Sub 2:00 Half Marathon thread (Read 2396 times)

Zelanie


    Congrats to Stever, CeeDotA, and Miele!  What nice weather for Eugene after the warm temps for the rest of the week!

     

    gosling- Two days after is supposed to be the worst of DOMS.  Hopefully tomorrow you should be feeling at least somewhat better than today!

     

    me- One mile run was successful this morning!  Had to get up at 4:45 to fit it in, but it was still great to be out running.  I didn't feel the knee at all.  If it gives me any trouble again, I will find a doc and go in.  Tomorrow, I will run two miles.

      Great RR all. I hope everyone recovers quickly Smile

       

      Lurch - It sounds like that hansons plan is kicking in. Those are solid 5k times for sure. You will be surprised how easily you can do a second 5k at the same pace. Keep grinding!

       

      Congrats to the new sub 2'ers Big grin

       

      Me - slept alot today and ate. Proper recovery day.  No speedwork this week. I will be running the marathon on June 2nd so I will just be logging miles. I don't have a lot of time to prepare.  I will be focusing on long runs and recovery from here on out.  Have a goodnight all

        5k  = 19.48 10/1/13

      10k  = 45.28 4/16/13

      Half Marathon = 1:38.53  Summer Sizzle 7/13/14

      Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/12  4:39.11

      Solo O Marathon 06/02/13  3:52:10

      Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/13 3:40.34

      miele


      Godzilla

        Ok, I'm back after a day trip to the Oregon coast.  Beautiful but now I'm tired.

         

        stever-  When I read Jan's RR I thought exactly the same thing about puking in the stroller.  But, then again, I watch too much Family Guy.

         

        amn-  Congrats on the sub-2!!!  Aren't flat courses great?  That's a 6+minute PR!  You must be grinning from ear to ear!

         

        blue-  I'm reading your posts thinking what the hell?!?  Did you at least get some smooth water for diving eventually?  Did I miss your posts about the multiple fractures?  Broken hip?  Plane engines blowing up?  Third degree sunburns?  And on top of all that the shins?  My head is spinning and all I can think of is that you should write a book.  I hope the PT helps and you start feeling normal again.

         

        hector-  Nice long run!  I was thinking about the bruising on the soles of your feet.  Do you think more cushioning would help?  Has it cleared up (I really hope so since you just ran 3 hours on Sat.)

         

        Edith-  Nice long run for you, too!  You'll get your 4:20.  You must be back home now.  I thought of you today when we went to the coast.  We stopped at a place with lots and lots of trails of differing levels and I thought you would love it.  For each trail they gave a description of the difficulty which I thought was handy.

         

        Lurch-  Geez, I'm still on page 30 but, then again, I didn't go to law school.

         

        Cee-  I ran a 1:51:18.  Only 11 seconds slower than my PR.  It was amazing to the see the fast people finishing up when we passed Hayward Field at mile 9-10 (I can't remember exactly).  They were flying.  And we still had 3-4 miles to go.

         

        pc-  Hayward Field is the best!  Especially finishing there.  The crowd is amazing and it's just a great way to finish the race.

         

        gosling-  I think you're fighting off something.  After a race I don't usually have much of an appetite for a couple of hours but 48 hours is too long.  That and the other symptoms combined and I'm amazed you ran such a great race.  And in all kinds of pain, too.  I hope you feel better real soon.

         

        Zelanie-  Yay for the one mile!!!  Let's hope that's the end of the knee pain once and for all!

         

        me-  Thanks for all the congratulations!  It means a lot!  I promise to write up an RR tomorrow but right now I'm going to bed.  I'm exhausted.

        10K: 47:12* / 13.1: 1:50:56 / 26.2: 3:53:48

         

                    

        bluerun


        Super B****

          gosling -- oh, yes, the post-race fun.  I'm trying not to think about that.  Hope you're back to normal soon!!  And yes, I did have nine stress fractures in a nine-month span, but that's kind of my own fault since apparently bones don't like it when you starve yourself for the better part of ten years.  That's unrelated to my current shin issues -- I think those are a result of running a very hilly race after not being able to really train for hills thanks to a bout of peroneal tendinitis.  But I'd take the shin splints over stress fractures any day.  (Ideally, though, they'll all just go away.)

