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

    Mark great XC race awesome job

    James hope you get over your injuries soon way to keep at it.

     

    For me this week was another solid consistent

    Weekly Summary
    Monday, Jun 18, 2018 thru Sunday, Jun 24, 2018

    <tfoot> </tfoot>
    Day Miles Pace Description HR Link
    Mon 4.4 8:35 Evening Run 141 strava
    Tue 6.5 8:19 Morning Run 142 strava
    Thu 4.4 8:08 Afternoon Run 142 strava
    Fri 4.4 7:17 Morning Run 151 strava
    Sat 20.3 8:37 Morning Run 144 strava
    Sun 4.4 9:06 Morning Run 136 strava
      44.4 8:26      

    PR's

    1m  5:38 (2018)

    5k    19:59 (2019)

    HM  1:33:56 (2018)

    FM  3:23:07 (2018)

    a_taylor


      Hi All!

       

      New to this site, new to this forum, relatively new to taking running seriously! So please bear with me while I figure out how to build out my profile and get some relevant data up here...

       

      Anyways, I'm 27yo, live near Charlotte, NC, and have run 6 half marathons. In the past, they've mostly just been about finishing and having fun, but last summer I started cross training and running a little more seriously and shaved 9min off my PR to get my HM time down to 1:37:12 (despite sub-freezing race temps and almost missing the starting gun...)!

       

      I'm fairly confident that I could just do my thing again and maybe shave a minute or so off my time if the race goes well, but I've never actually set a goal time and trained for it accordingly. So in short, I'm wondering if 1:30 is a reasonable target time for a November race for me, and if so, what advice do y'all have on setting up a training plan?. A 1:30 goal feels a little aggressive, but I'd rather set an aggressive goal and fall a little short (since falling a little short will still be a serious PR) than crush my goal and wish I had trained a little harder. I'm currently running about 20-22mpw, with most of my runs around 7:30/m pace. Although my long runs are a little slower, and currently up to 7m. I do occasional hill work, but haven't been doing any track wourkouts lately. Overall I feel healthy, no injury issues to speak of, etc.

       

      I'm totally open to recommendations for training plans/resources. Skimming through this forum (holy cow, y'all are fast), Daniels VDOT stuff seems popular and pretty flexible. Any and all advice is welcome! Thanks in advance!

       

      -Alex

        Alex welcome. Thats a good time off relatively low mileage. You could lift your mileage and see improvements. Try for 30 mpw and even higher if you feel ok. Do it carefully and monitor how you are coping. Injury will stop your training so thats the main thing to avoid.Your easy pace can slow with increased mileage which is fine, it wont make you slower. I run easy around 8 min/mile but run slower to start most runs and even do some runs at 8.48/mile. Im in about 18.30 5k form.

         

        Mark thats a sick time on a x country course and a great debut. The Tauranga course has a solid steep hill and fixed hurdle/fence to jump

        Ive never run x country apart from at school ! It must be tricky to pace. The men usually run 8km ?

         

        I ran 58kms last week with 2 rest days however one rest day I went surfing in big surf so a solid workout for my upper body and lungs and the other rest day I went kayakfishing which involved about 6kms paddling and is always tiring. Without distractions this week i hope to get in some workouts and better mileage.

        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 "      

         

        Marky_Mark_17


          CF - nice week and really nice long run.

           

          Piwi - thanks, it was a fairly quick course as it was pretty flat, a few twists and turns to deal with but mostly dry underfoot.  The Auckland XC's are normally ~8km so this one was a good short introduction haha.  I was 3rd in my AG so no complaints there, about 15 seconds behind Nick Pannett who I think has a 1:09 half to his name and is apparently in quite good form at the moment.

           

          Alex - welcome!!  And nice job on cutting 9 minutes off your PR, that is a great result in what sounds like pretty tough conditions (if you can do that again you're sweet for your sub-1:30!!).

