Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Problem Child
Thanks guys for the tips. I probably should go to a doctor, but I'm just so fed up with them in the USA because it is always a rest diagnosis. I wish I could go straight to a PT without having to go to a doctor first. I'll see how this mystery upper leg industry progresses. Took 4 days off, going to try to run today. I think it's my adductors, but not 100% sure, which is so bizzare Flavio - Can you explain the purpose of a MP+30 run that is consistenly run at that pace? I only see actual MP, or progression to MP+30. Rarely see MP+30 straight. Feels like the dead zone but have seen something similar with Kipchoge. Corey - would look to some of the other ugys for mile advice. Think it's very tricky for anyone over the age of 30 even. I seem to get injured even training for 5Ks. Zebano - really nice week of variety. I am lazy and only run. Probably why i get injured
Thanks guys for the tips. I probably should go to a doctor, but I'm just so fed up with them in the USA because it is always a rest diagnosis. I wish I could go straight to a PT without having to go to a doctor first. I'll see how this mystery upper leg industry progresses. Took 4 days off, going to try to run today. I think it's my adductors, but not 100% sure, which is so bizzare
Flavio - Can you explain the purpose of a MP+30 run that is consistenly run at that pace? I only see actual MP, or progression to MP+30. Rarely see MP+30 straight. Feels like the dead zone but have seen something similar with Kipchoge.
Corey - would look to some of the other ugys for mile advice. Think it's very tricky for anyone over the age of 30 even. I seem to get injured even training for 5Ks.
Zebano - really nice week of variety. I am lazy and only run. Probably why i get injured
My wife just went straight to a PT without needing a referral. Maybe your insurance has changed and you can just call a PT and ask if they take your insurance and if they’re runner specific. Didn’t someone suggest a few in 2019 last time you had an injury?
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark - Have you seen this website? https://www.windy.com/
If you zoom out and press play you can get the big picture view of the wind and rain patterns. It also shows just how easily it could change. Based on this, Saturday in Wellington will be worse than Sunday - by Sunday the rain may be light and winds not quite as strong. Saturday is forecast for gale force winds.
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55
Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Mark - Have you seen this website? https://www.windy.com/ If you zoom out and press play you can get the big picture view of the wind and rain patterns. It also shows just how easily it could change. Based on this, Saturday in Wellington will be worse than Sunday - by Sunday the rain may be light and winds not quite as strong. Saturday is forecast for gale force winds.
Oh boy, this is gonna add real value to my pre-race madness!
At least the cricket being rained out has presumably helped you on the sleep front?
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"
Oh boy, this is gonna add real value to my pre-race madness! At least the cricket being rained out has presumably helped you on the sleep front?
Yeah I haven't even tried to tough it out, especially knowing play was unlikely. I caught the first hour of the test though. For the England tests I was mostly working from home so turned all updates off and watched the full replay during the day. We do still have 2 full days so a result isn't completely out of the question. It would require one team to crumble though.
That website is magnificent, but let's see how it does this week. I'll test out the pre-race madness for you.
Ugh, I just had a close look at Sunday 7am for Wellington. Wind is at 50-60km/h. Could be much worse but that's still not great.
Not gonna sugar coat it... that's pretty bad. Honestly, if it was that rough I would seriously consider looking at an alternative. Which would suck considering the work you've put in and because this was already your second option, but marathons are tough without having to deal with that sort of headwind over the last 6-7km. I know experienced runners that figured walking was the better option during upwind parts of the Wellington Marathon one year
You need to run it. And hope it is OK. And if not, accept your time will be slow.
There are so few marathon races in NZ that have a moderate number of competitors. So changing races is very hard.
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
Yeah. I did enter Wellington knowing this was possible/likely. I'm feeling a bit rundown like I may be getting sick and that's the only thing that would stop me. I'd say it's just the lack of sleep for now. Those winds in the last 8km or so could be fatal but I won't know unless I try right? And it means I'll have tailwinds at some point, although previous experience in Wellington tells me they're not great either - sometimes it takes work not to get forced into a full sprint.
Intl. correspondent
Zeb - that’s a nice week. That mountain bike race could be fun.
Steve - I was going to tell you to stop obsessing over the weather, but I see it’s your life jacket at the moment, so yeah, obsess as much as you can. Come race day though, free your mind from the numbers and expectations.
Watson - Here’s to a quick recovery
Corey - Lots of 200s at 400 pace, 400s at 800 pace and 800s at mile pace.
40 miles per week is plenty for mile training.
I can pull my 1500m training log if you’d like.
Darkwave - Excellent race report as always. I’m glad you were able to find the proper distribution of older men in vaporflies
Hopefully you can figure out what’s going on.
Jmac - I’m not sure of the purpose of that run. My coach mentions the following coaches as big influences:
Renato Canova, Jeff Messer, Steve Magness, Tom ‘Tinman’ Schwartz.