           

          Zelanie -- glad to hear the knee is getting back to normal, at least!

           

          miele -- nope, never did get smooth water!!  The current was so rough that even forty feet down, the plants on the coral reefs were waving like mad.  It was crazy.

           

          me -- well, I'm going to say I didn't have a second degree sunburn, after all; I THOUGHT it was strange that the blisters took so long to show up, since normally it happens within the first 48 hours.  I ran on the AlterG yesterday, and my knee looked SCARY afterward, like it was covered in blisters.  But sunburn blisters hurt, and this didn't hurt any more than before I ran, it just looked really nasty.  So I did some research and found the oh-so-appetizing explanation for what happened.  They aren't blisters in the traditional sense.  When you work out, your skin cools itself by sweating, but if the skin is too dry to sweat (AKA, if you have a sunburn), it will just accumulate and form "sweat bubbles" that LOOK an awful lot like blisters... and they go away after a few hours if you keep cool.  This makes sense since it's pretty freaking hot in the AlterG.  So my knee looks really frightening, but the burn itself is actually healing.  And it had better be completely gone by the weekend, because I can't run the kind of race I want to run with a messed up knee.

          chasing the impossible

           

          because i never shut up ... i blog

          hectortrojan


            EdithRevisited – it is impressive that you ran a 20 miler in 3:40. Most I have ran is 16 miles in 3 hours. I think it is still gonna take me few more month to run a 20 miler. Good luck with your race this Sunday.

             

            Lurch – it is good to know that you enjoyed reading Hanson's book.

             

            Gosling – thanks for sharing your bruised foot incident. Now I know that I am not the only one who got random bruise! I heard that we are likely to get injured within the first week of running a hard race as our immune system gets weaker and takes a few days to be normal. Try to rest as much as you can so you don’t get sick.

             

            Zelanie – great job in getting up before 5 to run!

             

            Wolfwalker23 – I like your plan of focusing on getting more easy miles and recovery

             

            Miele – more cushioning might help. Interesting thing is that only my right foot keeps causing issue and all of my running shoes are in good conditions and apart from Kinvara, all have good sole. I also don’t use Kinvara that much since I am relatively new in trying shoes like these. I think my body is not made to run 40s miles for now and I am taking more days off these days.

             

            Bluerun – it’s good that you found out about sweat bubble. good thing that its not as bad as you thought initially. Good to know that your burn is healing. I hope you get well soon.

             

            Me – my easy runs are an hour long and I run them around 153 bpm. 6.46 was the highest distance I ran at this hear rate on first week of the March. Today I ran 6.53 miles in an hour. It is interesting that I am running less and taking more days off, but still ran the fastest easy run today! I am going to continue listening to my body and would take as many days off as I need to and hopefully I would have a great race on May 19th.

            miele


            Godzilla

              Good Morning all!  Now for the RR.

              TLDR:

               

              Chip time:  1:51:18

              Overall:  910/4073

              Females:  353/2625

              AG:  32/245

               

              As you know, my training has been less than stellar the past 4 weeks.  Reduced mileage (still kept it around 35mpw) and no speed or hill work except for a 10k race and 1 tempo run a week and a half before the half marathon.  So I went into this race knowing a PR wasn't going to happen.  I didn't know if my legs had recovered enough to even put in a decent effort.  I was prepared to run it at LR pace if need be.

               

              Arrived Fri. and ate way too much that night.  Sat. was the expo where we went with our friends.  The expo was OK but a little disappointing.  They changed venues this year to a larger space with lots of free parking.  "Easier to get to" than the downtown location. I found it both farther away and it took longer to find a parking space compared to the other location.  But that's not so important. What is important is that the expo itself seemed actually smaller with fewer stands.  No shoes (my friend wanted to look for some shoes and he remembered a lot of shoes at the expo last year).  I really don't find expos all that important but these were the observations.  Picked up my bib.  They had a banner to sign which they're going to send to Boston.

