Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Slightly lighter week for me to allow a bit of recovery. Felt a bit flat earlier in the week but pretty good by the weekend so I guess it did the job. Unfortunately odds aren't looking great for us coming out of lockdown on Tuesday, I'd give it probably another week, which means National Road Relays in early Oct are pretty unlikely to happen. Just keeping my fingers crossed for late Oct / early Nov races.
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"
Good work Mark was a windy week too.
The wheels came off for me this week. Did a Flavio and hurt my lower back on Wednesday and then running was a bit miserable after that. Took the weekend off.
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 "
James and Mark - good weeks.
Piwi - I hope your back gets better soon.
After my (minor) injuries, I simply wanted 35km run in the week, which I did.
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
Intl. correspondent
Keen - Holy moly you did it! A PR in warm conditions. I guess that PR was a long time coming.
Zeb - here’s to a quick recovery!
Mark - I’m thinking this pandemic might have the exact same profile as the 1918 flu pandemic.
One bad year, one really bad year, then not as bad the 3rd year then disappear.
This time next year you guys will be complaining about the horrific weather in New Zealand.
Piwi - Ugh, hopefully that one goes away soon, back injuries are the worst.
me - A pretty cool week, the cervical injury has faded enough that I can run mostly normal, so I got a very nice week of training.
Friday's workout points to a sub 38 10, considering it was around 70F 21C I might be in PR shape again.
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
Mother of Cats
Hi - dropping off my week and race report. Will circle back later for comments (on a train and it's about time to pack up the computer)
My week:
58 miles running, 90 minutes pool-running, and 1000 yards swimming.
M: 9 miles very easy (9:27), drills and four hill strides, and streaming yoga.
T: 12 miles, including a track workout of 6x800, 2x400 in 3:07, 3:06, 3:04, 3:04, 3:04, 3:01 and then 85 and 85. Recoveries between 2:39-2:53 for the 800s; full recovery for 400s. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards of recovery swimming.
W: 8 miles very easy outside (9:27), drills, two hill strides, and two flat strides, followed by streaming yoga and then 4 miles very easy on treadmill (9:16)
Th: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.
F: 7 miles, including a short track workout of 1600 at tempo and then 2x200 at mile - splits were 6:29, 43, and 43. 500 yards recovery swimming after.
Sa: 4 miles very easy (9:34)
Su: 5 mile warm-up (due to circumstances), 1 mile race in 6:00, .5 jog to hotel. Later ran 7.5 miles including a 6 mile progression run in Central Park, with 2 miles averaging 8:47, 2 miles averaging 8:04, and 2 miles averaging 7:08.
Race report:
Well, I'm TRYING to run...: Race Report: Fifth Avenue Mile, September 12, 2021 (wellimtryingtorun.blogspot.com)
Does racing a 6:00 flat mile require Lady Gaga attire?
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.
Hot Weather Complainer
darkwave - Nice race report. Sounds like a chaotic trip all round, especially the race. Definitely a good idea to do a mile, and probably not surprising there is some rust especially at an unfamiliar distance. I got a bus from NYC to Washington a few years ago in autumn and it's spectacular once you get out of the city and past the stop in Delaware.
flavio - Great week, and I agree that you are in top shape. It feels like your race is coming up very fast, how are the confidence levels? Thankfully the death rate and ages of those deaths doesn't line up with 1918.
watson - Nice to get a solid week in the bag. Are all your niggles behind you?
piwi - Sorry to hear about the back, hopefully the weekend off gets you up and running again.
Mark - Nice recovery week. It seems like all the signals are another week in level 4 which means at least a week in level 2 for the rest of the country.
James - Nice week. Those are nice running temps, especially when you're used to summer heat.
Keen - Great work on the PR(ish). I'd definitely be counting it.
me - This was another cancelled race week for me. After last week I asked for a slightly lighter week to freshen up as I push towards Wellington in 4 weeks. I had a good speed workout on Wednesday and a shorter long run on Saturday, all easy.
