Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Piwi: thank you. I am slow so I am patient by nature There are some benefits and I won't start with lady gaga and >20min plus but I guess everyone gets the point. On a different note I saw your purple nike's. I guess you don't want the skaters to steal them from your front door anymore hence the color. But I need to replace my Brooks that are coming to an end. I felt like the Pegasus are a bit stiff. Whats your verdict? And what do you race in (I dont currently own any racing flats...).
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Mick - As for racing flats, I don't wear Nike but have used Mizuno Wave Hitogami and Saucony Fastwitch. I like the Mizuno's a lot on the road (set all my PBs in them other than the FM) but they don't do especially well off road. The Fastwitch's I really like but have only used for short speed sessions so far and have yet to trial in a race.
Piwi - I dunno the exact pace I was just counting down to 1.61km haha. But yeah 3:05 sounds about right. It was actually a fun session, my wife was walking around the track with our 1 year old and took some good pictures, actually just won a pair of bluetooth headphones as Auckland Marathon were running a competition on Facebook and Instagram and our pic won! Funnily I never run with music these days so wifey will probably get them (seems fair).
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: Runway5 / National 5k Champs, 16:22, National Masters AG Champ!
Up next: Still working on that...
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
RIP Milkman
Mark - Nice job on the sub 5. I imagine you could probably get closer to 4:45 if you ran a mile race, but not sure if you guys have that kind of thing. Good luck this weekend in your half. My race is looking iffy (chance of snow, even though we're going to be 3 weeks into spring!)
Piwi - Good week, hope you keep the mileage up
Mick - 40 mpw is great for half marathon training. You only really need to go 50+ if you're looking for a serious PR. Also, I wouldn't exactly follow the 25% rule. That tends to work when you're running 70+, which is what JD was often dealing with in his career. I tend to follow the 33% rule. Think about marathon training: you'd have to run 80 miles a week in order to run a 20 miler, which is crazy. But 20 miler at 60 mpw seems reasonable.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
JMac: I will try to increase my long runs to 18k then and see how my body reacts to that. And: Fingers crossed for the weather. Hope it stays clear and dry!
Mark: Only realized it now after reading JMacs post that your race is actually already this coming weekend. Good luck with it, and with the final days leading up to it. If your wife doesn't want the bluetooth headphones let me know and I will buy them off of you I have started to look at the racing flats and the Mizuno's dont get much love on runrepeat.com. Although I liked Mizuno Waves, just feel that they wear out quickly on road. But the Saucony's only have a 4mm drop and I absolutely hated my last pair that dropped that little (Hoka Clifton 4). I think it was even you who recommended against those low drop shoes? I will give them a try when I pass by a shop the next time.
Cobra Commander Keen
JMac - Bummer about the weather and the strain. Hopefully both get better quickly. Nice week as well. I've never run with a strain, but my usual test for any sort of injury is whether or not it affects my stride. If it does, then it's no running time. I like your thought of testing it before your workout.
Mark - Good week, and super-impressive sub-5!
Piwi - Solid week as well.
Mick - Good week. It looks like you have a pretty good approach to training lined up.
Logged my biggest week of the year so far. Several easy runs on the TM. My LR/workout on Friday was pretty great. I'm certain the HR is all wrong for most of it, likely due to the cold (optical HR, forgot the chest strap). I had done a similar LR (without the T mile) on a flat path in the middle of March and somehow this workout felt easier, despite the hills and T pace mile to cap it all off. I went by perceived effort and Stryd output rather than pace due to the hills, but Strava GAP had me right at at or a little faster than plan for the workout segments.
Looking forward to my first 10k next Sunday.
Monday, Mar 26, 2018 thru Sunday, Apr 01, 2018
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
Intl. correspondent
Enric - “stuff is compiling” awesome haha!
Jmac - thanks mate, I might give the 4x1200 a shot. It should be a good gauge of where my speed endurance is at the moment.
If you think it’s time to take a couple days off the you are right.
Rune - The only reason I don’t declare Norwegian as the language of the devil is because Hungarian exists haha.
Careful on the way back from a marathon. You might think you feel okay, but tendons take longer to recover.
Steve - You have the speed. Good luck at the race. Even pacing is money!
MJ - Strava is great until the competitive people like me and yourself see weeklies from these super humans.
It takes a lot of effort to pull myself back and state that what matters is competing against myself (says the guy who finished a 10K with blood on the throat because I wanted to pass a guy on the last 200m)
Mark - congratz on the sub 5 mile, that’s an objective of mine, maybe someday.
