Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Problem Child
why did you have a 2:18 600m target if you were running 800's? Or was it the workout actually 8x600 ?
workout was actually 600s. It was 8x600. I was confusing it for the NEXT workout in the list which would be 6x800. I did 6x600m.
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
if you want money you need to check the box for your physiological sex.
you have races offering money???? I can imagine there is some serious competition for the money. Locally I haven't heard of a race actually being in person other than a "questionably legal" 5k "organized" via social media(s) posting of people happening to be doing their virtual run at a specific location on a set date at an identified time. They might be sharing their planned route with whoever FOLLOWS this person(s) with no obligation to join them due to social distancing guidelines even if masks are not required due to outside activities being exempt from COVID 19 masked mandates. At least there were REAL non-alcoholic cupcakes for the VIRTUAL St. Patricks Day 5k at the park.
JamesD
Another week of mixed results, but I guess it was a good one since I did enough miles and my injuries didn’t get worse. I tried more tentative speedwork last Sunday, with three 800s, the fewest I’ve ever done and at my slowest pace in six years. They felt pretty good, though, and most importantly my hamstrings/glutes were no worse than usual (though no better either, as they’re still sore most of the time). My tempo on Thursday didn’t go as well. First mile was ok at 6:43, but the next two, at what felt like similar effort, were 7:10 and 7:08. For comparison, last week when it was almost as hot, I went 6:42-6:50-6:52. On the good side, my regular run today was my fastest this year at that effort level; I think that at slower paces, the heat helps loosen my legs.
Am enjoying the Olympics more now that track has started. The online replays of the track coverage are great when I have other things to do in the morning when it's live, as long as I make sure to avoid spoilers. The apparently British main announcer on the feed I see is much more knowledgeable about international T&F than the regular NBC commentators, though he badly mispronounces Spanish-language names.
Sun - 6.6 miles including 3x800 @ 3:10 w/2:50 rest, TDP 147
Mon - 8.6 miles (1:39) very slow on treadmill
Tues - 7.3 in park @ 8:27, TDP 156
Weds - off
Thurs - 6.7 in park including 3 @7:00, TDP 163
Fri - 8.6 (1:39) very slow on treadmill
Sat - 7.3 in park @ 8:16, TDP 158
Total - 45 miles
YTD average - 47.1 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
Hot Weather Complainer
James - Nice week. Sorry your hamstrings are still sore but at least not worse. I've really started enjoying the Olympics in the last few days. Track and Field is my favourite but I especially enjoyed our gold in the men's rowing 8. Huge underdogs who barely qualified for the final and then nailed it.
My week was okay. I had a speed session on Wednesday that went really well. 12 x 400 metres with varying recovery (mostly 1 minute, with 400 metres after every 4th repeat). The target was 3:40-45/km pace and I held steady at 3:36-44/km pace. This is faster than my 5km pace (I think...haven't done one in a long time) so I was pleased with how I handled it. I still had gas in the tank.
On Saturday I wanted to do 5km of HMP in my long run. This didn't work out - I found out last weekend a mate from uni had died but I didn't know what happened although I suspected. I went to the funeral on Friday and his Mum spoke in detail about how he had taken his own life. Regardless of what happened it was terrible but it somehow made it a whole new level. I ended up breaking my no alcohol on week days rule, quite spectacularly as it turned out. I felt good on my run and hit HMP when I planned to. There was a stiff headwind by this point but not enough to usually worry me. I managed 1.3km and then just didn't have it in me to dig in when I needed to. Hard to know the exact reason, I was well hydrated by the time I ran but I'll just move on from that run I think. 6 weeks until my target race, hopefully I can manage some good tempo sessions by then.
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
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
James nice job on the re introduction to speedwork.
Jamaica 123 in the women's 100m amazing. I wonder how Shacari would have done...
Steve excellent 400s for you. 3.36/km is nearly sub 18 5k pace. Sorry about your mate, that sucks.
I had a bug this week, not terribly bad but sore throat etc.
So I mostly ran very easy and tried to average 10k per day until Saturday.
Then I did a 15k progression run starting at 5.30/km and finishing at 3.38/km and a 21km run with 3 others today.
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 "
Mmmm Bop
Great race! but so awkward afterwards as 1st and 2nd don’t get along. 😁
Loved the women’s 800m semi-finals with 3 Brits getting through!...I was almost in tears and so pleased for them!
