Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Grumble, grumble, had a long reply to a lot of you done here and I accidentally closed the tab. I'll try again.
Mark - It's not easy to run fast when you are clenching your butt cheeks as hard as you can to prevent a disaster
Piwi - My coffee mod still works. No breaks needed during my run yesterday!
JMac - Thanks for the math, turns out it has a lot less effect than I originally thought. Certainly not enough to make up 1.4 kms.
Mick - A formula I found a while ago seems to work pretty well. It says you will run grade times 3.3 slower for uphill, grade times 1.8 faster for downhill. So if your plan is to run 1 mile in 7:00/mile on flat ground, but it's a steady 100 foot elevation change over that mile, the adjustment will be 1+3.3x100/5280 = 1.0625. 420 seconds x 1.0625 =446 seconds, or a 7:26 mile. Downhill the adjustment is 1-1.8*100/5280 = 0.9659, or a 6:46 mile. So if you run two miles, first mile 100 feet up, the other one 100 feet down, you lose about 12 seconds compared to flat ground according to this. Not sure how this works when the hills get really steep though.
So I ran 10.6 miles yesterday for my weekly mid-long run. Started out with the dog for close to 3 miles, kept it easy for a couple more miles, then hit a hill that was steep enough that it was nearly impossible to keep an easy effort. I therefore decided to step up to a more moderate effort (a hair slower than tempo pace) and kept it for about 4.5 miles. Had to stop a few times for traffic lights and such, but towards the end it turns out I ran a strava segment that's 3/4 of a mile long at 6:48 pace. My legs felt great after a day and a half of rest and best of all, no bathroom breaks needed!
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Intl. correspondent
Rune - Running with a group is always better. However these small local races don’t have pace groups and sub 1h30 is less than 30 people.
Mark - maybe half Jesus hehe
Mark - is the coach local kiwi or from training peaks?
Piwi - great advice on the pace, I can see we think alike haha.
Yeah Kiprop bust is a long time coming he had his fair share of suspect performances.
Watson - My 10K workout last week had me running a 1h28 at 21c. My only concern is lack of endurance. I have 80km per week past 3 weeks then average 60km per week the 6 weeks before that.
MJ - I have a perfect formula for that. I look at past results and compare agains that same people racing on flat races.
Testosterone supplements, I’m rolling here laughing but really hoping I never need them.
Marco - unless you run the marathon as a long run, you should avoid any fast stuff on the month after.
As for the marathon, you don't have mental barriers, just lack of endurance/fitness. Miles and miles and miles will give you that edge.
And weight loss. Usually the miles take care of the weight loss.
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
Flavio - A buddy of mine was studying people's efforts on the uphills and downhills of the previous Berkeley Halfs before the race last fall, and we talked back and forth a bit about what he found. He basically dug up the races on Strava that finished in the vicinity of 1:30 and plugged it into a spreadsheet. Interestingly enough we found that on average people started too fast, ran faster than my formula on the uphills, slower on the downhills, and slowed down at the end. But if you went to the top finishers that all changed. They all started slower than their average pace, were more conservative on the uphills, blasted the downhills, and kept their pace all the way until the end. So I always take what the average person does with a grain of salt . Your mileage is not that bad for your race, at least seem with my eyes. 40 miles per week for 6 weks, 50 miles for 3... I've never even been close to that
Rune as I read your post my wife just brought me my 2nd coffee and its only 7am
Flavio Im about where you are with 3 weeks at 80kms and a couple at 70kms. Thats no where near enough base to be at our best but 1.28-1.30 will be a great result off that. You could sit at 4.15/km till 15km....then blast/limp home
Marco thankyou. What I did in 2013/2014 when I ran my only 2 marathons was follow the Pete Pfitzinger 18/70 plan from his book advanced marathoning. Over 18 weeks it put me in my best running shape ever to run 2 sub 3s. I would not consider running another marathon if I did not have a 60 mpw base over 18 weeks prior.
Mick unless I read the story wrong that guy is Graham Green from England a well known masters runner along with his brother ?
Im not a supplement type person at all although I do take beer daily
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 "
Rune - I usually pick somebody I know from other races. It's a relatively small racing scene
Piwi - that said, Kiprop is innocent until the B sample test comes back and the trial completes.
