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

2ft-  Sounds like you made the most out of a bad situation.  Very nice progressive run and no injuries!  Wasn't it your birthday yesterday?  Happy belated if it was.  If it wasn't then just ignore that.  I know you nailed your first day of marathon training.

blue-  Being able to see the seconds is huge.  I understand completely.  Even though I would really like to get the 220 I'm going to wait until the 405 bites the dust.  It's a good watch and I hope it lasts a long time.

Tim-  That run sounds like fun until the full force headwind.

Edith-  Now you got me thinking about my year so I'll have to check out my stats.  2014 is going to be even better for you.  I can feel it.

hector-  You've had a great year, too.  Nice job!

Wolfy-  I know I won't get back on until after your race so....have a wonderful race!!!!  Good luck and we'll be there with you in spirit!

me-  Ok, for my 2013 stats.  All in all, it was a great year.  Aside from a little shin thingie for which I had to take a month off running, the running and racing have gone well.  I'll reach 1800 miles and I ran 10 races and PR'd in all distances ( 5k, 10k, 13.1 and 26.2).   My goals for 2014 are pretty much the same:  do better.   I think I want to be able to do a pistol squat, too, so that's something to work towards.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and happy Holidays to everyone,  Today is the last day of my taper period and tomorrow morning is my marathon.  This week went pretty good with 5.6mile 4mile 3miler and a 2miler today.  Very tough to run a 9:30 pace on a 2 mile run but I got it done and fought my self a lot with the taper madness.  I am really excited, I already have all my stuff laid out and some of my sports drinks already mixed as well.  Marathon starts at 7:30am and the temps should be around 60-68 during my run. Not bad for beach weather.  I will think about everyone a lot especially coming across the half marathon point.  Expecting to cross the 1/2 mara around 1:43 or so. That will be around 7:50ish pace.  I will figure out all my numbers tonight.  If I can pull off a negative split on the last 1/2mara I would like to finish around a 3:25 or so.  Thanks for all the encouragement and wishes and I will do my best and leave it all out there.  I am hoping this will be the marathon where I go from a completer to a competer.  Until then, run hard and enjoy the nice Holidays!!!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone!  And good luck, Wolf!

Ugh, rough running week here.  I have been running everyday but I keep getting derailed in my efforts to work in my longer runs.  A combination of bad weather and holiday obligations is working against me.  But I'm determined to keep plugging away!

Love hearing everyone's accomplishments and goals.  I hope that this time next year I will be on here discussing my plans to start marathon training for the first time in 2015!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas holiday - and if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you had a great Wednesday!

I love this time of year - both to reflect on the past year -and to plan for the upcoming 2014!  Running goals have been the topic of my running group the past few weeks and we have circulated quite a few in an email thread......always inspiring to read others aspirations - of course including all of you!

Blue - Congrats on the 5K - I am so jealous of your new Garmin purchase - I am coveting the 620 - but will likely continue on with my 210 for a while - -

Wolf - CONGRATS on the full - cannot wait to read your race report - you certainly nailed it!!!!!!

Npaden - 2013+ miles - quite an accomplishment - along with all your other PRs I have to say 2013 was quite a GREAT year for you....I think either the half or the marathon goals you have for 2014 are well within your reach - and I honestly think you can accomplish both....

2ft - sorry the weather altered your last race - so hard when the elements are out of your control....

Edith - you really told 2013 who was boss - you PRd and raced so well - I am certain 2014 will be great for you and hopefully easier on the personal front too.

hector - Congrats on the mileage for 2013!

miele - Kuodos to you in all distances - will you run another full in 2014?

me - I have been taking a bit of unstructured running time - easy miles most days, harder when I feel it - I also play in an old ladies soccer league (40+) in the winter so I get a different kind of workout there..

I am both happy and frustrated with my year of running - It is my re-introduction to racing after a 15 year hiatus - and I exceeded all my expectations as far as speed goes - happy with my half, 10K and 5K times.....but I need to work a bit on nutrition and health....I didn't make it to the starting line to 2 halfs and 2 10Ks due to illness or just pure exhaustion - I work full-time, have two young kids and all the craziness that goes along with that - and sometimes the added stress of racing is too much - I hope to learn how to better balance that - - I also have two specific goals I am considering:

1)  sub 1:35 half

2) complete a full

3) BQ

But those are only attainable if I can find the balance of everything....

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year....