               

              The race:  The weather was so nice.  Absolutely perfect!  50 at the start, overcast, no wind.  I think it was about 53 at the finish with the sun out.  I had a throwaway sweatshirt which I threw away a little too early which meant I was shaking by the time the gun went off.  We had a moment of silence for Boston.  Oh, and before all this I went to the portapotties and was only somewhat successful so I kept getting back in line to repeat.  This might be a potentially very embarrassing race considering I was only moderately successful......

               

              This year they also changed the start to a staggered start.  This was a huge improvement.  Very little congestion.  Somehow I ended up in corral B which started at the same time as A (which was a very small corral with all the ridiculously fast people).  After talking to a couple of people who were aiming for a 3:30 marathon I thought I should move to the back of the corral.  Which I tried to do but it seemed I was passed constantly during the race.

               

              Mile 1:  8:35 that's a good start but legs are heavy

                     2:  8:17 downhill.  I decided I'm going to push the downhills a little more since I know I lose a lot of time on the uphills.

                     3:  8:19 downhill.

                     4:  8:39  uphill.  Legs so heavy.  Just try and see how long you can hang on to a pace.  No worries if I have to slow down.

                     5:  8:28   first GU

                     6:  8:25

                     7: 8:27  I have no idea how I'm doing.  Not looking at the watch.  Just get a sub-2.  That's all I want.

                     8:  8:27  Somehow I get a little boost knowing there are only 5 miles left.  I can do this.  I can keep this pace for another 5.  I put my      music on.

                     9:  8:40  I'm not really looking at my pace but the effort was even.  Must've been a hill.  Somewhere around here we pass Hayward field and we can see the finishers running in.  Wow they're fast!

                    10: 8:41  Ok. That mental boost I had is all gone but I only have 3 miles to go.......just keep going.  This is when I start calling myself names.  Somewhere in here the marathon and half marathon splits and I was so happy I didn't have to take a right for the marathon.  I was practically giddy.  GU #2.  I think I'm doing OK so maybe I can get a sub-1:55.  Still have no idea of my pace or time.

                     11: 8:33

                    12: 8:33  Sooo ready for this to end.  What do I see?  No way.  At this point the trail through the park makes a wide turn so that you can see the runners ahead of you running the opposite direction.   They're about, oh, a hundred yards away on the other side.  There's also a small path cutting through the part I'm on to get to the other side.  Basically cutting off part of the route.  A guy takes a left on the path.  I think he needs to find a tree and do some business but, no, he keeps running to the other side.  He just cheated.  I can't believe it.  Why would he do that?!?!  Ok, keep going.

                    13: 8:32   Let's get this over with.  Lift the knees, lift the knees, lift the knees.  Keep going.  This feels uphill.  Crap.  Keep going.

                     .1:  7:54 pace.  I don't see DH.  Where's DH?!?  Hand over heart as I finish.  Everyone did that for Boston.  I thought it was touching.

               

              Turns out DH arrived just as I came into the stadium.  Great timing.  I didn't look at my pace a lot during the race since I knew I wasn't going to PR.  Also, since it had some hills I knew my pacing wouldn't be even therefore it would be difficult to figure out if my pace was on.  I need to remember to set my watch to show overall time.   I was really surprised to see the time on the clock as I ran that final stretch.  Even knowing I was only 11 seconds off I don't think I could've given any more to try and make that up.  I gave all I had and I'm happy with that.

               

              I love the Eugene race and I think they really improved the start.  The people are great and there's a good vibe to the place.  A lot probably has to do with visiting our friends.  Anyway, I highly recommend it.

               

              My legs felt a little tired the day after the race but no soreness.  I think that's a good sign.  Now I'm going to take a whole week off of running before starting back next week.

               

              Thanks for reading.  Thanks for the encouragement.  You guys are great!

              10K: 47:12* / 13.1: 1:50:56 / 26.2: 3:53:48

               

                          

                miele-Great to read your RR.Sounds like the race went off without a hitch for you (less the portapotty issues). Your time of 1:51 is excellent, I see 1:40's in your futureWink. Your splits were consistent, and actually got faster towards the end, that's always a good sign. Enjoy your rest, I'm doing the same, then off for marathon training.
                As for the guy cheating, I hope he got caught. What a douche!!

