Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018
Quick update and some advice needed. Sprained my foot last Friday. Ran into a pothole at 4:30am and rolled my ankle, was able to run home with no pain. Around noon, my foot begins throbbing and I can't even walk. Ended up going to the emergency room and was given some meds. Was able to actually resume running on Monday with no pain. Had about three days off from running and it felt like an eternity.
In the past few weeks I've noticed an incredible drop off in paces. My average daily pace going from 7:38's to 8:15-ish. I'm not sure what is going on but it's become hard to finish runs. I did an interval session two days ago and I'm still wrecked from it (5 x 6 minutes at threshold) and I'm beginning to lose the fire a bit. I'm supposed to race a 10k tomorrow and I'm little worried about how it's going to go.
My marathon training is big change from the type of running I used to do. Along with increased mileage, I'm doing long threshold workouts and they are really beating me down more than I thought they would and I'm getting really bad at them. I'm definitely a fast twitch guy and I'm not training to my strengths.
Is there any proof behind the notion that it's bad for such speed-based runners to drag themselves through these types of long tempo workouts? Am I getting less out of them than a slow-twitch guy? Is this all in my head?
RIP Milkman
Bro - honestly, it’s a bit early to tell. Daniels does beat the shit out of you in marathon training. Never worry about easy paces - generally it happens with marathon training and summer. I don’t think it has anything to do with what type of runner you are. If you really feel like it’s too much, take a 25 percent down week and then go back to the same mileage you were at the previous week and hold for 3 weeks. Besides that, it’s too hard to telll cause you haven’t been around and we don’t know what your full training schedule has looked like.
Me - miraculously avoided the beer today, so that is out of the equation. The forecast is still the same temp and sun wise so let’s say goal is sub 39.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
JMac - Just saw your race result and consider me very impressed! I guess you did ok even if you didn’t drink beer last night
Bros - It might be that you are just beat down from the Jack Daniels workouts but make sure you’re not getting over trained. Good to hear that your sprain got worked out.
Marco - It certainly seems like you’re in great shape but Listen to your body like Mark says.
Mark - Does this make you a semi-pro? You’re putting up great times so your invitation seems well deserved!
I pushed up my first workout of my 18-week program from Sunday to yesterday as I’m going to Mexico on vacation for a week today. I will try to keep up the running there but wanted to keep the hard workouts to a minimum. After 4 miles warmup I did 8 miles at m-pace and 1 mile at threshold pace. According to Jack Daniels those paces are supposed to be 7:29 and 7:04 based on my HM in February, but I think I’m in a little bit better shape now. So I figured if I ran 7:25-7:30/mile for the m-pace miles and 7:00-7:05 for threshold pace I would be good. Ended up at 7:23 and 6:47, and even though pacing was difficult with lots of wind I was surprised how strong my legs felt at the end. I think my increased mileage is helping for sure.
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Hi Rune saw that monster workout and you deserve those taccos and burritos!!! Enjoy the madness especially tomorrow morning when the amigos play against the Germans.
Jmac great race. Congrats. looking forward to the rr
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Jmac great job I knew you would PR ! I ran 37.08 and 37.09 a couple years ago so your time looked familiar. You will get sub 37 on a nicer course.
Bro also check you are eating enough. Marathon training will require more food !
Im having a low week. Ive revisited my sore throat and lost my voice again. I can feel my motivation waning once again.......sorry.
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 "
JamesD
Keen - My son has asked me to hit him fly balls this summer, but he's never played except for a one-week daycamp when he was 11. We lived outside the U.S. in non-baseball countries until he was 10, and he was way behind the competitive kids when we moved here. He's a big fan, though, and when we went to a Tampa Bay game last week, he asked us to sit in the outfield & get there when the gates opened so he could try to catch a batting practice home run. He didn't get any, but he still had fun, and he now wants us to go early to an Atlanta game so he can try again soon.