Keen - you’re posting some excellent weeks, great consistency.
Piwi - I spent Easter weekend pigging out with the family, what else is there to do
me - I remember those discussions about Mark running too fast, however we thought he was a 1:27 guy heh.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Keen great mileage. you look like a runner who can handle volume which is a huge plus for a distance runner. While a lot of us struggle with niggles and can only run half that volume.
Mark getting photos at that pace gives a good chance of capturing " The Floater "
Mick do you have a daily training shoe and one for workouts/races ? The Pegasus is a solid cushioned daily trainer. I wouldnt race in them personally but use a lighter, faster shoe. I have to have at least 6mm drop or my achilles pulls too much and the skin under my foot burns.
My pick for daily training shoe are Pegasus, Nike Zoom Elite ( very nice shoe, more racy than the Pegasus ) Adidas Boston ( another fantastic shoe, much faster and lighter than I expected ). All theses shoes have a good 8mm or so drop.
For racing Adidas Adios great for 5k to marathon. The Nikes you refer to in my photo are Nike Zoom Streak which I only bought as were dirt cheap $50 new NZ dollars and have actually been great. Very fast and light. Good roomy toe box. I would race a marathon in these. Wore them with no socks for 5 miles on the beach yesterday no problem. Theses racing shoes are all over 6mm drop.
For a one shoe does all approach the Bostons and Zoom Elites would cover.
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 "
Hot Weather Complainer
Hey everyone,
Semi-taper week just done for me, I've already mentioned my last 2 tough sessions last Monday and Wednesday. On Saturday I did 60 mins with 3km race pace (4:08, 4:04, 4:02) after a pretty heavy day on the beers at the cricket on Friday. Perhaps not surprisingly this run didn't feel great - it was also really hot and I was pretty dry although I didn't realise how dry until I was mid-run.
Monday was 60 mins with 4x500m, 2x1km intervals. This is bringing it back from previous weeks so I thought it should be comfortable but it was pretty painful. When I looked at my splits it kind of explained why it hurt, I went a bit quicker than I meant to.
500m 3:46 pace
500m 3:43 pace
500m 3:45 pace
1km 3:44
1km 3:47
Those are pretty quick intervals by my standards so I'll not fret too much about the pain level. My plan for this week is:
Wednesday 45 mins incl 6x250m, 3x500m
Saturday 15 mins with 4x100m strides
Sunday 21.1km (all at race pace, haha)
I'm feeling pretty good going into race week but as previously discussed, I guess I'll find out at about the 16km mark if I'm in the game.
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
Mick - regarding shoes I'm an Altra fanboy as they're the ones that best fit my duck feet. they're not the best looking and they're not even on sale on Brazil (gotta always buy them when on vacation abroad), but they're wide enough and zero drop.
One2.5 for racing, workouts and some easy runs, Instinct 4, Paradigm 1.5 for recovery runs.
JMac - my brother lives in NY and just sent me a pic of snow in Manhasset where his house is! Pretty late in the season for it but I guess you never know with spring. I would be keen to do a mile race but there's practically none around here and it's hard enough even to find serious 5k races.
Mick - yeah fair call on the Mizuno's wearing out quickly. My Wave Hitogami racing flats have almost 300km on them and the soles are starting to look kinda worn. I will likely replace them after Waterfront HM this coming weekend. I find other Mizuno shoes are generally fine in terms of durability. As for Saucony, the Kinvara is an awesome shoe. You can use it as a racer as its very light although the Fastwitch is their racing-specific shoe (I think they have another one too). I like the low drop personally but I mix high and low drop shoes up as my osteo recommended. The only downside at least of the older Kinvara's is that the sole does wear through a little faster than some other shoes. If you don't like low drop shoes then the Kinvara's won't be for you.
Keen - awesome week and looking forward to seeing how the 10k goes.
Steve - I've found out the hard way that running the day after a big drinking session is not pleasant! I actually haven't drunk enough to get a hangover in a long time, partly due to having a little kid (she doesn't sleep in so neither can I).
I'm also a big fan of a light run with some faster efforts the day before the race. Some people like to have a day off but I find it keeps the legs sharp. Normally 30 mins or so with a few 45 second sprints.
Piwi - yep nothing like those air time shots!
Luckily I stopped early to enough to not be too hungover but it definitely took its toll but on the positive side it made me re-think my strategy for the rest of Easter at the cricket...
I also enjoy the short Saturday run before the race, it starts to feel like you've forgotten how to run by then.
Steve real nice pace on those 500s. Cricket not going so well...