                 

                When is your next race?

                Steve

                5K/22:33   10K/47:52   21.1K/1:44:06  42.2K/4:07:37
                2014 Goals: 5K<22:00 10K<45:00 HM<1:40  FM<3:45

                  Miele + Thats a solid race time. And pretty steady mile splits. Great run, and screw that cheating bastid sneaking across.  Who the heck does that kind of stuff anyways. Such losers. Anyways Congrats!!!

                   

                  Hectortrojan + You are getting some good 60 minute runs in there. I think you will be strong and ready for the 19th. Keep grinding it!!

                   

                  Bluerun + I am just sending you a big hug Wink If anyone needs one this week it is you.  I have much hate for sunburns, I feel for ya ...

                   

                  Me- today did a 8 miler at 8.02 pace.  I was right on my 8 min pace mark but it was hard because the wind was kicking at me 12 mph or more on way out. The way back was sweet and felt alot easier with tailwind.  The temp was only 70 but the humidity was also 70.  I sweated at least a quart or two... ugh  Overall it was a good marathon pace run. Feeling good

                    5k  = 19.48 10/1/13

                  10k  = 45.28 4/16/13

                  Half Marathon = 1:38.53  Summer Sizzle 7/13/14

                  Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/12  4:39.11

                  Solo O Marathon 06/02/13  3:52:10

                  Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/13 3:40.34

                  Zelanie


                    miele- Great RR!  I can so picture the giddiness that you don't have to make the turn for the full. Smile  Eugene does sound like a good race, though I loved the hometown feel of Corvallis.  I wish they weren't two weeks apart so that it would be a more reasonable proposition to run them both.

                     

                    me- Ran two miles pain free tonight.  Tomorrow I try three, hehe.

                    keeponrunning


                      Wow, this is an active thread!! :O

                       

                      @miele:  great RR!  Fabulous time!!!  I love the giddy feeling when you realize you don't have to turn for a longer race Smile

                       

                      @zelanie:  good luck, don't overdo it!!

                       

                      @bluerun:  Ouch!  i'm a pale blondish-redhead so I can completely relate to the burn.  Hope it heals soon, have you tried Aloe Vera?

                       

                      me-  After a hockey tournament this weekend, my legs and back were completely shot.  Sunday I could barely move, Monday was a bit better.  Tonight I managed to go out for a 3mi easy run and my legs seem to be recovering.  For my taper, I'm planning 2mi tomorrow and 2mi Thursday, then an easy 1mi Saturday night.  Sunday is race day.  It's not working out completely ideal as I have to leave the house at 5:30am and I'm definitely not a morning gal!  It's also supposed to be a high of 20C, which is brutally warm compared to what I'm used to right now.  However, I'm still going to go out with the 2:00 pace bunnies and go from there.  I'm hoping I don't die, but if I do...well, I died doing something I love Big grin  I haven't raced in a year and a half, so I truly have no clue of what I'm capable of.  I also can't wear a watch running as I tend to race when I do that.  The course is overall a downhill course so that's an advantage.

                      Sulphur Springs 50km-- Ancaster, ON-- May 28, 2022

                      Tally in the Valley 12 hours-- Dundas, ON -- July 30, 2022 (Support SickKids Toronto)

                      Stokely Creek-- 56km-- Sault Ste. Marie, ON-- Sept. 24, 2022

                       

                       

                      bluerun


                      Super B****

                        hectortrojan -- sounds like the training is serving you well, and it should show in your race results.

                         

                        miele -- great RR!!  I'm always impressed by relatively even splits, mine tend to be all over the place.

                         

                        Wolfwalker -- 70% humidity??  Yuck.  (Actually, that's probably what my race conditions will be like... it's below average temperature for weeks, and NOW it decides to hit 70?!  Not cool.)

                         

                        Zelanie -- hooray for two pain-free miles!  Good luck with three, hope it goes just as well.

