Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Corey - fair enough, still sounds like nice running though and makes a good break from the roads.
Zebano - the national 10k and HM champs are generally good and I may well do them again in 2022, the challenge with those is that they don't announce the locations until Jan/Feb. The HM is hosted within an existing race but it's hard to know which one they'll pick. The 10k is often held in the same place 2 years running but not always. I'm generally more excited to try new events / courses but hey maybe this year's Hamilton course will be a ripper and they'll use it next year too.
Re gels, I normally take two in a half. One typically around 25-30 minutes in and one around 50-55 minutes.
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"
Just watched Ryan Hall deadlift 500lbs and then go for a sub 5 mile. Unfortunately could only manage 5.28 but man his body transformation from 2.04 marathoner to now is unreal.
https://youtu.be/Xo1bdNyBsE0
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 "
JamesD
It was 91/33 when I ran Sunday afternoon, but there wasn’t much humidity, so it was bearable, and my pace was 15-20 sec/mile faster than usual for easy runs. Also, each loop was faster than the previous one, though I expect the heat would’ve started to affect me if I had gone much longer than an hour. Maybe up to a certain point the heat loosens my legs and lengthens my stride? Tuesday’s 3x1200 workout pace was 6 sec./mile slower than last week, but my lungs felt fine, so maybe my legs were just tired after Sunday. My left upper hamstring hurt more than usual, probably because of turning left so many times on the track. Don’t have any track workouts planned for a couple of weeks, so I hope that’ll help. Continuing the heat=good theme, my pace on today’s warm-weather tempo was pretty good considering how trashed my legs were yesterday after moving our son back to university on Thursday. I’ve signed up for a 5K on Saturday the 21st, the Lakebottom 5K that I ran last year in just under 20. As my first race in a year, it was supposed to be a rustbuster before my now-postponed-again goal half. My speedwork and tempo times are slower than in recent years, so let’s guess that 20:30 would be a reasonable goal.
Sun - 7.3 miles in park @ 8:19, TDP 157
Mon - off
Tues - 6.6 miles including 3x1200 @ 4:41 w/3:00 rest, TDP 145
Weds - 7.1 very slow (1:22) on treadmill
Thurs - 5.2 very slow (60 mins) on treadmill before taking son back to university
Fri - off
Sat - 7.0 in park including 3 @ 6:52, TDP 159
Total - 33.2 miles
YTD average - 46.4 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 - fingers crossed your 5k can go ahead.
Me - against my better judgment, I decided to run up Mt Iron on Monday (2 days after the race...) because it was a rare daytime opportunity for a run in Wanaka after we bailed early on snowboarding because the winds at Treble Cone were horrible. I've wanted to do it for years, but it's way too risky to try with a headlamp before dawn. About 240m elevation across a mile or so, and definitely technical in places with a lot of rocks. Anyway the views from the top were well worth it. That aside, recovery from the trail half seemed pretty good this week, had a good track session Saturday. Auckland 10k Road Champs are coming up next Sunday which I'm just treating as a warm up for National Road Champs in 3 weeks. Good chance also to get a gauge on where others are at, most of them have run the XC season which is typically 6-8k so it'll be interesting to see how the last few km of the race pan out given I've been running HM's and longer stuff.
Hot Weather Complainer
James - Hope you get to race!
Mark - Nice week down south. Pretty good pace on that run with a massive climb.
me - Better workouts this week with the Wednesday session feeling very comfortable and I got through an easier workout on Saturday than last week. I still had to work quite hard and I'm not sure I could have done another rep but I did feel like I had a good rhythm by the last 2km. A big storm was coming in over my shoulder as I headed home and arrived when I was 3km from home. It was a huge sudden tailwind which would have made the workout much easier so I'm glad it held off so I got the true benefit. It did push me home a bit fast on my "recovery" kms though!
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
Mother of Cats
Ahh...Steve - many would have been shamelessly riding that tailwind for the workout
James - 91 and "bearable" don't really make sense to me, but I guess that's Georgia for you.
Marky_Mark - that's some elevation climb on that Monday run.
