Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Jmac i'm in no position to give you advise, I just hope you get better soon, I know you have put a lot of hard work in.
Keen hope you get better as well. the last 5k I ran was on Jan 6th of this year , HR went up to 170 at about 1.3 miles and was between 170 and maxing out at 175 the rest of the way in.
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
Bro i found this site with some cheap lunaracers http://www.sleepeater.co.nz/nike-lunaracer-3-mens-running-greyblack-p-4494.html
Im not totally sure what country its in and if shipping is free. If its legit could be some great buying of older Nikes.
Mick nice job toughing it out and get better soon !
Jmac thats very frustrating. maybe dont run the half at all if you are sick. Thats probably the sensible thing.
Rune as long as you test the gels before the race !!
My week.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Oct 08, 2018 thru Sunday, Oct 14, 2018
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 "
Oh man I hope my food poisoning / cold combo doesn't get anyone else through internet.
MJ - good job toughing it out, found those last few kms of my half a couple of weeks ago really hard when I just ran out of gas from not having eaten a whole lot during the week.
JMac - rightly or wrongly I've kinda always lived by the theory that easy runs are unlikely to do too much damage. I've had a slight cough since the tail end of my cold, it doesn't affect me running at all though. Maybe go for an easy run and see how you go. Your body will tell you one way or another.
Piwi - nice week!!
Me - well the legs were certainly pretty jaded at the start of the week, I guess a bit of delayed fatigue from hitting those hills on Road Relays so hard and probably still getting over the cold which definitely came back with a bit of a vengeance after relays. But had an awesome workout yesterday, with 25km incl. the first 12km at ~3:57/km and then an intentional negative split with the next 12km at 3:47/km. There were a number of small undulations through so flat pace for the second half would've been pretty close to my HMP. Got a little tired for the last 2-3km but I think that was the coaches' plan to really get me to push with a bit of tiredness in the legs. Legs were tired today so just had a nice cruise.
M: weights
T: 14km incl. 6x 4 min moderate / 2 min easy
W: 14km incl. 4 x 1500m hard / 500m jog
T: 13.1km easy
F: weights
S: 25km @ 3:53 avg with negative split
S: 20.4km easy
Total: 86.6km
Overall actually my biggest week of the year - that wasn't intentional, just how it worked out. In the past there's actually a trend I've noticed whereby if I have a big week three weeks out from a half, it's often tended to be a pretty good race for me (Auckland 2016, Coatesville 2018, Dunedin 2018) - so I dunno I guess we'll find out at the Auckland Half in a couple of weeks whether there's anything to that theory.
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"
Piwi - Nice week, back at the 50-milers I see! Yes I would never try something new to eat or drink on race day. Ideally I would have tried the new gels for a few more runs but today will do. Did 7 miles m-pace today and had a Maurten after 3 miles (2WU and one m-pace), and a SiS gel with a solid dose of caffeine 3 miles later again. Worked like a charm.
Mick - Yes, I got those shoes (although I think Kipchoge has some ultra special pro model). Ordered them from a store in NY but felt bad afterwards as it turned out my local store also got them. I guess this is something else that will be relatively new for the race but so far it all seems to work really well. Hope you get rid of your stomach bug soon! Sucks to get sick during a race.
JMac - Maybe you will lose a little bit of fitness by not running now but I don’t think it will be that much. You seem to have improved so much since last year I think you can still easily get a PR if you get rid of your cold soon. Heal up like a champ!
After today’s run I have some sort of belief that I could aim for 3:15. Maybe it’s too aggressive but if things work as well in the race as they did today I will probably go for it.
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Hot Weather Complainer
JMac - Normally I would say don't do it, you're almost definitely going to make it worse but you're talking like this race is all or nothing. If that's the case, I say go for it and if it doesn't pan out, quickly decide on the new plan (unfortunately I speak from experience on this...). Looking after your health is the #1 thing in this life though so you'd want to be careful. A reasonably minor condition can explode when pushing your body to the limit. So there's some muddied advice for you.
My week:
Monday 70 mins easy (15.01km @ 4:43mins/km)
Tuesday Weights
Wednesday 70 mins with 2x1km tempo (4:06, 4:03). 14.87km @ 4:43mins/km
Thursday 70 mins recovery (13.78km @ 5:11mins/km)
Friday Weights
Saturday 90 mins incl. 2km tempo (4:03, 4:00). 19.35km @ 4:39mins/km
Sunday Weights
My best week in some time, came through with no niggles and felt pretty fresh on the long run - it was pretty cold for October with low levels of snow in the area so good running conditions for me. My "easy" kms are too quick. I try to slow it down but even when I feel like I have the pace is around the same. On Saturday the first 4km were exactly 4:43 and each km I tried to slow it down. Any thoughts on easy miles? Based on my half speed I think I should be at 5:00-5:15. Is it as important when training for half as when training for a full to keep them so slow?
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
Rune love the energy and positive vibe from your recent runs.