We got away to Lake Tekapo for 2 nights as soon as we went to level 2 which was great. Some insane weather overnight on the first night there, with hurricane strength winds. I ran on some very muddy trails the next morning in calm weather, and dodging a few freshly fallen trees. The wind meant our trip up to Mt John Observatory was cancelled, but we did get to go up the next night, albeit with patchy cloud cover meaning we didn't get the full experience. We did get to see Saturn via a telescope and it was so clear it almost didn't look real. Tekapo is part of the Dark Sky Project (all street lights are orange and at a low level to ensure the sky is as dark as possible and so Tekapo can qualify) so with the naked eye we could see lots of planets and stars and I've never seen the milky way like that, except in photos. Amazing.
Also spent a few hours at the Tekapo Springs hot pools and bumped into an Olympic legend, Mahe Drysdale. I didn't want to be too much of a fanboy so left it at a fist bump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmNYOq-xOKA
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
James- I always enjoy the end of summer here... signals the start of decent running weather!
Piwi - bummer on the back injury. Hope it comes right soon.
Watson - good job hitting the goal for the week.
Flavio - excellent week and good to hear you are feeling a bit more energised again. I'm not surprised you're feeling like you're in PR shape with the work you've put in over the last while.
DWave - enjoyed the RR, thanks.
Steve - sounds like a fun trip. Mahe Drysdale is a legend. I can vividly remember the footage of him puking out of the side of the boat in Beijing when he rowed his way to bronze despite having a serious stomach bug. Staying optimistic for you for Wellington (and frankly all of us for races soon!).
Watson great that you got the 35kms you wanted.
Flavio excellent week, you are nice and motivated now.
Back injuries suck don't they. I read your neck mobility post on sub 3. Mines very similar. I put my back out this time by sitting on the floor with my legs in front of me for an hour then standing up and it pinched up tight. All due to tight hamstrings really.
DW thanks for the race report. The crowds must have cost you some time. I found a video of the men's race which Jake Wightman won in 3.49.
Steve I love checking out the night sky too. I've seen the space station cruising over a few times. I want to watch a Rocket Lab launch which can be visible from Tauranga.
I put Mahe Drysdales mothers alarm in. She lives at the Mount.
He did the Queen St mile once. I think he ran about 5 mins.
Not bad for a guy who is 6 foot 5 and heavy.
James - Sore is better than hamstring issues!
Mark - maybe it's different down there but Oct/Nov is prime racing season!
Piwi good luck with the back
FLavio that's a big week, how does the back do with the downhill strides?
DWave - Your side note is true in so so many situations. Bit of a bummer of a race but you paced it really well.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Yeah the two main windows here are spring - Sept/Oct/early Nov (gets a bit hot by late Nov), and then autumn - April/May. Personally I prefer spring as it's a bit cooler.
There's events over summer too but generally not ideal to run good times and they tend not to be the bigger events on the calendar anyways.
We might still get the tail half of the spring window if we're lucky, at least that's what I'm hoping for.
April and May are probably the best months.
We discussed this a few months back:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-12/vienna-marathon-winner-disqualified-for-wearing-banned-shoes
Winter is my favorite running season but it's pretty mild here.
Watson that's interesting. I guess they check in big money marathons but I doubt they do in smaller ones.
Does a shoe naturally have a higher stack height as you go up in sizes ? If so how do they rule on that ?
Urgh, another week of lockdown. At this point I am sharing Steve's frustration about unnecessarily locking down places that don't need to be locked down.
There have been no cases on the North Shore (where I live) for quite some time now and all the cases are concentrated in central and South Auckland. It's quite easy to separate the Shore from the rest of Auckland, in fact given that it's mostly two bridges and one very long way around through Helensville, it's actually easier than the current land boundaries between Auckland and Northland to the north, and Waikato to the South).
Re the shoes. They were the Adidas Prime X which are 50mm training shoes.
The stack height limit of 40mm is something like US men's size 9. So larger shoes are allowed more than 40.
It was pretty obvious.
Real risk of Nike or Adidas making a custom shoe of a couple of 1-2 mm more for a star athlete. Or cheating on the plate / rod rules.