Hopefully you can find a good PT that will figure out the root cause or causes.
Darkwave mentioned compensation and that can definitely be the case.
Last year when I was bed ridden due to back pain, I went to a PT and during the massage he pressed super hard against my hip flexor and it released the back.
Lately I’m even using the massage ball against the hip flexor to help release the back a bit before going for a run.
So just another example where tension in one place can mean injury or compensation issues somewhere else.
Now that we’ve brought Piwi to the dark side (me, Zeb, Mark, Steve, Watson, Darkwave), I guess we can target you as the next disciple of strength training.
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
Steve When I PR'd at CIM I was worried about a 9 mph wind. It never formed and if it did I didn't feel it. Fun fact: There is a Wellington, NV so finding a marathon was...interesting. Sucks you're looking at such a bad weather forecast this weekend for race day. Maybe Tuesday's weather (next week) will blow in early.
RIP Milkman
Once you get to the 3 day forecast, storms start to matter. If it's helping get your mind off the things with your mom, that's great.
I agree with watson though: you should run it unless something with your mom forces you not to. Bad weather is not a reason to back out. You will have more chances at a marathon. There is a lot to be learned running in bad races, plus it's unlikely this next marathon was going to be a lifetime PR anyway. You need multiple cracks at it, just like every other distance.
You guys have convinced me to get moving on the injury. Scheduled a PT appointment and a doctors, although the doctor isn't for a month. RP was right - New York State now allows you to see a PT for 30 days without seeing a doctor, so I timed it in reverse here. I'm actually going to focus on the right heel issue since that's been bothering for me 9 months, but maybe they can find out what's wrong with the left leg too if it's still bothering me in a few weeks.
ETA: RP that wind definitely did form. I remember being annoyed by it right after the turn you make after the half marathon mark. But anytime it's under 10 mph, you can't really complain. In fact I think it helped keep me a bit cooler given the humidity that day.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Once you get to the 3 day forecast, storms start to matter. If it's helping get your mind off the things with your mom, that's great. I agree with watson though: you should run it unless something with your mom forces you not to. Bad weather is not a reason to back out. You will have more chances at a marathon. There is a lot to be learned running in bad races, plus it's unlikely this next marathon was going to be a lifetime PR anyway. You need multiple cracks at it, just like every other distance. You guys have convinced me to get moving on the injury. Scheduled a PT appointment and a doctors, although the doctor isn't for a month. RP was right - New York State now allows you to see a PT for 30 days without seeing a doctor, so I timed it in reverse here. I'm actually going to focus on the right heel issue since that's been bothering for me 9 months, but maybe they can find out what's wrong with the left leg too if it's still bothering me in a few weeks. ETA: RP that wind definitely did form. I remember being annoyed by it right after the turn you make after the half marathon mark. But anytime it's under 10 mph, you can't really complain. In fact I think it helped keep me a bit cooler given the humidity that day.
holy golsh darnit mother fathering son of a biscuit.......I was right? Jesus Mary Mother of Joseph and Jumpin Jehosafats I haven't been told such a thing since I can't rememeber when. I did once put a reminder in my wife's phone 1 year to the date I WAS RIGHT about something though. (bad days at work man. I appreciate it.)
Hope the PT thing works out in your favor. I'm going to need you to convince me to get moving on the speed work and heat training here soon. Oh and I was worried about it closer to mile 6 or 9 or something. I was stuck in the pack from hell that was slowing down after going out too fast. I just re-lived that section of my Strava post last night. Gaw-LEE that was a miserable pack.
Oh and I can complain. TRUST ME...I can complain.
Mother of Cats
I agree with this.
IMHO, there are good reasons sometime to DNS a marathon that you are fully trained for - illness of a family member is certainly one of them. Other good reasons include an injury or illness that the marathon will worsen. Or a situation where hitting a specific time is very important,, and another race in the near future looks like a far better opportunity. Or if the weather is so bad that it is potentially dangerous or will set you back. For example, my coach and I had agreed that if my marathon last weekend had a starting temperature of 21 C or higher (70 F) I wasn't going to start - a marathon that hot would take months for me to recover from.
But if none of those apply and it's just sub optimal, I think it's best to start and finish. Each marathon is a learning experience and makes you better for the next one - don't deprive yourself of an opportunity to practice the distance unless there's a pressing reason to do so.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
Heh, looks like I'm a minority of one here, possibly influenced by my general dislike of marathons.
Anyway I'd say there is a real risk of a lockdown in Wellington given the news this morning which would force postponement or cancellation of the event. An infected traveller from Sydney (we have a travel bubble with Australia) went to a crowded bar, amongst other places.
Oh man, I hadn’t even heard about that. A few things trying to stop me having my head in the game today!
I'd say odds pretty good of Welly Level 3 and everywhere else Level 2 come 1pm.