Steve you have 3 non running days so your legs are well rested probably resulting in the quicker easy runs. Overall weekly mileage will impact your easy pace so whether you are training for a half or full, if the mileage is high for you then you might need to slow down and have recovery pace days. Exhibit A me just lifted my mileage from a couple of months at 30km/week to 80km/week and running 6 or 7 days per week. To avoid injury I run some 8-10km runs at 5.30/km but can still hit a 6km tempo at under 4 min/km. Im old though and the workouts beat me up. The slow days are really important to avoid injury.
Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I was much faster when young, now this seems to be the speed I have. But I will try to implement something around speed this autumn, although I am a bit worried of speed during high mileage periods (injuries), but I feel positive after the 12 summer weeks at 40 miles. I am looking into a 10 K at the beginning of December (not sure yet) and then I will train (and this time seriously, following your suggestions ) for the Belfast marathon (5th of May). I have still to run a marathon properly and I wonder what time I should shoot for... I'd love to run it all first, but I am wondering whether I should try to train for the 3h30.
I have not yet implemented a plan, but I will probably follow "Advance marathoning" as suggested when I first joined. I will see if I can fit one or two HM in the process (there is a half marathon series in NI, but I am not too sure I want to run 6 or 7 HM and a marathon this year...)
enjoy the rest of the weekend
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:
???
Steve - nice week! Yeah I enjoyed the cold temps up here too. Re easy runs, as Piwi says if you have 3 days off running a week, then your easy runs will naturally be quicker than someone who is having 0-1 days off. Go easy but if it feels like you're running with an unnatural technique, you're probably going too slow.
Marco - half marathons are a great way of testing your fitness out when you are training for a full. Don't worry too much about your target marathon pace yet, you have a good training platform from summer and you will probably start to get a better feel for pace once you get into marathon training a bit more.
Rune - was nice to see that workout went really well for you, as well as the fueling! I know a guy locally who is heading over to do NYC. He did a 37km on Sunday and wanted to test everything he was using on race day - so he basically parked in the Auckland Domain, set up a drinks stand by his car and did 23 laps (no, not kidding) of Auckland Domain! Now that's some next level race prep!
RIP Milkman
Piwi - Nice week again, make it three weeks in a row and it’s a real return! Also I clearly just ignored your advice
Mark - I think you’re right regarding long runs. I ended up doing most of the half at marathon pace, which really is just a step up from easy in terms of how it impacts your lungs. I would never try to do anything approaching VO2 max with how I feel right now, I feel like I just curl up in a ball and start coughing nonstop for 5 minutes. Also don’t talk about colds coming back with a vengeance after a race, that’s bad mojo for some of us! Remind me, are you going for a PR at Auckland Half?
Rune - Isn’t it amazing what the taper can do? You were so down and out (like me) and yet now you’re finally hitting everything. That’s a sign that 2Q is working for you. You shouldn’t feel 100% yet, but you should feel pretty close. By Wednesday, you’re going to feel like you can eat steel. As always in a marathon, the biggest caution I can give you is not to go above pace. It just feels so damn easy even 10 miles in when you’re 10 seconds ahead of pace but it’ll kill you in the end. Pick a pace and don’t go any faster than that pace - 5s.
Steve - Trust me, if this was 3 years ago, I would have just ran through the cold from the beginning. I feel like I’m getting a bit wiser as I get older with this stuff, but I also try to balance being too conservative with taking the right risks. After speaking with a couple of doctors, I felt like I was taking the right risk running my half this morning
Me - Woke up this morning and decided I had nothing to do all day, so might as well make the trek to the race to see how I felt. I was still coughing and a bit dizzy if I bent over (classic cold/cough symptoms), but wanted to test it out. I decided I would do my 4 mile warm up and evaluate after that. The 4 mile went well and I actually felt really good, so I decided to give the race a go. By mile 3, I seriously considered picking it up and going for my half PR because my legs felt AMAZING given I just effectively took 4 days off. Why waste a golden opportunity for the PR? Originally, this was planned MP work because I was going to be at the end of another 70 mile week, but with that gone, it felt like I had a good excuse to actually race it. Well, I picked it up and within 10 seconds or so, I realized it was a mistake as my lungs didn’t have it. Felt a little burning and almost immediately felt like V02 max type work, so I slowed back down. I must have looked like quite the lose to those around me (“Look at this idiot, just speeding up and slowing down, what a loser&rdquo. Anyway, decided to keep it at MPish, probably a hair faster. Sort of took it as a long tempo run with a chance to practice my fueling strategy. By mile 11, I felt amazing and decided to turn it into a combo MP + LT workout by running the final 2 around LT pace. Didn’t exactly hit that pace on the last mile because there’s a big hill, but the effort was there. Came home in 1:22:56. Lungs felt a bit sore, but nothing crazy. A few hours later now and I still feel okay, so hopefully no sort of lasting impact. I do have at least 2-3 easy days ahead of me, so I’m hoping by the end of that, this thing will be gone! Now I just have to figure out how to adjust this taper given it effectively started a week early. May delay it just 3 days or so, put in another big workout, and then do a 2.5 week taper. Feels like that’s the best choice because a full 4 week taper will leave me feeling stale by race day. Rather get something in to tire my legs out this week and then wind it on down.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
JMac - that's a solid effort considering your week. I'm sure the folks on the sub-3 forum will have some good tips as to how to manage the taper.