As for the race on the one hand I know I'm lacking in endurance but I also have the 10K tempo in 4:09/km which brings a bit of confidence.
We'll see how the weather is on race day.
Flavio thats tempo sounds great good luck.
Im doing a Parkrun 5km tomorrow. Not sure where Im at but somewhere 18.30-18.50
RIP Milkman
Good luck Piwi! 18:30 would be very impressive given you only have a couple of Vo2 and that’s it for speedwork.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Good luck Piwi.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
Rune: Wow ok I will see if I get the formula to work for me. Have to do the conversion. But then I am at the risk of screwing the multipliers up. So I guess I have to do it in miles first. For the Berkeley half top athletes your formula was a good fit?
Piwi: I was just jokingly referencing Yuri or Igor I don't recall his name but the guy who averages 400km in a week on Strava and was accused by someone from this forum of riding his bike I wish I could look like an animal and run 2:36 marathons but you know what its not going to happen, ever. Beer is pretty strong on the hormonal side - as it is packed with estrogen and some women use it to soften the menopause. Might explain your tendency towards the girly colors when it comes to shoes
All the racers this weekend: good luck. And: race reports please
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
I approve of this post Beer causes titties! Now let me go back to my bra selection process...
Good luck with that Parkrun Piwi!
Falvio - I'm convinced you'll be fine in your half.
I'm going to try those drills again tonight. Wish me luck, because I'll need it!
Rune/Mick/Flavio if I give up beer and coffee my life will be nothing
Just back from my Parkrun.
Parked about 1.5kms away and jogged to the start. Cool, overcast and no wind so perfect running conditions. Jogged another 3kms on the course to warmup. Got back to the start with about 15 mins to go. A decent crowd assembling over 100 people but all looked very non serious. Last week was their first Parkrun here and there were 250 runners but kids saturday sports was back on today as well as the Rotorua marathon which is only 1 hour away.
I ripped off my shirt before the start so I could just run in my singlet. Had my Nike Zoom Streak 4 shoes on, light and bouncy. Put myself at the front of the start and off we go.
KM1 3.38
Mostly on boardwalk quite bouncy with a plastic chequered grill mounted all over it. Another guy went out fast and pulled about 100m lead on me currently 2nd. He was wearing a Ford logo polo shirt with baggy grey shorts. He was skinny but just didnt seem dressed like a serious runner. Always hard to gauge effort/pace in the first km but I ran 3.38 which was perfect. At the 1km mark a loose dog ran out and jumped up and took a nip at me but no damage done
KM2 3.46
Onto gravel track now not a bad surface but a bit rutty here and there. Not as groomed as I would have liked. The guy in front was slowly coming back to me and I passed him just past the 2km mark. Pace slipped out to 3.46 here and I was a little concerned.
KM3 3.41
Round a 180 degree turnaround and head for home. All gravel track. Passing all the others getting some support and dodging some who didnt hear the keep left rule at the briefing ! Couldnt hear the other guy behind me but I never once looked back.
KM4 3.42
Just trying to consolidate my pace and hold together for that final km. All gravel track once again.
KM5 3.45
Hurting a bit but managed to hold on to a 3.45/km pace. Onto the boardwalk again which felt way better than the gravel. Over the finish and didnt die
Watch beeped perfectly just on the line so a legit Strava 5km for once. Time at 18.33 for 5.01km on my Strava feed.
Happy with that and a nice benchmark and my first 50 age group race done.
Piwi - nice work. 18:33 for a 50 year old is very good. It is 10s better than my PR.
Piwi - great job and really consistent pacing, well done. The gravel would've slowed you up a little bit too so definitely there is the potential to roll that time! Conditions were really nice here this morning for running with no wind and relatively cool temps and sounds like you had the same. Good to see there was a decent crowd there and it's always nice getting a bit of support from the other runners after the turnaround. Am I right in saying you got first place overall as well??
Flavio - good luck for the half tomorrow!!! Yes my coach is a Kiwi (actually Austrian originally but married to a Kiwi guy) - met her via my osteopath.
Rune - good luck for the drills!!!
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 - great work! I didn’t realize the course wasn’t on pavement, so that makes it even more impressive. What a way to start your running in your 50’s with a first overall and an 18:33. I see even more great stuff coming later this year for you!