Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 half marathon in 2017
Intl. correspondent
Flavio phew I thought you had slowed down
I don't think that's possible LOL
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
Come to think about it, it will eventually happen, just like me going bald.
You still got a few good years left ! Me....not so many.
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 "
Yeah, it really sux what Runners World did. Plus just how quickly, they did not even give us to the weekend like they stated.
I wonder if they had some serious issues with their forums which meant they needed to shut down. Possible large security issues or their costs will too high. It was really badly run.
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
Piwi - a guy was 2nd in the 50k race age 62. One of my local "rivals" kicks my ass on longer races age 62 as well. You'll still kick ass for a long while.
Watson- I wonder if there were any legal implications given how abrupt it was.
Me- 10 hilly km today at leisure pace , planned 14k tomorrow to close 30 for the week. Next week back to normal.
For now, visiting Mom and Dad, enjoying home cooking and the calmness of this small town they live in.
JamesD
Lots of unfortunate running developments this week, though my own runs were ok. First we had the RW forums closing. (Thanks again, Flavio, for all your work. Glad many of us have reassembled here.) Then I saw on Thursday that my favorite RW columnist, Alex Hutchinson, had left the magazine. I've subscribed for over 10 years but may not renew next time. Worst of all, I saw yesterday that November's running of my local marathon & half will be the last. Not sure why - participation had declined slightly in recent years but was still around 600 for the full & 900 for the half. Maybe the volunteer race director (in his 70s) & his key helpers were just getting tired of all the work. There's another half in town, but it's in January and is not as big an event. There's also a half/full about 100 miles from here in March, so maybe I'll check that out next year. Hope we can get a lot of people for November's races.
As for my own activity, even though I didn't do a long run, I felt slow all week. The two times I had a watch I was several seconds/mile slower than my previous times for those runs. Knee was giving me a little trouble too, though not too bad. After my long run Monday, I'll ease up a bit before my 15K the following week.
Sun - off
Mon - 6.2 miles easy-to-moderate in hilly park
Tues AM - 6.2 easy, stopping every half-mile for exercises
Tues PM - 31 minutes swimming
Weds - 6.2 easy
Thurs - off
Fri - 5.9, including 3 tempo @ 6:45/mile. I averaged 6:37 for this run two weeks ago, but the temperature was in the 90s with high humidity this time.
Sat - 20 minutes swimming, then 4.2 easy, stopping every half-mile for exercises
Total - 28.7 miles
8-week average - 29.6 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
James that sucks about your local half. Alot of races dont stand the test of time unfortunately and eventually disappear.
Flavio small towns are great for running. Im seeing about half a dozen 50+ runners here who can beat me locally so there are some good fast older guys here.
My week done some good climbing over 1000m and a nice 8km tempo @ 3.53/km yesterday.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Sep 25, 2017 thru Sunday, Oct 01, 2017
James - really annoying about your local race. Is your town very small? The greater area I'm in is roughly 0.5 million, and there's a couple of big races (circa 5000 runners in each event, one event with a full/half/10k/5k, and the other event half/10k/6.5k). Plus there's quite a few small races.
Piwi - good week.
My second to last week before my full is done. My hill run was a PR.
Felt a little sluggish Wed-Sat, although I think my Saturday run's striders helped for Sundy.
Sunday run went well, 5km easy then 15km like I want the first 15km of my full - start out below pace for the first 15km so at that point be 60-90s behind even pace, and then hopefully speed up...
This week will be 44km / 27 miles, + race.
Watson nice confidence booster for you on that sunday run. I manually put in monday where it says day miles pace description
Yes, it felt pretty comfortable. Although my left hip is still slightly injured.
I am thinking for my race to maybe walk through the drink stations, at least until I have drank half the cups Powerade. Fueling and hydrating decisions are so much harder for a full.
For me a gel every half hour and jog through drink stations and get 1/2 cup down seem to work fine.
Watson - There are about 300K in our metro area, including a big army base which has a lot of young people in good shape who don't show up for many races. I don't think the southeastern U.S. is generally as big a running area as other parts of the country; don't know whether that's because of long hot summers or high obesity rates or what. Also, we don't get high school or university runners in road races except a few during summer vacation. We have a decent number of small shorter races; there's a 5K almost every Saturday, a 5-miler, a 10K every 2-3 months, and a 15K. Very few races have more than 300 people, though. The full/half that's being cancelled got great reviews and attracted lots of people from other Georgia towns & from Alabama, as well as a few from random other states trying to run fulls or halfs in all 50 states. I know most of the organizers, and I usually know 15-20 runners. I'll almost certainly try to run a half out of town next year for my goal race, but the experience will be different.
Piwi - You're right about races not standing the test of time. Some do last a good while. When I moved back here in 2013 after many years overseas & in Washington, I was surprised to find that the first road race I ran in was still going. I had planned to bring my 3rd-place age group trophy from the race's first year in 1978, but I injured my Achilles two months before it & wasn't in shape, and that turned out to be the race's last year. 36 years was a pretty good span for a small local race.
Has anyone checked out the RW boards on Facebook? It would be nice if there were a way to let the people there know that we've moved here. I imagine that several people didn't check the board during the few days between the announcement that the forums would close and the actual closing and so don't know where we are.
James - disappointing about your local race. There are plenty of races here in Auckland that would have similar numbers across the half and full. A lot of races are now also offering shorter distances as well to bump the numbers up. The Auckland Marathon, which is the biggest race in the country, actually generally sells out of the 12k entries before the half/full. Partly that's because it's the only chance you get to run across the Harbour Bridge which is normally vehicles only (they close two lanes to traffic for the run).
Piwi, Watson - nice weeks.
Flavio - hope you're over that stomach bug soon.
Me - overall 80km for the week, mostly easy mileage, although today was an awesome 35.2km long run. I did 18km's at marathon pace, a touch over 4:00/km, which was doubly good because the weather was pretty miserable, windy and rainy, and most of the tempo block was either into the wind or cross-wind. Felt good but shut it down with 5km's to go as the legs were getting a bit tired with wet heavy shoes and didn't want to overdo it.
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"
Awesome Mark theres your marathon pace right there which puts you round 2.50 ish.
Mark - awesome week.
Me - I had to MacGyver the wrist band on my watch, the band tore apart. I guess it's time to buy a new watch, then replace the band on the old one and sell it.
My week done at 30km.