Re Auckland Half, I don't really have a time goal and just want to go out and run a really good race. I would say it's not really a PB course with the hills, but the truth is that didn't stop me setting a PB there in 2016 that I didn't get close to for almost 18 months (before beating it on an even hillier course). It's probably an outside chance but it's not something I'm specifically gunning for. Things would really have to fall into place on the day, particularly in terms of the wind which could make some parts of the course tricky. The build-up has been a little messy between food poisoning and that cold but I was in really good form before that so a couple of slightly lower weeks aren't going to make much difference.
Jmac actually it is 3 weeks in a row at 50 mpw for me. Glad your test run/race worked out well. Much better to get this bug out the way now than have it hit you in 3 weeks. I was in a similar situation in a half back in 2012. I was sick all week and went to the race only as my son was doing the 10k, decided to go ahead and try and do my race, the half, and ended up killing it in a 1.21.30 my 2nd best time to date.
Mark going to NYC would be amazing. I think entry is via time right ? London is near impossible to get into. I tried the tour company but they had huge waiting lists and only get like 25 entries per year given to them. Im in the lottery but should have heard one way or another by today and nothing !
Im aiming for a local school fundraiser 10k in about 4 weeks. Will do a Parkrun 5k the week before. Back in the same position of having about 7 weeks buildup by race day and so cant expect a great result but hopefully I can knuckle down and keep the training going after.
If anyone ever runs NYC I would do everything in my power to run it again!
There are two ways to entry, the easiest one is for the half. Piwi you just need to run a 1:32 in a real race given your, um, advanced wisdom. Mark I think qualifies for NYC pretty much every weekend on his long runs with a 1:23 half making it.
Mark - who is this guy coming all the way to NY?
Piwi - yeah it’s amazing, I’ve heard a lot of stories of people just taking like 5 days off and then doing so well. Shows how much people overthink the last week of tapering.
JMac - Jonathan Drake is his name. He will be a little slower than you, he is aiming ~3:15 I think. Nice guy and I've seen him at a few events. He's really put the work in throughout his preparation and has been up around 70+ miles/week so I'm hoping he can hit his goal.
Piwi - funnily I was just starting to think about my plans for next year (assuming I stay injury free!). Half Marathon Series finishes in April with the Waterfront Half and I'm keen to try something different next year. If I did a mid-year half in Australia like Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast, that could be pretty fun (we could plan a family holiday around it) and both those races get really strong fields too. Was looking at Melbourne but the sister-in-law has got her wedding a couple weeks after so that'll be a hard sell.
nice weeks by all
great job on the race Jmac
for me another consistent week
Cobra Commander Keen
Mick - Bummer about the stomach bug! Hope you're feeling better.
Piwi - Nice week. And building some consistency with it, too!
Mark - Great week as well.
Rune - DO EEEEET!! Half the battle is just deciding you can hit that target. I need to hear more about these gels as well. I'm curious about both, but SIS are difficult to come by, and the only place in the state that might carry them is an hour+ away in Tulsa. Kind of a long drive just to try a gel if I don't want to try ordering a dozen online. Likes? Dislikes? Favorite?
Steve - Solid week. I don't really think super-easy easy miles are as important for the half as they are for a full, but those non-running days may help speed things up. I definitely agree with Piwi in that your easy miles will slow down as your mileage and/or intensity increases. Using myself as an example, this time last year with the weather cooling down I was running easy at a little under 4:58 /km while doing 95-100 km/wk. Lately I've been hitting 120-138 km a week and now I usually run most of my easy stuff around 5:15/km. The "easy" effort is the same for both, but my extra volume and harder workouts take their toll.
Marco - You should certainly be able to go sub 3:30 for a full next year. That said, don't train to try hitting a specific time, but rather around what your current fitness is. That way you'll be able to run closer to your true potential, rather than either selling yourself short or going for something too ambitious and having a bad day because of it.
JMac - Good job not pushing it in the half. I think you've got a good plan for adjusting your taper. Well, it's what I would do, so take that for what it's worth!
What is it with so many of us getting sick at the same time???
Bleh week from me. Got sick and ended up taking two unplanned days off. I was feeling pretty decent Sunday and thought about going for an easy run, but decided not to upset what was already going to be a day off. We had a cold front blow in Sunday evening, which gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a new pair of compression thermal tights. 2XU makes some great stuff!Had a great workout this morning (largely thanks to having well rested legs) and am looking forward to putting together two big weeks in a row before starting the taper.
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