Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 half marathon in 2017
James - good luck, I'll keep an eye out too. Sounds like ideal temps so hopefully the wind isn't an issue.
Re tempo runs - I'm with Rune here - it's hard to take him credibly when anything that isn't long and slow or short and fast intervals is 'no mans land'. Even putting the physical training effects aside, for me tempo runs are very important in terms of benchmarking fitness and pace. If you don't include tempo runs, and follow Fellrnr's approach, you are turning up to a race with absolutely no clue on how to pace yourself because you've done no runs at a sustained effort.
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"
Rune/James yes we will be watching you so when it gets tough remember that
Tempo runs at least get you used to race pace discomfort.
Flavio yes my Strava has grown into a small monster with about 100 followers and following about 100. I didnt plan it like that but I have alot of people from RW forums and then since I joined a couple of local facebook running groups, alot of them are on there now too.
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 "
Hectic life/new job starting/lower mileage and I haven't thought much to come on here. It seems each times I do, I'm reading 3 pages of missed posts!
Arvind - a belated congrats on the BQ! Something I certainly aspire to do. And kudos for doing it while hitting the wall. That occurred to me at about 34k into my Full. I was running at about a 4:49/km overall pace at the point (and was starting to slow to a 5ish pace at 30). The last 8km were tough going over a minute per km slower, even as slow as 6:19 for km 41. That you fought through that to come through the BQ is damn impressive.
Jaime - Don't worry about missing Moncton, the arsehole of the Maritimes (kidding! kind of a Maritimer joke and reference to a Youtube show that was fairly popular here). It's a nice city ... actually where I ran my most recent half! And btw it's Saint John Guess where I'm from eh?
Heart Rate Monitor suggestions? - I did notice on the last few pages people mentioning heart rate. Does anyone have suggestions for a decent (but not overly expensive) HRM? I've heard that are some that will sync with Garmin watches (I have a forerunner 630). I did a treadmill workout today (thanks to those who suggested hitting up kramrunner for advice -- he had a ton of great info to share on treadmill workouts). I've been itching like crazy to do some quick run work. I decided to do 4x800m with 2 minute standing rests at 3:00/800m. Damn it was hard. I tapped out at 640m of the last interval. I know it was too quick for me but that's where I am interested in a HRM. The treadmill had one and I was around 181-184 after each interval. Of course I need now to know what my resting rate is, see how it is during the runs, etc. Having read some of Pftizinger's Advanced Marathoning, he gives great in depth insight into HR monitoring as it related to each type of run. Now I am interested.
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
Blair - I had a Garmin FR235 until very recently when I upgraded to a Fenix 5S, they both have wrist-based heart rate. I've found it to be generally very reliable, it's not quite as accurate as a chest strap but basically 98% right so good enough. The FR235 was an outstanding watch but the 5S was a reward to myself for the sub-3 hr marathon (can get away with wearing it with a suit with work too).
You should be able to pick up a Garmin (or other) chest strap if you already have a FR 630, probably not worth buying a whole new watch just to get HRM. From memory Garmin offer a hard strap (cheap but looks quite uncomfortable), a soft strap (a bit more expensive) and a premium one (gives a whole lot of additional measures like vertical oscillation, ground contact time etc. if you actually care about that).
Blair - Mark is correct regarding the straps. If you have the 630 you can take advantage of the straps with the advanced metrics, and an HRM-Run strap will do that for you. If you ever think about using the strap for swimming or triathlons (you would have to upgrade the watch though), you can get the HRM-Tri/HRM-Swim bundle. DC Rainmake covers the strap lineup from Garmin pretty well.
I will definitely be thinking about you guys when the race gets hard towards the end, it's always good with some extra motivation. The race starts at 8 am pacific time so I guess it's not that easy to follow for the Kiwis here, unless you like to get up really early in the morning. Since the course goes up and down a lot, I set up a spreadsheet 2 years ago that calculates paces for each mile based on an evenly paced race and the elevation change. I find it useful to have as a guide to make sure I don't burn too much gas the first few miles, where you will find the steepest uphill/downhill sections. Timing mats should be at mile 3, mile 6, and close to mile 9 (they say mile 9.1). My planned/calculated paces are as follows: 7:07-7:41-6:36-7:27-7:05-6:37-6:51-7:00x3-7:09-7:17-7:18-all out. Yes, I know, this is probably way too detailed, but I'm a nerd so I think it's fun to do these things . Amazingly enough, if I compare my splits from last year to calculations adjusted to match my finish time, I'm only a couple seconds off my actual pace on most splits (except for the first mile, I opened too hard last year).
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Rune - good luck!! Actually I do like to get up really early in the morning during the week (like 5am normally) to get a run in before work so I'll try and keep an eye out.
JamesD
The link for following me Saturday morning (or Saturday night in NZ) is https://live.sporthive.com/event/3823/Live There's also a Soldier Marathon app with a tracking feature available in the Apple App Store and Google Play, but it looks more complicated.
Rune - It's funny how different people do things. I'm a nerd too (I have a notebook listing every run since 2006, and before races I like to look up the out-of-town runners in my age group on Athlinks to see if I need to watch out for any of them), but I never wear a watch while racing. For me, it seems like feel is a better way than time to tell whether a certain pace is right for me on that day. Of course, I ran the first 10K too fast at last year's half and the first 4 miles too fast at last month's 15K, so a watch might help after all. Maybe next year. Good luck!
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
Rune and Mark - Thanks for the suggestions!
Rune - I am in the atlantic time zone so you should be crossing around 1:30pm my time. I'll be sure to keep an eye out.
JamesD - I am assuming you are Eastern time zone? So hopefully crossing before 10:30am my time. I generally don't sleep in (I have major sleep issues so if a long snooze hits me, I take it ) Otherwise I will be watching for the results.
Good luck guys!
Yes, Eastern Standard time (Columbus, Georgia).
Good luck James, hope you have a good race!
Attempting to follow JamesD in his race. There is only one James with last name "D" (don't want to give his last name out without his permission, if it is even is him). 10k split 44:11.
JamesD (if it is in fact, JamesD ) 1:31:53. Great job James. Look forward to the RR.
Great work and nice negative split!
Thanks for the support, all. My secret to big negative splits (Rune, do not imitate this tomorrow) is to stop & walk several times during the first half because of cramps. This leaves me not particularly tired during the second half and makes negative splits more likely.. DIsappointed with the time since I'm convinced I'm in sub-1:30 shape, but it was still a fun day, and I did recover enough to beat my (soft) PR after being a couple of minutes behind at the 10K mark. RR to follow, as well as a separate post trying to figure out how to fix my cramping problem. Enjoying the post-race endorphins now.
James, well done on the race, probably a bit frustrating not to get the sub-1:30 but still a very good PR all the same, and any PR day is a good day!
Re cramping, could it be an electrolyte issue?? For races up to HM distance, I tend to pre-load with electrolytes prior to the race.