           

          You'll definitely get some improvements out of increasing mileage, most of the posters on this thread would be somewhere between 35 and 50 miles for the average week.  Building up mileage is something you want to do gradually so your body can adapt to it, sounds like you have no issues on the injury front thus far so that's good.  You'll probably get some speed improvement out of adding a faster workout each week too, like intervals or hills or a track session.  If you're running 4-5 days per week, then probably a longer run, a workout and maybe 2-3 easy runs would be a good mix.  Give us a bit more detail about what your average week looks like in terms of running and other training and I'm sure the posters on here will be able to provide some more specific tips.

           

          Personally I also found that regularly doing longer runs of beyond half marathon distance were very beneficial for my half marathon times.  My long runs are normally 23-28km / 14-17 miles.  But as with the mileage, this is something you'll want to build up to if you think it might be worthwhile.

          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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

          Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

          "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

          watsonc123


            Cfarr, James and Mark - good weeks.

             

            Mark - also, nice race.  It was a rather flat cross country?

             

            A_Taylor - welcome.  Get your volume up.  But not too much given you're used to 20-22 miles per week.  Maybe shoot for 30 miles a week consisting of something like

            M off

            T 5 miles - with 8 * 0.25 miles at 5km pace

            W

            T 7 miles - 2 easy, 4 at half M pace, 1 easy

            F 4 miles easy

            S 4 miles easy

            S 10 miles easy pace

             

            And then after a while, look to increase volume again, incl. distance of intervals and tempo

             

            My week was ok.  Last Sunday's 18km MLR hammered me for some reason (despite having raced a half two weeks before), which caused a terrible nights sleep.  So I skipped Monday.  Yesterday's 18km did not cause the same issues.

             

            The week before, Thursday's tempo was the best of the year.  Well this week was slightly better.  I averaged 4:10/km pace, which consisted of 3 slightly slower km's into the wind, and 4 slightly quicker km's down wind.

             

            <tfoot> </tfoot>
            Day Miles Pace Description Link
            Tue 7.5 7:14 Evening Run - Incl. 10 * 400m intervals strava
            Thu 8.9 7:15 Lunch Run - tempo 4.0km-11.0km strava
            Fri 7.6 7:42 Afternoon Run strava
            Sat 7.5 7:40 Afternoon Run strava
            Sun 11.2 7:49 Afternoon Run - MLR strava
              42.7 7:32    

            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

            SteveChCh


            Hot Weather Complainer

              Nice weeks from everyone, and good luck James with sorting out the injuries.

               

              I had a solid week, re-introduced intervals on Monday which meant Wednesday was a real struggle.  Had planned 3 10 minute tempo blocks on Wednesday but my legs felt smashed and I had little energy so hung in for 70 mins easy (although it wasn't easy).  Decided to stick to bike on Thursday which helped with Saturday.

               

              Saturday morning dawned at -6 degrees with thick ice everywhere.  Perfect winter day when the sun comes up but as I was road tripping down to Dunedin for the rugby I had to run early (for a Saturday).  Figured the sun would come up halfway into the run and I'd warm up or the tempo kms would warm me up so I stuck to a t-shirt and no gloves or beanie.  Big mistake.  Hands were in pain at first then the pain went away because I couldn't feel anything.  I went to wipe some sweat from my eyes and discovered I'd lost all feeling.  When I got home I couldn't unlock the door, take my watch off or feel anything in my hands for 10 mins of running cold water on them...and when I could feel them again, the pain was large.  They were swollen to double the size and my lovely girlfriend helped me get feeling back and recover.  Lesson learned.  I've done that before and not had such an extreme reaction.  The run itself felt great though.

               

              Monday 70 mins incl. 3x(1,2,3) intervals (ranged 3:43-3:56 pace for intervals)

              Tuesday  Weights

              Wednesday  70 mins easy 14.4km @ 4:52)

              Thursday  60 mins stationary bike

              Friday  Weights

              Saturday  90 mins incl. 5km tempo   19.32km @ 4:36min/km, 5km tempo 20:20 (shopping for costumes now...)

              Sunday   Hangover recovery and long drive

              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

              Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024

              Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024

              JMac11


              RIP Milkman

                Mark - Good race, I'm surprised your legs were so beat up. Probably not used to lacing up the spikes and getting out there!