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Mikkey yeah looked a bit ice cold between Fraser-Pryce and the winner.
Good work the Brits in the 800.
Intl. correspondent
Keen - the 3rd category could go to the Paralympics for all I care so long as they don’t get to bully the biological women.
That said the current status quo of them having to chemically lower their testosterone levels seems a good middle ground.
It looks like we’re built almost the same, though you spent most of your chips on physical strength whereas I spent them all on cardio LOL
RP - Ah, that makes sense. 2:18 seems alright for you.
James - it seems to me so long as the niggles don’t hinder our training it’s all good. I also never get rid of these niggles.
The British broadcast is top notch, it’s done for running fans. Pretty much any US broadcast is utter garbage.
Steve - that was a very nice 400s.
Piwi - Shacari would run the 100 in 20 seconds 🚬😮💨
Mikkey/Piwi - That was the best part, they hate each other guts so much and Shericka doesn't like Elaine either
100m - Did you guys see the 100m men final? They better not collect a doping sample from the Italian boy, it's going to melt the cup 😂
me - A good cut back week. I finally got a few good nights of sleep without waking up with weird pains or restless legs in the middle of the night.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: no idea
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Mother of Cats
It has been a good Olympics to watch. I will confess that when the track and field and the equestrian stuff overlap, I watch the equestrian live and catch up on the track and field later.
Flavio - quite a good night for Italy! I was a bit startled at first - Lamont Rogers just doesn't seem like an Italian name. And then I googled and saw that he was born in the US, in Texas, and moved to Italy when he was very young.
James - the british announcers are great - I much prefer them to the US, in general.
As for Thursday - I know that it was one of the worst weather days we've had up here. Perhaps similar for you (though you indicate you've had similar weather days.
Steve - I'm very sorry to hear about your mate - that's awful. I do know that running takes mental energy as well as physical, and that grief can be exhausting. So I'm not surprised to hear that you had a tough workout.
Piwi - I'm not sure Shacari would have placed. Nice progression run.
Flavio - I have a transgender (MTF) friend whose reaction to the whole Semenya debate was "OMG, just shut up and take the f'ing pills - it's not that hard."
****
My week:
60 miles running, 3 hours pool-running, and 1500 yards swimming.M: 12 miles, including a track workout of 2x1200, 2x800, 2x400, 2x200m. Splits were 4:57, 4:51, 3:10, 3:08, 92, 90, 43, 43. 3:00 recoveries after the 1200s and 800s; 90 second recoveries after the 400s and 200s.. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.T: 3 miles easy outside (9:30), supervised workout, then 9 miles very easy on treadmill (9:36) followed by streaming yoga.W: 2 hours pool-running and upper body weights/core.Th: 11 miles including a tempo workout of 2 miles, 1 mile in 14:05 (7:12/6:53) and then 6:51, with 5 minutes jog in between. Followed with 4x30 seconds at mile effort with 60 seconds recovery. Then did leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Fr: 2 miles easy (10:00), drills, supervised workout, then 8 miles easy on treadmill (9:38) followed by streaming yoga.Sa: 14.5 miles progressive, split as first 5 averaging 9:49, next 4.5 miles averaging 8:20, next 5 miles averaging 7:20, and then a cooldown jog to make 15 miles. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Su: Streaming yoga and 1 hour pool-running.
Did my workouts on Monday and Thursday so I could sub in for my coach on the Tuesday and Friday track workouts (he was on vacation this week). As I noted in the other thread, on Monday I encountered a woman who was very insistent that it was appropriate and right for her to be walking clockwise in lane 1 on the track.
Even though she had an American accent, I am curious - for those of you outside of the US, especially in the southern hemisphere - have you ever heard of running tracks being used clockwise as the standard?
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.
DW no that sounds very odd. Personally if others are at the track I don't use lane 1 unless I'm doing intervals. The clockwise thing sounds weird.
DWave - I've seen people going clockwise sometimes but very rarely. And walking in Lane 1 is just poor etiquette regardless.
James - I've been enjoying a lot of the different stuff in the Olympics but definitely prefer track. The skateboarding was great to watch.
Steve - really sorry to hear about your mate, that's rough. Sad news.