I got a bit of exercise in during the Florida vacation. 36 minutes easy pool running each of Tuesday & Wednesday, a 2-mile trot Thursday, a 3-mile very easy run Friday, and 34 minutes swimming followed by 24 minutes easy pool running and a little more swimming on Saturday. I like running on vacation, and the jogs were at 6am on quiet tree-draped streets with sun just starting to filter through the leaves. The short distances meant the 95% humidity was colorful rather than unpleasant. These were the first times I'd even jogged in almost 3 weeks, and my upper hamstrings, where I had been injured, felt ok during the run, but while I was walking afterwards both days I felt some soreness in the right lower hamstring close to my knee. During today's pool running I got moderate hamstring cramps (very rare for me) which eased after a few minutes, but then I suddenly got severe cramps in both calves & so stopped and then swam a little more. I'm not sure whether the hamstring cramps are related to the hamstring injury or might aggravate it, but I may try another easy run tomorrow. Am seeing a physical therapist Monday.
Hope everyone is enjoying the World Cup. It'll be interesting to see what the (English-language) TV ratings are like in the U.S. since we aren't in it. Seems to be getting a lot of mainstream media coverage anyway.
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
Rune - haha that might imply I'd get paid. Although the club did offer that if I do road relay champs in Oct they'll pay for my club registration fee so maybe? Hope you have a great vacation.
The other good thing is it means I can do NZ Road Race Champs in September. It's on a dead-flat course and with the level of competition I'd be optimistic of a possible 10km PB. The only downside is that it's the same day as the North Shore Half Marathon but after last year's bum race there I don't love that course as much as I used to.
Piwi - hang in there!!
JMac - awesome job on the race and PR. Sometimes you get a day where despite conditions and/or course you end up putting up a really good time - very satisfying when that happens. Congrats again.
James - yeah crazy that the US didn't make the World Cup. Have been some good matches so far - the Portugal-Spain game was great. Hope those hamstrings are OK.
Me - slightly shuffled week due to Sunday being a full day of daddy daycare with wifey starting work early. Ended up being three workouts straight Wed-Thurs-Fri and then a long run Saturday (normally I'd have Fri off and do a workout Sat and LR Sunday). I thought I might crash and burn on the hill climb at the end of the long run but legs actually felt really good - ended up being my biggest week of the year so far and that was 5 days straight too. Glad I've got a day off today though.
M: weights
T: 10.7km easy
W: 16.4km incl. 45 min progression
T: 14.1km incl. hills
F: 15.7km incl. 3 x 8 min hard / 4 min easy
S: 27.5km long run
S: rest day / chase DD around
Total: 84.4km
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"
Mark - nice week.
JMac - very nice. I was not expecting a PR!
Piwi - take a light week. And when feeling better, pick a race in July or August, somewhere between 10km and a half.
Rune - sounds like a very nice workout. Can you post the Strava link?
My week was good. Thursday's tempo workout was my best tempo of the year. Unlike what was happening pre my 3 June half, the tempo pace was actually what it "should be". Today I was trying to decide on whether it would be 18km or 20km, I decided on 18km, which was the right decisions as I did fade the second half.
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
James: Baseball is a really cool sport - I played competitive Baseball til the age of 17. My shoulder is completely wrecked as a result - side arm technique coupled with a lot of practice and tournaments... Well, at least it helps with the golf swing where an explosive hip rotation helps.
Me: I did 5 recovery runs for a total of 42km or 26 miles. I am happy with that outcome as my calf isnt hurting. Crazy how much fitness you lose in a month. 9-10k and I am completely done I will do another 4 weeks easy and gradually increase mileage as the calf allows.
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark - another nice week...you're definitely starting to sound like you're hitting elite club level runner, make sure you stay with us weekend warriors though!
JMac - great work on the PR.
Bros - Definitely have a light week and see what happens. I've been run down physically and mentally and one light week has changed everything.
My week ended well after starting with a sore achilles that I felt could have kept me out of my next race in 7 weeks.