                 

                Corey - An interestingly structured week of 4-6 miles and then bam! 20 miler.

                 

                Alex - Welcome aboard. I'd definitely recommend slowly increasing the mileage (5 mpw per month is about right). I think most people start seeing real success at the half distance once they get up to averaging 35+. Of course you'll see the most success once you get 50+, but the 35 level is a good number to reach for.

                 

                Watson - Good mileage in every run this week.

                 

                Steve - Ouch! I can't believe you would even try to go out at -6 in a t shirt and no gloves! At -6C I'm wearing the thickets gloves I own. Definitely a good learning experience for you though.

                 

                Me - All easy mileage this week, first time I've done that in months. Highest mileage I've run so far this year as well. Wanted to just stick to the aerobic stuff all week as I start prepping for marathon training. Upped my easy runs to 10 miles, and bumped up the long run to 18. Going to stick with all easy stuff again this week until Sunday, when my first quality workout for marathon training begins. Also going to try run commuting for the first time this week! I waste so much time taking the subway, might as well run and kill two birds with one stone.

                 

                Weekly Summary
                Monday, Jun 18, 2018 thru Sunday, Jun 24, 2018

                <tfoot> </tfoot>
                Day Miles Pace Description Link
                Tue 9.9 7:50 Time to up the easy run distance strava
                Wed 9.9 7:50 Evening Run strava
                Fri 9.8 7:49 Evening Run strava
                Sat 17.8 7:57 Afternoon Run strava
                Sun 5.9 8:19 Evening Run strava
                  53.3 7:55  

                5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                 

                 

                Marky_Mark_17


                  Watson - nice week and good signs on that tempo workout.

                   

                  Steve- yeah -6 would definitely be gloves for me, and probably also a long-sleeved merino thermal and leggings.  I was running in those sorts of temperatures in Canada and definitely needed the gloves and sometimes a windbreaker over the thermal too.  I'm not surprised your hands were freezing!  When I used to umpire hockey, if you got stuck doing a game on a cold wet night in the middle of winter, it was almost impossible to write up the match card afterwards.  Albeit never seen that level of swelling though!  Glad it came right.  Nice tempo too, often those workouts are really tough in very cold conditions as you've gotta work just to turn your legs over.

                   

                  JMac - nice week although I still don't know how you can do whole weeks without a workout.  It's impressive discipline actually.  I'd just get to the point of going 'nah enough of this I'm gonna run fast now'.  Interested to hear how the run commute goes, wouldn't it be hard work in NY with traffic lights every block?  And yeah, first time in spikes for me ever so probably took a bit of getting used to.

                   

                  Me - well this run club gig also seems to have thrown up a busy race calendar... the Auckland Road Race Champs (10km) are on the 19 August, and then NZ Road Race Champs (10km) two weeks after that.  Plus NZ Road Relays at the start of October, down in Akaroa near Steve's part of the world.  It was pretty cool on Saturday being around some really top runners so hopefully that will give me some extra motivation in those races just trying to get close to some of those guys.

                  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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

                  Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

                  "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

                    Cfarr - that looks like my training from a few years back.  Short, hard runs all week, followed by a really long run.

                     

                    Mark - great work!

                     

                    Ran 71 miles this week.  19 miles at 7:34 pace and a 4 x 1000m session at 5:33 pace were the key workouts.  I have another 71 mile week this week.  My body has held up well.

                      Bro solid week.

                       

                      Mark nice to see you rubbing shoulders and competing with the guys that win and place in alot of the races over here. If you are impressed with Jmacs all easy week then you must be super impressed with my weeks of easy only pace 

                       

                      Steve lucky you didnt get frostbite ! You are the playboy dude on here with hangovers and Vegas trips 

                       

                      Jmac without prying too much.....do you commute in every day ? Do you have family etc ?

                       

                      Watson nice fast average pace to your week.

                      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 "      

                       

                      runethechamp


                        Marco - Congrats on the PR. And kudos for sticking with a faster speed to see how it would work even if you expect to blow up. That's not easy to do.

                         

                        Mark - Great CC race and nice week overall. Consistency still rules it seems.