***
58 miles (93 km) running, 3 hours pool-running, and 1500 yards swimming.M: 90 minutes pool-running, and upper body weights/core.T: 11 miles, including a track workout of 2000, 800, 2x400. Splits were 8:07, 3:05, and then 91 and 89. 5:00 recovery between the 2K and the 800; full recovery for 400s. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.W: 9 miles easy outside (9:37) plus drills and four strides, then streaming yoga, and then 3 miles very easy on treadmill (9:35).Th: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.Fr: 10 miles on the treadmill with a tempo workout of 4x5 minutes, 2x3 minutes, 4 minutes at tempo effort (7:09 pace); all with 1 minute jog recovery in between. Then did leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Sa: 10.5 miles very easy outside (9:36) followed by streaming yoga.Su: 14 miles progressive, split as first 5 averaging 9:05 pace, next 4 averaging 8:07, next 5 averaging 7:15, and then a half-mile jog. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.
Since this is the official weather whining thread....
It was pretty hot and humid for a lot of this week. Tuesday's workout was supposed to be 2000, 3x800, 2x400. I made it through the 2000 and the first 800, and then the heat got to me (temp and DP were both 75F, so 24 C with 100% humidity) and I took a break. After cooling off, I did 2x400 just to get a little more in. But not a great day.
Friday was supposed to be even worse, so I decided to do a tempo workout on my treadmill. It wasn't much better inside - a thermometer said it was a temp of 78/DP 71 (so 26 C with 80% humidity) in our home gym when I was running. The air conditioning isn't great in that room. But I had a fan blowing on me and a water bottle within easy reach, so it was still preferable to outside. I split the workout into JD type cruise intervals with 1 minute jogs to make it more manageable.
The weather broke slightly on Sunday for the long run, which was nice. I felt really good and in control, which was a great feeling.
In other news, on Tuesday I had an MRI of my small intestines. Good news is that it showed no inflammation or anything else concerning. It did show that I still had food in my stomach despite having followed the instructions on fasting for 4+ hours before the exam. So doctor and I are going to chat on whether that needs any more follow-up. But looks like I don't have Crohns. And since starting the Lialda about 10 days ago, I've been feeling consistently better each day. I think reducing the inflammation in my large intestines is giving me more energy. And also allowing my GI system to process stuff better (which also gives me more energy).
Hopefully things will continue to progress.
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.
Mark besides the urban trails I will be closer to an actual nature trail too, that just happens to be on the south side of town so I may be able to get over there more too. Nice week Sounds like you had a great holiday too, unlike me, I was on holiday all week and we didn't get to go anywhere.
Zebano the yard work definitely played a huge part in the decision I hate yard work too and it was just becoming too much for me to handle.
James nice week good luck in the 5k
Steve nice week good job on that WO, funny how a storm will push you to go faster!
DW nice week good news on the diagnosis I know a couple of people with Crohns and it can be very debilitating hope you continue to get your energy back.
Another very light week for me I did not meet my 25-30 mile goal with just under 24 miles.
I did not do a WO last week as I am still concerned about my hamstring but am doing well with it at easy to medium hard paces.
I think the chance of me being able to run a good race are not very good with only 2 weeks remaining. I'll try and get one more WO it later this week and see how things go on race day.
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
I had a good week, and I think it was mostly driven by a focus on getting great sleep. I had 10 hours two different nights and at least 7 hours every night. My coach also gave me a different schedule, similar to a JD 2Q setup which I really liked but it looks like he's going away from it next week.
M: off
T: 6.8 + 3 double easy
W: 7.5 easy hour + strides
Th: 13.4 as 3 up - 4x.75mi on 3 min jog (that's absurdly long) + 3 easy + push the final 2.4 of the course hard enough to get strava PRs + mile CD. + 20 min Lifting PM
F: easy 5.8 (50 min)
S: 8.6 mi + strides (coach only scheduled an hour but a buddy who is out of shape was getting his long run in)
S: 4x(600, 400, 200) in 2:31, :92, :43 all on 200 jog, The 600s were easy, the 400s and 200s were difficult.
54 miles
A solid week. I'm happy to be back over 50 miles and it looks like the plan is to repeat this for a few weeks. My personal goal is to get a second lifting session in this week. That said I had some hamstring issues going around the corners of the track on Sunday so I may run really early so I can try and run the other direction on some reps. I also need to get the hamstring curls happening more often.
I watched the Ryan Hall thing. Wow he's huge now. That running form looks so nice, even for a big dude.
James Glad you're getting back into racing, I hope the hamstring is good to you with fewer turns. We also had the humidity disappear midweek and it's amazing.
Mark any pictures from the Mt Iron?