Monday - 60 mins stationary bike
Tuesday - Weights
Wednesday - 60 mins stationary bike
Thursday - 30 mins light jog to test achilles (6.18km @ 5:08min/km) + 30 mins stationary bike
Friday - Weights
Saturday - 90 mins with 4km tempo (any soreness and I planned to end it). 19.1km @ 4:40min/km (tempo kms: 4:10, 4:09, 4:05, 4:05). I had slightly over 1km of warm down after the tempo section and did that at 4:28min/km pace when I thought I was going at 4:50-5:00 pace so that's a good sign that a few days off didn't hurt me.
Sunday - Weights
With only 7 weeks left I'm adding intervals every Monday and will build up to 6x1km a couple of weeks out from the race. I won't have done my normal amount of speed work but will have a bigger base this time. Have been doing 4-5km tempo at least once a week for a month now though - I'll build that up to about 10km. No idea what to expect as I build into another race and I'll be pretty nervous after the last one. I know it will be better though and I'm now 6 months into uninterrupted training, not counting last week which I don't think was enough to have any impact.
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
Piwi - Give yourself a week oe two to recover properly and hopefully you can find that motivation again!
Mick - Thanks, I'm enjoying the Mexican food so far. And Mexico beat Germany in the World Cup! The hotel bar was going crazy this morning.
James - Hope you get your hamstrings figured out.
Mark - Solid week as usual. Always good to get access to some nice competitive races too!
Watson - Solid week fr you as well. That tempo workout is quality, especially when it had the right feeling like you said. Comfortably hard I guess is what Jack Daniels calls it. Links to my runs are below.
I allowed myself to go slightly below 50 miles for the week as I got to 55 last week. Unfortunately the running options are limited outside at our vacation spot, but at least the treadmills have large tv screens on them so I can watch the World Cup when I run.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Jun 11, 2018 thru Sunday, Jun 17, 2018
Steve - haha I'm not sure about elite, of the other guys I know at the Takapuna club... one won the Auckland Marathon in 2014 (2:27!), one ran a 32:59 10km earlier this year (not a flat course either), one was on a full track and field scholarship at a university in Texas, and then there's Brad who I've watched fly off into the distance at most races I've run with him (with 2 recent exceptions). So I'm kinda the rookie noob! Nice week and good call switching to the bike for a day or two if your achilles was niggly.
Bro - like Piwi says fuelling is really important. You've got to eat well and on long runs or long-ish workouts you will likely need to refuel with electrolytes and/or carbs depending on conditions. I don't know if it's anything to do with slow-twitch v. fast-twitch... I've always been more speed-oriented and I'm OK with longer tempo blocks (but that's just me).
Rune - nice week and I'm highly envious of some your pics on Strava, it looks amazing there!!
Rune - nice workout and another solid week enjoy the vacation in Mexico
Watson - nice week and nice tempo run
Piwi - hope you get to feeling better seems you have been dealing with this on and off for some time.
JMac - congrats and look forward to reading about your race
Mark -nice week
another solid week for me
June overall is shaping up to be another record month for me. This has been a consistent build up of uninterrupted training over the last 11 months, hopefully I will be able to continue.
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
Rune stop with the vacation photos on Strava you are killing me , no keep them coming.
Mick wow you are back and running nice ! Yeah those 10k runs will soon feel easy.
Cfarr very nice well done. Keep it going.
Mark good week. You will enjoy running with those fast dudes. I really enjoy my pack runs with the local elite dudes. You are nearly local elite anyway
Watson nice tempo good to see the workout matching the race pace.
My 20 year old has started running with me a little. Hes been a little depressed since moving back from Australia so Im conscious of doing father/son stuff with him to cheer him up. Hes got shin splints already lol. Took him up papamoa hills yesterday and he started too fast and struggled but made it up running. I will probably scale back some but keep running but with no pressures.
Piwi - is that your son who ran the 1:31/1:32 at Hamilton in 2012?