                         

                        keeponrunning -- oh, yes.  I don't think there's anything I HAVEN'T tried!  But I can finally bend my knee semi-normally again, so there may be hope yet.  If you can ignore the fact that I have a weird-looking darker blotch of skin on my knee, anyway.  And please don't die -- if you do, we won't get to hear a RR!  Wink

                         

                        me -- the pre-race freakout has commenced with a bang.  I am convinced that everything hurts and I am falling apart.  I just want it to be over already at this point!!

                        chasing the impossible

                         

                        because i never shut up ... i blog

                        hectortrojan


                          Miele – it was perfect weather for the race. It isn’t fun when we don’t start the race with proper pace group. To pass a lot of runners or to be passed by a lot of runners in the beginning is frustrating. Its impressive that there wasn’t much pace difference in downhill and uphill. It’s stupid that the guy cheated. He would know this, then whats the point!? Your pacing was great. I cant think about doing this without constantly looking at my watch and you rarely looked at the watch! I guess that's one of the differences between new racer and regular racer.

                           

                          Wolfwalker23 – great workout. How much water did you drink during the run?

                           

                          Zelanie – its good that you had a pain free 2 mile run. I hope tomorrow’s run would be pain free as well.

                           

                          Keeponrunning – good luck with your race. For which race are you training for? What is your goal?

                           

                          Bluerun – try to keep calm. Most of us are good to go for the race with sufficient training. It is important to be mentally strong during the race knowing that hard work is already done and we would achieve a reasonable goal. It just the matter of executing while making sure that we don’t want to do any huge mistake on the race day. Injuries are always concerned, but tresting and hoping to feel fresh on the rest day is the only thing we can do when injured.

                            Hey Hector,   On a 8.0 mile run I typically carry a liter of water with me (320z).  Yesterday since it was humid and warm I drank almost all of it by the time I returned. Maybe 3 oz left.    I think I drink more than the average person maybe because it is basically a desert here.  I think in my half marathon a couple weeks ago I drank about 50 oz of drinks during the run.   I am trying to get better at not drinking so much, but it is just my style I guess lol

                              5k  = 19.48 10/1/13

                            10k  = 45.28 4/16/13

                            Half Marathon = 1:38.53  Summer Sizzle 7/13/14

                            Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/12  4:39.11

                            Solo O Marathon 06/02/13  3:52:10

                            Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/13 3:40.34

                            pcaharrier


                              pcaharrier -- that's a good indicator, if you ask me -- was it a race or a time trial?  Because I'm always impressed when a time trial effort approaches a race effort.

                               

                              Yes, it was a time trial.  The Hansons books refer to them as practice races, but rather than try to find a 5k race last week, I just mapped out a course (a few laps around the neighborhood) and did one on my own.

                              npaden


                                Wolfwalker23 - I'm not trying to hassle you because you are enjoying running fast, but I really do caution that you are almost certain to get injured if you keep it up.  In addition to the injury risk, the reading that I've done pretty much says that you will improve faster if you allow your body an easy day to recover after a hard workout instead of pushing it every single time.  Running an 8:02 instead of a 7:26 is not taking it easy.  Plugging in your race results into a pace calculator, they would start with 9:00 for an easy pace and some would go all the way up to 10:00 pace.  Not trying to be Debbie Downer here, but I think you really need to start fitting in some easy miles if you want to keep at this long term.

                                 

                                Me - I'm stalking the weather forecast in Cincinnati pretty hard.  Right now race day forecast is 51 degrees and 93% humidity at the start climbing to 60 degrees by my expected finish time.  Very light south breeze.  Overcast.  Overall I'll take it, although the humidity is something that I'm not used to.  Hopefully the drop in elevation (it's 3,200' elevation here and only 600' there) will make up for the difference in humidity.

                                 

                                Taper is going well.  It's not like a lot of other plans that have you starting 3 weeks out, so that really hasn't been much of an issue.  I'm cutting a few miles off some of these days just to try to make sure my legs are fresh for the race.  Thursday and Friday are supposed to be 6 miles easy each day and I think I'm going to cut them to 3 or 4 miles each day.  When it is all said and done the plan called for 26 easy miles before the race this week and I'm going to end up around 20 miles so it's not like I'm completely abandoning the plan or anything.

                                 

                                Not as nervous as I thought I would be, just 4 more days!

                                Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

                                Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)