Steve You're doing a ton of specific work, it also looks like a better volume of work than last week. How far out is the race?
DWave You put up the most consistent weeks. Glad the medicines are working and you don't have any known serious ailments.
Corey Enjoy the minimal yardwork! This is really the bad hamstring thread isn't it? ugg.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Tracking TDP this summer has helped me realize how much of a difference acclimation makes. I ran in similar conditions earlier this summer (afternoon instead of my usual morning, almost as high temperature but even lower humidity), and it felt much harder.
Glad your diagnosis was encouraging and you're feeling better.
Zebano - Humidity hasn't disappeared, it's just that I occasionally have to run in the afternoon when temperatures are higher but humidity is lower. It comes back every night.
Intl. correspondent
James - I agree, it’s definitely more bearable when there’s lower humidity, I reckon you feel a lot better in the shade in that kind of weather.
Steve - a month to go for your half, how are you feeling?
Zeb - interesting that you found the 600’s easier, though they are at an easier pace the last a lot longer.
me - A nice week except the long run, 18 miles planned, had to cut it short at 12 due to back pains.
I seem to be better though now after taking a muscle relaxant over night.
One more week at elevation then back to sea level in Porto.
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
Cobra Commander Keen
Piwi - I had missed that about Ryan Hall. I know the guy has been solidly focusing on strength lately (it certainly shows!) but it's a bit exciting that I could possibly be faster than the guy at something!Also, I find it a little odd that a guy can retire from pro running because of chronically low testosterone and then put on that much muscle. Maybe his nutrition was really out of whack when running, but it just doesn't make sense otherwise.
Mark - Great that you're recovering so well. I'm only mildly jealous of the trail run and the views. Massive e-gain on that one!
DWave - After running in Galveston I certainly have a better appreciation for anyone who runs near the coast like you do. Hooray for nothing bad on the MRI and for feeling progressively better.
Zebano, Flavio, Steve - Definitely solid weeks.
It does feel good to run some more mileage as I'm getting in to "proper" marathon training. With school for DDs 1 & 2 having started back up I'm losing out on some extra sleep, but otherwise nothing too remarkable from the past week (aside from DD1's team winning their bracket in a soccer tournament this past weekend).
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
Also, I find it a little odd that a guy can retire from pro running because of chronically low testosterone and then put on that much muscle. Maybe his nutrition was really out of whack when running, but it just doesn't make sense otherwise.
Perhaps he wanted to take testosterone supplements, but couldn't while running competitively. Nothing wrong with taking that stuff (from a legal/ethical standpoint) if you're not competing.
Good work everyone. Nothing exciting from me but I hit 50 miles as usual. Going through a not wanting to race phase but enjoying training so will stick with that as after all we do this for enjoyment.
Keen yeah I was kinda glad he didn't break 5 as it would make us look so bad 😅. There seems to be a few YouTube videos on guys trying to squat or lift a certain weight then run a fast mile in the same day. Ryan went straight into that mile immediately after the deadlift which looked like a brutal effort.
Flavio my back/hip was hurting Sunday but I've had 2 long kayak trips this week which can do it for me. I did that stretch with leg up on a high stool and lean into it. That seems to have fixed it.
I have my first vaccine shot Wednesday evening so hopefully will have a mild reaction
Flavio - The paces are essentially JD training paces, or within 1 second: 600@T + 200jg + 400@VO2 + 200jg + 200 R. I feel like I've done a lot of T work lately so it makes sense that such a short interval of Threshold work would feel relaxed... or maybe I was just being stupid and running them slightly fast was making it harder to hit the other paces. Who knows, regardless coach agreed to let me do the workout again this Sunday so I get another chance. He really loves multi-pace workouts like this.
That's a really good week for you even if the long run got cut short. Does your coach often mix time and distance intervals together like that? I was curious why it wasn't something like 5x(4 hard / 2 jog) + 10x (:45 on / off). There were literally three intervals prescribed in time and one in distance and that bothers me lol.
Keen Congrats to the daughter! That looks like a standard week for you.
Piwi Awesome that you get some vaccine finally. I guess the US is finally sharing with the rest of the world as we've been throwing out expired vaccine for awhile now (since so many people won't take it). How's the Kayaking in New Zealand? Are you out on the ocean or inland?
Zeb I kayak in the open ocean so launching off surf beaches mainly. Can be quite tricky at times especially coming in loaded up with fish and gear.