Tara

ok the long RR is below. If you want the short version, I posted one a few messages back.

here is the youtube video Operation Jack Marathon 2013

2013 Operation Jack Marathon / half marathon at Dockweiler Beach, California.

Woke up at 4:30am or so, maybe got 5 hours of good sleep. Felt good when I woke up, ate 2 poptarts and got ready. Cooked 4 pieces of cinnamon toast that I would eat in the car on the way.  The drive to Los Angeles took about an hour and arrived at the beach maybe around 6:30am. The Sun was just coming up and it was still cool and breezy, maybe 55degrees.

Bib and Tshirt pickup went quick and had plenty of time for restrooms and final gear prep. Start time was scheduled for 7:30am and it went exactly on time.  We lined up behind the timing mats and got our final instructions. ( This was the first year with chip timing, so that was kind of cool ) Everyone was ready and GO!

My planned first mile was going to be about 8:00 but I figured it would be slower cutting through the people. I just kept telling myself that I would be passing all of these people soon enough, so just keep steady.  A few people passed me during this time but not too many.  Mile 1 was 8:29 which was fine with me. I felt good and started the pace up a little faster. My goal pace was 7:50 after the first slow mile and I had a little trouble slowing down to that pace. I pretty much ran too fast in the first half mara but no biggy. Around the 3 mile mark I started to see the leaders coming towards me after the turn around.  One of them was one of the top 3 from last year. After mile 3, no one passed me until mile 23, when the female winner passed me when I was rest walking.  I made the turn around and headed back to the beach area. I brought my own sports drink and soft grain bars for fuel and they worked well.  I stopped at mile 8 for a quick restroom break and the first chunk of the race was done.

From mile 8- 13.1 I tried to hold the same average pace around 7:50. I was passing lots of people during this time and many of them were 1/2 marathoners, I talked to a couple of them because I was pacing them and wanted to see why they slowed.  This one guy I paced since mile 3 was hurting and said his hamstring got pulled when he stepped into the beach sand on accident.  He was still running probably 9:00 pace.  He said "I am not going to give up, my son is waiting on me at the finish line and he never gave up on me, so I am going to finish!" I cheered him on and gave him a pat on the back and I sped up to the 1/2 mara mark.  According to my runkeeper I hit 13.11 miles at 1.41.47 which was 7:46 pace. My goal was a 143 halfmara so I was close to my mark, little too fast. Here are the splits from 1-13.1

[1] 8:29  [2]  7:27  [3] 7:35  [4] 7:33  [5] 7:40  [6]  7:41  [7] 7:40  [8]  7:35  [9]  8:25  [10] 7:40  [11]  7:53  [12]  7:45  [13] 7:34  [13.11] 7:48

The second half was the lonely time because like 300 half marathoners were finishing up.  I told myself at this time to slow down and get serious for the next half and really focus on conserving energy for the tough miles at the end.  No one had passed me for about 10 miles and there was only one guy in front of me in a black shirt I could see that I could try to hold and pace him.  By mile 17 I was passing him even with my slowed pace.  I passed several more marathoners during these 17-20 miles and I could tell people were hitting the wall.  I took 4-5 short walk breaks during these miles but never stopped.  I wanted to hit the 20 mile mark feeling good and charged up. my paces for these miles were [14] 8:02   [15] 8:14   [16] 8:19  [17] 7:52  [18] 8:00  [19]  8:14  [20]  8:30

I was feeling pretty good at the end of mile 20.  I started to think about how I wanted to finish.  I wasn't hurting anywhere except my big toe which was weird but I figured it was a bad blister or toenail cut or something.  ( turned out to be a mystery, blood on top of my sock but I never saw where it came from...)  My longest training run was 22 miles so I wanted to focus on feeling good after that point.  I slowed my pace down a bit more by taking some more walk breaks.  No one was behind me or in front of me so I felt ok.  The splits for these two miles were : [21]  9:18  [22]  9:20  .   I knew at this time I didnt have enough juice to get back to a sub 9 pace so I just made an effort to stay healthy.  I have ran 2 previous maras and I had some kind of painful breakdown during both, so this time I wanted it to change,  I did feel a strong hamstring cramp for about 1 second around mile 23 but it went away quick.  My calves and everything else were feeling strong.  I imagined myself running a strong finish the last .2 and thats all I wanted to do. No pains or injuries and sprint through the end.  I made a deal with myself to keep taking walk breaks but not to get mad at myself. It was a plan to finish strong and I was trying to stick to it.  I was slowing down a lot around mile 23-24 and I heard someone coming up behind me.  It was some crazy guy dressed in some elf type costume and he had some cowbell thing on his belt.  I saw him earlier and heard his cowbell so I knew it was him. I didn't turn around but I started to speed up a bit.  In my mind I imagined myself seeing someone in front of me towards the finish and I would sprint and pass them for a win but this time it was someone chasing me. I ran until I couldn't hear his cowbell and then took another walk break or two.  He was still right behind me until mile 25. These were my slow miles [23] 10:21  [24]  10:58  [25]  10:33  I had a little over a mile left and I wasn't going to let this cowbell crazy guy beat me.  I gave everything I had during this last mile.  I even took a small walk break up one of the last hills so I could sprint at the end.  I didn't have much energy left.  I heard the damn cowbell again and then I saw the 26 mile marker. The last .2 !!   mile [26] 8:24  Now it was time to dust that guy.  I saved up a lot of energy and picked up the pace.  I ran somewhere around a 7:30 pace I think for the .1 and when I was at .1 left I started to sprint.  People were cheering and I started to feel a little pain but just said F it and continued the sprint through to finish mats.  I forgot to turn off my runkeeper app so I didnt catch my pace on the last .2 miles   It felt fast though haha.  The guy with the cowbel finished about 40 seconds behind me. So glad I beat him to the finish and made a race out of it.  I congratulated him when he ran through. I ended up with a second  1/2mara  time of 1:58.47

