Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 half marathon in 2017
Bro - What's your racing schedule? It would be good to have it in the spreadsheet so we know what you're targeting. I know you said a half next year, but what other short races do you have this year?
Hey!
I'm not going to do that island race like I planned this weekend. I just don't feel good about my racing at this point and I need to put in a solid block of 50-60 mile weeks before I want to throw myself into competition mode. The plan next year is to get to an average of 70 mpw.
I do have some desire to do a Turkey Trot in my wife's hometown at the end of November but the weather has been hit or miss for the past couple of years. If dry, I want to race it. If slippery and snowy, I'll just run it with my wife at a 9:45-9:50 pace.
I'm still in search of a good half marathon for next spring, preferably in the midwest.
RIP Milkman
That's pretty good. I get antsy to race if I go more than 2-3 months without it. If you can make it the rest of the year with just base building, more power to you.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Just picking up on this, this is one thing that has really surprised me about this period of marathon training (which more or less began at the end of April). I expected to get antsy about not racing, having had a pretty regular race diet of HM's every couple of months prior or even more regularly (not all goal races obviously). But I actually really enjoyed it - just getting through the mileage, hitting the workouts, and enjoying the cruisier runs.
Ironically the one point at which my training went a little askew was around the HM I did at the start of Sept - which in hindsight I should've just ditched or gone easier on as I hadn't gotten rid of a cold and that made for a pretty average week or two of training afterwards.
Anyway that'll all change come December again with the rest of the Auckland HM series!
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, I agree with you during a marathon build up. Your quality sessions are so huge that they’re an accomplishment in and of themselves. I raced during this period but I wasn’t really antsy to. I was thinking more during base building, when you’re running almost exclusively all easy runs with no real race in sight. After just 4-6 weeks of that, I’m raring to go.
Intl. correspondent
Up next is Mark debuting on the marathon. Go Mark!
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
JamesD
Good luck, Mark!
This started out as a pretty meh week, as I didn't feel totally recovered from my Oct. 14 15K. I'm having some occasional Achilles soreness, which led me to cut back on using the lowish-drop shoes (Saucony Kinvaras) I've been wearing on easy runs, but my main shoes (Nike Lunar Tempos) are getting up in mileage and my other alternate pair (Nike Pegasus) are giving me occasional knee soreness. It's convenient that most of my runs are on a 1.5-mile loop, as I can stop at the car & change shoes quickly depending on which niggle is more troublesome.
The week got better on Thursday with a good tempo run, my first one of 4 miles. 6:37/mile pace was the same as my best 3-mile tempo, though I'm sure it helped that the temperature was around 50/10 rather than the 80s/30ish temperatures we had until last week. Just three weeks until my goal half, so one long run and one hill workout before I start tapering.
Sun - off
Mon - 6.2 miles slow
Tues - 6.2 easy with strides near the end, stopping every half-mile for exercises.
Weds - ~34 minutes swimming. Form fell apart near the end again.
Thurs - 7, including 4.1 @ 6:37. Probably a little harder than tempo effort, and the low temperatures helped, but I was pleased anyway.
Fri - 4.4 easy recovery, stopping every half-mile for exercises
Sat - 4.2 easy, followed by ~20 minutes swimming. Form was a little better this time.
Total - 28 miles
8-week average - 27 mpw
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
Some live tracking of Mark's race going on on the sub 3 thread. He should've crossed the finish any moment now. 30K in 2h06
40K in 2h47, estimated 2h57 finish time.
Live tracking at http://live2.tiktok.biz/results/list/aucklandmarathon/2017/42KM/
2h53 runners arriving now.
2:57:36. Great job Mark! 40th overall.
Yes, congrats! I can’t wait to hear the race report. Incredible to break 3 on your first marathon attempt on relatively low mileage.
Thanks for the updates guys great job Mark.
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 "
Mark - Congratulations. Very impressive marathon debut.
Personal Bests: 5k 19:43 (04/2017), 10k 43.24 (10/2016), Half 1:33:18 (10/2017), Full 3:32:47 (05/2017)2018 Targets: 5k: sub19, 10k: sub41, Half: sub90
Thanks so much for the support guys.
Full RR (it's kinda long but I'm taking all the excuses I can get to stay on the couch right now) over on the Sub 3 thread.
I'm very happy with the result but honestly I'm kinda looking forward to my next race being half as far.
Mark - I just read your great race report. Great job putting into words those feelings of the last few kms.
Make sure to celebrate, a 2h57 debut is a spectacular result.
Also LOL at ->
RIGHT I'M NEVER RUNNING ANOTHER BLOODY MARATHON EVER AGAIN.
So right, that's the exact feeling after a marathon.