                         

                        Piwi - You seem to have recovered nicely!

                         

                        Alex - Welcome! If you have a goal race in November I would focus on increasing mileage over the next 8 weeks or so, and then do a 10 or 12 week training program for the race. Look around and see what you think you like of the different ones.

                         

                        Watson - Sometimes your body is just off and gets beat up by a run for no apparent reason. I try to just roll with those when they happen. And you still got above 40 miles for the week.

                         

                        James - Hope you get those injuries figured out.

                         

                        Steve - Sounds crazy running in icy conditions now.

                         

                        Corey - Nice week again. Way to stay consistent.

                         

                        JMAc - Solid week and solid runs. It will be interesting to follow your program once you start.

                         

                        Bro - VERY solid week. Hope the paces are starting to feel better for you.

                         

                        I made it through my vacation week in Mexico where I did a full week of treadmill running. The running was boring but OK with the World Cup on TV that I could watch at the same time. Got back Saturday and did my Q1 workout of week 2 today and got to my planned total of 45 miles. Can't remember if I mentioned it before but I've decided to try to peak my program at 55 miles instead of 50, so my weeks will startout at 45 miles, then be at 50 for some weeks, and then there will be a bunch of weeks at 55. Today I had two segments of threshold pace of 3 and 2 miles, and today it felt really hard even though I hit the average training pace per Jack Daniels. It was pretty windy (15 mph) and I had a headwind for large parts of the threshold segments, plus some small hills here and there, so I'm not worried. And all the cheap beer I drank in Mexico probably didn't help either. Speaking of beer, I drink most of them and usually don't have very strong opinions one way or another. But when it's hot outside it's hard to beat an ice cold light, cheap beer. In my table below I haven't included any manual activities I've entered in Strava to make up for the difference in miles between my watch and the treadmill. The total reflects my total including those miles though.

                         

                        Weekly Summary
                        Monday, Jun 18, 2018 thru Sunday, Jun 24, 2018

                        <tfoot> </tfoot>
                        Day Miles Pace Duration Description HR Link
                        Mon 4.2 10:23 0:43 Lunch Run 127 strava
                        Tue 4.8 10:42 0:51 Morning Run 132 strava
                        Wed 9.8 10:27 1:42 Treadmill Threshold Run 138 strava
                        Thu 4.4 9:59 0:43 Very sad treadmill run 125 strava
                        Fri 4.4 9:41 0:42 Last treadmill run for a while 132 strava
                        Sun 13.1 8:13 1:47 E-T-E-T-E 149 strava
                          45.2 9:37 6:31      

                        5k: 20:32 (1/17)  |  HM: 1:34:37 (2/18)  |  FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)

                         

                        Getting back into it

                        JMac11


                        RIP Milkman

                          Rune - Nice Q workout. I second your opinion on light, cheap beer in the sun. It's like you want a beer, but you also want a water, so why not drink Bud Light, which is basically watered down beer? 

                           

                          Mark/Piwi - All easy week is so boring! I don't know how some guys do 100 mile weeks of all easy runs for like 8 straight weeks as base building for a marathon. I'm definitely antsy to get started, but still gonna do 4 straight days of 10 miles easy this week.

                           

                          Run Commuting - As almost all of you know, I live in Manhattan. No kids yet, just wife and dog. My apartment is less than 5 miles from the office, but as is the case in this city, that means it's about 25-30 minutes door to door via subway (more if you tried to take a cab). Mark - you'll see my route on Strava this week, I plan on running over to the river and going up because trying to get through midtown Manhattan with all the lights / people getting out of work would be an nightmare. The route itself is exactly 8 miles, so I'm going to increase it to 10 by just tacking on a mile in the wrong direction.

                          5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                           

                           

                          CommanderKeen


                          Cobra Commander Keen

                            Mark - Good job on the race, and nice week. XC races sound both tough and fun.


                            James - Glad to hear you're making progress toward recovery.


                            CFarr - Nice week.


                            Alex - Welcome! I agree with what PiwiMark, JMAC, and Rune said.


                            Piwi - Sounds like a great week! I'd love to do some fishing off a kayak like that. Never been surfing, either.