Mark last time I was drunk was about 15 years ago in my mid 30s. It was so bad it put me off forever. I still enjoy a quiet cold one ( 2 ) though
Flavio has huge manky fungus infested toes so needs special shoes haha.
My Adidas Bostons just arrived. Awesome shoe. Funnily enough my lower leg seems fine today.
I even did a small tempo this morning 12kms with 5@4.02/km which was controlled but a way off what I used to do. My last 16 weeks have only averaged 46kms/week 29 miles though.
You people and your ability to stop drinking, I'm impressed. I've had more than my fair share of rough 16+ mile long runs hungover, but usually I find I feel way better after sweating it out. It is the good thing about running though: limits your desire to get too drunk because you know you have a workout the next day to complete.
NYC got it's most snow in April yesterday in 34 years. It's amazing, we had a great February, and then it all went to shit. We had 4 snowstorms in March alone, which is unheard of. My race on Sunday has a low temperature of 27 (-3) degrees right now!! That's weather you're supposed to run in if you do a race in the dead of winter, not the beginning of April when trees and flowers are blooming.
Finally, for all you Kiwis out there, there's a Michelin-starred restaurant I'm thinking of going to in NYC that is New Zeleand inspired. Not sure I've had much of your cuisine before, but here is how it's described:
Chef and Co-Owner Matt Lambert, a New Zealand native who honed his skills working in some of New York’s top kitchens (Public, Double Crown, and Saxon & Parole, to name a few), draws upon his upbringing and home country’s cooking at the Michelin star-rated restaurant. The menu charts the evolution of New Zealand cuisine, from the country’s Old World traditions and Asian influences to its dedication to local and seasonal offerings, with ingredients sourced from the restaurant’s back garden.
http://www.musketroom.com/
Flavio - Thanks for the warning regarding training. Since I have set a very long term goal (30 weeks between Oakland and Amsterdam) I have more or less 6 weeks mostly easy, maybe with some strides thrown in after 2 or 3 weeks, 6 weeks of strength with reps (great progression on this in Jack Daniels' book btw), with fartleks and shorter tempos and m-paced runs thrown in, then 18 weeks of Daniels 2Q program. So I'm basically looking at mid-June before I start doing any of the faster stuff and real heavy lifting in my training program. And as far as Norwegian goes, my wife reminds me about when we first started dating she could not make any sense out of the language and it just seemed like a collection of sounds to her. Once she started to grasp the different pieces of it she realized a lot of it is not that different from English, it's just hard to hear before you can pick out the individual words.
Mark - Good luck with your race this upcoming weekend. Regarding running paces, I think you are fine with what you are doing now, but if you had the time and desire to improve even more, you could add more miles, but to avoid injuries you would have to slow down your easy runs. I'm a firm believer that the slowing down is mostly done to allow your body to recover better, while still getting benefits from your runs.
CK - Great week again from you. You should be in good shape for your 10k!
Steve - Good luck at the race! I do the same thing you did all the time, start out a hair too fast on early intervals and then pay the price later. The Kenyans might be onto something when they rather take the first intervals a hair on the easy side and then increase pace as the workout goes on.
JMac - Hope you figure your quad out. 45 miles is still nothing to scoff at!
Piwi - Same with you, consistently logging 40+ miles per week sounds pretty good to me. I'm just trying to get there myself.
So I came across a pretty crazy statistic yesterday when I wandered down a rabbit hole of running related stuff on youtube and other places. It all started when I looked up some stats on Grete Waitz, the famous Norwegian marathon champ who won the New York Marathon in 1978 in 2:32, a world record by more than 2 minutes, when she was only supposed to be a pacesetter and with no training runs longer than 13 miles. I ended up looking up results from the New York Marathon, and picked 1983 as a random year (1984 was supposedly a grueling, hot race). Turns out the race in 83 was won by a Kiwi, Rod Dixon, in 2:08:59, but when I started scrolling down the list I realized how many people had a time close to his. 36 Americans and 63 runners total finished in a time under 2:20. Last year those numbers were 5 and 12! And the best Norwegian in the race, who happens to be part of the Breaking 2:30 group and who ran 2:32:53, ended up in 49th place overall. In 83 that would have given you an honorable 232nd spot. That's a pretty astounding dropoff in the amount of top performers and I wonder what that's all about.
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Rune - I think the issue is that there are too many races to choose from. Look at NYC: very few of the world's elites actually run the race anymore. They can run faster and make more money doing other races. Even Americans like Galen Rupp would rather go run a softer course like Chicago. I don't think talent has necessarily gotten worse, just dispersed more.