Sooo  it was great to stop running finally and get some water. I took a picture with the guy who started the Operation Jack foundation.  His son is Jack and has autism,  It was cool to talk to him again.    I could not have asked for a better organized and fun race. I couldn't have asked more from myself.  That is the way I wanted to feel afterwards for once and I did it.  I came in slower than my goal pace but I survived healthy and finished strong.  This was an official PR of over an hour !  If you count my 26.2 marathon I ran by myself then it was a 12 minute Pr.  Either way,  I did it !!! so happy!!!!  Thanks for all the support and advice guys. I thought about you a lot when I was out there and needed every bit of encouragement

here is the final data

Total distance was longer - 26.39miles

Official chip time : 3hours 40minutes 34 seconds

5th place in 30-39 age group

12th place overall

Pace for 26.39miles = 8.21

miles 1 - 13.11  =       1:41.47

miles 13.11- 26.39 = 1:58.47

I think there were around 100 marathoners and 250 half marathoners.

temps went from 57'-73' when I finished.  Constant coastal winds at 10mph humidity = 27

here is the youtube link of the video again Operation Jack Marathon 2013

Hi All,

Hope you are all enjoying the end of year festivities, and still managing to get in a mile or two here and there!

For me, Week 1 of Pfitz 18/55 for NJ Marathon completed: 10m General Aerobic, 10m with 4m @LT pace, 6m recovery and 14m long run. Total miles against a recommended 33, but I was feeling fresh after a 4/5 day rest and raring to go. Also managed to fit in a core-strength session and a session in the gym, so only one real total rest day this week, which was 12/25

Next week is two general aerobic runs  (one with strides), a recovery run, and a long run including 8 miles at goal marathon pace, which I am really looking forward to. I think I need to ve careful and not overdo things at the beginning, as I am really motivated for this training program. I'll try and stay in the 40/42 range until the program reaches and exceeds that which is around week 5 from memory.

I feel a little like Jan, seems strange to post here as I am not even sure to do a HM in 2014, but I have always posted here (except when injured as that was like a reformed alcoholic going into a bar and drinking club soda - just too painful)

I will probably be posting more in the Sub-4 marathon thread (on Runners World as the one on RAQ is pretty dead) but will definitely come in a take a look to see how everybody is doing.

Did anyone listen to Pete Pfitzinger on the Marathon Talk podcast? Apparently he will be bringing out a new book in Nov 2014 focusing on 5k to half-marathon. Will put that on my Xmas list for 2014, as I will probably try to focus on those distances in 2015 and after my marathon focus in 2014.

Having said all that, it is not excluded that I fit in a HM in my training program for New York - there is a marathon around Jersey Citry end of September which is flat as a pancake and ideal for PR, so who knows....

Jan-  keep updating us with the stuff anyways   The other threads are not so active so don't feel weird posting here. I am thinking of doing a 5k here in a few weeks as well.  January 18th or so. Good luck with the training.

2footshuffle- Hey good luck on the pfitz training.  I think Lurch is doing the same program and almost finished with it.  Let us know how the training goes.  The song in my video was called "Into Dust"  by Mazzy star.  the song mirrored how I was feeling out there on the course, kind of quiet lonely but steady.  Thanks for watching bud

Me - Recovered fully after the marathon.  Haven't ran for 3 days but probably will do a shorter run today to shake it out.  I am just happy to be finished with this training cycle and this year for that matter.  2014 training log starts in 2 days woohoo!