, you guys are disgusting