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

Hello, all! Quick check in for me - I've missed a bunch and likely won't be responding to much of it.

A couple weeks ago my grandmother had a stroke and went into a coma, and I spent the next week with her, my grandfather, and other family until she passed last Tuesday. As tough as it was losing her, watching the effect on my grandfather was (and is) worse. Running did help - my daily routine basically became run > take DD1 to school > stay with family.

Anywho, looking forward to taking a bit of a down week next week since his will be my 3rd 80+ mile week in a row. I have a HM weekend after next (the day before Brew gets a massive PR!), and I plan on cutting down overall mileage for that week and front-loading what miles I do get in order to get a mini-taper out of it.

JMac - Thermal or windproof tights are your friend! It will hover in the teens/20's here as well, though you probably get more frozen precipitation than we do. Then again, you probably have more of an effort to get your roads clear than I do.

Piwi - Thanks!

Mick - I'm pretty much in the middle of the country - all of those storms missed me by many hundreds of miles. I typically only hit the treadmill in winter if the roads are frozen or otherwise hazardous (I only got it at the beginning of the year). Otherwise I just layer up and put on tights like a real man and get out there! lol.
My marathon is after registration for Botswana 2019 will close, so a BQ in my goal race will (hopefully) get me in for 2020.

Keen sorry to hear that. You are still killing the marathon miles !

Steve 172 seems ok after reading up on cadence. Im at 176 for recovery up to 186 on tempo runs but i have short legs and a short choppy stride.

Keen/Steve - sorry for your loss. Running has helped me through times like that but can be hard juggling with familial responsibilities. Also some family members don't understand how you can "go for a run in times like this."

Keen - You've still put up some good work. If you get that HM under 1:25, you need to go for Sub 3, your training has been great! Also the only time I won't run in the winter is if the roads aren't clear. I actually think the worst conditions to run in are what they ran in Boston last year. Much rather run in 25 and snowing than 35 and raining.

Me - Weather is still looking great for my 10 miler, especially for this time of year. Temps around 59/15 during the race, low humidity, and sunny. My legs felt like trash during my 8E + 4x2T yesterday, most likely from the 22 on Sunday, so I may have some lingering effects going into the race. My hamstring is also still acting up and really didn't feel too great during the last 2T. The past 2 weeks it's been sort of in the knee tendons, but now it's actually in the muscle. I know I should have the fitness to go sub 60 but let's see how the legs respond in multiple ways! A goal is 59:, just because sub 1 hour is a cool barrier to break, but I'll be happy with anything in the 60: range. Unless my hamstring gives out, I should PR at the 10 mile distance, so ya'll will have to suffer through a race report 

I am anxious to see what I can do in this race, since I'm really not sure where I'm at. This likely due to weird thoughts occasionally creeping in to the tune of "what if I can't run what people have said? All this work and early mornings will have been pointless". Really trying to keep those thoughts at bay.

 

Keep them at bay OR remind yourself the people predicting your times don't matter at the end of the day because we're here to get better not to judge, or set expectations. It's about your training. Also remember some times training days aren't that great while others are a rockstar performance. Just because a spreadsheet or book says one thing doesn't make it possible, impossible, required, or unnecessary. The books don't factor in race day conditions, or how much beer we had the week before.

Keen/Steve: sorry for your loss....sad to hear that.

Keen: I am looking at potentially getting a treadmill because its either that or getting up super duper early like you and Mark. and I am NOT a morning person now that its dark: do you run with a head lamp?

Cfarr: I own a pair of ghost 10s as well. I am at the 500k mark and they still feel pretty fresh. Cool pair of shoes I must say.

Thanks guys.

JMac - Completely with you on "how can you go for a run at a time like this?"  For me, it's how can I not go for a run, that will just make me feel worse.

Mick - I do run with a headlamp - sort of. I'm in a very rural area with little traffic. Aside from one ~1k uphill (which puts me past a neighborhood) I can usually run without seeing any vehicles. I actually really enjoy running in the dark, so even though I have a headlamp I don't typically turn it on (except for the rear red flashers, which I always use) unless I see a vehicle coming or if I'm hitting a dirt road that might be rutted due to traffic after a rain.
And I wasn't always a morning person. When I was just started running I found that if I didn't run in the morning life would just get in the way and I'd never run.

Steve - "How could I not run?" would have been my response as well, but thankfully no one ever put the question to me.

JMac - I don't think you're putting any pressure on me at all. And in general I don't feel any pressure when I'm actually toeing the line, I've always been very calm in competitive situations. It's just that sometimes those baseless thoughts jump into my head.
I'm pretty certain it's primarily the low temp that kept my HR down, especially considering it's right after a whole summer of heat. Likely with accumulated fatigue affecting it as well. That last bit will go away just with a bit of rest, though.
I'll certainly revist the whole GMP thing after the half next weekend. My next M pace workout is a LR (15x M pace) 3 weeks after the half, 4 weeks from the full. I have lots of time to decide, obviously, but I'm considering running it at GMP (whatever that is) rather than "M" pace by the plan - which given that it's after the 2nd VDOT bump is actually faster than my current HM PR pace.

Botswana cut-off times for 2020 will be 5 minutes faster for all groups than they are now! 

Keen - you seem to have a case of sandbaggeritis haha, just kidding. This is going to be tough race with many hills so you'll have to go by effort, just like you did in the past. You'll be fine regardless of the results. Also, results from a hilly half are not useful for estimating pace for a flat(ter) marathon. Also marathons are wild beasts, you can never know what's going to happen on race day.

me - I gave a shot at my local segment crown today, but failed miserably. The current segment King has run the roughly 370m in 1 minute sharp. I'm showing up in second place with a time of also 1 minute. This has been bothering me since last year, but I keep gaining weight. Anyway I gave it a shot and came up short at 1:06. I'll keep trying.

On other news, I found out about another Strava segment this week which is 1.8km downhill (roughly 1.1 mile). It's a sharp downhill though and there's a side road with traffic that I'd have to negotiate (drivers don't care about pedestrians when turning right here). Anyway, the King, or actually the Queen of that segment has run 7:48, it seems primed for the taking, though it will require a lot of concentration on the downhill.