                            Steve - Wow! Glad the hands are ok after that. I hate having cold hands and typically use at least a light pair when the temps are under ~40F/4C. -6C calls for my good windproof mittens!


                            JMac - Good job on all the easy runs. I like getting those in every so often, but can't bring myself to do it when I'm actively in a training cycle. Run commuting sounds fun, but wouldn't work for me. It would literally be a marathon one way (yes, I've mapped it using roads>trails).


                            Bro - Very nice week. If you want to automatically import your week from Strava you can use this utility: rwol-weekly.appspot.com/weekly/


                            Rune - Solid week, and that sounds like a tough tempo run. Getting an entire weeks worth of running on the treadmill is rough!


                            Pretty decent week, though I missed out on running Monday. We've had a ton of rain/thunderstorms since Friday, most of it coming overnight and early in the morning so I've hit the treadmill more than I wanted. Mowing the lawn is going to suck!
                            DW may head to my parents' Thursday to visit (I'll probably follow after work on Friday) so I may be able to make a group run at an LRS that day. I can't even remember the last time I ran with anyone outside of a race.

                             

                            Weekly Summary
                            Monday, Jun 18, 2018 thru Sunday, Jun 24, 2018

                            <tfoot> </tfoot>
                            Day Miles Pace Description HR Link
                            Tue 11.3 7:33 1T+2T+1T. Solve for T, and don't forget to show your work. 162 (83%) strava
                            Wed 8.2 8:04 Of course the torrential downpour stops once I commit to the dreadmill 143 (73%) strava
                            Wed 3.2 7:37 Runch 5k with a little leader board chasing. I need a faster treadmill... 144 (73%) strava
                            Thu 2.6 7:24 Runch appetizer 138 (70%) strava
                            Thu 3.7 8:12 Main course runch 136 (69%) strava
                            Fri 7.5 8:06 1 rabbit, 1 heron, 1 little rain shower, & barely missing the big(ger) thunderstorm. 141 (72%) strava
                            Sat 15.5 7:34 A little rain, 4.4 @M-ish effort, and the whole lake to myself 150 (77%) strava
                              52.0 7:46      

                            5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                             

                            Upcoming Races:

                             

                             

                              JMac nice week... yeah I would say at the moment there is not much structure just trying to get in miles where I can.

                              I don't have a lot of time during the week due to work, so I take the 4 here, 6 there where I can get em in, and I have plenty of time on Saturday to get nice long runs in.  I anticipate some changes in my work commitments soon so hopefully I will be able to get some longer runs 7-10 in during the week before work.  First step is to start increasing my Sunday morning runs as I do have time there to add miles without causing to much fuss at home.

                               

                              Keen nice week

                              Bro  nice week Great pace on the 19 miler

                              Alex Welcome

                              Watson nice week

                              Steve sorry about the hands I don't think I go run if it was -6 degrees I think the coldest I have run in was about 13 degrees. Fortunately I don't have to worry about the cold to much where I live.  I'm dealing with the 95-100 degree temps right now.

                              Rune Nice week

                              PR's

                              1m  5:38 (2018)

                              5k    19:59 (2019)

                              HM  1:33:56 (2018)

                              FM  3:23:07 (2018)

                                Rune I enjoyed your holiday snaps. Looked slightly colder back in Berkley  Good job on the treadmill runs and cheap beer drinking.

                                 

                                Jmac I knew I could prise personal info out of you. Im nearly 100% sure you work for the FBI and are a personal bodyguard to Trump 

                                 

                                Keen I live about 300m from a nice beach so surfing/fishing are hard not to do. I enjoy running but its hard to say its fun when you are in a middle of VO2 intervals  I describe it as challenging and rewarding whereas my other hobbies are fun to do.

                                great job on hitting 50 mpw although I know you hit good mileage alot. Running with others is really good and makes the run go so much faster. I didnt run with others for about the first 5 years but thanks to Strava and Facebook groups I get 1 run at least per week with someone else.

                                 

                                Cfarr you should get some nice benefits when you extend those runs.

                                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 "