Piwi - hope you're feeling better now and great job on the progression run.
Flavio - cutback week at 90km, haha you are becoming Keen's apprentice.
Me - slightly late update as we travelled down to Wanaka yesterday. It was a lighter week with taper this week coming into the race. My legs felt pretty dead for this morning's easy run down in Wanaka, although I know now that how I feel in the week leading up to the race means basically nothing. Hoping to get up the mountain for some snowboarding tomorrow through Thursday.
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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF
Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
I don't think that chromosomes is the way to go in running, though. In running, the differences between the sexes appear to mostly hinge on testosterone levels, and it is entirely possible for a woman to be XY, but to have a defect in her Y chromosome so that she does not respond to testosterone and doesn't gain any of the advantages from it. (this is DSD with CAIS - complete androgen insensitivity syndrome; as opposed to DSD with PAIS - partial androgen insensitivity syndrome, which is where Semenya, Niyonsaba, Wambui, and others fall).
ahh someone beat me to this point. The science around all the genetic markets is advancing so quickly I as a non-medical professional cannot keep up and frankly I'd be shocked if WADA can. With regard to distance running males who transition to female with the appropriate hormonal changes seem to immediately get slower while retaining a roughly relative ranking (i.e. a sub elite male post hormone therapy would be roughly a sub-elite female, ditto for age grouper) so the idea of such a person competing in distance running as a female has never bothered me but: A) I don't have to compete against them (and I've no particular gift so I've never had to worry about prizes. B) I'm a layperson whose done a few internet searches and read one book that touches on the subject... my "knowledge" should be questioned and verified and probably proven wrong.
Anyway I had a rough week as the legs were dead from too hard a run last Sunday and didn't recover due to a failure to get much sleep until Thursday night (at which point they magically started feeling better).
40 miles running, 14 miles cycling
James I'm glad the hammy is holding steady. Those are fickle things.
Steve Sorry about your mate (and yes, I know that sentiment is completely unequal to the issue at hand).
Piwi That's a heck of a progression. Well done.
Flavio Glad you're feeling better. Cutback weeks are pretty great in the middle of marathon training.
I have watched none of the Olympics. My family has been camping, swimming and just generally having fun and while I have a vague feeling I missed something I like how I've spent my days lately.
DW Looks like you're fully recovered and training well again. Did you get your medical issues sorted?
I too have met walkers who insist they need lane 1, but at least they go the proper direction even if they're usually 2 abreast. (grr). My primary training partner and I switched the track we go to on Tuesday's just to avoid some of them.
Mark Are you racing in Wanaka or just vacationing?
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
darkwave - At the high school track where I occasionally do speedwork, a state law enforcement training academy group sometimes shows up and jogs clockwise. I asked the commander one time why they did that, and he said he didn't know. I'm sure at least a few of the trainees know which way to run around a track, but it doesn't seem like the kind of environment where questioning your commander about something minor is a good idea. They usually stay out of lane 1 when they see I'm using it, though.
I also go clockwise sometimes. A year or so ago I had left hip trouble that I thought might be aggravated by almost always turning left (i.e., going counterclockwise) on my park loop, which I do because one of the intersections is much safer to cross approaching from the counterclockwise side. I started doing my track warmups and cooldowns clockwise in lane 8 and then running the actual reps counterclockwise in lane 2 to vary the stresses on my hips. The trouble went away after a while, so I assume warming up like that helped, and I still do it when I remember.
Zebano - both. We planned a holiday down here a few months ago, and then I discovered there was a race in Te Anau which is around 3 hours drive away so that got added to the itinerary.
Mark, Steve, James, Flavio, Darkwave and Piwi - nice weeks.
My week was sort of ok. Ended up missing Friday as I needed to be a little fresh for the cross country. I always find races that take longer than 30 minutes take much longer to recover from than sub 30 minute races, Saturday's race continued the trend. Life meant I didn't have time for a Sunday long run, but I could have gotten in a 30-45 minute run, but I was too tired.
Cross country race went ok. The course was about 7.8km (GPS varied substantially due to trees, corners etc.) so shorter than I thought. But the ground was softer than I expected which cancelled out it being 0.2km shorter than I expected. I ran as well as I could, official 35:08 which was 12th out of 35 males, managed to pace pretty well with 17:30 and 17:38 for the two laps.
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